11w sure ain't worried about Michigan
Just including results from a poll over at 11w about the biggest threads to OSU's championship drive:
As you can see, Michigan barely registers; it's just COVID and PSU. Maybe that's just where we are these days, but it sure would be nice to raise the threat level with an upset this year.
That said, I just heard a rumor: One UM player cut this graphic out and pasted it onto his locker, so he could see it each day as added motivation. He rises earlier than the others, trains harder than the others, and has been getting better faster than people thought possible. His name, you might have heard: Joe Milton. And he has one thing on his mind: Beating those damn Bucks.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:16 PM ^
You forgot the /s.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:55 PM ^
FUCK, we have had 16 rebuilding years against them.
September 20th, 2020 at 6:50 PM ^
Lol such a joke. “Rebuilding year”
Face it folks, we are what we are. And what we are is NOT a national power, NOT a program that will beat OSU, NOT a championship program. And sad to say, this won’t ever change until / if we get a coach capable of building that caliber of a program. Harbaugh’s a good coach, but he’s not a championship caliber coach.
September 23rd, 2020 at 11:26 AM ^
I don't think it is just the coach. It is a university commitment from the top down that is dedicated to winning football. Until the board, the president, and the athletic department are all aligned, then things wont change.
September 20th, 2020 at 12:58 PM ^
Fortunately, now that we know, both teams can skip actually playing the game.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:52 PM ^
This weak bitch mentality a lot of our fans have is nauseating.
We will beat them on December 12.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:56 PM ^
Good that you are optimistic and have forgotten about the last 16 years against them.
September 20th, 2020 at 3:01 PM ^
Yeah!!! Charlie Brown will kick the football this time!!! Until he doesn't.
September 20th, 2020 at 2:05 PM ^
A quick look at WD's internal algorithm:
data-driven realism = weak-bitch mentality
It reminds me of the COVID-19 threads where all the wingnuts like to show us their new learning (using cowering in a sentence).
September 20th, 2020 at 2:49 PM ^
What year?
September 20th, 2020 at 2:52 PM ^
There are ways to say things without being a total clown. This guy still hasn't figured any of that out.
September 20th, 2020 at 8:57 PM ^
Not sure what made me laugh more: weak bitch mentality being directed towards a vet, or that the sarcasm went way over his head.
September 20th, 2020 at 8:04 PM ^
Do you think fan attitude has any impact on the game's outcome?
September 20th, 2020 at 12:59 PM ^
If this is a new pole how would Milton have used this as motivation already? I get what you're doing but come on.
The only real advantage Michigan has this year over OSU is no crowd at the game. Everything else they have the advantage. Tell me one position group of ours you would rather have over theirs?
September 20th, 2020 at 1:33 PM ^
Offense? No, theirs looks better than ours
Defense? No, theirs looks better than ours
Special teams? Maybe, but recently special teams have not been a factor
Coaching? Debatable, but if you look at the records.....
Officials? Boosters? They seem to have advantages here, also
September 21st, 2020 at 1:54 AM ^
OSU was just lucky that our program was down and out when college football finally installed a playoff system It is sad, if this new playoff system started 15 years ago, Michigan would be in the catbird seat not OSU. I think our only hope is if the playoffs are expanded to 8 teams and we may get in with one loss.
September 21st, 2020 at 7:52 AM ^
What exactly are you basing this on? The fact that we went 7-5 in 2005 which was 15 years ago?
September 20th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
It's true. Let's say all of our guys come back. They still have advantages at every position on the field.
The X-factor is mid-December weather. Hopefully, we snuck the Dantonio weather machine out of EL while they were busy getting turned down by Fickell.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:43 PM ^
Yup, a sleet game (cold-weather version of 2019 Notre Dame) is prob our best chance at grinding out a high variance, running / broken play game.
September 21st, 2020 at 2:00 AM ^
I have no doubt that trash tornadoes can occur in the horseshoe as well.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:20 PM ^
Why would they care about a team that beat them only 1 time in like 16 years.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:29 PM ^
Probably because it is one of the greatest rivalries in all of sport. Despite dominating us for nearly the last two decades, they still ache from decades of thrashings. We also have more national championships, more B1G championships, and a winning record head-to-head. They hate those facts. They also hate the academic prestige of our university. And, if you cannot tell, their whole state relentlessly obsesses over Michigan year round.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^
for the moment...WAS one of the great rivalries in sports. there is noone playing college football right now that can remember michigan being competitive with osu. at most they were preschoolers
September 20th, 2020 at 2:09 PM ^
Okay - we will have to agree to disagree. If a rivalry that spans three centuries (on and off the field) disappears because of a 15-1 record over the previous 16, you would be right. I just see this differently. And I am pretty sure I am not alone.
