THE WEEKEND IN REVIEW: ZOMBIE HEAD--CHECK.

Beavers wear out Trojans; Remainder of season pregnant with possibilities!

If you look at the makeup of the current Ohio State coaching staff, it would seem that the coordinators are likely to stay as career assistants. Other assistant coaches may leave, but not Heacock or Bollman. That leads me to believe that they may have some staying power at the top of the heap. However, replacing Troy Smith will not be as easy as replacing Carson Palmer with Matt Lienart.

First we had ‘beaver jokes’, now we have ‘bizarro superman says you’re welcome’. The tags alone make it gold, jerry, gold.

But will replacing Troy Smith be as hard as replacing Vince Young?

This is the only place on the internet where you can get bizarro Superman and links to the Economist in the same post. Well done, gents!

Speaking of the The Orgeron, did you hear Brent Saunders bashing Ole Miss for getting rid of Cutcliffe? Said it was the worst and most inexplicable coach firing in years.

Colt has held his own quite well since stepping into Vince’s shoes. Check out his numbers compared to leading Heisman candidate Troy Smith:

http://burntorangenation.com/story/2006/10/30/4192/6558

Turns out it was harder replacing Michael Huff. The secondary is Texas’ achilles heel.

Three losses in four years, by a total of eight points, is virtually violating the laws of nature. It’s impossible to sustain. But there are structural issues that go beyond youth and injuries. You already mentioned the coaching.

Their D-Line doesn’t have the same level of talent. People compare this year to ‘03 (Matt, Lendale, and Reggie’s first). That team had six D-lineman that are on NFL rosters now. There are no Troy Polamalu’s or Lofa Tatupu’s on this team; leaders who aren’t prototypical 5-star recruits. Last thursday, David Newberry, former punter / now commentator mentioned that the team hasn’t been the same at practice for two years now. Leinart’s class was the last one to experience the 6-6 season. An unhealthy arrogance develops with that success.

I don’t know where this year’s team will finish. I suspect next year it’ll be top three. Experience, talent (and of course, health) should guarantee it. But all the ingredients that make you THE team in CFB, I don’t know if they’ll all converge for us again in the near future. Nevertheless, it’s been a great ride. Every true fan deserves a ride like this. After surviving the 80’s and 90’s, I’m greatly appreciative.

Screw Brent Saunders. And John Saunders,too, for that matter.

Nevertheless, it’s been a great ride. Every true fan deserves a ride like this. After surviving the 80’s and 90’s, I’m greatly appreciative.

Amen to that. When I think back to sitting watching SC lose to Fresno State in 92 at the Freedom Bowl, not knowing how mediocre the next few years were going to be, I’m sure as hell not going to complain now.

D’oh! Brain lapse. JOHN Saunders. Thanks, RCR.

During the Viet Nam war, actual headlines said:

“Nixon Firm On Pullout”

I suppose the same might be said of Mr Bush only with humorously ironic undertones.

Given the zombie theme, wouldn’t Solomon Grundy have been a much more appropriate supervillian drop-in?

No problem, Jack. But I will say this about John Saunders: he’s an idiot. Several things make his opinion on football related topics worthless for me:

1. He works for ABV/ESPN
2. He’s Canadian
3. He played college hockey.

for a good look at things, here’s an article from the memphis commercial appeal that’s actually fairly written.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/football/article/0,1426,MCA_478_5102145,00.html

SeaTrojan, I think you hit the nail on the head by pointing to a lack of true leadership on the team. There are really no strong senior leaders on the team who know what it’s like to lose. I know this sounds like a weak excuse, but I think this is a key reason to our troubles this year (along with some poor play calling and of course poor play).

We have a team of top talent who likely didn’t lose much in high school, now on a team that hasn’t lost much in the past 3 years. I think some have an unrealistic attitude that they can just show up and win. We found out that isn’t the case this weekend.

I still believe we’ll finish strong this year and be back in contention next though.

I’ll still take this SC team over any from the Smith/Hackett/Tolner era.

oops…typo. Saunders works for ABC/ESPN. And his opinion is still without value. And he’s still Canadian.

