Ohio State football: TTUN QB hype is just more of the same

Every year TTUN hypes up an incoming quarterback recruit and every year the Ohio State football team comes in and lays a smackdown on them. Expect nothing different next season.

The Ohio State football program has dominated the rivalry with That Team Up North for the last 20 years. Every year their fans get excited and say “We have a new quarterback who is finally good!”. Every year those fans are wrong and Ohio State comes in and beats them down.

2021 should be no different. The only difference should be the margin of victory in The Game. Michigan fans expect this year to be different because Jim Harbaugh finally has a five-star quarterback recruit in J.J. McCarthy. I can tell you that it won’t.

Look at the evidence over the last few years. Their fans expected Joe Milton to be the guy to lead them to winning ways. Instead, he was benched last year and TTUN finished with a 2-4 record. Before him, it was supposed to be transfer Shea Patterson. That resulted in two losses by a combined 52 points to Ohio State.

Before that, it was Wilton Speight. And Brandon Peters. And so on and so forth. Every year, their fans think they have the quarterback to actually take them places. Every single year they are proven wrong, especially in the final game of the season.

While McCarthy is the most talented recruit Harbaugh has had at Michigan at that position, his track record of developing quarterbacks is non-existent. Until there is a season where a quarterback actually shows improvement over the course of a season and they beat the Buckeyes, there’s no need to fear him.

Fear is different than respect. The Ohio State football program has always respected TTUN. That’s why they practice specific plays for them all year long. They respect the rivalry so much that they prepare for it year-round like it’s the only game that matters.

Ohio State fans don’t need to worry about TTUN until they prove any of this. It’s truly great to watch that program continue to struggle.