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Michigan is fine. Not OSU money, but not poor.

I feel old because I remember a lot of those games.  Ohio State has two, one good and one bad.  

It reminds me that final score is often not a great indicator of just how close or lopsided a game was.  

Ohio State's win over #1 Oregon in 2024 is a 20 point win for posterity but realistically it was nowhere near that close.  The Buckeyes were up 34-0 in the second quarter then got outscored 21-7 while coasting to the win.  

Alabama's win over Notre Dame in 2012 was similarly lopsided.  The Tide were up 35-0 in the third quarter and gout outscored 14-7 after they had already started celebrating their NC.  

Ohio State's loss to LSU in the MNC was two TDs on the scoreboard, but 3 TDs in meaningful time, before the defensive starters started sitting.  Whether or not you think LSU would have scored again if they didn't get irritated that OSU had the gall to score after the snowball would determine whether you think it was a 3 or 4 TD "type" of lopsided game.  But I think, one way or the other, OSU wouldn't have scored again if LSU hadn't started subbing liberally. 

Personally, I think LSU's foot would have been as firmly off the gas on the offensive side as it was the defensive side, and it would have stayed a 3-TD differential if OSU didn't score.  i.e., LSU only scored their final TD because the defense allowed OSU to score....sans that, LSU's offense would have gone into Les Miles' patented Hibernation/Clock-Kill mode.  IMO, anyway.  So it was a 14 pt game I view as a 21 pt type of game, which one could potentially view as a 28 pt type of game, though I'd disagree. 

My team has been in plenty of these on both sides so I've come up with a theory that I think is a better measure than the final score.  

My theory is that the best measure is time.  Specifically, at what point in the game would a neutral fan* have considered the game to be more-or-less over.  

As applied to LSU's 38-24 win over tOSU in the 2007 NC/2008 SugarBowl there is a strong argument for mid third quarter.  
If you remember, Ohio State jumped out to a 10-0 lead so when LSU took over (which they most certainly did) their first 10 just made it even.  At halftime it was 24-10 and felt worse (for me, better for you) than that because LSU had scored 24 straight but a 14 point game at the half is clearly NOT over.  Lots of teams have come back from being down 14 at the half.  About midway through the third quarter LSU scored AGAIN to conclude a 31-0 run that made it a three-TD game with roughly a quarter and a half (of a quarter) to go.  IMHO, at that point a neutral fan could conclude that the Buckeyes weren't going to suddenly take over and score enough points to win.  

I don't think that a reasonable argument could be made for anything earlier.  I *COULD* make an argument for later.  Now I looked it up and after Ohio State stopped the bleeding with a TD to make it 31-17 (2 TD game) late in the third, the Buckeyes forced a three-and-out to take possession down two TD's early in the fourth quarter.  The Buckeyes then drove to the LSU 37.  I think there is a reasonable argument that the game wasn't 'over' when Ohio State had a 1st down inside the LSU 40 with almost a full quarter to play and down by 14.  

I don't think you could argue for anything much later than that because even though tOSU forced a three-and-out there, by the time they got the ball back there was only around eight minutes to play and Ohio State was 80 yards from the goal line.  

The absolute latest you could possibly argue was the int at 5:43 to go.  After that the teams traded TD's but, as you indicated, neither was relevant.  

I only slightly differ from you here.  Your post made it sound like tOSU's second-to-last TD was completely inconsequential and I disagree.  That happened in the third quarter and made it a two-TD game.  If I were a neutral fan I *might* have turned the game off at 31-10 mid-way through the third but if I didn't I would have thought 'well maybe this will be interesting' when it got to 31-17 with more than 15 minutes to play.  

I recall a Bama-LSU game a few years ago, I think when Burrow was there in the NC year ('21 maybe?).  LSU absolutely torched Bama, up by maybe 3-4 TD.  Bama refused to go down easy. What looked like a runaway game at the half, turned into a much closer loss to Alabama than what it should have been.  It seems like, at the end of the game, LSU only won by 1 TD, when they were winning by like 30 points (of what felt like 30) during the game. 

