Another ESPN Idiot on Michigan's Side

Let me copy and taste the article and then I will give my take on it. Here you go:

Ohio State, Michigan prove to be class of Big Ten

By Bruce Hooley
Special to ESPN.com

The Big Ten plays for its share -- OK, more than its share -- of goofy trophies, like a bronze pig, a spittoon, an oversized axe and a wooden turtle.

What then, to give Michigan for joining the unenviable fraternity of worthy national championship game participants hosed by the ever-changing-yet-still-never-getting-it-right Bowl Championship Series formula?

How about The Golden Screw?

Congratulations, Lloyd Carr and the Wolverines.

Hey, and while we're at it, let's give the Platinum Dagger to Bret Bielema and the boys up there at Wisconsin.

Here you go, guys, enjoy it … right between the shoulder blades.

In a year where the Big Ten could be celebrating a historic monopoly on the BCS title game participants, Michigan won't get the chance to play Ohio State for the national championship.

And Wisconsin, despite an 11-1 record, a No. 7 ranking in the BCS standings and a spot as high as fifth in the polls, won't get in any of the five most lucrative and prestigious bowls because no conference can have more than two participants. (And, because, well, you know, we gotta make room for Notre Dame and that snazzy 26-point loss to Michigan and impressive 20-point beat down by USC).

The Wolverines made a compelling argument all season that they were, indeed, the nation's second-best team.

Too bad they eventually were undone by several unpardonable sins:

• Losing by three points on the consensus No. 1 team's home field, where the third set of sod this season afforded the same secure footing an ice rink offers someone in tap shoes.

• Concluding its season by Nov. 18, thus giving Florida the chance to impress brain dead voters with a rout of the always-stuborn Division I-AA Western Carolina Kick-Me-Hards, and an Arkansas club in the SEC championship game that can't pass a lick.

• Refusing to engage in the same posturing of Florida coach Urban Meyer, who whined and complained about everyone from university presidents to poll voters when a Michigan-Ohio State rematch looked like a certain fallback if USC fell to UCLA.

Carr declined to go that route, saying it wouldn't be good for the game. He meant the entire sport, of course, while Meyer's look at the issue was more, shall we say, Gatorcentric.

Does anyone see the irony of Meyer successfully lobbying about the unfairness of an OSU-Michigan rematch, when the only national championship trophy in his program's history came courtesy of a rematch in 1996 after a regular-season loss to Florida State?

Let's see, what was the score back then? Oh, Florida State 24, Florida 21.

And about five weeks later in the Sugar Bowl it was Florida 52, Florida State 20.

Yeah, Urban.

You're right.

Rematches are so unfair.

Link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2688353

Notice that only Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin were brought up from the eleven team Big Ten conference. Why is that? Oh, let's just say that the other eight weren't too impressive this year. We have 8-4 Penn State whose only win against a team with a winning record was 8-5 Purdue. How many wins did the Boilermakers have against opponents with a winning record? Zero. There's 6-6 Iowa and Minnesota. Indiana finished 5-7, Michigan State and Northwestern at 4-8, and Illinois at 2-10. How many wins did 11-1 Wisconsin have against winning teams? Two. Who were they? Penn State and Purdue. If one were to look at the winning percentages of team's opponents, Wisconsin had the 114th toughest schedule in the nation (119 teams), as their opponents had a winning percentage of .401. Beautiful, isn't it? Yeah, we'll see how porous Arkansas' passing game is against the Badgers. They may not need to pass. That's the beautiful thing about it. Notre Dame, meanwhile, beat UCLA (7-5), Georgia Tech (9-4), Purdue (8-5), and Navy (9-3). Yeah, they got hammered by the likes of Michigan and USC. Wisconsin lost to Michigan, as well and only have two victories against weak conference opponents with winning records. I think Notre Dame is overrated, but they're more deserving of a BCS bowl than Wisconsin.

On to Michigan. Why do people have to point to the final score like that truly signifies how tightly Michigan played the Buckeyes all game long? Did these people actually watch the game? Excluding Michigan's first drive, which they scored a touchdown on, was there ever any doubt who was the better team and who had control of the game? If not for a phantom interference call on Michigan's final drive, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, because Michigan would've lost by a more indicative 42-31 score. Was it a good game? It was pretty good, but not the game of the century, the decade, the year, or even the week. Ohio State controlled the game from about midway in the first quarter through the rest of the game. They ran the ball all over the Wolverines defense. Troy Smith stepped it up when he had to. Ohio State lost the turnover battle by 3! Three! They turned it over three times compared to a goose egg for Michigan and still, the Buckeyes basically won by 11 points. Ohio State was and is the better team, plain and simple. So, why is there any need for a rematch?

Ohio State has appeared to be the best team in the country from start to finish this year. Do I think Florida, USC, Louisville, or LSU could beat them? I don't know, but Michigan was given a three turnover handicap and they still basically lost by two scores. They had their chance, were given plenty of opportunities, and lost the football game. It's time for someone else to get a crack at the Buckeyes.

What was with that final note of Hooley's? Yeah, the game back in 1996! That was ten years ago. This is Urban Meyer's second year at Florida. He had NOTHING to do with the program in '96. What, because he's a member of the Gators now, that makes him somehow responsible for all of its past history? The 62-24 loss to Nebraska? That rematch victory against Florida State? Recruiting the likes of Danny Weurffel, Reche Caldwell, and Alex Brown? What, should we start shouting out at Rich Rodriguez for things that happened during Don Nehlen's tenure at West Virginia? Jim Tressel in regard to John Cooper's years in Columbus? Who knows what Urban Meyer would've done or said back in '96 if he was in Gainesville. He wasn't in Gainesville. Geez. Oh, and this just in, Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan is reportedly getting fired for an embarrassing loss in Happy Valley a few years ago when Frank Solich led the team.