Phil Miller blog: Will Gophers ever compete with Meyer's Buckeyes?

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What I find interesting about the Meyer/Kill comparison was when Meyer spoke about health issues/coaching while announcing a game the day of the Kill feature on Gameday
 

I suppose it all depends upon whether Meyer's health allows him to continue coaching. Why, just a few years ago he had health concers (chest pains) that are sometimes associated with issues of the heart. He resigned for a day and then had a change of heart and finished the season out. Some folks at Florida would infer that it may have been affaris of the heart rather than heart issues that led to the hasty retirement followed by the change of heart and the return to coaching. He had one final disappointing season( by Gator standards) at Florida and then retired to the broadcast booth.

And, now: just after Michigan defeated the Ohio State University for the first time in a very long tme, Meyer is taking over the Buckeyes. It should be very interesting. the Ohio State University certainly has unlimited resources to pay a football coach and it is obvious that Big Ten University takes FOOTBALL very seriously. Unlike what b(s)jm and past prexy b did here at the U by going "on the cheap" with that brewster clown hire that destroyed the positive effect of the new stadium. So, most likely, OSU will continue to roll. The folks at that University really do know which sport NEEDS to be their flagship program. Football is KING at the Ohio State University. Michigan would also have football be KING at their school. I guess that the message SHOULD be that the chief revenue producing sport NEEDS to be VERY WELL taken care of...even at places like Michigan and the Ohio State University....will U of M administrators EVER "get it..."

; 0 (
 

According to what Lou Holtz said Meyer told him, he was worried the chest pains were going to be signs of the heart problems his father had (father passed a couple days ago, Holtz said, from those problems). His doctor told him while he was taking his break that it was just caused by indigestion.
 

zambam said:
According to what Lou Holtz said Meyer told him, he was worried the chest pains were going to be signs of the heart problems his father had (father passed a couple days ago, Holtz said, from those problems). His doctor told him while he was taking his break that it was just caused by indigestion.
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Same thing happened to Coach Generro and the Texas State Armadillos the week leading up to the big game against star LB "Flat Top" & the #1 Texas Colts in the smash comedy hit "Necessary Roughness."
 


I may eat my words here, but does anyone else think that Meyer may struggle at tOSU a bit due to sanctions issues and the fact that he is no longer recruiting FL kids to a FL school?

By struggle I mean Lloyd Carr type struggles, not Brewster type struggles (that is, Meyer may not reach the expectations of a demanding fanbase).
 

Better than Lloyd Carr but not by much. I think he wins a few more games a year based on being a better coach.
 

Lloyd Carr won a NC at Michigan...Bo Schembeckler NEVER did. So, by some measures, Carr accomplished a measure of respect for Michigan that Schembeckler NEVER did achieve. Also, Bo had a pretty miserable record in bowl games. He did, pretty much break even against the Ohio State University. Carr didn't do as well in that regard.

Michigan was pretty damn foolish to pretty much force Carr out...and...they PAID for it big time with their idiotic rich rod hire. Michigan just pretty much "...macturied" themselves with their inadequate rich rod hire....

The current Michigan coach had probably best break even against the OSU and Meyer had probably best at LEAST break even against Michigan. For those two schools, THE GAME is pretty much the end all and be all of the measure of success for their respective football programs.


; 0 )
 

I guess it kind of depends of what you mean by "compete". Head to head or in the standings? Wisconsin is 5-9 vs. Ohio State since 1994, but has been competitive in the standings.

With the new divisions, we will only play OSU twice every 8 years when the new 9-game conference schedule is implemented--2 out of 12 if the Big Ten goes to 14 teams*. If we could beat OSU once every 3 or 4 games, it would be great, but will hardly impact how we do overall in the Big Ten.

*assuming a second "protected game".
 



highwayman said:
With the new divisions, we will only play OSU twice every 8 years when the new 9-game conference schedule is implemented--2 out of 12 if the Big Ten goes to 14 teams*.
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Your math is off. With a nine-game schedule, we will play 5 intra-division games, and 4 inter-division games. Given that Wisconsin will always be one of those inter-division games, that leaves 3 games a year to rotate between the remaining 5 East division teams. Who knows how the rotations will work, but it would be at least twice every 4 years, and probably more frequently than that. Actually, given that there would be 30 games every 10 years to spread amongst those 5 teams, logic would dictate that they will set up the schedule so that we play each team 6 times in 10 years (6*5=30), and 6 in 10 is a lot more than 2 in 8.
 

Tubtastic said:
I may eat my words here, but does anyone else think that Meyer may struggle at tOSU a bit due to sanctions issues and the fact that he is no longer recruiting FL kids to a FL school?

By struggle I mean Lloyd Carr type struggles, not Brewster type struggles (that is, Meyer may not reach the expectations of a demanding fanbase).
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Meyer did very well at another Ohio school (BGSU) where he took over a 2-9 team and immediately went 8-3 and 9-3 before leaving for Utah. There he took an average mid-major team and went 10-2 and 12-0, tearing up the BCS standings. These places aren't recruiting magnets like Florida either. (Think about that in context of Kill saying he needs 4 years to even be competitive.) And he relatively turned things around at UF too. Zook had 3 5-loss seasons before Meyer came, and in 6 seasons he had three 13-1 records, and 5 losses was his worst record.

Granted these turnarounds were mostly not with his players, so it does not speak to recruiting, but it certainly validates his coaching ability. And are you kidding me, Ohio State is the one school in the B1G (after Michigan) that will never-aside from maybe some scholarship penalties-really have trouble attracting 4-5* athletes. You don't need to be a recruiting wizard to get a top 10-20 class at OSU.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Your math is off. With a nine-game schedule, we will play 5 intra-division games, and 4 inter-division games. Given that Wisconsin will always be one of those inter-division games, that leaves 3 games a year to rotate between the remaining 5 East division teams. Who knows how the rotations will work, but it would be at least twice every 4 years, and probably more frequently than that. Actually, given that there would be 30 games every 10 years to spread amongst those 5 teams, logic would dictate that they will set up the schedule so that we play each team 6 times in 10 years (6*5=30), and 6 in 10 is a lot more than 2 in 8.
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I think I must have had 14 teams and 8 conference games still stuck in my head (a concept which I really hate). The B1G already said there will likely be a second protected game. I guess we can make that assumption. That's 3 games among four teams, with a home-and-home every two:

Year 1: at 1, 2, at 3
Year 2: 1, at 2, 3
Year 3: at 2, 3, at 4
Year 4: 2, at 3, 4
Year 5: at 3, 4, at 1
Year 6: 3, at 4, 1
Year 7: at 4, 1, at 2
Year 8: 4, at 1, 2

That's 6 every 8. I stand corrected.

My guess on 2nd rivalry game: Mn/IL, Wis/Io, NW/Pur, MSU/PSU, OSU/Neb, Mch/Ind. I think Wis/Io and NW/Pur, maybe even Mn/Ill drive the bus on these rivalries; PSU/MSU was also an old pre-division rivalry game. The other two games are the only combo left with the other 4 (Mch already plays OSU).
 

We will never compete with tOSU and Michigan. I'll settle for Wis, Iowa and MSU on a regular basis. That should get us in a BCS Bowl game. Also, the way the BCS system is setup now our Gophers will never win another National Title. Look how far down Wisconsin is ( 17th) with two Hail Mary losses. The power points have shifted to the Southeast. Strive for what is reachable, not what is totally delusional.
 



The only way we will compete with Ohio State is in The Big 10 Conference Game, which should be a reasonable goal. Win the Divison.
 

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