Do you think OSU ever gave up in the 4th? It had been a 1-2 score game for so long and then snowballed so fast.
I guess I'm asking for a fan's evaluation of the team's "rise to the occasion" or "self-preservation" skills to-date. From here, they appear to be lacking. But I could be mistaking other circumstances (e.g., injuries) for that.
A fair question.
I think it was Forde at Yahoo ( notorious OSU hater) that lambasted Urban and said his teams don’t do well with adversity. After laughing, and realizing that that was the opposite of the truth, several things came to mind.
They faced adversity on the road, at night against TCU, and responded by taking over the game. They faced adversity at PSU, at night, against the whiteout, and responded by taking over the game. Last season, same with PSU. Even the Iowa game, down 24-0, they came back to tie that game up, but then Bosa got ejected ( anyone else see a pattern in that?)
Think of all of the close games against UM that OSU has won, coming from behind on numerous occasions. Think of being down to Alabama in the playoff, basically in their backyard, coming from behind to take that game over.
No, for Forde, I would say you don’t get to be 77-9 without the ability to face adversity. I would say his calling card has been the ability to win when facing adversity.
While I do think the defense was mentally out of it when they got down big against Purdue, I would say that that is not uncommon.
Last year when Michigan had to face adversity in their night, road game against Penn State, they got blown off the field. So, I would ask, is it because they gave up?
I know my answer would be no. People forget how hard night time road games are, especially against quality teams- when it is their Super Bowl. Most teams play few of those. It was OSUs third of the year. Purdue simply kicked their ass.
But if Michigan could have played PSU last year at home at noon or at a neutral site, what would you guess the result would be? My guess is it would have been a much closer game.
My two cents....