Having your top 3 scorers back, adding an absolute stud in McMahon, and having a super Soph like Thierry absolutely explode....is what changed.  The loss of Sheldon has been tempered by the schedule.  Here's to hoping she's back next week and through the end of the season.  They cannot get to the Final Four without her, and they must avoid being a 2 seed at all costs. 

Iowa and Indiana will be very strong tests for the Buckeyes.  If Sheldon can get back on the floor, it will be a huge lift for the team.   

There is a lot of time left for the 2024's...a lot can and will change. 

And lol @ "Top 13" media releases....

I remember watching Laettner hit that shot and not knowing how to feel.  I disliked both teams equally.  Kentucky (a la OSU v UGA) was the better team that night.  I'll give credit where it is due, Coach K at that time was still developing kids and avoiding the "one and done" types that have been the mainstay at UK for more than 30 years.  Duke was nothing before Coach K.   Kentucky has been very good for more than 75 years, racism and scandals noted and recognized as such.  Understanding those facts...they have won a lot of basketball games   

The question becomes, is UGA the new Duke? Will Kirby's success translate to multiple national championships over the next 10-15 years as it did for Coach K?  UGA had been totally irrelevant in football since the Herschel Walker days of the 80's.  They are the pretty new girl in class that everyone wants to sit with.   Kirby is finally keeping the talent in Georgia from leaving, and he's also stealing guys out from under his next door neighbors.  We shall see if they can keep it going, as they just ran two amazing recruiting classes through their program that will rival any two year span in the history of the NFL draft.  

From my seat, I think OSU football is similar to UK basketball.  Attracts top talent, competes for national championships on the regular, and occasionally wins one.  Coach Day runs a high octane offense, so as long as he is in Columbus Ohio State will always have top tier offensive talent.   The question will be can he also attract the defensive talent to go with all that offense.  Kirby did it the other way...sacrificed offense for defense on the recruiting trail.  When Fields left him, and it became obvious that he was consistently choosing wrong when it came to which QB to play....he must have figured, "well, let's make it hard for the other team to score."  It worked.  Kirby has never had to deal with a mass exodus to the NFL in the past.  We shall see what the ramifications are for UGA moving forward, as they have lost A LOT of dudes on both sides of the ball, especially on the defensive side.  Bama was reloading this year....so they can expect to see them in the SEC Championship game (and maybe the CFP) in 2023.    

As for Jimmy Jackson, I don't think OSU has ever had a kid walk on campus and have such an immediate impact on a program.   All class...all the time.  Dude was a great college player that made everyone around him better.  Too bad he didn't play for a better coach that could have recruited better talent around him.  They were literally one above average forward away from being unbelievably great.    

Well, I'm not sure we get any of those kids to OSU.  Believing we can pluck an O-lineman out of Georgia is laughable.  Minkah Fitzpatrick's little brother ain't going anywhere but to Saban.....and the same can be said for the QB, a Bryce Young clone.  

OSU needs defensive backfield help.  Period.  Coach Day will always have a great offense.  GET. DEFENSIVE. HELP.

You can take all the fancy offense you want but the memory that burns into the brain forever is repeatedly giving up huge plays in big moments.  

Fix it Knowles. 

Troy was a wolverine killer, JT was a dog.  Krenzel always a king in my mind despite talent deficiencies.  Cardale 2014 will become mythology years from now.  CJ is more talented than all of them, but couldn't do it on his own.  A victim of circumstance that the defense never showed up for him when he needed it most.

And herein lies the rub....had CJ Stroud played his entire career as he did in the Peach Bowl, he beats TTUN twice, wins the Heisman, and is a National Champion.  Stop blaming bad defenses on the four losses of which CJ started at QB over his two seasons at the helm. Each of those losses saw mediocre offense in the second half of those games.  Mediocre might be polite.  Lethargic, soft, and poorly executed might be more accurate.  

CJ has tremendous arm talent.  He should make an excellent QB in the NFL provided he doesn't get drafted in the top 10 and go to a bad team with a horrible offensive line.   

It's that dog....Smith had it.  JTB had it.  Fields has it.  They want to not only bark, they want to bite your hand off and spit it back in your face.  

