Should Ohio State cancel the 2003 football season? Just forfeit all of our games and be done with it? (m)


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By ScriptOhio on 18:24:33 08/24/03

With the incipient suspension of Maurice Clarett, I think Ohio State has to give some thought to dropping football for a season. After all, according to college football fans all over the country (not to mention commentators on FOXSports and ESPN), Ohio State is essentially a one-man team. And that one man, being guilty of crimes that probably warrant a U.N. tribunal a la Nuremburg (again per the intelligent and reasoned jabbering of fans from aroundt the country), will be unavailable for anywhere from two to seven games.

In those seven Clarettless games, Ohio State faces the following unbeatable opponents:

Washington: here, in its season opener, Ohio State will be faced with a team that lost eight starters (and its head coach) from last year's stellar 7-6 squad. You have to ask yourself, how can Ohio State hope to slow down, much less stop, a team that managed the following:

  • Almost 1,000 yards of rushing offense in 13 games
  • A loss to Purdue in its bowl game
  • Big non-conference road wins over... well, nobody, but they played Michigan tough at Michigan and Michigan is a Big Ten team and since so is Ohio State, that automatically means Ohio State is in trouble since we're the home team.
  • A big, fast receiver (Reggie Williams). You remember how many touchdowns teams like Miami (Andre Johnson) and Michigan (Braylon Edwards), teams with big fast receivers, piled up against OSU last year.

    Wow. That's a definite forfeit.

    San Diego State: should Ohio State choose to play and lose to Washington, the following week's game features the Aztecs of SDSU. This is a 4-9 team that returns 13 starters. Obviously, they are a shoo-in to win at Ohio Stadium like all those other non-conference opponents over the past 20 years-- Southern Cal, and... well, just Southern Cal. But remember, Buckeye fans: San Diego is in California also.

    Another sure loss. Very disappointing.

    North Carolina State: there's no sense going into detail on this one. In 1946, Ohio State was beaten by 52 points by Michigan in Ohio Stadium. NCSU will approach that margin easily-- after all, they have a good senior QB, a good sophomore running back, and 12 returning starters. What else do you need to win a road game against the defending national champions?

    At this point, Ohio State will be 0-3, unranked, and unloved even by Buckeye parents (even the ones driving leased SUVs). Now I ask you: is there any reason to subject these young men, or ourselves, to the unavoidable losses to Mighty Bowling Green, Northwestern, and Wisconsin that would surely follow?

    I don't think so. I think it's time that we, as Buckeye fans, heed the cogent advice of the fans of the rest of the country: we were lucky to go 14-0 last season, the team wasn't any good anyway, we've lost our best player who is overrated anyway, none of our 17 starters could possibly have gotten any better, and we play three games in the first six weeks that feature opponents who would give the Tampa Bay Bucs fits.

    It's hopeless. We don't even have to play the games to know that our luck has run out. The best thing for the Ohio State University would be to just give up on football this year and wait til next year.

    After all, the rest of the country thinks so. And when was the last time they were wrong about Ohio State football?


    Edited by original poster [18:27:38 08/24/03]


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