Redux
Donor
I let myself get my hopes up this year. We are 27-34 in 5 seasons. I'm not doing it again until it's justified. There's a 5 game stretch at the end of the year that we could very easily stumble through and come out with 1 or no wins.
Other Sad Teams
- Thread starter Guy Chamberlin
- Start date
I let myself get my hopes up this year. We are 27-34 in 5 seasons. I'm not doing it again until it's justified. There's a 5 game stretch at the end of the year that we could very easily stumble through and come out with 1 or no wins.
Husker in WI
New member
Cherry picking the years a little bit, but Michigan State is 26-24 over the last 4. Texas is 40-36 over the last 6. UCLA is 25-37 over the last 5. Michigan State and Texas have obviously been a bit better, but what inspires confidence with them?
Redux
Donor
MSU is cyclical. They have a down year every 2-3 then bounce back.
Texas....it's foing to click at some point.
UCLA is similar to Nebraska, Kelly will start churning out wins.
Miami looks closer than their record indicates I think.
RedSavage
New member
Husker in WI
New member
I'm a little less confident on MSU - that's 3 of the last 4 years they've been down, and the gap between them and even the second-tier east teams (PSU, Michigan) is growing. And I dunno about UCLA either - they've been down as long as us for the most part, and their recruiting last year and this year looks worse than ours. You're probably right about Texas and Miami, but man I hope you're wrong because I can't stand either of them.
junior4949
New member
My wife made this exact same comment. I can see him retiring, but I can't see Michigan State firing him. He's been the most successful coach they've had ever since the 60's.
Redux
Donor
He's a lifer. I would expect one more season though before he calls it quits. He should retire on a high note.
Landlord
Banned
Ohio State has had four losing seasons in the last 68 years. Two of them were in the 50's, one in '88 and one in 2011. They've...pretty much never had a single player graduate who wasn't on an elite team in their 4-5 years there.
They were bad in '92, and then from '94-99, so 3/4 of a decade.
Their worst coach ever and their worst "down" stretch ever got them 3 conference championships and 6 top 10 finishes in 13 years averaging 9 wins a year.
That'd be like Osborne retiring, us firing Solich, but then hiring Urban Meyer and continuing to dominate, then looking back on how god awful of a coach Frank Solich was and how dark of a time in program history that was :lol:
JJ Husker
Donor
I was commenting on the 50 year elite claim and you changed it to losing seasons. Tell me if these look like elite teams to you.
71 6-4
78 7-4-1
87 6-4-1
88 4-6-1
89 8-4
90 7-4-1
91 8-4
92 8-3-1
94 9-4
99 6-6
00 8-4
01 7-5
04 8-4
11 6-7
Maybe we have different criteria for what elite is.
Landlord
Banned
I think of it in terms of elite programs. They've never gone an entire recruiting cycle without having a top 10 team.
JJ Husker
Donor
Did they have a top 10 team in that 87 to 92 span? That's an entire recruiting cycle I believe.
junior4949
New member
I guess we have different parameters for being a top team for 50 years. In Cooper's 13 seasons as head coach, nearly 40% (38.46%) of the time his team finished the season unranked. In 13 seasons, NEVER once did his team play for a NC. We're splitting hairs here, but never once did his team win an outright B1G Championship. Those 3 you reference they split each and every time.
Since you brought it up, let's compare Cooper to Solich. Solich had just one season in which we finished unranked. Cooper finishes unranked nearly 40% of the time compared to Solich's roughly 20% of the time. Cooper never played for a NC. Solich played for a NC nearly 20% of his time at Nebraska. Solich won an outright Big 12 Championship while Cooper never won a B1G outright championship. Cooper finishes in the top 10 roughly 40% of the time. Solich finishes in the top 10 50% of the time. I don't know about you, but I don't consider what Cooper did as keeping Ohio State at the top for five decades.
We are also overlooking the season Fickell coached Ohio State to a losing record where they finished unranked. The original post said Ohio State has been at the top for 50 years. I don't know how you define at the top, but I don't consider finishing a season unranked at the top. I would consider top 10 finishes at the top. Cooper finished the season unranked several times. Fickell also accomplished this feat.
In the last 50 years, Ohio State has won 3 NCs. We have won 5. Neither program needs to hang their head in shame. Both have done remarkably well in the past 50 years. However, it's both naïve and not true either team has been at the top for 5 decades. It must also be noted that we have never had to vacate wins. We have also never requested the resignation of a coach for violating NCAA rules. We've also never had a post season ban. One must also note that Earl Bruce also coached at Ohio State in the last 50 years. Again, he wasn't a bad coach but more of a Bo Pelini type coach. Very seldom did he find himself at the top.
Landlord
Banned
Fair enough on the specific distinctions between Solich and Cooper. I'll just say three quick things, I don't think in 'opposition' to the point but disclaimers of the point:
1. It's hard to win a conference outright without a championship game. How many of Osborne's conference championships were outright?
2. I don't consider a single season unranked as being 'at the top', or even a few, but I consider having 13 unranked seasons out of 66 and never more than 3 in a row as being at the top and pretty consistently dominant.
3. in the last 50 years OSU has won 3 NCs, but in the last 65 they've won 7. I know you have to draw a line somewhere but that's not really a point either way for either team imo.
4 (Bonus). The postseason ban and resignation for Tressel was absolute bulls#!t and the NCAA is a joke.
5 (Bonus2). You can't compare a coach who finished in the top 10 five out of six years and won three conference championships (disclaimer that they weren't outright, but also weren't forced to be outright) to Bo Pelini.
tl;dr they've had minor down spells, but nothing as long or as pitiful as pretty much any other blue blood that exists. They've been the most consistent over 50-60+ years in a way that just seems unfair and improbable :lol:
1. It's hard to win a conference outright without a championship game. How many of Osborne's conference championships were outright?
2. I don't consider a single season unranked as being 'at the top', or even a few, but I consider having 13 unranked seasons out of 66 and never more than 3 in a row as being at the top and pretty consistently dominant.
3. in the last 50 years OSU has won 3 NCs, but in the last 65 they've won 7. I know you have to draw a line somewhere but that's not really a point either way for either team imo.
4 (Bonus). The postseason ban and resignation for Tressel was absolute bulls#!t and the NCAA is a joke.
5 (Bonus2). You can't compare a coach who finished in the top 10 five out of six years and won three conference championships (disclaimer that they weren't outright, but also weren't forced to be outright) to Bo Pelini.
tl;dr they've had minor down spells, but nothing as long or as pitiful as pretty much any other blue blood that exists. They've been the most consistent over 50-60+ years in a way that just seems unfair and improbable :lol:
Guy Chamberlin
Active member
Might as well add Michigan to this list.
They are 9-3 and will probably go to a nice-sounding bowl game, but they are less happy with Harbaugh now than we were at the end of Pelni's run. They live and die by how they play Ohio State, and that's getting to be ritual humiliation, even without Urban on the other side.
Rumor mill says Harbaugh is looking for a way out, and Michigan fans won't miss him.
They are 9-3 and will probably go to a nice-sounding bowl game, but they are less happy with Harbaugh now than we were at the end of Pelni's run. They live and die by how they play Ohio State, and that's getting to be ritual humiliation, even without Urban on the other side.
Rumor mill says Harbaugh is looking for a way out, and Michigan fans won't miss him.