And for those loving on TP....good Lord how soon we all forget about his literal inability to throw a ball downfield to anyone.  He was converted to TE in the NFL for a reason.  He should have never been a collegiate QB.  

To think they are undefeated after having Greene and Sheldon go down is almost unfathomable.   There have been many who have stepped up, and those minutes will prove to be invaluable down the home stretch of the schedule.  The win at Nebby wasn't pretty at all, but in the end the talent won the game when it mattered the most.  Good teams win games like that....mediocre teams lose games like that.  Huge difference.  

Keep grinding ladies....keeeeeep grinding. 

Yeah...I caught the last minute of the game.  IMO, I think OSU needs to consider a coaching change for the Men's basketball program sooner than later.  Watch the post-game presser.  Dude looks and sounds a bit broken.  He must be a really good recruiter, but let's be honest...with the facilities at OSU how can they possibly not land a few top guys every year, particularly those looking to be one and done?

He seems like a genuinely good guy.  Hope he lands on his feet.  

Kirby Smart recruited elite defensive talent that was overwhelmingly good enough to cover up the offensive talent on which he missed and/or transferred out.   I can't name a stand-out offensive player from the last two years other than Brock Bowers and Stetson Bennett.  A poster above said it best:  When your opponent can't run the ball, that makes them one-dimensional and much, much easier to beat.  The question now becomes for Kirby....most of the defensive talent is gone.  Sure, they have recruited very well, but I believe next year is the year that Georgia takes a step back.   They had generational defensive talent over the past two seasons.   Let us not forget that it took Kirby several years to get over the "beat Saban" hump.  He caught a gimme this year when LSU beat Bama.  He also caught a huge break when Saban lost a gazillion players off the 2020 team that beat OSU. This year's Bama team would have given Georgia all they wanted and likely would have beaten them.  Their 2021 Georgia team was an all-time great.  The 2022 championship team was a combined gift of Bama reloading, and OSU missing a field goal.  Congrats on the 'ship, but IMO next year will be far, far different for the team from Athens.  They'll still make the SEC championship game, but (like OSU and Bama) they also have a lot of questions to answer at some very important positions.  

Georgia hasn't been good forever.  We shall see if they can keep it going.   

Let the current recruits step up to the challenge.  Exactly NONE of them were going to get any significant time in front of Paris Johnson, Dawand Jones, or Luke Wypler.  Experience will be gained in practice (as a 1) and then on the field.  Bringing in portal guys is a recipe for losing your current locker room.  There are plenty of bodies to fill the vacancies.  Let them play.  

We have Fryar, Hall, and Jackson.  I'm confident the coaching staff can find two dudes to fill the other two spots.  This is Ohio State, not some flash in the pan MSU team that got by with a year full of portal mercenaries. 

Losing guys to the draft is the norm.  Recruit.  Develop.  Fill.  Repeat.  

R E L A X

If you give up 2-3 big plays per game at Oklahoma State, nobody cares because it doesn't matter.  Give up 2-3 big plays at Ohio State on the biggest stages and you lose to Michigan and Georgia.  It's that simple.   

I would prefer a defense that makes the offense work for the points by sustaining drives.  I don't expect shutouts, but what I do expect is to not see OSU opponents going 83 yards in three plays to answer a 12 play OSU scoring drive.  

I do not care for the Knowles defensive philosophy in the least bit.   

OSU has a tradition of winning that will continue into the future.  Folks are far too rough on Coach Day.  His only losses have come at the hands of CFP teams + Oregon.  Complain when he loses to Illinois at home, or Purdue on the road.  His teams have competed on the biggest stage under the brightest lights.  Yes, they have lost to TTUN two years in a row.  Please acknowledge that both of those TTUN teams made the CFP as one of the four best teams in the Country. 

We are spoiled rotten with OSU football success.   Enjoy the Hell out of every play, game, and season.   Take if for what it is...a collection of talent assembled every year that wins, damn near every time they strap 'em on.  

I don't like the 12 team format.   The ripple effect onto the end of the regular season will be palpable.  If OSU and TTUN are both going to be in the CFP, why would either team run the risk of injury to their stars during the last game of the regular season?  College programs could be looking at 15 game seasons?   

The NFL playoffs start this weekend, and we are going to get a small sample of what the first two rounds of the future CFP will look like.  A bunch of teams that shouldn't be in the playoffs, in the playoffs...and several key players getting hurt that should never have had to play a seemingly worthless opening round game in the first place.   Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't make for good television. 

