Buckeye Blogger NetworkThe Iowa blogs are just now getting around to previewing the Ohio State game this weekend, and I’ve gotta hand it to them. They got to it sooner than I thought they would. I mean, who starts openly discussing a trip to the dentist five days in advance? You know it’s gonna be painful, so you try not to think about it until the day before.
For a moment, let’s feel sorry for Iowa fans. Just 3 days ago, they were 9-0, ranked #4 in the BCS polls and were eyeing a Big Ten title and possibly a spot in the National Championship game. In one game, their nightmares became reality. Northwestern beat them 17-10, their QB is done for the regular season, and they’re staring down the barrel of the best defense they’ve faced since the 2006 Buckeyes team that beat them down pretty badly in Iowa City.
So let’s take a moment to feel bad for them – OK that’s over now let’s mock them.
The main Iowa blog, Black Hearts Brown Underpants just posted a preview of the game this weekend, and you’ve just got to see it to believe it. they’re reeeeeallly stretching it. Let’s watch the train pull away from Realityville;
Before we go off and hand this game over to Ohio State let’s take a casual look at some numbers.
A Terrell Pryor led Ohio State offense has been pretty anemic this year. They are currently ranked 62 nationally. Okay, ours has an even worse rank of 82, and that was with Stanzi. But, if you contextualize both team’s ranking in terms of the competition they’ve played against…well, it’s a little eye opening and certainly gives one hope going into this Saturday.
So, let’s take a look at some numbers….
Sooooo….our offense is “anemic”. Yours was worse when you had a healthy QB. You don’t have the QB anymore, but let’s ignore that and make it look like Iowa will win? So now we know what we’re working with in terms of ignorance.
OK, let’s take a look at those offensive numbers. Then when you’re finishing thinking that Ohio State won 8 games thanks solely to their offense, let us know. Then we’ll introduce you to our defense.
Let’s focus on how Pryor and the Ohio State offense have fared against the good guys. Pryor’s line in his three games against the teams I deem good defensively, and total offensive points scored:
USC: 11-25, 177 yards, 1 interception, no TDs, and 36 yards rushing on 10 carries. Total points for offense, 13.
Wisconsin: 5-13, 87yards, 1 interception, 1 TD, and 35 yards rushing on 10 carries. Total points for offense, 10.
Penn State: 8-17, 125 yards, O interceptions, 2 TDs, 50 yards rushing on 5 carries. Total points for offense, 24.
So Pryor’s average in these games is 8-20, 127 yards passing, 1 int., 1 TD and total points for offense is 16 points.
Sure, without Stanzi this may be more than enough offense for Ohio State to win the game. But let’s be honest, they are not so scary offensively.
Yes, and with that not-so-scary offense, we still went 2-1 in those tough games and outscored our opponents by a TOTAL score of 70-38. Nice try in only using “total points on offense” as a way to include fuzzy math.
It’s also worth noting that the three teams BHBU uses are all ranked…and those ranked teams only managed to score an average of LESS than 13 points against our defense.
These Iowans only gave our defense one mention in the entire article, when they pointed out that we have the 6th-ranked defense in the NCAA. Then, without flinching and without a semblance of comedic error, they jump right into claiming that they can indeed win the game. In the same paragraph as the one that mentioned Ohio State’s 6th-best defense in the NCAA.
What they failed to mention was that the Stanzi-less offense of the new-look Hawkeyes didn’t score a single point against the Northwestern Wildcats. Northwestern has the 46th-best defense in the NCAA. Yes, that’s right, Northwestern’s defense…which is only slightly better than Louisiana-Monroe’s…held the Iowa Hawkeyes to zero points with their backup QB. And somehow, that backup QB is going to score enough points against us to win the game.
They finish the “article” with the following passage;
- Wisconsin (Wisconsin!) savaged the Ohio State defense, at Ohio State no less. Just examine the box score if you are looking for a blueprint for how to win this game. The key, of course, is no INTs for TDs and hold down their special teams, particularly their punt and kick off return.
