Here for the Wins

Does honorable mention count?

That’s a reasonable measuring point for the preseason. It slightly highlights my point about UTSA/Texas St. If this were to hold, they are vastly better than the two Ohio State non-conference opponents once you remove Texas and OSU. The point about Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska is that they are likely to be similar to prior years. Iowa will likely be solid defensively and at Oline but likely fall to more talented teams with 1 upset mixed in. Similar for the other two. Michigan has a good but aging coach and has struggled offensively the past two years so it’ll be prove it in my opinion. I don’t believe our opponents are overwhelmingly talented, but they’re capable of presenting problems. Our opponents present more of a grind to the season.

Hampton is underappreciated. When you evaluate for college and pro career, he might have the best resume on the list. Believe he was an immediate impact player at both levels. 329 tackles, 54 tackles for loss. At Texas. Led the team in tackles two years in a row. 12 NFL seasons, 5 Pro Bowls. From afar, he was asked to play a different role in the NFL than what he played at Texas. And succeeded to a high degree. Mike Davis is the outlier on the list. Certainly, there’s no way he was better than Limas Sweed. Roy is 1. Shipley and Worthy are very close. Drop to #4. Ehlinger and Colt are underrated. Arch is TBD. The other 3 QBs is an incredible triumvirate if you needed a late score to win you the game. Of the RBs, I’m not sure how I rank the top 3 but Benson is 4th with a decent drop off from the first 3. Bijan and Earl had unique traits above Williams so maybe he’s 3. On that last column, Hill is a bit TBD, but the others are quite a choice. Thomas’s college career was more brief so maybe that sits him at the 3 spot.

How many blue bloods are there - 6, 8? And almost all those reside in two conferences, correct? College football isn’t just about my team so those teams from 10 to 25 scheduling each other in non-conference is important. I prefer home and home games in non-conference with smaller playoff pools. In this environment I don’t care for rematches in college football. The finality makes for more personal, intense games. That is a respectable schedule, but Illinois and Nebraska aren’t terribly difficult and Iowa has limitations. And Michigan the past two years has been rather pedestrian. I’d wager if you removed everyone’s toughest non-conference game, the Tx State/UTSA schedule would rank top 10 in terms of difficulty. They should not be threats but are better competition than we played last year.

I didn’t realize J Howe had that kinda power.

You’re looking at it from an Ohio State perspective. Teams that you expect to fall in the 10-25 range may lose out with an extra loss. For this year, it’s a decent chance that UTSA and/or Texas State are solid opponents. At least relative to SHSU, UTEP, etc. I would wager many strength of schedules give too much weight to the bottom quartile of the schedule.

Are you talking the horns or J Howe?

That was a lot of strikeouts. Finish them tomorrow

But I gotta say if Crossland only gets 1 batter let Walker try the next two guys.

The bullpens chance to shine. Walker? Uh ok.

Labor Day weekend is an ideal start.

Maybe. I think he rushed the passer on a higher percentage of pass plays in 2025 than 2024. He missed two games in 2025. It would require a deeper look, but the offense wasn’t as good in 2025 and likely our opponents offense in 2025 were better than 2024. We had more injuries in 2025 too. Again, it would require some drilling down but on a per game basis it could be his havoc rate was down in the run game, which could be that Collins/Broughton/Lole/Norton made that easier.

Stamina yes. But getting your ass handed to you by Leonard Davis then having to tackle Jamaal Charles in open space. And sticking with old guys, I’m not sure there would have been a place for Brandy Perryman on the football field.

This team has plenty of capable arms. Will that match the timing of use, the matchups and the rhythm? That’s the question. There aren’t enough games/innings to keep everyone primed and ready to go. It’s a tough ask for Winter. He had a long layoff then pitched this weekend and now starting a game. It shouldn’t be surprising he’s a bit all over the board in performance.

I’d challenge you here, but the narrative has been set in stone. Your last sentence implies that new defensive stuff was implemented. That’s in contrast to a point Will made about the defense being installed leading up to the season. Granted that’s Will, but I’d think most teams are this way. The biggest bust was the long Vandy TD. With backup safeties. That was also the Gruden/Pavia QB school “made the play up on the sideline.” There’s likely some plays that we’re calling “busts” whereas it was more discipline stuff and too much aggression towards the LOS so we get beat. There is a difference. People also ignore the matchups. Any discussion that is overly concerned about DB depth may be falling short of the full picture. I’m a Blitzburgh fan. Rod Woodson used to play off “a lot.” I wasn’t a fan but for different reasons than others likely think. It certainly wasn’t because Dick LeBeau was lacking in aggressiveness.

Me either. But it makes sense regarding the strength of schedule. One could easily have a different methodology on that. I think for certain midweek games should be categorized differently. I believe Vandy got a bump last year, as played out in the committes mind anyway, that propelled them based on their SEC tourney run even though every game they faced a further down the line starter than they threw.

Now that you mention it odds are way better in football. We should win it more often. I am not against you here. Just playing around. This team is fine. People blowing things out of proportion.

Dude, some team wins a title every year in every sport.

It’s probably the general consensus that anyone would take their top two guys. So surprise I guess.

So you’re comparing bottom of the order guys to top of the order guys?

Schloss needs to give the ump an earful on the zone. The hitters are too comfortable in dictating the zone.

You’re misplacing blame. Schloss was the guy who pulled Livingston after a double on the previous AB. Replacing him with a dude that’s hardly played. With a fast runner on 1st, being held on, you’ve got a hole for the hitter. Then Courville got the righty-righty matchup in top 8. Nevermind putting Larsen at 1st, which he hasn’t played. Oh did Larsen just miss a scoop?

That’s because all those other sports have been held down for so long.

Yet I’d rather see Diego Pavia succeed than Baker Mayfield. What does that say about me?

Some people just watch different games. For the past two years, Borba has been more inclined to let close ones go by than swing at grossly out of the zone ones. Now, I didn’t watch today.