Better than some of us thought we would be, but not quite ready for prime time.. Still LOTS of fun to watch and most definitely headed in the right direction! Gosh, it's fun to be relevant, again!!
I see it a bit differently. I see only one dominant team in the FBS this year. No surprise there. But... Clemson could have lost to an inferior TAM team but didn’t. Next, they were taken to the brink by Syracuse. tOSU struggled and probably should have lost to Penn State. They have a few more hurdles to clear, including Michigan. ND struggled against Vanderbilt and again yesterday, against Pitt. They have a soft schedule. The juggernaut that was Georgia lost convincing yesterday. My point is, why not Texas? With wins against USC, TCU and OU, I’d say that — so far — we measure up reasonably well compared to the other “powers” this year.
I think we have a hard time knowing. Are we looking at our team with Sam, or without Sam? I'm betting we'd have doubled up on Baylor if Sam doesn't get hurt. But, overall, I agree with the OP. Better than we thought. Not dominant.
I would say we are more like the 2002 Ohio St. team. They had some awful wins that year and went on to win the BCS Championship game over Miami (who was pretty good that year).
I think TH is a very good motivator and this team is tight knit. They are brothers and they fight for each other. It’s fun to watch! The defense picks up when we have an injury. And when the secondary struggles, Sam / TH has slowed down the offense, run the QB and moved the chains. Eating clock and letting them regroup (secondary). Also we blitz more to hide the secondary.
