According to many college football analysts the most difficult part of coaching a college football team is keeping a bunch of passionate, emotional young men stable and focused week in and week out. In many ways the losses Ohio State and Michigan suffered the week before The Game are a reflection of that. Each team knew that win or lose on November 10th, they could secure a Big Ten Championship and at least a ticket to the Rose Bowl by winning on November 17th. No matter what motivational ploys you use, its hard to keep people who think they've already won from finding a way to lose. And find a way to lose they did.
Now I have already rehashed the previous games enough, so don't worry I won't be looking back today. Instead I will talk about the cardinal sin of sports, looking ahead. Former coaches, athletes, and sports experts of all stripes will describe for you the dangers of looking ahead in such painful detail that you would think no opponent's strategy has ever done as much damage to a team as thinking about next week. This may be part of the reason why Buckeye and Wolverine fans alike are so totally focused on winning just The Game and not letting thoughts of future games distract them from their hated rivals. So any wise football fan will avoid thoughts of what might come after The Game. There is no after The Game. The Game is its own miniature football apocalypse. Don't even think about the conse. . .
Y'know what screw it. At the risk of being hoisted by my own Picard, I will use this post to look ahead a little. I realize for fans there is generally bad karma involved with thinking past the next opponent, but I think I can counteract that. First I am a graduate of both schools so the forces of nature probably wouldn't know which side to punish for my hubris (we Buckerines are a rare breed, so they won't have much experience dealing with us). Second I will look at the possible ramifications for both teams for both a win and a loss. Finally I will freely acknowledge that my pathetic ramblings and missives don't count a serious analysis and can therefore need not be rebuked merely ignored.
That having been said let's look at store for . . .
Michigan if they win- Since my coin flip came up Michigan this year, this is the situation I have been hoping for ever since their embarrassing two game losing streak to open the season. With a victory Michigan goes from joke to conference champion in just ten weeks. Suddenly they have the chance to earn respect from the rest of the nation after months of doubting and dismissal.
This would also give Lloyd Carr the perfect platform on which to announce his retirement. Beating Ohio State one more time would give him a winning record against the Buckeyes. A final bowl victory would end his terrific, if recently troubled, career on a high note.
One unfortunate scenario involves the traditional Rose Bowl opponent, the Pac-10 champion, makes it into the BCS championship game (very likely since as I write this Oregon currently leads the Pac-10 and is No. 2 in the BCS standings) and Michigan can only triumph over an at-large opponent of less prominence, therefore reducing the redemption factor Michigan would earn beating both OSU and their bowl opponent to end the year for the first time since 2000. Of course that might lead some to speculate that Michigan could easily suffer another bowl game humiliation resulting in Coach Carr's exit looking more like a retreat than a ride into the sunset. Again I am premising this on the idea that the Wolverines are focused and driven enough to put it all together once. They would then have a month and a half to perfect their games for that last victory. Another bowl loss is much more likely for the Maize and Blue in the next scenario.
Michigan if they lose- First of all it makes it a little bit more uncertain if Carr retires. After failing to beat Ohio State for the fourth straight time, one would imagine some small amount of ego or personal pride inside that curmudgeonly old soul of his would demand to get a last chance to end his career with a win against the Bucks. Though as Brian of MGoBlog points out all indications are that his retirement is imminent. That means the team will be left trying to get one last victory for the sake of vanity in a lower tier bowl.
It is even pretty dicey as to what bowl they might land in. Bowl projections are a tricky game and opinions can easily differ about what exact bowl a particular team will find itself in. Still Michigan having already suffered through a tough season might not be seen as a hot commodity with two straight losses to end the year. Though they travel well, a bowl like the Capitol One Bowl might prefer Illinois to draw in their fired up fan base and match them up with Florida Ron Zook's former team (very former for some fans). This could mean the Wolverines slide down the bowl ladder ending up anywhere from the Outback Bowl, to the Alamo Bowl, to the Champs Sports Bowl. If Michigan begins and ends its regular season with symmetrically heart breaking losing streaks, it may be hard to get the team fired up for one last hurrah. After all if the desire not to go 0'fer against OSU doesn't fire up seniors Henne (QB), Hart (RB) and Long (OL), then the thought of going 0'fer in bowls may not do much either.
Ohio State if they lose- While Ohio State would have certainly fallen a long way from their projected status as BCS title contenders just last week if they lose to Michigan, not many Ohio State fans could really express that much honest disappointment in a 10-2 regular season. Plus, given Ohio State's high position in the current BCS rankings, they could still remain eligible for a BCS bowl berth. The same problem about taking a team on a losing skid does apply to OSU, however it isn't as bad when you consider that two game streak represents all their losses of the season. The Buckeye faithful have shown time and again that they will support their team wherever they go. If other traditionally attractive teams like Texas, USC, Notre Dame, Tennessee, and Florida aren't eligible to go, then we may have a great many BCS bowls looking for a team with a fan base the size of the Buckeyes. (Just so you know, Michigan can't make it to the BCS bowls without beating OSU because otherwise the wouldn't have the requisite nine wins.) So right now it seems like the absolute worst case scenario for the Buckeyes is the Capital One Bowl and an early New Years Day game.
Ohio State if they win- Here a Rose Bowl berth is actually the lower option available. With only one loss Ohio State is very practically still in contention to make the BCS championship game. It would only make sense since history shows us that at least one of the teams ranked 1 or 2 in the initial BCS rankings make the title game. Ohio State started as the top team and remains in contention, while original number two South Florida has completely fallen off the radar. Before you assert that the history books will be rewritten with this season consider the following: all that stands between Ohio State and playing for a championship for the second straight year are three games and the Buckeyes only need to win one of them. Remember first of all that sitting above OSU right now in the BCS standings are three teams from the Big XII that still have to play each other in a round robin of death. With at least one loss coming up for two of those three teams, that means Ohio State, currently No. 7, will be at least in the top five. It gets interesting when you consider that OSU actually has the advantage over two teams ranked above it in the computer polls. So if Oklahoma struggles down the stretch or the voters can't choose between Ohio State and West Virginia OSU will move up by virtue of Hal 9000 and all his cold, heartless machine buddies. That means OSU is really only looking for one of the current top two teams (LSU and Oregon) to be upset in this the season of upsets and for one other lousy game to strike Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kansas, or Missouri. If two of those teams go down, and all of them still have multiple challenging games ahead, then Ohio State could easily slip right back into the championship game much to the outrage of Big Ten bashers everywhere. Failing that a chance for Jim Tressel to win his first Rose Bowl isn't a bad consolation prize.
So that's what I imagine each team will have to deal with following The Game. If the crazy forces of college football fate and chance somehow manage to ruin the season for both these teams, then just blame the Buckerine I couldn't stay focused on next week alone.
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