September 21st, 2020 at 12:18 AM ^
Three Centuries? Michigan was founded in 1817. Ohio State was founded in 1870. Best case for a heated rivalry goes back to the near war that was almost triggered fighting over Toledo in 1835. So, 1835 to 2020 is 185 years, a far cry from 3C.
September 20th, 2020 at 2:12 PM ^
Decades of thrashings? Do you possibly have that backwards? I see only two decades of thrashings here and we got the a$$ end of them:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan%E2%80%93Ohio_State_football_rivalry
Michigan has one "shared" (the Osborne thing still grinds my gears) national championship since 1950. Do you think any of those hillbillies care about what happened before then (or even 1970)?
I'll buy the part about academic prestige. They're insecure about that. Only a subset of fans really care, though.
September 20th, 2020 at 2:23 PM ^
I am familiar with the arbitrary assignment of 1950 as the year to keep score - but why would any Michigan fan voluntarily support that narrative? Games before 1950 also happened and count towards the totals. I am very familiar with the history of the rivalry, and I confirmed what I had recalled when I looked at the website. Michigan thrashed Ohio State for many decades. Period.
Let’s not get off track here either - I am arguing that this is one of the greatest rivalries in sport. And there’s a lot more to it than the accurate recounting of the decades of thrashings that Michigan has handed Ohio State. Do you not think it is one of the greatest rivalries in sport? Many no longer do, and they are entitled to that opinion. I am entitled to mine as well. Just don’t set up a strawman argument by insinuating that things before 1950 do not count.
And yes, I sincerely believe that ‘those hillbillies’ care quite about about things before 1970 and 1950. The all-time record means a lot to them. The total of Big Ten championships (42-38) and national championships (11-8) is meaningful and irksome to them. When those happened certainly has relevance to the current state of the rivalry, but the total numbers are meaningful data points that I refuse to dismiss. What can I say? I cheer for Michigan, and I like to focus on their accomplishments. If I cheered for Ohio State, I would try to drive the narrative towards 1950 as well, but I don’t. I say: let their fan websites try the approach that dismisses the humbling part of the history of the rivalry.
September 20th, 2020 at 2:50 PM ^
Geez, you went all "michgoblue" on me with verbosity. To your points:
Michigan thrashed Ohio State for many decades. Period.
Look at that Wiki page again. It is arguably also the case that Ohio State thrashed Michigan for many decades. Change my mind.
Do you not think it is one of the greatest rivalries in sport?
I didn't write that, but now that you ask ...
There's lots of history there, sure, but it's mostly a Bo vs. Woody thing. (Let's not forget that the Big Ten was 1-9 in the Rose Bowl in the '70s. The rivalry's national significance was overrated even in its peak years.) I don't think its reputation is fully deserved at this point. It's running on fumes. I don't think it's currently one of the greatest rivalries in sport. Others have eclipsed it. I'm open to the idea of its resurgence. (I don't think the MSU-Indiana rivalry will ever have any significance.)
Just don’t set up a strawman argument by insinuating that things before 1950 do not count.
They count, yes. I believe they're less important that what's happened in the last seventy years.
The all-time record means a lot to them. The total of Big Ten championships (42-38) and national championships (11-8) is meaningful and irksome to them.
I think that's fair.
Sorry, that was pretty long-winded, too.
September 20th, 2020 at 3:07 PM ^
Good stuff blue heron. To address your challenge, Here you go:
1900s
1910s
1920s
1940s
1990s
5 decades of unmitigated thrashings. We won the head to head in several other decades as well. How many decades of utter dominance can osu claim?
September 20th, 2020 at 3:46 PM ^
That is pretty lame that you have to bring up decades, all but one, where most fans were not alive. That away to show the buckeye fans whose the boss for this rivalry!!!
September 22nd, 2020 at 3:57 PM ^
No one cares about who dominated football in leather helmets before the forward pass was a legal play. No one alive cares about any decade you listed other than the 90s, and even that group is shrinking quickly.
September 22nd, 2020 at 3:48 PM ^
The only time academic prestige is ever mentioned by OSU fans is when it's used to mock Michigan fans who bring it up in the context of football like it's supposed to mean anything to anyone.
September 21st, 2020 at 2:02 AM ^
We are in their head dude!
September 20th, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
Players play, fans chirp. Who cares what a bunch of osu fans think?
September 20th, 2020 at 1:35 PM ^
This is the worst of both worlds:
Their fans have no respect - they mock us at each opportunity.