I remember that too.  I think Texas Tech had a team under Leach that set the record for biggest comeback in a half.  

I remember that too.  I think Texas Tech had a team under Leach that set the record for biggest comeback in a half. 

The largest comeback is still MSU over Northwestern in 2006.  Down 38-3 with 9 minutes left in the 3rd.  I think TT had the record for largest comeback in a bowl game


https://youtu.be/7dTonBbPlco?si=dn2YPGFmNaHh7ch8

I thought the game was over twice

I'm the opposite.  Upthread I specified a "neutral fan" because when my team is involved I tend to be one of the last ones to feel comfortable when they are ahead and one of the last ones to give up hope when they are behind.  

Once when Ohio State went up 10-0 in the first quarter and LSU was busy bumbling snaps over the QBs head for massive losses, while the MLB refused to stay in his gap and Beanie Wells ran like a gazelle on the African plains.  

At that point I was feeling pretty good but I certainly didn't think it was over.  

And once early in the third quarter out of the half, when Ohio State stopped LSU's opening possession but then roughed the punter, and LSU continued the drive and scored anyway. 

In retrospect that roughing the punter penalty was the dagger.  Ohio State had gotten a stop and IIRC it was 4th and a freaking mile.  At that point it was a two TD game at 24-10 so a stop and a score makes it a one possession game and they got dinged for roughing, LSU scored and it was a three-score game.  I still didn't think it was over because bigger leads have been overcome in less time but it was nearly insurmountable at that point.  

I'm going to share my story of that game.  So obviously it was LSU and Ohio State for the NC in LSU's home state.  Ohio State always travels well.  I don't know how well LSU travels typically but it really doesn't matter for a game in their back yard.  I had been to a bunch of bowl games before that and when that matchup was first set the prices were astronomical because LSU vs tOSU for the NC in Louisiana is about as high demand as you could get.  My brother and I talked about it and decided not to go because tickets were $2k+ for bad seats.  About a week before the game demand dropped because everybody had their plans set and scalpers started dumping their tickets so when it got down under $500 my brother and I decided to go.  

A friend of ours lived in Atlanta at the time so we got three tickets.  The tickets arrived via FedEx while my brother and I were in the driveway waiting to leave.  He and I spent a night in Nashville and saw the Grand Ole Opry then met up with our friend in Tuscaloosa and went to the game.  

Weird game.  The first three possessions almost couldn't have been better for the Buckeyes.  It was as you described it:  LSU was bumbling snaps on offense and missing assignments on defense and the Buckeyes were up 10-0 before some fans had managed to find their seats.  From then to mid-3rd quarter it completely flipped.  Ohio State's possessions while LSU was scoring 31 unanswered points were:

• punt
• missed FG
• INT
• punt

Then it got slightly worse AFTER it got to 31-10.  Ohio State got the ball back down by 21 and was forced to punt.  Punting felt like giving up because it was mid-way through the third quarter but then LSU inexplicably threw a pick.  As much as fans complain (as you did upthread) about coaches going conservative this is why.  That pick momentarily gave Ohio State life.  Ohio State took over at the 11 and punched it in to make it 31-17 which is still bad but not altogether insurmountable.  

Then Ohio State forced a quick 3-and-out and got the ball back down 14 early in the fourth and started driving and just when I started to believe . . . The QB got sacked and fumbled.  Then Ohio State forced another quick 3-and-out but when they got the ball back still down 14 the clock was down to around 3 minutes and it was over.  

My seats:
I would tell you that I sat in the last row of the SuperDome but that is actually an understatement.  There is a flat spot behind the last row.  It looks like it is so you can walk around there.  Anyway, I sat in a folding chair on the flat spot BEHIND the last row of the SuperDome and when I stood on my seat I literally touched the ceiling of the SuperDome.  

Hope they treated you well.  The only Sugar Bowl I ever went to, some of the LSU fans around me were complete asshats to the visiting Illinois fans.  It was a completely different experience than a game at Tiger Stadium. 

Everyone was fine.  The game was an emotional roller-coaster as we've discussed at length here.  NOLA is fun to visit.