Two seasons ago the Ohio State Buckeyes, who so many inexplicably adore, marched through an extremely weak non-conference schedule and a weak Big Ten schedule to finish the regular season #1...Ask Florida how that ended up?
This past season they started off with a Y-A-W-N of schedule once more. (Youngstown, Akron, Washington, Northwestern) After beating exactly zero teams that finished in the top 15 of either poll and only 2 in the top 25 they somehow again are awarded a #1 ranking at the end of the regular season. Ask LSU how that ended up.
Ohio State has perpetually scheduled weak Ohio schools to play: Miami(oh) in'05, Cincinnati and Bowling Green in '06, Youngstown State, Akron, and Kent State in '07.
To put it simply...They recently have not played or beaten any top tier teams. In fact, Ohio State has only beaten 3 top 20 teams in the final AP rankings in the past two years combined: Michigan(#8) and Texas(#13) in '06, and Michigan(#18) in '07
In 2003 Ohio State entered an agreement with the Universtiy of Cincinnati to play a two game series beginning with a 2012 showdown at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati and ending with a 2014 game at the Horseshoe in Columbus.
In 2003 Cincinnati was coached by Rick Minter and didn't really frighten many top teams. However; Cincinnati has been on the rise ever since: They entered the Big East, went thru Mark Dantonio as head coach, landed Brian Kelly as the current head coach, won 10 games last season including the Papa Johns.com bowl, and finished with a #17 national ranking.
Now the Ohio State Wuss-Wahs are up to it again.
Recently, Ohio State opted to take a buyout of the 2012 road game. Boldly, Cincinnati AD Mike Thomas and Head Coach Brian Kelly negotiated to keep the game, but Ohio State will now pay the Bearcats $1 million to play the game in Columbus. Kelly said of the situation, "You know how I feel, I'll play anybody, anywhere, anyplace. My philosophy has always been that we need to play Ohio State. If they don't want to play here, I'll play them in a parking lot in Xenia."
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who follows Ohio State or college football. Yes they are being pansies, but as long as the voters are going to keep rewarding them for mediocrity, why do they need to schedule tough road games, or tough games period? This past season BCS teams were paid $19 million(enough to pay Cincy back its $1M), if OSU has a chance to risk little and still play in a BCS game then why should they play anyone.
Wake up voters! This team has not proved a thing in 3 years. Champions of the state of Ohio maybe, but National Championship caliber? They have proven otherwise.
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