OhiozFinezt

You're always making good points on this board skersfan. I agree with all your' points

Personally I think Texas and Oklahoma have more dominant programs than anyone in the Big 10. Ohio St. is close, but UT and OU have equal coaching staffs with slightly better talent lines. After that, as I mentioned before, I think we match up really well with Iowa and Wisconsin, and they do not scare me as much as Texas Tech or even Missouri. Penn St., I'm not so sure... but how many years will JoePa be around once we get there? One or two? It's hard not to imagine a drop-off after he leaves. Iowa and Wisconsin both have really solid programs, but compared to the explosive offenses and 4-5-star recruits we've had to deal with in the past two seasons, it's tough to be too worried about them. Iowa has an average to below average offensive coordinator who Bo and Carl's defense should eat alive. They have a great defensive coordinator, but I don't see him being around for more than 2-3 more seasons. I don't necessarily disagree about the Texas recruiting... but it remains to be seen. I have to disagree with the first statement, maybe some homerism lurking, I'd say Texas and tOSU have probably been on an even keel this decade and I can appreciate you saying Oklahoma is a dominant team (which they are), but PSU is no where near a slouch and Michigan will be right back with the top of the elite sooner than later. I know it is futile to argue such things but none-the-less the top half of the Big 12. in my humble opinion, is no stronger than the top half of the Big Ten and I think stats would back that up. Regardless, we are psyched you are in the club, now let's play some football and answer these questions. Past decade: Texas, 85.3% Oklahoma, 82.1% Ohio State, 80.3% And according to Sagarin, Oklahoma had the toughest schedule of the three, which makes their 82% even more impressive. Well then you also have to factor in the BCS records then. Big Ten 10-11 compared to the Big 12 at 7-10 and Oklahoma hasn't been as nearly as dominant as that winning percentage proclaims. They were getting most of their wins against conference foes and losing BCS bowl games at a substantial rate with a 2-5 record(5 straight). As i said before Texas has done well the past decade so there's not much to take away from them but i'll take Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan when they're back any day over teams such as Texas Tech, Missouri, and Kansas who are the middle tier teams. Tech's supposed best year they got housed by an overrated Ole Miss team who proved they were overhyped the next year

First of all, I made a clear disclaimer of optimism. Second, I really don't think the Big 10 has been better than the Big 12 since the Big 12's inception. In the long run, the Big 12 was the stronger conference. Third, what we've done in the recent past has no bearing on what we'll do in the future, since we have an entirely new coaching staff. Look at where Alabama was in the decade before Saban (one SEC title appearance), and where they've been in his first three seasons (two SEC title appearances and one national championship). Since Bo's first two seasons share some similarities with Saban's, I don't think it's all the crazy to think Nebraska could be one of two elite team's in the Big 10 (along with OSU). Sure my predictions are optimistic and taken on faith to a degree, but I don't see them as amazing by any means. What's your prediction? What are your' parameters for saying the Big 12's been the stronger conference?

LOL i've been LOVING Michigan's misfortune lately. But serious question to you, do you think Rich Rod's gotta go? I've never seen in him what optimistic Michigan fans had seen from the get go. His offensive schemes only work in the Big East and he had Pat White to thank for that. Coaches no defense too This is 'the year', and by that I mean if he doesn't produce this year, consider him gone. But saying his offence doesn't work is very incorrect, we were third in the Big10 in scoring, fourth in rushing, passing was weak, but we used freshmen. Three of our games were very close loses, one in OT to sparty. I think the offence will be much improved with returning QB's/wideouts/line, but the D, that's where the question is. Hopefully having the same D cord for the second straight year will help, but we'll see. But my wants are easy, at least an 7-8 win season, obviously a bowl, a win over 2 of our big 4 (osu, MSU, Penn, ND), and beating the teams we should (ie Illinois/Purdue/Indiana). But I will say I would take a 6 - 6 season and only one win over our big four, I'll let you guess which one that would be.... If he doesn't do that, then I want him gone. I don't want to go through what ND has with Ty, then Charlie, and now Kelly, and what's to say Kelly's gonna work? I don't think I could take a decade of sucking, mediocrity was bad enough. http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?org=418&year=2009&week=19 He runs that spread and by the end of the year the quarterback is already broken down from all the options or taking hits from running the ball. Forcier eroded as the Big Ten went along. The 2006 Ohio State team was one of the few spreads that worked great in the Big Ten and that was cause of all the talent they had. Maybe a few Penn State teams as well. Man i feel sorry for you from one person to another cause having to resort to hoping for 7-8 season when Michigan was a perennial powerhouse can't be an easy transition...but then i feel less bad cause you root for Michigan lol i'm just messin with ya, it's just a little humor. Yeah ND has had a terrible stretch of mediocrity and it took their' fans years to realize that team was always overrated. They hadn't beaten a good team through most of that 10 year stretch. LOL and yes i know who you mean on who you beat and i don't plan on having a terrible day on Nov 17. You're a good dude so good luck to you but not your team lol

