Re: 2012 D1 BCS thread
Man, that second half was horrible. Once Robinson scored his TD, OSU seemed to know exactly what he was going to do.
Robinson showed great athleticism on the long TD, but the truth is that either of two Buckeye defenders should have wrapped him up. While the gain would have been substantial, the play probably would have been forgotten with a sound tackle. Instead, both defenders tried to blow him up and wound up taking each other out of the play. But for the stakes involved, it would have been almost comical.
Seems like Al could have been a lot more creative with the pair in at the same time.
Agree with you and J.D. on this, and yet I wonder: How much more was really available in the bag of tricks? Two quarterbacks on the field at the same time? At first blush, that sounds like unlimited possibilities. But when it became clear that Denard couldn't throw, period -- the range of options became more normal. Also, remember that Michigan was forced into the two quarterback scheme a few games ago due to the elbow injury. It's not like they spent an entire season devising a complex system to harness the talents of two very different QB's.
Finally, Toussaint's unavailability at RB further served to limit the options. No disrespect to the back-up, but it seemed that Toussaint was badly missed.
Oh, well. OSU played killer D in the 2nd half- enough that they were in position to be way up- but Michigan's bendable D held in for just 6 points- they did pretty well, all things considered.
Agreed. From my vantage point, Michigan was trying to pull a mild upset. Throughout the second half the Wolverines were one big play away from doing so. Playing it close to the vest seems justifiable under those circumstances. Had they gone high risk, high reward, I'm guessing the Buckeyes would have capitalized on turnovers earlier in the proceedings. As it was, the Wolverines lost the turnover battle anyhow. But that's something you can only know in hindsight.
As someone who was in the stands, I can tell you that watching that game was a nerve-wracking experience. The stadium was louder for Nebraska, and for the matter louder for the comeback against Purdue. This one was sufficiently stressful the players felt the need to urge the crowd on. Not at all what you'd expect for 'The Game.' Although I felt the Buckeyes were the slightly stronger team throughout, I never felt safe until Hyde's First Down with 1:28 left. And even then the dominant emotion was relief rather than jubilation. I know there are no moral victories in the rivalry, but I give Michigan a ton of credit for staying in the game until the very end.
Last but not least, the stout defenses of the second half were actually more representative of the long-term rivalry than the higher octane play of the first half. While the play calling down the stretch can legitimately be second guessed, the real bottom line is that we saw classic Ohio State/Michigan Football in the second half.