Nice O-line haul in my opinion.  Gotta keep those QB's clean!

Lady Buckeyes will need Sheldon back sooner than later.  Love the energy with which they play.  Great comeback win against a quality opponent.  

Just have hard time believing we wanted a three to end the game.  Every Purdue defender was in the way, and most of them didn't have to move because the OSU players didn't really move either.  

Frustrating as heck to watch.  In bound the ball to Brice and GTF out of the way.  

While this one stings, the ultimate festering wound is the loss to Florida in 2007.  OSU was clearly the best team in the Country that year and (much like last weekend) couldn't get it done when it lost the best offensive weapon on the first play of the game.  

41-14 was absolutely awful to endure.   Last weeks game was paradise compared to the 2007 debacle.  

Georgia fans will tell you it was a clean hit.  OSU fans will tell you that if one of our guys does that, we all know he's gone for the game.  We know...because we have watched our guys do such things and get DQ'd in some very big moments over the last 10 years. I thought the Wade hit was targeting.  At least Joey Bosa left no doubt when he got ejected.    

The fact that a referee in the booth in NYC reversed a call that was made by the field judge not 10' from where the incident occurred tells you all you need to know about this situation.  If that call is upheld, nobody complains about the disqualification of #22.  Harrison was out of the game no matter what, and Georgia should have had to play without #22 as well. 

The head hunting BS has to stop.   

Has there ever been another quarterback other than JT to beat TTUN 4 times as a starter?

He didn't beat TTUN 4 times.  Two of those games he did not finish, and both were in question when he went out.  

IMO, Troy Smith is the greatest OSU quarterback of all time.  He is also one of the best OSU football stories of all time.  His story is the ultimate zero to hero fairy tale.  The progression of his skill-set from year to year was something to observe from afar.  Played with a chip on his shoulder that oooozed confidence and swagger.  He made everyone around him better.   

I'll take Troy, Cardale, Craig, Joe, and JTB III as my list in full.  

They need Sheldon back by BIG tourney time.  I'm perfectly fine watching them play without her for now.  In the mean time, Harris and Bristow are getting valuable experience which will only result in a more well-rounded lineup down the stretch.  

Cotie McMahon is so much like Sensabaugh from the men's team.  She's only going to get better.  Really, really fun to watch such skill and dominance. 

I won't be surprised when McCord wins the job.  He won't run either.  He's a Pro-style QB...like Stroud, Fields, and Haskins.  It seems that Coach Day doesn't want his QB to run "on the regular" and I don't think he believes that his QB should have to run given A. the competition OSU plays week in and week out and B. the talent around the QB.   Why risk getting hurt against Minnesota or Akron?   He shouldn't have to run against Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Indiana, etc. etc. because OSU has superior talent all over the field, but he should have to run against TTUN and whatever 13th game it is for which OSU qualifies because the talent gap will either be more narrow, even, or behind.  Had CJ run all season like he did last Saturday, it would have been highly unlikely that he would have made it through unscathed.  Pro-style QB's (not battering ram RPO UFM style a la Tebow and JTB III) are looking ahead to a payday and they want to play in systems that keep them healthy to see that happen.   OSU is such a place.  Why it is so hard for so many to understand this element of the program is beyond me.    

Less talented programs have their QB's run because they have to do so in order to move the ball.   Such is not the case at OSU, TTUN, Bama, (and soon to be Georgia) etc. etc where elite WR, TE, and RB talent oozes all over the place begging for a chance to touch the ball.   I can guarantee you that Kaleb Williams runs FAR less in 2023 than he did in 2022.  Max Duggan is going to have nothing but a broken shell of a body left when he finishes his college career.  Running QB's run because they have to run, not because they need to run.  Duggan will be hamburger after Monday night because their #1 RB is dinged up.  

The offense is going to be fine for 100% of the season.   OSU just scored 41 on the #1 defense in the Country and by all rights, made it look quite easy at times throughout the game.  It should have been enough offense to win the game.   The offense is literally plug and play with new pieces every single year.   It's a damn video game, and any monkey with the controls should be able to score enough points each week to win 9-10 games.  