And believe me, EVERYONE in the Big Ten likes seeing Michigan down(aside from Michigan). I know it's better for the conference when Michigan is viable but being an OSU fan i'd much rather see them lose every week

While that is true, Jim Tressel's only lost 4 Big Ten games over this duration of winning 5 straight Big Ten titles and 2 of those games were to Penn State who went to the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl. Thus having a record of 36-4 in the Big Ten during this stretch. I have full confidence in Tressel winning Big Ten games so if we had to play someone over in a championship game i believe he would still win Trust me, I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't be confident in him. He has a proven track record and until someone starts beating you, there's no reason to believe it won't continue. I'm just saying those CCGs can get pretty wacky. I'm looking forward to the challenge and not having to go to Texa$$ every year for to play for the title. Point taken. Yeah i don't blame you on looking forward to not having to go to Texas to play Texas or Oklahoma. Nebraska fans travel good but that's still an away game facing either one of those teams

LOL i've been LOVING Michigan's misfortune lately. But serious question to you, do you think Rich Rod's gotta go? I've never seen in him what optimistic Michigan fans had seen from the get go. His offensive schemes only work in the Big East and he had Pat White to thank for that. Coaches no defense too

While that is true, Jim Tressel's only lost 4 Big Ten games over this duration of winning 5 straight Big Ten titles and 2 of those games were to Penn State who went to the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl. Thus having a record of 36-4 in the Big Ten during this stretch. I have full confidence in Tressel winning Big Ten games so if we had to play someone over in a championship game i believe he would still win

Yeah i have no doubt that nobody will be on equal par with us the next decade. 5 is the minimum of Big Ten titles we'll take outta 10. Tressel's already won straight 5 and 6 since 2001. Tressel's one of the top 3 or 4 coaches in the nation. We all know how good Ohio State's recruitment routinely is. Just can't see us taking less than 5

Buckeye fan here, hello to all fan bases! Born in Cleveland, Ohio. Graduated high school in Ohio in 2002. Left and moved to Las Vegas, NV 9 days after graduation and am currently still in Las Vegas. Been a Buckeye fan ever since i liked football. They're my number one team and will always be for eternity. Favorite Buckeyes are Troy Smith and Tedd Ginn Jr. I just love college football in general and can watch almost any game with any team

I was actually pulling for the Buckeyes to win that year, that's why I put the LOL oh ok i got ya then. Yeah just as i was pulling for Nebraska to beat Texas last year. I was on the edge of my seat during that game. Y'all had that one in the bag, damn so close

That 2002 Ohio State Buckeye Defense was a great defense. That team was stacked! Will Smith, Chris Gamble, Kenny Peterson, Will Allen, AJ Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, Tim Anderson, Mike Doss, Nate Salley, Dustin Fox, Will Allen, Matt Willhelm, Donnie Nickey, Cie Grant, Simon Frasier. That Miami Hurricanes team we beat was arguably one of the greatest compilation of talents in college football history. All the pro-bowlers and all-pro players on that team was ridiculous. They lost "2" games under quarterbacking of Ken Dorsey. That was a dynasty of a team and the record shows lol i'm sure we all have a different view on that but uh...31-24 is all that matters to me

