The Ohio State-M:ch:gan game has lacked intensity in recent years. This is mostly due to the fact that Ohio State is a dominating 9-2 against That Team Up North (TTUN) in the last 11 games, but there's no denying that up until last year, the season that saw an Ohio State program basically decapitated by the NCAA, M:ch:gan has looked like they don't belong in this game.
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| Freshman Braxton Miller scores a TD |
Lllllloy Carr and Rich Rod couldn't handle Jim Tressel. They were out-coached and out-recruited by Tress, and Buckeye Nation would've loved to see him handle Brady Hoke as well. Instead, the Buckeyes limped into Ann Arbor with a poor offense and struggling defense as Coach Hoke's Wolverines pulled off a miraculous 6-point victory. Hallelujah, the rivalry lives on and M:ch:gan belongs in it again!
This is exactly what TTUN has been waiting for. They're finally bringing in a few recruiting classes that seem to think they deserve some attention from the Buckeyes, and they, along with their great and knowledgeable coach, are trying to gain that attention...desperately.
Let me start by saying that Jim Tressel never did or said anything, on or off the field, to appear desperate for respect from the Wolverines. He had his introduction speech midway through a men's basketball game where he guarenteed Buckeye fans would be "proud" of their team on and off the field "and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor", and where that speech appeared to guarentee victory, it didn't. He simply guarenteed proudness, so say what you will about the man whose interviews and press conferences required translation; but Tress was great at saying what he wanted, when he wanted. He never referred to M:ch:gan by any silly names, he never called out or harassed their players or coaches, and even though he ran some different plays and won quite convincingly a few times, he never tried to display his dominance over TTUN.
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| Coach Hoke is trying to bring the rivalry back |
All of that said, what has Coach Hoke done regarding the rivalry? Day 1, Coach Hoke pounded his fists on the podium insisting the importance of the game. Exclaimed by many to be the most important sporting event in both states, Hoke assured fans that he does not take this rivalry lightly.
The entire season last year saw Wolverine fans bragging about how much stronger their team and recruiting class was. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and message boards saw Wolverine fans trolling for arguments. Denard even saved his little spoon-feeding motion for the Buckeye game in Ann Arbor. Ever since that victory the voice of Wolverine fans has spread like wildfire through those same social media outlets that I previously mentioned. They may even make their way here, and it wouldn't be the first time The Buckeye Board was harassed by Wolverine fans; but this theme of crying for attention seems to continue to be expressed through the actions and words of the Wolverines everywhere.
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| Meyer and Ohio State can't wait to flex their muscles |
When Urban Meyer was hired at Ohio State it stole the thunder from Coach Hoke and the Wolverine's victory. The rock star coach stole national attention, and it only got worse for M:ch:gan as Coach Meyer and the Buckeyes finished their recruiting class in excellent fashion and jumped the Wolverines in the rankings.
This years recruiting story seems to be similar as the Wolverines have stocked up early with some great prospects. It appears Coach Hoke has done well in recruiting to run his pro-style system. They have a pro-style QB, who is also a great recruiter, and excellent offensive line prospects. They're still working on getting a feature back, but a big issue is that their class has limited spots remaining; and these prospects have yet to play their senior year of football. Prospects will emerge, get better, and lose luster; so it's difficult for me to get too engulfed in this class just yet.
A little sidenote, recruiting is like running a 5k, and we aren't even close to the final kick; so while it does appear that M:ch:gan has a lead on Ohio State's class, don't forget that we still have plenty of hills and valleys to venture before we start to kick...and Coach Meyer has a great kick. This fight isn't even close to over, and when February 1st does come; it still won't be over because nothing matters until it happens in the Shoe or Big House.
This recruiting class of M:ch:gan's has continued to cry for Buckeye attention, Wolverine fans trolling Buckeye sites continue to guage their success on where Ohio State stands, and it appears it's only going to intensify until 12:00 pm November 24th. These cries have recently been very loud as a result of Coach Meyer deciding to offer an Ohio LB currently committed to M:ch:gan. This recruit's father was a captain at Ohio State back in the 80's, so it would seem that Coach Meyer would at least get a chance to chat with him; but the LB stated via Twitter that he won't be leaving M:ch:gan.
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| The burning mail stunt, again |
This resulted in a few of this prospects classmates responding by Tweeting pictures of them burning mail from Ohio State, a stunt that had been done before; so even though it wasn't original, it did send a message. That message screams, "Pay attention to us Ohio State!" M:ch:gan recruits are still trying to get respect from Ohio State. These outcries are hilariously obvious and do deserve attention from Buckeye fans...the ones in search of a laugh. A few Buckeye commits responded on Twitter saying that these actions are just disrespectful and that we'd rather do our talking on the field which is exactly what Coach Meyer is preaching. We want to focus on ourselves.
Talk to most Wolverine fans right now and you get the same message. They focus their arguments on why Ohio State is going to lose to them or how Coach Meyer is going to fail instead of telling us why their team will succeed. So much of their focus is on Ohio State, and we've never asked for one bit of it. We won games with Tress, hired a new coach, recruited well, and kept our nose to the grindstone. That's why we'll succeed. Because we care about what we're doing and not what you think or say. We want to get better, so while our 2013 commits are getting ready for their senior year of high school they're focused on improving the talents that have brought them this far rather than running their mouths or burning letters.
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| Shane Morris (back) trying to hang out with Buckeyes |
Now, for those M:ch:gan fans reading this I'm sure that you've had some opinions during this. Even though Coach Hoke refers to Ohio State as "Ohio", you say Woody was the one who came up with the idea by not saying the name of your school, so if Hoke's idea is dumb then so was Woody's. Wrong. This is a tradition that carries down even to The Buckeye Board's blog posts as I refuse to spell that word, and even though, like the recruits burning mail, Coach Hoke used an unoriginal idea you have to ask, why? I understand that you want to think it's out of pure hatred for The Ohio State University, but it's not. The Wolverines aren't creative enough to come up with their own ideas, so they constantly have to look at the past to see what's worked. Oh, so Jim Tressel preached the importance of this rivalry game; I'll do the same. Oh, you refuse to call us by our name; then we'll call you 'Ohio'. Oh, Ohio State fans got mad when he burnt a letter from Ohio State; I'll do the same. How else can we make Ohio State pay attention to us? We already showed them that we hate them, and we have those shirts that say "Worst state ever" inside the state of Ohio even though we get some of our best recruits from there. What else can we do?
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| Another Ohioan on the dark side |
How about you try playing the game and quit being a bunch of trolling, Tweeting drama queens. You guys can keep talking about your lone victory in the past decade, but the more time that you Wolverines focus on 'Ohio', the more time you're not focusing on yourself. This is going to end in you losing many more games to us and not giving us the entertainment that we're hoping for. You think this is going to be a repeat of the 10 year war? I laugh at that thought because your coaches, players, and recruits struggle with the repercussions of winning one game over 'Ohio'. Coach Meyer has the Buckeyes working on themselves. The coaches are recruiting hard, the commits aren't satisfied with themselves, and the players are transforming their bodies into machines. A dynasty is being created in Columbus, so while you keep telling everyone how much you hate 'Ohio' we're working on getting better every day. Wolverines, don't be surprised if Coach Meyer and Buckeye Nation run you out of Ohio Stadium this year; and don't be surprised if Denard tries to strike the Heisman pose early in the game this year in an attempt to steal something else from the past. In this struggle to gain validity from Ohio State, you're making yourself look bad.
Stay Classy M:ch:gan.
Follow me on Twitter @BuckeyeBoardJM
