13-1
B1G East Division champs
B1G champs
Rose bowl champs
Absolute domination of TTUN
This 2018 OSU team overcame an awful lot this season to finish 13-1. The Zach Smith non-sense, losing their HC for most of Fall camp and 3 games, losing the best player in the country in Nick Bosa, HC's health problems and eventual retirement, a very young defense depleted by departures to the NFL, inconsistent performances, stubborn coaching and a very ugly loss to a bad unranked Purdue team.
No team plays consistently perfect football every play of every quarter of every game. Not even Bama, even though ESECPN will try to convince you otherwise. Like it or not, the opposing team has players on scholarship and coaches paid an awful lot of money to beat you and they will have something to say about how the game is played and who wins.
At times this year, we saw one OSU team that looked explosive, fast, well coached, well prepared, motivated, efficient execution, best passing offense to ever do it at OSU and superior in every way to every opponent they faced. From the 2nd halfs of the TCU and PSU games to the dominant defensive performance @MSU to the dismantling of TTUN, along with the cupcake wins vs Oregon St, Rutgers, Tulane and Minny. If you were to make a highlight reel of just these examples, you would think this is the best team in football.
The other OSU team we saw at times this season was undisciplined, heavily penalized, out coached, poor tackling, out of position, blown coverages, no pass rush, couldn't run the ball, couldn't run block, got too comfortable with a lead, unmotivated, flat, inefficient execution, consistently giving up big plays, questionable clock management and at times, distracted. This is the team we saw during the 1st halfs of the TCU/PSU games, against Nebraska/Maryland, the 3rd quarter vs NW, 4th quarter vs UW and of course, the entire game vs Purdue.
Every team has their adversities they must deal with during the season, whether it be unexpected losses to inferior teams to injuries to key players. OSU isn't alone in that regard whatsoever. However, given what this team went through from the Zach smith drama to Urban's announced retirement, the resiliency of this team to navigate through all of it to beat TTUN (again), win the B1G and the Rose Bowl is truly remarkable and might go down in history as OSU and Urban's finest season ever considering the adversities overcome.
Hopefully Ryan Day is up to the task of being the head coach at OSU. The best job in college football comes with an advantage over most other programs in NCAAF largely in part due to the successes achieved by legendary coaches like Woody, Tressel and Urban. He truly is standing on the shoulders of giants.
It also comes with very high expectations with little to no margin for error. We expect a dominant run game complimented by an efficient passing attack. We expect a stout defense that plays fast, limits big plays, sacks the QB, forces turnovers and keeps the opponent out of the endzone. We expect to beat TTUN every year. We expect to compete for the B1G title and win it more often than not. We expect to compete for national titles and win it every few years.
Yes, the last 17 years under Tressel and Urban has spoiled us fans more than any of us may realize and our expectations are somewhat unrealistic. We are a passionate fan base and you have to accept the bad with the good when it comes to that passion. It's the start of a new era at OSU. A new Day!
The mark of any successful leader is to leave what you were responsible for better than you found it. Jim Tressel restored OSU as the measuring stick in the B1G, owned TTUN and achieved perhaps the most unlikely national championship win in the history of the NCAAF. Hard to believe anyone could follow Tressel, but Urban certainly did by winning the B1G 3 times, two playoffs, 1 national title, multiple top 5 recruiting classes, created a 2-year head coaching pipeline for talented assistants and 7-0 vs TTUN. Urban absolutely left the OSU program better than he found it. Ryan Day's task to elevate the program even higher seems insurmountable but it's not impossible. A few tweaks here or there, and there's no reason OSU can't knock Bama from the top of the mountain.
Good luck, Coach Day. We are behind you.
Go Bucks!
B1G East Division champs
B1G champs
Rose bowl champs
Absolute domination of TTUN
This 2018 OSU team overcame an awful lot this season to finish 13-1. The Zach Smith non-sense, losing their HC for most of Fall camp and 3 games, losing the best player in the country in Nick Bosa, HC's health problems and eventual retirement, a very young defense depleted by departures to the NFL, inconsistent performances, stubborn coaching and a very ugly loss to a bad unranked Purdue team.
No team plays consistently perfect football every play of every quarter of every game. Not even Bama, even though ESECPN will try to convince you otherwise. Like it or not, the opposing team has players on scholarship and coaches paid an awful lot of money to beat you and they will have something to say about how the game is played and who wins.
At times this year, we saw one OSU team that looked explosive, fast, well coached, well prepared, motivated, efficient execution, best passing offense to ever do it at OSU and superior in every way to every opponent they faced. From the 2nd halfs of the TCU and PSU games to the dominant defensive performance @MSU to the dismantling of TTUN, along with the cupcake wins vs Oregon St, Rutgers, Tulane and Minny. If you were to make a highlight reel of just these examples, you would think this is the best team in football.
The other OSU team we saw at times this season was undisciplined, heavily penalized, out coached, poor tackling, out of position, blown coverages, no pass rush, couldn't run the ball, couldn't run block, got too comfortable with a lead, unmotivated, flat, inefficient execution, consistently giving up big plays, questionable clock management and at times, distracted. This is the team we saw during the 1st halfs of the TCU/PSU games, against Nebraska/Maryland, the 3rd quarter vs NW, 4th quarter vs UW and of course, the entire game vs Purdue.
Every team has their adversities they must deal with during the season, whether it be unexpected losses to inferior teams to injuries to key players. OSU isn't alone in that regard whatsoever. However, given what this team went through from the Zach smith drama to Urban's announced retirement, the resiliency of this team to navigate through all of it to beat TTUN (again), win the B1G and the Rose Bowl is truly remarkable and might go down in history as OSU and Urban's finest season ever considering the adversities overcome.
Hopefully Ryan Day is up to the task of being the head coach at OSU. The best job in college football comes with an advantage over most other programs in NCAAF largely in part due to the successes achieved by legendary coaches like Woody, Tressel and Urban. He truly is standing on the shoulders of giants.
It also comes with very high expectations with little to no margin for error. We expect a dominant run game complimented by an efficient passing attack. We expect a stout defense that plays fast, limits big plays, sacks the QB, forces turnovers and keeps the opponent out of the endzone. We expect to beat TTUN every year. We expect to compete for the B1G title and win it more often than not. We expect to compete for national titles and win it every few years.
Yes, the last 17 years under Tressel and Urban has spoiled us fans more than any of us may realize and our expectations are somewhat unrealistic. We are a passionate fan base and you have to accept the bad with the good when it comes to that passion. It's the start of a new era at OSU. A new Day!
The mark of any successful leader is to leave what you were responsible for better than you found it. Jim Tressel restored OSU as the measuring stick in the B1G, owned TTUN and achieved perhaps the most unlikely national championship win in the history of the NCAAF. Hard to believe anyone could follow Tressel, but Urban certainly did by winning the B1G 3 times, two playoffs, 1 national title, multiple top 5 recruiting classes, created a 2-year head coaching pipeline for talented assistants and 7-0 vs TTUN. Urban absolutely left the OSU program better than he found it. Ryan Day's task to elevate the program even higher seems insurmountable but it's not impossible. A few tweaks here or there, and there's no reason OSU can't knock Bama from the top of the mountain.
Good luck, Coach Day. We are behind you.
Go Bucks!
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