Not so much. You can't ever ever never have him back. He's got scUM's number and we're not giving him up. Over 1000 days now where scUM has no wins vs. MSU in football or basketball. Come on, fine we'll give you 2 coordinators for him. Ever since he left we've had Heacock play some pansy "sit back and wait" defensive scheme instead of attacking the quarterback. There's NO way in hell D'Antonio allows the housing that Florida put on us in the NC championship game. We had years of the coaches failing to even consider halftime adjustments and just keep doing the same thing over and over. Some of that changed after last year's USC game cause Buckeye fans were sick of seeing the same thing over and over. But yeah, isn't it lovely beating Michigan routinely? The past 2 years of watching Michigan games have been like a Holiday. It seems bad but i get just as much pleasure from seeing Michigan lose as i do Ohio State winning. My weekends were great the past 2 years

There is no doubt that OSU has had some very good teams and excellent/great players, but from my vantange point, the NU defenses from the mid 90's were a different breed. Yeah we'll both have our bias' on this one in defense of our teams, both were great nonetheless. I'm happy you guys smashed up on some teams back then that i have a hate for(Virginia Tech, Miami, and kinda Florida State now). I can't wait til Miami comes up to the horseshoe in September. Their' fans been talking trash for years and it's not like they been any good. We're gonna shut em up real good

It's good for Texas but d*mn that would suck for the other teams in the conference. They have ZERO leverage or say so. Texas is getting on the Yankees level by getting their' own network. The equivalent to that would be USC in the Pac-10. No one in the Pac-10 can equivalate the same power that USC holds

hopefully crick can fill some of his shoes...cuz they are enormous!!!! It's great having players like Suh around for the years they're their' but then you get hit with reality that they're gone. I felt the same way with Tedd Ginn Jr. I wanted him to stay forever and jumped outta my chair so many times during his duration at Ohio State from the spectacular plays he made. To this day, we still haven't replaced him. Ray Small was supposed to be the second coming and possibly better than Ginn but he's been nothing but a headache

Your defensive coordinator was AWESOME! Sincerely, Spartan Fans. LOL yeah and please allow him to come back! I've been praying for like 5 years that he'll get fired so he can rehire him. LOL that sounds bad but it's so very true. D'Antonio was a freakin beast of a D-Coordinator and wasn't afraid to rip a players helmet off and get in their' face. Us Buckeye fans miss him dearly. I got a deal for you, we'll give you Heacock and a bunch of "We hate Michigan" Shirts for D'Antonio. That's a fair deal right? LOL

You must not check your' statistics cause the Big 12 has been miserable in BCS games. Look no further than Oklahoma's 2-5 record and that's the conferences second best team. Texas has held the fort down for the conference in BCS games with a 3-1 record. I'd say a 10-11 record is better than a 7-10 record. And besides the Big Ten by far gets the worst matchups when it comes to the bowl games cause for the past decade you most likely were playing USC "AT" the Coliseum(home field without a doubt) or some SEC team in their' territory. I'd like to see the Big 12 do that and come out with the record the Big Ten's had. You'll see when the new Big Ten starts and you'll realize everything we have. And you say you hate the brand of football the Big Ten plays...then you must not be a real Nebraska fan cause Nebraska plays the EXACT brand of football that teams in the Big Ten play. As for recruiting, the usual top teams in the nation for high school football recruiting are Texas, California, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 2 teams in the annual top 5 isn't nothing to just brush off like it's some non deal I disagree with the bolded part. While our offense is in a state of flux, our defense is good and hopefully getting better. If we use a spread-style offense, it will not big "old fashioned" Big 10 style, but if we go to an offense similar to Alabama it will be (which I don't prefer). While I really don't know much about the defenses run in the Big 10, if they at all resemble that piece of crap that Cosgrove brought to NU, there is no way that the Big 10 defenses have anything in common with our current defense. Back in the 90's, even though NU had a power running/option offense, the only Big 10 team I remember having anything similar was Indiana. Our defense at that time was mean, fast, and nasty, much like FSU and Miami. I have never seen a Big 10 defense that could match our defenses from the mid 90's. Truthfully, I haven't watched any Big 10 games for years, because they normally put me to sleep after 2 series. I guess I'll have to try in the future. and like i told another poster, you're assuming the defense won't fall off with the loss of Suh. Players like that aren't easily replaced. He demanded double teams and that's a rare occasion for a college football player. The defense will have to adjust to not having him anymore and that's always hard cause being an Ohio State fan i've seen plenty of our players go on to the next level and we struggle filling the void they left Certainly, and that's why I was saying that I hope our defense will get better. There is one sports commentator who really watches line play, and he stated that Suh didn't attract as many double teams as people thought last year. Our entire D-line was pretty good last year, and I'm hoping that it will be as good or better this year. Only time will tell. Suh musta slept with his mom or something cause EVERYONE knew how good Suh was and he still would get through the blocks regardless of how many people were assigned to him. Suh was and is the real deal!

