ESPN: First 2019 Way-Too-Early Top 25

I don't expect OSU to take a huge step back this year. 2011 was a complete dumpster fire for them, this is just a slightly awkward handoff coaching wise. I don't necessarily think Day can keep them at their current level, but who knows. Fickell wouldn't have gone 6-6 with this years team.

 
@Husker in WI What, you think Fickell inherited a bare cupboard or something? Ohio State went from 12-1 (Sweater Vest) to 6-7 (Fickell) to 12-0 (Meyer). Fickell probably would have went 6-6 with this year's players, too.

 
No, obviously there was a ton of talent there. But that team just quit - plenty of the blame goes to Fickell for that, but there's a difference between your coach and several star players being removed from the team, and your coach stepping down and appointing his successor. That second piece doesn't always work well, so I guess we'll see. We have no idea how good/bad of a coach Day is but he doesn't need to be elite for OSU to win 10 games a year, at least as long as he has Meyer's talent pool.

Fickell is actually the reigning AAC coach of the year, so he seems to have rebounded well enough. Interestingly Day has about as much experience as Fickell did, so maybe it will be the same situation.

 
Husker in WI said:
there's a difference between your coach and several star players being removed from the team, and your coach stepping down and appointing his successor.
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Main difference this time around is that the NCAA wasn't involved, so they could let Meyer stick around for the rest of the season and make it look sorta vaguely like he left voluntarily...

 
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LumberJackSker said:
Ranking Nebraska in the top 20 is no worse than ranking Michigan in the top 10.
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this is the hottest and most hilarious take in this thread

Toe said:
@Hilltop 5-star talent didn't help Luke Fickell much.
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Fickell's only job was to not make the program explode. Everyone in the state and the locker room knew it was a throwaway season from the start, with the only goal of managing to keep the ship afloat for just long enough to let someone else come in and captain it again. So, nobody really cared.

 
I thought Oklahoma would fall of when Stoops left.  Since then they've had two playoff appearances and two Heismans.  I really really want Ohio State to take a step back but they probably will do so slowly.  Smooth transitions are surprisingly helpful.

 
Landlord said:
this is the hottest and most hilarious take in this thread

Fickell's only job was to not make the program explode. Everyone in the state and the locker room knew it was a throwaway season from the start, with the only goal of managing to keep the ship afloat for just long enough to let someone else come in and captain it again. So, nobody really cared.
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I remember having a discussion online with an OSU fan - the guy was actually very worried about playing Illinois and I had to calm him by showing how much of a paper tiger they (Illinois) were to start the season.

That being said, count me in as someone who doesn’t think they’ll skip a beat under Ryan Day, and may actually improve.  Guess we’ll see.

 
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