Soooo….play like Wisconsin did, except don’t throw interceptions or get beat on special teams. Play like Wisconsin (but don’t play like Wisconsin) and you’ll win? Is that the theory?
That, my friends, is the best effort in the history of the blogosphere…if the effort is to make an 18-point defeat look like a good thing.
If Iowa fans want to believe that playing like Wisconsin did will help them win the game, then The Buckeye Battle Cry fully endorses their game plan for Saturday!
Let’s take a look back at that game, shall we?
Wisconsin RB John Clay is averaging 113 yards per game this season. Against Ohio State, he gained 59 yards. His 5.0 average per carry was held to 3 yards per carry.
Vandenberg does have high school experience, and he got Coach Jon Voight fired in a nasty locker-room choking incident.
Wisconsin QB Scott Tolzien attempted 45 passes on the day, completing 27 of them while gaining 250 yards through the air. The final numbers are good, but 45 passes should get more than those yards, 5.6 per attempt. And if Iowa thinks that James Vandenberg is going to have anywhere near those numbers, they are going to be sadly, sadly disappointed. Vandenberg went 9 for 27 for 83 yards against that mighty Northwestern defense, so you can probably forget that lofty goal of being as good as Scott Tolzien.
Vanderbeek Vandenberg is more likely to have the kind of day that Tolzien had when he was throwing TD passes. He had two of them against Ohio State. One was to Buckeye CB Kurt Coleman, and the other was to Buckeye DB Jermale Hines. Reach for the stars, James!
In the end, I have to admit that The BBC is unapologetically pro-Ohio State. I cannot blame BHBU for spinning this week’s game to look like they’ll win, because that’s what we do when we want our team to win.
But it’s one thing to be a fan of your team and another thing to be a member of the reality-based community.
Go have a read, the comments are especially funny. Especially the one where they claim that Kirk Ferentz “exercised his demons at Spartan Stadium”. The mental image of Ferentz forcing Beelzebub to do squat-thrusts in East Lansing is priceless.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Glad you checked in with us this week. Obviously you haven’t in the past. Hell, BHGP didn’t preview Northwestern until Thursday, so this is progress, right?
Anyway, stay classy Buckeye fan. Good luck with that.
From Jeff at The BBC – Not til Thursday? And you titled it “There’s a Game On Saturday? Just Northwestern”….How’d that work out for you?
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November 10th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
[...] dentist five days in advance? You know it’s gonna be painful, so [...] Continue reading at The Buckeye Battle Cry Filed Under: [...]
November 10th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Chitownhawkeye, that response was almost as terrible as the original post on BHGP.
Weak sauce, Chitown. Weak sauce.
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November 10th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
LOL dude…funny shit here. Especially the Varisty Blues reference.
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November 11th, 2009 at 7:29 am
looks like Iowa fans have their panties in a bunch this week… I wonder why
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November 11th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Jeff, that was a pretty funny article over at BHGP. I guess if you’re a ‘homer’, you’ll resort to anything to spin things in your direction. I’m sure when the Vegas oddsmakers read the BHGP reasoning, they’ll push that 16 point spread down to a push, or maybe Iowa (-3.5).
Their earlier post, recapping the justNorthwestern loss really threw me for a second or two. With all BHGP’s bitching and whining about officiating costing them the game, I thought I’d clicked onto a Penn State blog.
The comment by ‘chitownhawkeye’ makes a good point about BHGP posting previews mid-late week; there has just got to be a lot of interesting shit to do in Iowa; it’s tough to get around to writing & posting game previews.
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November 11th, 2009 at 8:59 am
One more thing; Iowa holds the very nondescript tOSU offense to 16 points, but tOSU’s Defense and Special Teams also score in a Buckeye win, 30-6.
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November 11th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Yawwwwn…………the game will be well in hand by mid- second quarter.
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November 11th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Chitown’s getting after us for being classless when we’re making fun of BHBU for using stats without context? Look, I can play that game too: OSU ran the ball to the tune of 220 yards and a TD on the nations #1 run defense! How the hell is Iowa EVER going to stop our SPECTACULAR running game!?!?
