It feels like they canceled Christmas.
This trailer gives me the greatest case of blue bullets ever, but I just can’t stop watching it.
All the talent, coaching, and development benefits aside, check out this video if you want to know why the state of Ohio has been kicking Michigan up the ass for nearly two decades.
Master Teague is out there telling the Buckeyes, “We have a chance to get the upper hand against the boys up north.” 302 days before the game. Almost a year in advance, the state of Ohio was planning the murder of Michigan. It has been like this for as long as I can remember.
See, in Buckeye state, beating Michigan is an obsession. It’s a way of life. It’s almost psychotic. And it happens every fucking day. Every damn day. When game day is over, it’s just a formality. Michigan was sunk in February.
While I’m down that I can’t see my Buckeyes butcher Michigan like a ritual sacrifice on Saturday, part of me is at peace and knows damn well what the outcome would be.
But you can only put off the inevitable for so long. So reset that countdown clock and notify the Wolverines 2021. The horse chestnuts are coming to take back what is theirs.
353 days.
Word of the day: linger.
WHY IS THIS A DEBATE? “Should we instead be doing the utterly obvious good and right or the utterly inexplicably stupid? It’s really hard to say! A real brain teaser!” – The Big Ten, probably.
I have no idea how the hell it’s been almost a full day since the game was canceled, and there’s * still * a rule in the Big Tens books that keeps what is clearly the best team in the league from doing it, just because of it The conference to play for the championship enacted an arbitrary rule four months ago.
I’m sure it sounded good hypothetically, but this is how it plays out in real life:
If the state of Ohio could somehow play Michigan this weekend and lose to the 30-point underdog, they would still have been in the Big Ten title game. There’s no argument for Indiana or any other team in front of them.
– Jeremy Birmingham (@Birm) December 8, 2020
Yes, the Buckeyes could have lost 93 points to Michigan on Saturday and still headed straight to Indianapolis as the Big Ten East champion. But since the game was canceled – mind you through no fault of your own! – Ohio State is not eligible.
“Oh, so should the state of Ohio get special treatment just because it’s the state of Ohio?”
In no world is it “special treatment” to allow an undefeated team to win the division with a head-to-head win over the second-placed team. This is just common sense and it’s crazy that a rule has to be changed to make this happen.
PUNT OFF? This year’s game could be canceled, but the rivalry is certainly not dead. And luckily, that includes the wonderful Punter-Banter.
Required the fifth pair
– Drue Chrisan (@ DChrisman91) December 8, 2020
Sting? https://t.co/Dj7fEzX1Yt
– Brad Robbins (@__ BR91) December 8, 2020
I probably didn’t get a chance to stab this weekend so I have https://t.co/vA2rR5vSsk
– Drue Chrisan (@ DChrisman91) December 8, 2020
First off, Drue put Michigan’s entire team in a coffin with this tweet (plus, he’s not wrong). Second, I can’t even tell you how happy I would be to see a punting show between Ohio State and Michigan.
If Jim Tressel doesn’t get a VIP seat for this spectacle, I’ll sue someone.
MILLIONS ON THE LINE. Aside from being primarily obvious and completely logical, the Big Ten has a few million reasons why they might want to reconsider the six-game requirement that is currently keeping the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten championship game.
The Big Ten have financial incentives to help the state of Ohio improve its playoff resume. The Buckeyes are the conference’s best remaining chance on a playoff bid (by a large margin), and those bids come with a high payout. Last year the playoff committee distributed $ 6 million to every conference that brought a team to the semifinals.
…
In addition to the payoff in the semifinals, if Ohio does qualify for the playoffs, a second Big Ten team could be selected for a New Year’s Six game, adding an additional 4 million to the conference under last year’s payout US dollars. That could be from # 8 Indiana or # 15 Northwestern.
While this year’s payouts are still ongoing – Sportico reported in November that the total pool could fall 10% to 15% – the money could be even more important this year. The Big Ten have played significantly fewer games this season and are likely already losing TV revenue, on top of the tens of millions of ticket sales lost without live fans.
Far from expecting the Big Ten to be clearly and obviously correct, but it seems too crazy even for them to volunteer to ditch a $ 10 million chance with your membership programs that hemorrhage money in a global pandemic .
That being said, it’s a totally absurd thought that the Big Ten could potentially lose millions of dollars to even consider doing what is clearly the right thing to do regardless, but I think money talks.
JUST DO IT. When you talk about the playoffs, you know what would help ensure that the Ohio state playoffs resume more than one win at the Big Ten championship games against Northwestern? A win over a top 5 Texas A&M
And the state of Ohio would be the ultimate favorite.
Projected lines at a neutral point above @ _Collin1::
Texas A&M versus Ohio State (-11.5)
Coastal vs. Ohio State (-25.5) pic.twitter.com/xhuBNPPNk4
– The action network (@ActionNetworkHQ) December 8, 2020
In a perfect and perfectly sane world, the state of Ohio could be planning one of these games (Iowa State and Tulsa are also available) AND qualify for the Big Ten championship game.
Alternatively, you can give me one of these games this weekend and Michigan December 19th instead of a Big Ten West crossover game.
Folks, I just got fixed in 2020.
WILL YOU TRY AGAIN THE NEXT WEEK? Playing Michigan on December 19th may not be as pipe dream as I originally thought (admittedly, it’s 2020 – nothing should surprise me anymore).
It turns out if that was an option, Michigan would be interested.
“We’re going to make any adjustments from my point of view that we need to make. If we don’t and we make adjustments to our calendar and play Ohio State in the week of the 19th, that would be great from my point of view,” said Manuel. “We’ll play whoever is scheduled for us.”
Granted, with 45 (!!!) players reportedly unavailable in Michigan this week, there is no guarantee that they will be able to field a team next week.
But a blogger can dream, right?
DUBCAST FROM THE DEAD. You didn’t see it because I killed the post before we put a “Michigan Will Lose At 70” podcast in the middle of our The Game Is Canceled coverage, but on this week’s dubcast, Johnny and I did I got in Basically 45 minutes of talking about how Michigan was going to be put in jail by the Buckeyes, and there was nothing they could do about it – besides, you know, abandoning the game.
The episode was even eloquently titled “Jinxes Aren’t Real” because there wasn’t a ton of “bulletin board material” that would make a difference to the game. None.
So, if you want to waste 45 minutes of your boss’s time listening to two ignoramuses roam over a game that is not supposed to happen, now you have the link.
A GOOD TWEET EMERGES. I think this is a 1,000-word skull session right? That’s okay, I’m paid by the word (I absolutely don’t get paid by the word).
Anyway, few good things have come of yesterday’s canceled game, but one of them was this masterpiece from walk-in lineman Nathan Brock, who is now leaving Ohio unbeaten against Michigan.
– Nathan Brock (@ natebrock50) December 8, 2020
To be fair, you can credit this quote to anyone whose academic year began anytime after 2011, meaning two entire classes graduated without seeing a loss to Michigan.
Sounds good!
SONG OF THE DAY. “Blue Christmas” by Elvis Presley.
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