I have no idea as to whether the defense will be better, worse, or somewhere in between.  My guess is they'll be good against the majority of the schedule, but more of the same against the best competition on the schedule.  There are a pair of 5-star LB's that are sitting behind Eichenberg and Chambers.  How long will that stay the same?  Adding to that, if we can't get corners or safeties that can play man to man on occasion without falling down, the defense might be even worse next year.   

However...

Experience is a great fixer of errors of the past, and I have to believe that guys like Ransom, Hickman, etc. etc. will not make the same type of mistakes in 2023 as they did in 2022.  I am also hopeful that we see more Kye Stokes and Sonny Styles, and that Burke has an all-around solid year at corner after a somewhat inconsistent sophomore season.  Experience and development will be what makes or breaks the defense next season.  

The talent is oozing around the Woody.  I wish writers and fans wouldn't talk over the top of the guys on the roster wishing for portal transfers and such.  Give the players and coaches in the system a chance to show they are worth their rankings and salaries.  

I'm torn between lengthening the rope for Knowles or tightening the noose.  I want to give the guy a chance to develop the talent that is recruited.  I do not want to wait 4 years for the defensive backfield to be competent.  I didn't buy the "wizard" BS about Knowles any more than I did the "genius" BS about Tom Herman.  He puts his pants on one leg at a time like everyone else.  He also warned us that his defense gives up big plays from time to time.   Like someone said above, you either die slow or you die fast.   

Enter the plot twist:   The transfer portal/extra COVID year kids

If Ryan Day starts plucking one and dones out of the portal and Knowles plays them (ahem Tanner McAlister) in front of guys they recruited because they have real-game experience, how will OSU ever attract talented high school DB's?   They won't, and what will happen is that some years OSU will hit on portal guys and have a good defense, and other years they will miss and the defense will suck again.  This might be acceptable at Purdue or Illinois, but at OSU?  NO.  All the while...the top high school talent will go somewhere else.   The one and done BS will eventually catch up with programs (looking at you TTUN).  In two years when the COVID year stuff is done, the portal is going to look a helluva lot different.  Adding to that, those COVID year players now count towards the scholarship allotment starting fall 2023.  Try recruiting around that mess....

Listen...I know the portal is an important piece of the puzzle in the college football world today.  I just struggle with programs believing that they "must" have portal guys in order to stay ahead of their competition.  A program like OSU should NOT have to depend on portal guys to compete for the National Championship.  Recruit great kids and develop them.  Stop taking a crap on the kids that were recruited on the defensive side of the ball and have yet to be coached up to an even adequate level.  We do not need portal players, we need to develop the guys who have names on lockers in the Woody.   End of story.  

TLDR....Knowles needs to develop the talent in front of him.  His clock is ticking.  

If TCU and UM play 10 times, I would gather that UM would win 7/10 times.   Problem is, they only played once, and TCU brought their big boy game and beat UM up and down the field all night long   Sure, UM scored a bunch, but they also didn't score TD's when they should have, and that cost them the game.   

If OSU and UGA play 10 times, I believe they would split it 5/5.  IMO, they were that close in talent, coaching, and execution.  

The game has slowed for Cotie.  She's going to dominate the BIG for a long time.  Lady Bucks need Sheldon back ASAP.  

Brice is really fun to watch. One and done for sure, so we gotta enjoy him while he is here.

Not sure I'm ready to crown Kirby Smart as one of the greatest coaches of all time just yet.   He seems to get a pass, but maaaaan...for a lot of years he was outcoached and outplayed in big games.   Maybe all that is water under the bridge considering the recent recruiting run they have had there...we shall see I guess.  I know the dude can coach (and recruit), of that there is no doubt.   He too will face what coaches like Saban, Sweeny, Day, etc.etc. face every year with having to replace elite talent all across the roster.   

I think OSU can hang with Georgia, but like many others I think they have to score more than 30 to have a chance to win.  The offense has to give the defense time to recover, and ending drives in TD's instead of FG's is going to be a must.   I would like to see Ohio State run up-tempo and fast at times throughout the game, especially after big gains when they have the Dawgs on their heels.  OSU has nothing to lose...they are playing with house money.

Heart says:   OSU 45  UGA  35

Head says:  OSU 24  UGA  42

Beat Georgia