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Before the season started, our staff got together for a series of roundtable preseason predictions. We hit everything Ohio State specific questions, Big Ten questions, and even national ones, and all felt pretty good about ourselves. WELL NOW THE DAY OF RECKONING IS HERE. Were we smart? Were we dumb? LET'S FIND OUT.
Ohio State related questions
Who will be Ohio State's leading rusher this year?
Every single one of our writers said Braxton Miller, since hey, Carlos Hyde would be missing a few games, and with the bevy of riches at tailback for the Buckeyes, we figured lots of other guys might get carries. Of course, Hyde blew the hell up down the stretch, and as long as Miller doesn't rush for like, 600 yards against Clemson, Carlos Hyde will be your leading rusher for Ohio State this season. WE'RE OFF THE GREAT START HERE YOU GUYS.
Who will be Ohio State's leading receiver?
By a 7-6 margin, the LGHL staff went Devin Smith over Philly Brown. If we go in terms of catches, Brown will almost certainly end as the leader (he holds a 55-42 catch advantage), but in terms of yards...who knows? Both Brown and Smith have exactly 655 yards receiving. Collectively, we figured this would be close, and it CANNOT LITERALLY BE ANY CLOSER. I guess we're smart after all!
If we set the O/U on quarters Braxton Miller misses due to injury at 4, will you take the over or the under?
Staff went 10-3 in favor of the under.
I don't remember who else took the over besides me, so now is my chance to take my victory lap.
Which freshman do you think will make the biggest impact on the team this season?
Mike Mitchell 4
So I don't think you can necessarily blame people for picking Wilson, who certainly had a fine season, but I would argue that Cameron Johnston actually made the biggest impact, so hats off to Luke, who called that one. Most important play, y'all. I think it might have been a little surprising that overall, not many freshman DID impact the team this season, relative to the expectations of our staff.
Which Buckeye that nobody is talking about will step up to make the biggest impact?
Cameron Johnston 4
Josh Perry 2
Jordan Hall: 1
"The entire offensive line" 1
I think the offensive line would be your winner here, ladies and gents, although Jordan Hall did give Ian and I the chance to scream BETTER CALL HALL on twitter at least 100 times this season, which was nice.
Which game scares you the most?
Michigan 7
Northwestern 5
Wisconsin 2
All of these games DID end up being scary for one reason or another. Andrew was one of a few people who called Northwestern's preseason pumping up to be a little bit of a mirage though, so good on him!
What Bowl will Ohio State be in and what will the result be?
Title game vs Oregon and win 4
Title game vs Alabama and lose 3
Title gave vs Alabama and win 3
Rose Bowl vs Stanford and win 2
Rose Bowl vs Oregon and win 1
Wellllll we were all wrong. Damn you Michigan State, damn you.
How many members of OSU's coaching staff will leave for head coaching gigs this offseason?
1 coach 6
2 coaches 4
0 coaches 3
So this is an interesting question, since plenty of OSU coaches have gotten phone calls or have been tied to other jobs, but depending on what opens up after bowl season, it's possible, maybe even probable, that the entire band comes back together one more time, after UConn, FAU and BGSU have passed on Buckeye coaches. Army could potentially hire Ed Warinner, but that might be a little bit of a surprise at this point. MORE RESEARCH REQUIRED.
Which B1G team is most likely to surpass expectations this year?
Indiana 6
Purdue 1 (Brett)
Michigan 1
Illinois 1 (Charles)
Minnesota 1
Michigan State 1
Northwestern 1
Iowa 1 (Luke)
All over the board here (let's all laugh at Brett!), but it looks like most of us were attracted to the shiny, whiz-bang offense of Indiana. I called Michigan State, and Luke nailed Iowa. Let's revisit his original quote.
"Greg Davis is an abomination and Kirk Ferentz is stealing money at this point, but with the consensus being they finish 5th in the Legends division, would anyone be shocked if they're a soft fourth or have a surprise run and finish third?"
YUPPPPPPPP
What B1G team is most likely to wildly disappoint?
Michigan 5
Nebraska 4
Northwestern 3
Penn State 1
Interesting question, which of those top three disappointed the most? I think you could make a convincing argument for all of them (and maybe even Penn State, a little) but I'd personally say Northwestern was the biggest disappointment. I wouldn't call anybody here really *wrong* though.
Who is your B1G offensive player of the year?
We all said Braxton Miller. He was!
Who is your B1G defensive player of the year?
Ra’Shede Hagemann 1
Boreland ended up winning the award, but a statistical case could have been made for Shazier as well. It was a close vote, just like it was here. All of these guys had very strong seasons.