Oh, wait…they were the #1 defense because they played the likes of Iowa…err, sorry, Akron? Oops…
Come on Hawkeyes, we think better of you than that.
In all honesty, I think Vandenberg will look a little better this week having gotten all the first team snaps at QB. Probably won’t be enough, but it’s something for them to grasp on to.
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November 11th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Why do you guys always have to pick on us? We accept the fact that we are inferior to Ohio State, leave us alone.
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November 11th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
We might as well get this game over quick, so they can get back to wrestling season……
From Jeff at The BBC – Yep. Let those Iowa guys put on tights and hold onto each other for three-minute increments. They practice that all the time.
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November 11th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
With Stanzi the game would be a tall order, without him significantly taller. But, let’s be clear here, Iowa hasn’t been beaten by more than 10 points since the 2007 season– a claim the Buckeyes cannot make. Iowa may go down on Saturday as all the pontificators expect.
From Jeff at The BBC – Wow, a whole two years? Hell of a sample there. Why didn’t you say “three years since we lost by ten or more points”??? Maybe it’s that 38-20 loss…to INDIANA…in 2007. LOL
Try playing decent OOC teams, instead of the “oops we almost lost to” Northern Iowas and the “oops we DID lose to” Iowa States and Pitts of the world.
But, if Iowa wins this game, with a back-up QB who has three quarters of college experience and our 4th string true freshman RB who was expected to redshirt before the rash of RB injuries we sustained, you’re toast nationally. TOAST.
From Jeff at The BBC – The classic downsell. “We’re awful, but if we beat you, you suck.” Yes, we know…you’re awful. Dude, you’re flailing now, and it’s hilarious.
Injuries happen. It’s important to have solid backups. You don’t.
We look forward to the opportunity to knock you into BCS oblivion.
From Jeff at The BBC – Yes. You get that opportunity every once in a while. You usually fail. Good luck with that. Tell your coach his son needs bailed out again.
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November 11th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I cant help but laugh @ other teams sites. No really, I’m a member of every buckeye site out there, and none of them require you to sign up first. There is no waiting for them to check your screen name. Jeff, I applaud you for allowing the children of the corn Iowa fans to come on here and do a horrible job trolling.
They needed some ridiculous luck to beat us in the Shoe, going against the BEST defense in the country, before Stanziballs went down. Now, they might as well just mail it in…..
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November 11th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Adam Jacobi has sex with children.
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November 11th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Not cool, BBC. You’re tempting fate. Last time we saw a backup QB we lost. Last time a Big Ten team playing at home openly trashed an opposing QB “Pryor” to the game… loss. Last time we had this much confidence before playing a top 10 team (’07 – UF) … loss. Bad mojo. Repent now!
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November 11th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Damn with all this back and forth going on , you’d think we were getting ready to play that team up North………..lol
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November 11th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I know its a cliche, but with Stanzi, iowa had no shot against OSU. Stanzi would have thrown 2-3 Stanziballs, possibly pick 6s. And Ferentz wouldn’t give Stanzi the hook even after 5 INTs, so Iowa would just sink like a stone.
Not to say that without Stanzi, Iowa’s chances are much better, but this may be a case of addition-by-subtraction. If Vandenberg throws a couple of picks, maybe the 3rd String QB gets a shot. Maybe Ferentz and O’Keefe will open up the playbook and go for broke.
Maybe we’re finally gonna see the WildNutt.
Ferentz may not be the most creative coach in the country, but next to Tressel, he’s June Jones.
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November 12th, 2009 at 11:37 am
[...] Buckeye Battle Cry on the attack against Black Heart Gold Pants. [...]
November 13th, 2009 at 10:32 am
No
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November 13th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
[...] wonders, where’s the grisly demise of Tressel ball? and tBBC has a look at how at least one Iowa blogger is trying to make himself feel good about his team’s [...]