From: doel@bae.bellcore.com (Michael Doel)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college
Subject: OSU-Michigan game thoughts
Date: 23 Nov 92 15:58:30 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Bell Communications Research

This was a great game.  When it was over, I really wanted to see the teams
keep playing, even if it meant OSU might lose.  A few thoughts on the game:

1) Which team is better?  This really isn't that easy to answer.  OSU won
the statistical battle, but it had a couple of advantages.  Namely, we were
at home and didn't lose anyone to injury.  Who's to say that if the game
were at Michigan the situation wouldn't have been reversed.

2) Kudos to crowd.  For the first time in a long time, it seemed that the
home field really was an advantage.  Even over the ABC airwaves, I could
tell it was loud in the stadium.

3) I loved the passing.  I was hoping OSU would come out with the short
passing game as I expected Michigan to be looking for the run.  Sure enough,
we did and they were.  After the Syracuse game, it was pretty evident to me
that Herbstreit could be trusted to make good decisions in the pocket.
Against UM, he didn't disappoint.

4) Where was the running?  With the amount of passing we were doing, I
thought the running game would have really opened up.  We didn't seem to
really even attempt that many runs in the second half.  Despite this, the
OSU offense did a great job of holding on to the ball.  The only time the
whole game we went 3 and out was our last possesion.

5) Kirk shines again.  We'll really miss his leadership next year.  Once
again, I offer my humblest apologies for ever doubting how good he could be.
Ditto for Brian Stablein.

6) Who got the breaks?  I've seen many posters saying that if OSU had only
gotten their fare share of the breaks, we might have won.  I don't buy this.
I think OSU did get a few breaks.  For example, in the first drive, it was
pretty clear to me that the OSU receiver pushed off of the Michigan
defender.  The call was defensive pass interference however.  Also,
Michigan's offense might have been a lot more potent if Elvis Grbac would
have been in for the whole game.  I too would have liked to see OSU get more
breaks, but this wasn't anything like the Illinois game where we really
beat them pretty badly (statistically) but ended up losing because of two
freak plays.

7) If Cooper is fired at the end of the season, the people responsible
should be prepared for well-deserved flaming from the national media.  With
one game to go, the Buckeyes are guaranteed of their best record ever under
Cooper and ended up in sole possesion of second place in the Big10.  In the
process, they looked bad in only one game all season (Wisconsin), mediocre
in a couple of others (Louisville, Bowling Green) and good to excellent in
the rest.  They managed to go 2-0-1 against teams currently in the AP top 27
(Michigan failed to beat a top 25 team all year).  And they've secured a New
Year's Day Bowl bid for the second year in a row.

8) Gee doesn't back Cooper.  If you saw the game on the tube, you probably
saw the short interview with Gee at half time.  I was disappointed that he
didn't show more support for Cooper.  To his credit, he didn't change his
position ("he'll be evaluated at the end of the season"), but I just don't
think that's enough.  All he has to say is "Cooper is our coach" and leave
it at that.


--
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Mike Doel				<doel@bae.bellcore.com>
444 Hoes Lane RRC 1B-209
Piscataway, NJ 08854

"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat
 and wrong." - H.L. Mencken
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college