SB Nation User Blog: capnhistory

The New Location for SMQ!

capnhistory — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:06:18 -0000

or "Why does this blog still have Richard Nixon's eerie smile as the most recent post"

As anyone can tell from the big honkin' "Farewell" in the middle of the front page the author of this great blog has moved on to new and, we assume, better paying ventures. Unfortunately that means for everyone who had come to rely on this site for its in-depth coverage a wide-angle view of the world of college football, your bookmarks are now obsolete. Fortunately, the same author, Matt Hinton, is still writing for the public and you can still read him regularly. Just update your favorites to include Dr. Saturday.* Whatever you crave from a college football blog the good doctor is still serving it up regularly, just under the protective umbrella of Internet monolith Yahoo!. Come and get your fill!

I suggest every fan of this site make it over to the new site and wish Matt well. Let him know we're still there for him. By my count his work has so far received just 2 comments after 4 days and 33 posts. I for one wish Mr. Hinton many more seasons of happy blogging, and sincerely hope no one tries to try and earn a few more bucks by subjugating Dr. Saturday to Yahoo! Insider status or something.

*If that link is not working for any reason just copy this URL directly into your browser.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/blog/doc_saturday

Talking Points for Buckeye Fans

capnhistory — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 17:01:59 -0000

I thought you might enjoy the following. It is a leaked memo from the Columbus, OH offices of the Hayes-Tressel Institute on College Football Freedom (the only political think-tank devoted to studying BCS politics). Apparently it outlines the points and factoids they want to spread through the media during the run up to Ohio State's game with LSU for the BCS championship. I don't know if I agree with all of them, but take them for what they are and see if you can use them.

To: All Hayes-Tressel staff and affiliated personnel at the OSU Sports Information Department
From: The Senior Fellows
Our Ohio State Buckeyes will once again end their season playing for the college football national championship, this is obviously a fantastic opportunity to promote the football program, university, and state we love. However partisans from other teams/conferences will doubtlessly be using the time leading up to the title game to senselessly attack Tressel and his players. I guess it's just another case of Buckeye Derangement Syndrome. So to counter all of that anti-OSU spin, please refer to the following talking points whenever make media appearances, speaking to journalists, or engaging in public debates with "fans" of other teams. Remember controlling the main-stream media agenda over the next several weeks is a valuable part of helping out our Buckeyes.

*A suggested opening joke: The good thing about the bowl season is that at least we know that Number One and Number Two can't BOTH lose their next game. (If speaking with a Buckeye friendly or LSU unfriendly audience use this follow-up.) Though if the championship game goes into overtime, then Coach Miles woul tell you that niether team lost.

*Remember playing the expectations game will be crucial to influencing the game. We want the Tigers over confident and the Buckeyes feeling disrespected.

*Focus on how much of a CHALLENGE this game will be, due to our history against the SEC, struggles last year, long lay-off, etc.

*Mention that as a team that had to rise up from No. 11 in the preseason AP poll, it's asking a lot from us to beat the team that was ranked in the top two in the preseason and finished in the top two.

*When the topic of our schedule, especially out of conference arises, say that we are disappointed we couldn't play more accomplished teams outside of the Big Ten.

*You may have to stress that Ohio State has made a habit of scheduling top level opponents out of conference (e.g. Texas in the past , USC and Oklahoma in the future).

*While we don't pretend the teams we played this year have been very successful, we are always looking for challenging games (such as our next game against LSU), because good games against good opponents are part of what makes Ohio State football great.

*Do not accept any arguments that this schedule was selected to give OSU any easy path to a championship. Rebut such statements with firm arguments that schedules are made up far in advance and that no one could have foreseen how well either Ohio State or their opponents would have been this season. To argue otherwise is to ignore the plane realities of how schedules work.

*Make clear that Ohio State isn't in the championship game because our opponents had down years. The Buckeyes are playing for the championship because other contenders had down years.

*Grant them that we may have overachieved, but with so many other teams UNDERACHIEVING, the best team in the country may very well be one that overachieved. Why should a team that has played well all season be denied a chance to be champions when so many others have not?

