Three writers that can’t quite agree on anything are ready to sling mud at one another once again in a three part weekly roundtable after a way too long hiatus. The topic? Ohio State. It’s time for Phil Harrison, Bart Doan, and Terry Johnson to solve the world’s problems one first down at a time in the heartland. It’s the weekly B1G Uglies – Part 1 of 3.
Question: What should we take from the Ohio State loss?
Phil Harrison
There are a couple of things that stick out to me. First and foremost is the stamp of certification that Ohio State just isn’t as good as we all thought this year. I don’t mean talent-wise, it still has more athletic prowess oozing out of the pores than any other team in America, but to be a team, all those four and five star ratings have to come together and be a team. It never happened for a myriad of reasons, and now Ohio State is likely faced with a pretty good bowl to end this year, but some uncertainty for next year with all the caged lions that are leaving for the NFL.
The second thing that seems more obvious than a man with one leg kicking a soccer ball, is that the Big Ten is light years ahead of where it was just a couple of years ago, and the Big Ten East is the farthest thing from a walk down the candy aisle. The days are gone where OSU is the main flag-bearer of the conference and can get away with torching the league and then going on into the postseason with relative ease.
Jim Harbaugh is wearing khakis better than anyone in Ann Arbor, Dantonio has the Spartan program built where he wants it, and James Franklin is going to make Penn State better at some point. And that’s just touching the East division. If Iowa can keep from being a passing ship in the night, and Wisconsin and Nebraska get back to where they belong, this league is going to continue to beat up on one-another much like the SEC. Heck, I’d even say this year the Big Ten has completely closed the gap. Now, let’s see if it can stay there.
Bart Doan
Probably the main thing to take away from an Ohio State perspective is how darn hard it is to repeat. The other thing to take away is how difficult coaching at that level can be, managing personalities, personal agendas, natural apathy, and all of that jazz.
How certain players on OSU handled the loss speaks to how they’re just simply not used to losing in big spots. Should Zeke Elliott get the ball more? Yeah, probably, but let’s not forget, he put it on the ground last week against Illinois trying to put the game away. These things aren’t black and white.
There’s a relative shock to the fact that OSU actually lost and likely kicked themselves out of the CFB Playoff race (or, rather, MSU threw them out of the club). That speaks to how successful they’ve been and the weight of the expectations they’ve carried with them. It’s easy to handle winning. We’ll see how this group of players handles actually losing in a big spot.
Terry Johnson
Let’s start with the most important thing: Michigan State won this game, and Ohio State didn’t lose it. While that should be obvious to most people, you wouldn’t come away with that impression after listening to most of media reports about the contest. Instead, the narrative was about how the Buckeyes’ offense was terrible and/or that Ezekiel Elliot was upset that he didn’t get enough touches. Very few people said (or wrote), “wow, Michigan State’s defense did a great job.”
Yet, that’s what we should be focusing on. Although it doesn’t have the stellar numbers like it has over the past four years – in which the Spartan D finished in the top 10 nationally in total defense – this year’s team is every bit as resilient. In fact, MSU’s defense is one of the best in the nation against ranked opponents this season, allowing just 264.7 yards per game.
That – and not the play calling, decision making, or anything else – is why the Spartans won the game and are position to capture the Big Ten title.
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Have a question you’d like Phil, Bart and Terry to discuss? email at the above links or send us a tweet and we’ll think about multiple ways to disagree on the answer. Follow Phil on Twitter @PhilHarrisonCFB, Bart @TheCoachBart, and Terry @TPJCollFootball