Their coaches and players have enormous respect - and they spend every waking hour obsessing over beating Michigan.
That combination means: losses and suffering from an annoying fanbase with a chip on their shoulders.
September 20th, 2020 at 2:04 PM ^
i assure you there is no chip on anyone's shoulders in columbus. the ongoong enjoyment ohio state fans have beating michigan is enjoying the perception of michigan fans superiority mentality and crushing it year after year. beating the michigan football program is no longer celebrated...it just is how things are supposed to be. it pains me to live it every day in columbus.
September 20th, 2020 at 2:12 PM ^
Here is a sad point to ponder, while there is no doubt they have had a talent advantage over us for many years recently, it is still smaller than the talent advantage we had over msu pre dantonyee.
Even with that much bigger talent difference between us and msu, they would win maybe 3 times every decade, but we seem to not be able to do that against osu.
Any thoughts why....
September 21st, 2020 at 2:12 AM ^
It's called having elite talent. Look at their recruiting since Urban arrived. Being the only perennial playoff team in our conference has helped that recruiting edge. Too bad Harbaugh could not beat them in 2016. I think Harbaugh will always be in catch up mode but will fall short unless he can develop a phenom QB. I think it will eventually happen and then may be the tide will turn. At least I hope so.
September 21st, 2020 at 8:09 AM ^
So how do you explain the 1-6 Carr went against Tressel with similar talent?
Also we have the 5th most players in the NFL right now ahead of Georgia, how much more talent do you think we need to pull of one freaking win against them?
September 20th, 2020 at 3:04 PM ^
My pain is knowing what it was once like. Between the ages of 5 and 21, only 4 losses to OSU. That is a TON of wins that filled by childhood into my 20's. It was one of the favorite topics at the dinner table at Thanksgiving...yet another win over the Buckeyes. So naturally, I was spoiled. I actually got pumped up for this game. And whenever a buckeye player or coach would shoot his mouth off to the media about how they were going to "kick Michigan's ass," I felt even more confident, because they could never back it up on the field. It was glorious.
Now, I can't even convince myself we'll make it close. Part of it was seven straight years of RichRod/Hoke where I had zero confidence we could beat ANYBODY. But last year when finally playing well in November didn't make a difference and the year before ten straight victories didn't make a difference, where do you look for any ray of hope? A little bulletin board chart? How much is that really going to work against OSU's plethora of 5 stars at every position?
September 20th, 2020 at 3:27 PM ^
We are about the same age. I'm grateful that I got to experience the late '80s and the '90s. In fact, I wouldn't trade winning then for winning now, because I cared more when I was a kid.
Now I'm close to numb when it comes to the Game. I used to enjoy teasing OSU fans and being teased in return, but now I have no comebacks. And, maybe worse than that, the OSU fans I know mostly don't even bother to talk trash anymore. What is there to say that isn't obvious?
September 20th, 2020 at 1:37 PM ^
Can you blame them? Our most competitive games with them have been 2016, and then a bunch of “well you tried hard” Brady Hoke teams. It sucks but I wouldn’t be too concerned if I were them either. Doesn’t mean we can’t ever beat them again but it’s fair for them to see more of a threat elsewhere.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:50 PM ^
They're not wrong.
September 20th, 2020 at 1:59 PM ^
Well, the comments on the poll only started today on 11W, suggesting it was posted late last night or this morning. So this "rumor" that a UM players cut this graphic out and pasted it onto his locker for motivation seems a bit too quick to believe it's true.
September 20th, 2020 at 2:01 PM ^
Wow. OP you sure have a thing for Milton don’t you!?
From the prediction thread:
8-0 There are two reasons why
The first: JOE
The second: MILTON
September 20th, 2020 at 9:14 PM ^
Yes. Actually, it's in nearly every post I've written in the past two weeks.
There is one reason for that. A new era is coming. It begins in late September. It starts with J, and ends with N. In between is oe Milto. And it spells "WINS".
September 20th, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
If Michigan is going to beat OSU, a skill player or two need to have amazing games, something that hasn’t happened in years, probably because it’s been a long time since Michigan had those kinds of players. People love to blame the coaching, but the fact is that OSU has had better players and no one at Michigan has played far enough over their heads to offset the talent gap.
September 20th, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
Hope every member of the coaching staff also has this up on their desk, especially don brown. His defense best not give up another 60 points (or more) against them.
September 20th, 2020 at 3:02 PM ^
Pretty sure OSU will be shooting for 100 points this year and I'll be surprised if they don't get it.