SummitB411

I was as lukewarm as anyone on Riley but Herbie's comments aren't necessarily wrong. He spent a lot of years punching above his weight as OSU, and Riley's name was attached to a lot of jobs over the years including USC and Bama. How many other "great" hires over the years have been disasters and how many "terrible" hires have worked out really well? Sweeney and Orgeron are pretty much the poster boys for that. If we're still seeing the same stuff after a full class under Frost, then I'll fully agree in the need to make some changes. But there's been a lot of positives this year too, and a lot of what is going on really can't just be placed on the coaching staff.

The issue is most don't remember the close ones. That Georgia game, for instance, was a really well played and hard fought win. They remember the times OSU, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc were able to hang 40+ points and broke school and NCAA records doing. And I've never been able to figure out why they happen. It's as if the program freezes up in big games.

Honestly this season still has a lot up in the air. Wisconsin and Iowa are still unknowns until they start conference play. Northwestern seems down but they always cause trouble. Purdue has a solid win this weekend after blowing it against Wisconsin. We'll see how good Maryland really is in the next few weeks but we have to go there and that's going to be a challenge. I think what will be most important for this season is staying competitive in every game and not getting blown out. There have been far, far too many of those over the last few years. I don't really want to put a number of wins on the board but I think 6-6 or 7-6 and a bowl at a minimum is still a realistic goal for the team.

So while I don't want to call it a course per se, I would say there was a marked change in the program under Pelini after the A&M fiasco. But you're dead on with the rest. The program has become a lot like how a lot of folks mock Notre Dame- especially before Brian Kelly really turned things around. There's a lot of hype due to the name but not so much on field success.