Now come on Dennis, let's take a little longer look back. I consider Brian Knorr a friend as I do Billy Hahn. But in their careers, they were in head jobs a little early and under less than satisfactory conditions. That said, in the five years from 96 - 01, we were 31 - 25 at a .533 winning percentage. According to the numbers you cited, from 06-10 we were also at a .533 winning percentage. The difference is that we spent way more money the last five years and didn't play nearly the competition in conference or out. Love will love this - from 96 - 00 we played Hawai'i, Army, Northwestern, Maryland, Kansas State at #20, NC State, Wisconsin at #17, ECU, Minnesota twice, OSU at #12, and Iowa State.
I'm pretty sure if you lined up Ohio's OOC foes from the past five years you'd see plenty of tough competition too. Rutgers when they had a Cinderella season, Missouri, OSU twice including this year's excellent team, Illinois (whom Ohio beat), etc.
Plus, recall how the Grobe years ended. Grobe left and the wins went with him. By contrast, there are lots of reasons to believe that an FS-led Ohio can continue to gradually improve for another 3-5 years, bringing MAC championships and bowl wins. This continuity is important. Of the top five teams in the MAC, three are turning over their coaching staffs this year, and it will hurt them (Ohio and Toledo are the other two).
Last Edited: 12/19/2010 6:53:15 PM by Cats-22