That 2002 Ohio State Buckeye Defense was a great defense. That team was stacked! Will Smith, Chris Gamble, Kenny Peterson, Will Allen, AJ Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, Tim Anderson, Mike Doss, Nate Salley, Dustin Fox, Will Allen, Matt Willhelm, Donnie Nickey, Cie Grant, Simon Frasier. That Miami Hurricanes team we beat was arguably one of the greatest compilation of talents in college football history. All the pro-bowlers and all-pro players on that team was ridiculous. They lost "2" games under quarterbacking of Ken Dorsey. That was a dynasty of a team and the record shows

The thing I like about it is that no matter where you are, if you yell out "O-H" there's about a 85% chance you will be returned with an "I-O" back. This has happened to me in Florida, Maryland, Virginia, California, Kentucky, and That State Up North. Not even during gamedays. Simply because I had on a Woody cap. It's basically a call to brotherhood to me. But I digress, the point was, even if we can't make it inside the stadium, we will be there in numbers. You're damn right Coqui! I live in Vegas and was at that Carmen Electra Billboard countdown to 2010 with my Buckeye hat on and got so many O-H, I-O!'s. No matter where you go you do that and your' chances of finding another fellow Buckeye are extremely high. We recognize each other all the time

You must not check your' statistics cause the Big 12 has been miserable in BCS games. Look no further than Oklahoma's 2-5 record and that's the conferences second best team. Texas has held the fort down for the conference in BCS games with a 3-1 record. I'd say a 10-11 record is better than a 7-10 record. And besides the Big Ten by far gets the worst matchups when it comes to the bowl games cause for the past decade you most likely were playing USC "AT" the Coliseum(home field without a doubt) or some SEC team in their' territory. I'd like to see the Big 12 do that and come out with the record the Big Ten's had. You'll see when the new Big Ten starts and you'll realize everything we have. And you say you hate the brand of football the Big Ten plays...then you must not be a real Nebraska fan cause Nebraska plays the EXACT brand of football that teams in the Big Ten play. As for recruiting, the usual top teams in the nation for high school football recruiting are Texas, California, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 2 teams in the annual top 5 isn't nothing to just brush off like it's some non deal I disagree with the bolded part. While our offense is in a state of flux, our defense is good and hopefully getting better. If we use a spread-style offense, it will not big "old fashioned" Big 10 style, but if we go to an offense similar to Alabama it will be (which I don't prefer). While I really don't know much about the defenses run in the Big 10, if they at all resemble that piece of crap that Cosgrove brought to NU, there is no way that the Big 10 defenses have anything in common with our current defense. Back in the 90's, even though NU had a power running/option offense, the only Big 10 team I remember having anything similar was Indiana. Our defense at that time was mean, fast, and nasty, much like FSU and Miami. I have never seen a Big 10 defense that could match our defenses from the mid 90's. Truthfully, I haven't watched any Big 10 games for years, because they normally put me to sleep after 2 series. I guess I'll have to try in the future. and like i told another poster, you're assuming the defense won't fall off with the loss of Suh. Players like that aren't easily replaced. He demanded double teams and that's a rare occasion for a college football player. The defense will have to adjust to not having him anymore and that's always hard cause being an Ohio State fan i've seen plenty of our players go on to the next level and we struggle filling the void they left

