Twitter Reaction: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Sarcastically

By Johnny Ginter on November 9, 2014 at 8:30 am
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I'm pretty dumb.

This has been well-established on Eleven Warriors over the years, but this week I was particularly dumb in that I predicted that the Ohio State Buckeyes would lose to the Michigan State Spartans.

My prediction was made in good faith; it wasn't like I said that I didn't like the look in J.T. Barrett's eye, or that I heard a cock crow three times on the eve of a full moon or some other cryptic nonsense. That's the kind of silliness that May May and Lou Holtz peddle. I'm all about class, and obscure Simpsons references so muddled that about 2-4% of readers might actually understand them.

Anyway, my point is that I pretty much figured that Barrett would perform like he did against the other two defenses with a pulse that he's faced this season, play badly and throw a couple of picks maybe, and overall the offense wouldn't be able to do enough to keep up with what Sparty brought to the table. Langford has evolved into a really good running back, Cook can sling it occasionally, and they've got a wideout who might be the best in the entire conference. Michigan State came in to the game with a top ten offense nationally, and a defense not far behind. They looked good, and as of late, better than Ohio State.

But again, because I'm stupid, I failed to realize that hey, guess what, Michigan State is entombed in a weird karmic hell that they'll never get out of no matter what (our shorthand for this is of course "Sparty no!"), and being road dogs to them in a night game on national television are exactly the kind of conditions that were required for an Ohio State victory. Silly me.

Both of these things are pretty great. I'm glad that MSU fans got up for this game, because they absolutely had an obligation to, and I also like that EzE really could not give less of a crap about your enthusiasm, sir.

A lot is going to be made of how Barrett played last night, and while he was totally the MVP and deserves yet another Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, Elliott's contribution shouldn't be overlooked. As the defense started to deflate toward the end of the game, he helped shoulder a huge amount of the burden to get first downs, and was a consistent option all night. For Michigan State to give up 154 yards at a clip of 6.7 per carry to a dude was unheard of this year (and in most recent years), but Elliott was able to do it.

Also:

KICKER BROMANCE!!

Speaking of guys Jim Tressel would literally salivate over, Cam Johnston doesn't get the love that he deserves because he's used so rarely, but both of his punts last night were exquisite works of art that should be appreciated by all. Game recognize game, is all I'm saying. Dude can kick, and really we should be keeping stats on how many punts he's nailed inside the 10, rather than merely inside the 20.

But, if you'll remember, this game started off pretty shakily.

Pizza and Dontre Wilson aside, I was actually relived that Sparty was apparently planning on getting in a shootout with Ohio State. That's a game that we'll win 90% of the time, and if Narduzzi's guys didn't want to actually show up, well... fine, honestly.

The first half saw the Buckeyes mostly playing from behind, until another one of the quietly amazing players on the team took matters into his own hands. Literally, because he's wide receiver Mike Thomas, but also figuratively because I think his catch and run was the real turning point of the game. After that, Ohio State seemed like they were playing completely downhill on offense, and Devin Smith kind of just took over.

Thomas only had two other catches for a handful of yards, but Sometimes A Guy Just Steps Up (tm).

Halftime:

Okay, so after that you know the story. Sparty got boat raced as nearly every subsequent Buckeye drive after the half ended in a touchdown. My inherent skittishness caused a few moments of panic as Michigan State managed to mostly keep pace with Ohio State in the 4th quarter, but at that point there was absolutely no stopping J.T. and company.

Hell, even Dontre kind of redeemed his really sloppy/inexcusable/benchable/pick-your-level-of-anger game towards the end.

Let's wrap up with some stats. Ohio State was probably better defensively than the 536 yards allowed on the scoreboard indicated, but absolutely as good on offense as you probably thought. Tom Herman came up with and executed a brilliant gameplan that exploited the underneath routes we've all been clamoring for, while also talking advantage of MSU's sometimes overly aggressive defense. 300 yards in the passing game is nothing to sneeze at, and while it seemed like Ohio State kept shooting itself in the foot with penalties, Sparty ended up being the one with 11 for 105 yards.

There's also this fun little stat:

So despite me being dumb and wrong, let's party!

You know what? Elika is right. Even if Ohio State doesn't make it to the playoff this season, we've righted a wrong that's been stuck in our craw for the better part of a year, and it feels good to have administered some old fashioned justice. Life really is beautiful.

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