Predicted order of finish:
(lets give 6 points for a 1st place prediction, 5 points for 2nd place, etc)
Leaders
Ohio State – unanimous = 78
Wisconsin 5, 5, 5,5,5,3,5,5,4,5,5,5,5 = 62
Penn State 3, 4 ,3,4,4,4,3,4,5,4,4,4,4 = 50
Indiana 4 ,2,4,3,3,5,4,3,3,3,2,3,3 = 42
Purdue 2, 3,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,3,1,1 = 26
Illinois 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,2 = 15
#NAILEDIT
Legends
Michigan 5,5,6,5,4,3,5,5,5,6,4,5,6 = 64
Nebraska 6,6,4,6,6,5,4,6,3,5,6,6,4 = 62
Michigan State 4,4,3,3,5,6,3,4,4,4,3,3,5 = 51
Northwestern 3,2,5,4,3,4,6,3,6,3,5,4,3 = 51
Minnesota 1,1,1,2,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,1 = 21
Iowa 2,3,2,1,2,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2 = 19
#DIDN'TNAILIT
There was a lot of chatter within the newsroom that Northwestern was going to be overrated, but I think we missed badly on Iowa and Minnesota being better than advertised, along with Michigan State.
Which team in the preseason Coaches Poll Top 10 is most likely to disappoint?
Texas A&M 9
South Carolina 2
UGA 1
Florida 1
I think you could make a convincing argument that TAMU did, in fact, underachieve this year, the clear winner from this group is Florida (Georgia at least had a biblical plague of injuries as an excuse). Who picked Florida? IT WAS ME! Alex Welch picked Georgia, which also deserves accolades though.
Which team in the preseason Coaches Poll 11-25 range do you see as having the best chance of making a title run?
Florida State 4
Texas 3
LSU 2
UCLA 1
Oklahoma State 1
USC 1
Oklahoma 1
So here, I'll be happy to admit that I probably spent a month passionately arguing for Texas to anybody who would listen in the newsroom, so I'm happy to be taken down a peg or two. Four of our writers correctly picked Florida State, who did, in fact, make a title run. I don't think any of these were necessarily terrible answers either.
Which team outside the Top 25 do you see as a potential sleeper?
Miami (FL) 3
Baylor 3
Washington 2
Kansas State 2
Virginia Tech 1
Kentucky 1 (#BOLD #FLAVORS)
Michigan State 1
Ole Miss 1
Arizona State 1
Isn't it funny to remember how Baylor started the season off unranked? Seems crazy. Ted Glover was the genius who said Kentucky, and Chis Kopech was the ACTUAL genius who picked Michigan State.
Which non-BCS school, outside of Boise State, do you think is the most dangerous?
Fresno State 7
Northern Illinois 5
Louisiana-Lafayette 2
Utah State 1
BYU 1 (note: that vote did not come from me) (Ed. note: Ya right lolol)
San Diego State 1
Tulsa 1
Again, outside of Tulsa, most of these programs were, in fact, very good. No BCS busters this season, but Fresno and NIU were great.
Who is the highest profile coach that will get fired this season?
Lane Kiffin-USC 6
Mack Brown-Texas 2
Steve Sarkisian-Washington 1
Kirk Ferentz-Iowa 1
Gary Pinkel-Missouri 1
Randy Edsall-Maryland 1
Bobby Petrino-WKU 1
CONGRATS YOU ALL WIN! Weird that Steve Sarkisian ended up leaving his job too (for a promotion!1!). Gary Pinkel? Welllll, that sounded like a good idea at the time?
Who is winning the Heisman Trophy?
Braxton Miller-QB Ohio State 8
De'Anthony Thomas-RB Oregon 2
Teddy Bridgewater-QB Louisville 2
Jadeveon Clowney- defensive monster South Carolina 1
Whoops! We all sucked here. Nobody even named a Heisman Finalist, which is especially embarrassing since I think they invited 46 people this year.
Who is playing in the national title game, and who is winning?
Ohio State/Oregon, Ohio State wins 4
Ohio State/Alabama, Alabama wins 3
Ohio State/Alabama, Ohio State wins 3
Oregon/Alabama, Oregon wins 1
Alabama/Texas, Alabama wins 1
Oregon/Georgia, Oregon wins 1
We all failed here too! I couldn't find anybody mention Auburn for anything in the email threads, and while a lot of us thought FSU was going to be good, nobody thought they would be THAT GOOD.
The moral of the story? We're good at some things, bad at other things, and nobody has any idea who is going to win the Heisman in July. At all.