*Note that we were tested IN CONFERENCE and point to examples of teams that weren't, such as Kansas, or Southern California, which has played fewer teams with winning records than we have this year, but was still being called the BEST TEAM in the country by some.

*Mention that if strength of schedule really mattered then Virginia Tech (3rd toughest schedule according to NCAA) would be more deserving of a spot in the championship game than LSU (24th toughest schedule according to the NCAA).

*POSSIBLE FOLLOW-UP: No other teams are more deserving than Ohio State because none have superior record and/or a MAJOR conference championship.

*Be firm that a tougher schedule does not trump a better win-loss record, otherwise Illinois would deserve a title shot more than LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia, or Missouri.

*On the topic of Les Miles state that we RESPECT him as a coach very much, and that we are proud that another coach from the Buckeye state (Miles was born in Elyria, Ohio) is showing what football is supposed to be to states like Oklahoma and Louisiana that don't have the heritage of football we have in Ohio. (If in front of an OSU friendly audience, also mention that Treseel has already bested Miles before in the 2004 Alamo Bowl).

*If given the opportunity also mention that Bob Stoops, Gary Pinkel, Urban Meyer, and Ron Zook are all from Ohio originally and have all lead teams from other states into the top 15 of the BCS rankings.

*BOTTOM LINE: Follow Coach Tressel's lead. We are HUMBLED and HONORED to have this chance to play. Let them think that we don't expect to win so that way the victory can be a 2002 Fiesta Bowl affirmation and any possible defeat cannot be labeled a 2006 BCS Championship Game embarrassment.

Use these talking points whenever possible, and we should get the media coverage we want.

GO BUCKS!

What might have been?

capnhistory — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 16:33:12 -0000

Does anyone else have the sinking suspicion that if Ohio State wasn't No. 1 they wouldn't be in the championship game at all? My brother first proposed this to me, and I dismissed it at first. After looking into my What-If? Machine a few times though, I am starting to see the merit in what he said.

Now in this situation there would be two one loss teams (Ohio State and whatever hypothetical team we are putting in here) and all of the two loss teams "with legitimate arguments to play for the title" vying for the top two spots. If you say another team in contention finishes with just one loss and everything else stays the same, it's almost certain that the poll voters would make them number one instead of OSU. It seems to me that, if forced to pick between the one loss Buckeyes and a two loss anybody else for the second championship slot, the voters would find some excuse to put any team among the two loss contenders in at number 2 over OSU. In fact its pretty easy to imagine those excuses based on what they've been saying about the other contenders and given the amount of disrespect the Bucks have seen this season.

LSU: "Those losses both came in triple-overtime. It's like Les Miles said, they pretty much count as ties."

Oklahoma: "C'mon they beat No. 1 Missouri by three touchdowns, and they have that win over Texas. That's two which are better than anything Ohio State has on their resume."

Georgia: "We all know they deserved to win the SEC East. Plus they are playing better football than almost anyone else."

West Virginia: "They don't lose those games if Pat White isn't hurt, and that offense would be fun to watch in the title game."

USC: "Who cares that they lost to Stanford? They are finally playing like we expected they should, which means are preseason poll was right all along, which means they deserve to play for the championship, because it's what we we've been hoping for since August."

Etc cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

The problem for OSU would be that they would lose any and all tie breakers, because most of the voters believe Big Ten=Worst Conference EVAR! and that 41-14 says more about this team than a 23-2 record over the last 2 seasons. Back in reality, with the season ending losses by Mizzou and WVU, the voter pretty much had to throw their hands up and go with the best record left among the major teams. So a soft, resigned consensus formed around Ohio State being the most deserving team at the end of the regular season. I firmly believe that without the safety of being No. 1, Ohio State would have been henpecked down to being No. 3 by all the doubters and nay-sayers. Thankfully that didn't come to pass and the voters were forced to acknowledge the Buckeyes accomplishments this season. Still I see all this negative sentiment against Ohio State, and I wonder about what might have been?

What do you think?