I think the coaching brain drain also explains the demise of FSU and Miami as well, though theirs is more dramatic. Losing Mark Richt just killed FSU and Coker got rid of a lot of excellent assistants.

Spurrier used to not-so-subtly point out the importance of coaching when we wondered out loud how Ray Goff was such a good recruiter but Florida whipped them every year. The talent levels were just the same, but the coaching at Florida was so much better.

And we are seeing the same thing with Cutcliffe back at Tennessee now — he really makes a difference.

And this is why I’m pleased with Urban Meyer — he’s still learning how to succeed in the SEC, but I’m sure he has made a difference and will continue to do so.

You could bring up Michigan’s old and new defensive coordinators to back up that point about assistant coaches, too.

“I’m not a zombie, but hey, when in Rome…” —Barney Gumbel

When you typed “Brent Saunders” I figured you were combining the two-headed monster of Brent Musberger and John Saunders.

Sort of a rhetorical question here, but which one is worse (Ohio State & Michigan fans need not answer)?

clarification needed:

Brent Musberger::Big 10 as Keith Jackson::Pac 10

It wouldn’t be the same without Musburger saying “Big House” and “pardner” 47 times during a Michigan game he’s announcing.

Geax Irish,

You hit the nail on the head. But Keith Jackson didn’t suck total ass in the booth and get knee pads out for individual players like Musburger.

I hate that guy.

this win is really a sign of how great this year’s Ohio State team is. They are so good, their goodness is spilling over to all the other OSUs.

The northern couch burners are tOSU. Always dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

Well said SeaTrojan. And one of the reasons we don’t have senior leadership on the team is that most of the players who would have been seniors (besides the obvious Bush and White) are now playing on Sundays. Every team that wins the MNC needs luck to do it. SC’s ran out on Saturday, but nobody ever gets all the breaks.

This game could be the spark that sets off another run like the Cal loss in 2003. Or we go down the tubes and lose another 2 or 3 games down the last stretch. At this point though the Rose Bowl and a top 5 finish are very realistic goals to shoot for. And that isn’t bad in such a rebuilding/reloading year.

Rex Cramer #15 and OC Phil,

Clarification: I said they don’t have ’leaders", not “senior leaders”. Grootegoed, Polamalu, Cody, were leaders before their senior year. Tatupu was a leader by the end of his first game at Auburn. Leinart and Mike Williams were leaders by the middle of their sophmore year. I see a bunch of athletes running around without an intrinsic sense of what their exact role or assignment is…and this is BEFORE they get faked out by a wily receiver or checked off by an upperclassman QB.

Carroll is a great coach with the right mindset to shorten the ebb after this four year flow. I believe he has the adaptability to challenge an “inevitable decline”. There are issues that will take more than just “tightening things up” if they’re going to get back to the previous four years. I look forward to seeing PC’s response to the challenge.

Valid points on the leadership issue, but it can be hard to gauge that from afar sometimes. The internal dynamics of a team are not always obvious. The whole team being so young is a big part of the leadership void I think.

And I’d certainly trust Pete Carroll in this situation to get the team back into MNC contention next year (and while it is a longshot it is not impossible for the team to still make the game this year with one loss, but a ton of things would have to happen). The team looks a whole lot better than they did when he took over. There is no need for any freaks with OCD to be starting up a “TrojansNation” site calling for PC’s firing.

19-0!

To hell with the Huskers, and thanks for the mention. I can’t believe ASU hasn’t had a great win in 10 years. Oh well, back to .500 football and my precious scotch. I love scotch, scotchy scotchy scotchy.

ASU is the worst big-game team ever.

As Fukuyama rightly observes, forecasting the end of history is a problematic exercise. Nonetheless, there is undoubtedly a clear directional trend of current events.

USC lost, it may lose again this year, but their presence will be felt for the coming years given their inherent advantages of coaching and talent. . . . If PC leaves, however, all bets are off.

I disagree with those that say the Trojans have no leaders. I think Ryan Kalil is a solid leader on this team. We just do not have enough leaders. All things being equal I would settle for a fullback right now. I wonder why Bradford didn;t get any time?

carrol needs to bench washington. He wasn’t touched at all on one fumble and barely was touched on the other. Moody has a much better burst.