Well I was just trying to compare the coaches, head to head. There's no doubt your LSU squad is an amazing group of athletes and football players.
#25 Ohio State was favored to beat NR Oklahoma State. But that is funny that there were OSU fans panicked by little tiny Oklahoma State.
The AP poll ranked Ohio State #25 and Okie State didn't make the top 25. Obviously, AP voters felt Ohio State was the better team. One thing I wonder is who is more accurate at predicting the favorite -- the polls or Vegas? As I've shown elsewhere, the polls have been doing a much better job than Vegas of predicting the winner of the BCS National Championship games since the inception of the BCS. Anyway, I can't see how Okie State being a 4 point favorite by Vegas translates to "[Oklahoma State] was supposed to destroy us."
Its a good question to ask, vegas or the AP poll. Try this on for size: do you think we're a better team than LSU (seeing we're #1). My bet is you, and about 95% of the country, would say no. Side note, the Alamo Bowl is not a BCS bowl, so that point is irrelevant. Also, Okie state "destroying us" was the media's prediction going into that '04 Alamo Bowl. Much in the way LSU is going to "destory" us. But, as you pointed out earlier, the comparison begins and ends with the coaches. These are two completely different squads.
I expected LSU to finish the regular season between 8-4 and 10-2. I wasn't surprised at all by our losses to Kentucky and Arkansas. When I found out we were playing Ohio State for the NC, I didn't form an opinion on OSU until I started researching them. With all the research I've done so far, I've felt that LSU and OSU are pretty evenly matched. I've even found an article that agreed with some of my conclusions, an article written by a guy who has spent his entire adult life as a college football analyst, Will Harris of ESPN. This is what he wrote: ------------------------------------ "the [two teams are] basically the same. ... both feature tons of NFL talent ... Every fundamental and statistical matchup and detail will be dissected between now and kickoff, claiming dozens of slight advantages for each side. In the end, no one will uncover an edge that can be safely considered significant. ... As with nearly all national title games, these teams are evenly matched. If both teams play at the same level, it will be a stalemate that's too close to call. Usually that means the game will be won by the minds ... Both teams obviously want a win, but who wants it enough ... For Ohio State, the stakes are ... higher. The Buckeyes are playing for the respect of the nation, respect that would already have been granted to most programs with 55 wins, a national title and four BCS appearances in the previous five years. For many fans, though, the Buckeyes' embarrassment at the hands of Florida last year simply confirmed their long-held conviction that Ohio State isn't any good, that the Big Ten isn't any good, and that football players from the North are fat and slow. ... For the Buckeyes players and coaches, this game is more than an opportunity ... to erase the effects of the worst day of their lives [the loss to Florida in the NC game last year]. A chance at national-title redemption doesn't come around very often for a given group of players, and when it does those players usually perform in a way that reminds us that atonement is a powerful motivator. Remember Florida's dismantling of Florida State the year after the Tommie Frazier beatdown? Ohio State will play the very best game it can possibly play. That will be more than enough to win. Ohio State 24-9 ... I like James Laurinaitis for MVP. Laurinaitis' versatility is his best asset. An outstanding tackler, he can play the middle, run sideline to sideline, pressure the quarterback and drop into coverage. He profiles as the type of well-rounded defender who could theoretically be involved in nearly every play. Odds are that could turn out to be more than theory. This guy has Butkus and Nagurski trophies, and The Professor will have him so coached-up he'll seem to be in exactly the right spot all game. ... Don't overlook the fact that between his time at Youngstown State and Ohio State Jim Tressel has already coached in a whopping eight national title games, winning five. I'd say he understands the drill by now. ------------------------------------ Although Will Harris hasn't been perfect in all his bowl predictions this year, it is interesting to note that he predicted Michigan to beat Florida 34-31, and that he predicted Kansas to beat Virginia Tech, 30-20. However, regarding Will Harris' prediction of a blow-out win by Ohio State, he didn't take into account that LSU has the home field advantage, which is huge (go look up home records and road records of any team and you will see that every team plays much better at home). Anyway, as for your bet that 95% thinks LSU will win, I don't know. I'd like to see a list of all the top college football analysts and see who each of them thinks will win between LSU and Ohio State. I seriously doubt 95% of them would pick LSU to win.
95 percent might be a stretch. Is Harris from Ohio? Wow, thats a bold prediction on his part. Im as diehard a Buckeye fan as they come, but I know better than to think this will be a blowout. This is going to be a hardfought game, and will be decided in the trenches.
Harris is from Alabama, specifically from Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- home of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. I image he grew up loving Bear Bryant and fell in love with college football and devoted his life to it. You could say that he picked Ohio State to beat LSU because he is a Alabama homer that hates LSU, but he did predict Colorado to beat Alabama this year, 34-24.
Oklahoma St. was the Vegas favorite because that was the first game of Troy Smith's suspension for taking money from a booster. Our starting QB was Justin Zwick who began the year as our starter and had lost to Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The news about Troy being suspended didn't come out until after the final regular season AP poll.
