Nice little write up in The Athletic today leading to their 130 rankings.

Not a lot of subsistence... your typical "Nebraska sucks...Frank has found home at Ohio...long tenured staff...blah,blah,blah"

BUT ...

good to see a high level national outlet recognize Ohio ... even if they didn't mention anything they haven't said on every Ohio TV broadcast in last decade

BTW... they rank Ohio #43

Full article for those without subscription (I recommend subscription...some great writing overall....even though they used a pic of Quinton Maxwell for the article. Baby steps, I guess...baby steps)

In the same week Nebraska gave up 54 points to Minnesota, Frank Solich and the Ohio Bobcats beat Toledo to reach eight wins for the third consecutive year and eighth time in Athens. After that effort, the Bobcats are the biggest risers in this week’s All-American 130.

Ohio outscored a then-one-loss Toledo team 14-3 in the third quarter, and for the season the Bobcats have outscored opponents 116-36 in third quarters.

With the Huskers likely to make another coaching change, take some time to appreciate what Solich has accomplished in the Mid-American Conference, where consistency is incredibly hard to come by. From 1969-2004, before Solich arrived, the Bobcats had won as many as eight games once.

“It goes back to having really good players,” Solich said Friday. “We have our share of really good players. You have to be exceptional and keep yourself on the field to set records.”

Solich played at Nebraska in the 1960s and was an assistant there from 1979-97. He was tasked with following Tom Osborne and won at least 10 games three times in his first four seasons, with a Big 12 title and a national championship game berth. But the Cornhuskers struggled on the road, and Solich was fired after a 9-3 season in 2003.

For some schools, winning isn’t enough. The winning has to be big. At Ohio, Solich has found his home.

His staff includes some of the longest-tenured assistants in the FBS, and he puts a lot of the program’s success on them as well.

“We’ve got experienced coaches, they’re bright guys,” Solich said. “They do a great job. They’ve seen a lot of football over their time, and they’re able to make adjustments when things surprise you a little bit in the first half. Some of it is our coaches and how they make adjustments. I think the fact that we have very good players also helps.”

A win against Akron on Tuesday would give the Bobcats their fifth division title under Solich, but a MAC title has still eluded them.

I believe that it is against board rules to quote entire articles which are protected by copyright. Excerpting choice sections would be ok, as would providing links to the original source.

It was an excerpt. Entire article is much longer and about much more than Ohio. It ranks all 130 teams.

But thanks for the callout ethics police

This is so true, the narrative is so predictable and repetitive. I get it from their perspective, but it still annoys me.

This comparison to me is almost apples to oranges ...

CFB in the 80s and 90s is a much, much, much different game than it is now.

Not to mention Nebraska and Ohio are much, much, much different programs recruiting much different players and playing much different schedules in much different leagues.

(Now that I've typed it a thousand times ... I hate the words "much different" together, ha!)

Anyhow ... I don't think stability is a bad thing ... but I think staleness is. It would be different if what Frank & Co. are doing is running roughshod over the MAC and Ohio is piling up MAC titles like Nebraska did during the Osbourne era in the Big 8.

Osbourne won 12 Big 8 titles in 23 years in the Big 8 and then two Big XII North Division titles (1-1 in the Big XII title game) in his only two years in that league ... AND 8 2nd place finishes during the Big 8 days.

Oh ... and 3 national titles in the last 4 years.

I know you are aware of all of this ...

But my point is, there was no reason to change anything! It was working at a very high rate ... Nebraska was the gold standard in CFB during the Osbourne era.

Would you say Solich is the gold standard in CFB or even in the MAC during his era? 0 MACC in 12 years ... 4 division titles?

It's been a good run for Ohio during that time especially considering where they were before.

But they've had to adapt ... and they've done it a little slower than some programs. Albin's offenses have sputtered for long stretches during those years ... You don't think they couldn't have benefited from a fresh voice at some point during those 12 years?

I know things are humming now ... so it's easy to forget about the scuffling.

But I think it's a little far-fetched to compare Nebraska and Ohio's coaching staffs for a variety of reasons.

Nebraska's success during the Osbourne era in the league and nationwide called for ZERO change.

Ohio has not experienced anywhere near the dominance Nebraska exhibited ... even on a MAC level.

To me, it's no comparison other than the base fact that both the coaching staffs experienced little change ... but the comparison ends there.

Actually, Osborne, while pretty good, was not the "gold standard" during his first eight years as a coach. In fact, there were a large number of people who wanted him fired during he 1970s. In particular, he consistently lost to Oklahoma, which prevented him from winning a conference championship, though he shared one in 1975 and 1978. He did beat Oklahoma in 1978, but as a treat, got a re-match in the Orange Bowl, which he lost.

Osborne consistently maintained that the reason that they kept improving was that he was able to keep his staff together. Perhaps the longevity of the staff had nothing to do with the improvement. Perhaps it was really something else. Perhaps it was that Osborne himself became wiser as time went by. Perhaps they recruited better. Perhaps it was that they had two exceptional quarterbacks, in Gill and Frazier.

I'm not trying to claim that Osborne's assertion was correct. I'm only trying to point out that it was a point he made frequently, and that, as a result, that's why the media picks up on it, and points it out. Like it or not, and regardless of whether you think it's s good thing or not, you can expect that the press will continue to mention it. The only reason I even brought it up was that I doubted that most people reading this board knew the reason why some people think it might be important.

I think that is pretty self-explanatory.

That is offense was dreadful as recent as last year in spots.

Things were not ... in any way, shape, or form ... humming like this between Tettleton's departure and Rourke's emergence.

So yes ... I think stale is a pretty good way to describe the offense for a pretty good period of time between 2012 and 2017

It's impossible to forget about the scuffling. You remind us daily...

How have I been over the top? By saying we were getting national attention two days before you decided we were getting national attention? Whoa! Hold me back!lol