You must not check your' statistics cause the Big 12 has been miserable in BCS games. Look no further than Oklahoma's 2-5 record and that's the conferences second best team. Texas has held the fort down for the conference in BCS games with a 3-1 record. I'd say a 10-11 record is better than a 7-10 record. And besides the Big Ten by far gets the worst matchups when it comes to the bowl games cause for the past decade you most likely were playing USC "AT" the Coliseum(home field without a doubt) or some SEC team in their' territory. I'd like to see the Big 12 do that and come out with the record the Big Ten's had. You'll see when the new Big Ten starts and you'll realize everything we have. And you say you hate the brand of football the Big Ten plays...then you must not be a real Nebraska fan cause Nebraska plays the EXACT brand of football that teams in the Big Ten play. As for recruiting, the usual top teams in the nation for high school football recruiting are Texas, California, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 2 teams in the annual top 5 isn't nothing to just brush off like it's some non deal I disagree with the bolded part. While our offense is in a state of flux, our defense is good and hopefully getting better. If we use a spread-style offense, it will not big "old fashioned" Big 10 style, but if we go to an offense similar to Alabama it will be (which I don't prefer). While I really don't know much about the defenses run in the Big 10, if they at all resemble that piece of crap that Cosgrove brought to NU, there is no way that the Big 10 defenses have anything in common with our current defense. Back in the 90's, even though NU had a power running/option offense, the only Big 10 team I remember having anything similar was Indiana. Our defense at that time was mean, fast, and nasty, much like FSU and Miami. I have never seen a Big 10 defense that could match our defenses from the mid 90's. Truthfully, I haven't watched any Big 10 games for years, because they normally put me to sleep after 2 series. I guess I'll have to try in the future. I HIGHLY doubt Nebraska will be running a spread in the Big Ten. You need the same type of athletes that Florida has to be successful in it in an every week bruising conference. The State of Illinois has GREAT high school football and both of their' universities tried using spread and it just doesn't work. Ohio State's defenses are annually good defenses. Us along with USC aren't having the most first round draft picks going to the NFL the last decade just by some sort of luck

I completely agree! This is a match made in heaven and i CAN'T wait for Nebraska to come to the Big Ten! 4 of the all-time traditional powers with some of the most well renowned fan bases. I seriously don't know what took so long for this to happen. I thought it was a pipe dream when 97.1 The Fan were wishfully thinking somehow Nebraska would join the Big Ten cause i was looking low at getting Pitt, Rutgers, WV, or Syracuse. Nebraska joining is far better than if all 4 of them joined

You must not check your' statistics cause the Big 12 has been miserable in BCS games. Look no further than Oklahoma's 2-5 record and that's the conferences second best team. Texas has held the fort down for the conference in BCS games with a 3-1 record. I'd say a 10-11 record is better than a 7-10 record. And besides the Big Ten by far gets the worst matchups when it comes to the bowl games cause for the past decade you most likely were playing USC "AT" the Coliseum(home field without a doubt) or some SEC team in their' territory. I'd like to see the Big 12 do that and come out with the record the Big Ten's had. You'll see when the new Big Ten starts and you'll realize everything we have. And you say you hate the brand of football the Big Ten plays...then you must not be a real Nebraska fan cause Nebraska plays the EXACT brand of football that teams in the Big Ten play. As for recruiting, the usual top teams in the nation for high school football recruiting are Texas, California, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 2 teams in the annual top 5 isn't nothing to just brush off like it's some non deal I agree with you OhiozFinezt. Good points all around. (You don't have to tell NU fans about playing bowl games that are home games for your opponent . . . we played Miami in the Orange Bowl for what seemed like a decade.) Yeah seriously it's a total disadvantage Carlfense. Miami had it MADE in the late 80's to the early 2000's. They were always in the Orange Bowl and homers like Colin Cowherd wanna make you believe there's no homefield advantage in these games. Well that simply isn't true. It's a short travel for the teams, friends/family, as well as students. Rose Bowl with USC, Orange Bowl with Miami, and Sugar Bowl with any of the top 3 SEC teams were all big homefield advantages for years

Only if the weather is perfect. I often see "we would have sold out the stadium, but it was 40 degrees outside for crying out loud". I would love for some sort of weather like there was at last year's MU game - it's fairly hard to be a douche when the weather is so crappy. I'll get busy on Saturday mornings and do my rain/snow/blizzard dances. "It's fairly hard to be a douche when the weather is so crappy" LOL that was straight hilarious! That had me crackin up!