Just a thought, Pat Forde said an Oregon staffer was upset after the game about having 12 men on the field, insinuating that either the staffer did not know about the plan or that it was on accident. I don't really like Forde, but that is interesting.

Around the 47 minute mark.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/midseason-college-football-playoff-outlook-projecting/id1423417914?i=1000673204887

One thing I have found to be silly...I think maybe 90% of this site and probably other sites all picked Oregon pre-season to win this game and then OSU to win the rematch. I get reconsidering it in the wake of Oregon having some down games, but expectation wise they are pretty much right on track. Yet everyone hits the panic button.

Watching Fulton explain all of the things being done incorrectly is fascinating. Seems like disconnects at every point...scheme isn't complex and is easy to plan against, players not using/knowing correct technique, players not understanding their roles. This isn't even accounting for the physical mistakes such as missed tackles or biting on double moves.

So the defense was shredded to the tune of 500 yards and just one player in the bottom five? I get Burke was terrible but hard for anyone to explain how the other 10 guys on the field did their jobs better than the OL.

I mean other than Kirby who is making way more, look at the other names in the Top 5 and try to argue with it.

I would love to see a more creative defense unleashed after the bye week against Nebraska, but it is really hard to convince me they will make any sweeping changes mid-season. Speculated every year and never happens.

Personally, peanut butter whiskey shaken with half-half and khalua is a top tier drink for me.

Egbuka is for sure and Williams I think might. I'm projecting the other guys to play well going forward, but they either are at positions that don't get drafted that high (Henderson, Judkins, Jackson) or they are just not worth a first round pick based on talent (Burke, JT, Sawyer). We'll have a ton of guys drafted overall.

This also allows the SEC to be unencumbered by another conference loss and to avoid the kind of cannibilization that the other "power conferences" go through every year.  

Seriously you are literally guaranteeing that half your conference has one extra loss by playing this game. It prob won't affect Bama and Texas, but those 3 and 4 loss teams going to 4 and 5 losses matters a ton when the SEC already gets the benefit of the doubt. 

That bracket would have reasonable odds for three Big Ten teams in the final four. It will be a lot of fun watching other teams trying to identify possible good/bad matchups and seeding in the waning weeks.

Games are not determined by one play - they are determined by all the plays (and by player ability).

While this is true, the narratives are not ever formed in a way that objectively analyzes everything and usually throws out most common sense for sensationalism.

Between last weekend and the 2023 ND game, there was a total of one yard and one second that determined how every piece of media looked at the games. And that isn't fair. If they had one more second and kicked a FG, we'd all be talking about the great throw to Emeka or the defensive red zone stops, or maybe we all are saying even how dumb it was that they gave us 5 free yards. And if we get stuffed at ND, we'd have all been talking about how pathetic it was to only score 10 points and how awful Mccord was instead of calling it a gutsy performance.

In either case, the black and white analysis from everyone is absurd, and it seems to me that CFB is the worst of any sport in this regard.

The lack of pressure/sacks, defensive stop rate in 4th quarters, and the win-loss column all appear to be directly correlated from my perspective.

There's been some other things in games that have gone wrong, but the defensive line being absent is the one that has been featured in every single one.

There was a thread before the game last week that asked if we were giving Will enough credit, and my response was certainly "talk to me after Saturday". Silenced myself and any doubters with his performance.

Despite falling short in many big time games, I've definitely gotten over the PTSD from Tressell years and 2016 Clemson where they get stomped. I have absolutely no doubt they are in the game in the last few minutes in a worst case scenario. They've earned our trust in that regard.

Depends on what matters to you. If beating TTUN and getting to the playoffs is enough, this one might not mean much. If you want to win the conference and get a top two seed or get a great 5th or 6 seed, you need to win this one.

It's not at all out of the question for OSU to land somewhere around 9th if they lose this game and have to play on the road even.

Also, as it was with Dan Lanning, Franklin also wants to knock the big game monkey off his back as much as Day, so the reputations are still very much at stake as well. The problem is Day won't get any credit if he wins anyway, where as this would be Franklin's Super Bowl.

10 years ago it felt like osu could hang it’s hat on having two of the top three or four DE in the conference. They probably have two of the top ten right now and neither is top three.

The missing pash rush has been the most consistent theme in all of these top matchups. Penn state the last 3 years has been the outlier as the DL has pretty much dominated them every year.

LJ has had a long leash for good reason, but a 4th straight season with this is getting to be out of control. It’s time for something to change.

Thank you for mentioning that Lanning was not at all perfect and made the same mistakes he has been griefed with for the last year. I’ve yet to see one media person say that he also had an opportunity to call timeout and attempt to get the interception overturned, which is assuredly something I can see Day getting blasted for.

Good point, didn't realize he was that old.

Maybe a stupid question...but does Curt Cignetti last long at IU? I'm not saying to go hire him but I'm kind of expecting him to move on somewhere bigger in a year or two for bigger bucks.

There was no shortage of contact on that 3rd down conversion pic.twitter.com/YiK6ztm3Il

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 25, 2023

It's just really frustrating to have critical stuff every year seemingly bounce the wrong way in some of these games.

My biggest complaint is that TTUN got away with the exact same thing on their final drive last year. It's so hard when stuff like that doesn't go your way in two different games. Feel the same way with targeting...we got killed by a ticky tacky letter of the law targeting against Clemson in 2019, then MHJ gets knocked out on a pretty vicious hit and it is overturned. I think I wouldn't be so bothered by ref stuff if it wasn't the same stuff flip flopping on us every year.

That being said, in every one of those games, Ohio State had an opportunity to get a defensive stop for a win, followed by an opportunity for the offense to get the win. They failed in all of them - defensively and offensively.

There does seem to be a script for these. Usually have a chance with the ball to take or extend our lead, end up settling for a FG when a TD would have been a dagger, then a defensive collapse followed by a missed scoring opportunity to win. They've done it multiple different ways, but that seems to be a consistent theme.

Idk what the answer is, but I think it's unfair to say he is getting completely outcoached or something. It's kind of funny to me that the ND game last year is the one close game they won, because I think you could easily argue that was the game with the worst performance leading up to the final minutes.

Yup, we should recruit more one star players from small Ohio towns with less than 1k population who grew up loving Ohio State. They will have everything to prove, that's all it takes.

If you told me his stat line before the game, I'd have said we win like 8/10 times.

Anyone have that tiebreaker ready?

Believe this is OSU and Oregon. At 11-1 I think our schedule is favorable to not getting backdoored out of the CCG. I don't know if there is a realistic scenario out there that keeps us out at 11-1.

That call will never get called on the field, if they could have reviewed it maybe but that is asking a lot and not even sure if that is allowed. I feel like basketball they can review things like this? Needed to get down one second earlier.

I'm still biffed over the OPI since TTUN killed us last year with basically the same thing on their last drive. Just tough to see it get called two different ways.