Game Thread #2 tOSU at #3 Oregon, Sat. Oct. 12, 7:30 pm ET, NBC

[MSURacerDT55]

I guess I’ll be the weirdo and say after calming down I feel pretty encouraged after the game. First of all this was a complete failure by Ryan Day at the end of the game, let’s just get that out of the way. Will Howard is my guy, I love how he competes, he was locked in all game, he will make a mistake here and there but he will also make the routine plays you need out of your starting QB. Next, I love the physicality of the team, this team is pretty tough and plays with some edge. The OL was pretty good yesterday, I hope Simmons is ok, Donovan Jackson is just average, he is not on the level of Wyatt Davis. Tegra is green but aggressive #56 was a godsend because I can only imagine where our OL would be without him and the replacements played well.

Defensively our tackling continues to be poor which is irritating, there were so many plays that should have been stopped for losses or short gains that became bigger than what they were supposed to because of tackling. Our Edge guys are what they are, we need to stop hoping for something that may not come, we need to start getting Houston some more reps. Also #97 ain’t it. I thought our interior guys played well, Hamilton had been our best DT all year and he is going to be a riser on Draft boards for sure. Burke gotta shake whatever he has going on off before he cost himself a lot of money because I feel IGB should be CB1 at this point, too many mental and technical lapses with Burke. Outside of Burke, I thought the DBs competed and played pretty well. The linebackers sucked.

We need to run the ball more, that really should be the identity of this team and when we do pass, let’s take at least 3 deep shots.

Overall, a lot of the mistakes we made are correctable and to be honest, this is the type of team that needs to stay motivated, I’d rather lose this type of game than to win this game and lose to Nebraska because we have the big head. Ryan Day is not going to have too many more opportunities to prove he is a big time coach if he keeps fumbling away opportunities like this, especially as easy as this could have been.

 

[RhodeIslandBuck]

I guess I’ll be the weirdo and say after calming down I feel pretty encouraged after the game. First of all this was a complete failure by Ryan Day at the end of the game, let’s just get that out of the way. Will Howard is my guy, I love how he competes, he was locked in all game, he will make a mistake here and there but he will also make the routine plays you need out of your starting QB. Next, I love the physicality of the team, this team is pretty tough and plays with some edge. The OL was pretty good yesterday, I hope Simmons is ok, Donovan Jackson is just average, he is not on the level of Wyatt Davis. Tegra is green but aggressive #56 was a godsend because I can only imagine where our OL would be without him and the replacements played well.

Defensively our tackling continues to be poor which is irritating, there were so many plays that should have been stopped for losses or short gains that became bigger than what they were supposed to because of tackling. Our Edge guys are what they are, we need to stop hoping for something that may not come, we need to start getting Houston some more reps. Also #97 ain’t it. I thought our interior guys played well, Hamilton had been our best DT all year and he is going to be a riser on Draft boards for sure. Burke gotta shake whatever he has going on off before he cost himself a lot of money because I feel IGB should be CB1 at this point, too many mental and technical lapses with Burke. Outside of Burke, I thought the DBs competed and played pretty well. The linebackers sucked.

We need to run the ball more, that really should be the identity of this team and when we do pass, let’s take at least 3 deep shots.

Overall, a lot of the mistakes we made are correctable and to be honest, this is the type of team that needs to stay motivated, I’d rather lose this type of game than to win this game and lose to Nebraska because we have the big head. Ryan Day is not going to have too many more opportunities to prove he is a big time coach if he keeps fumbling away opportunities like this, especially as easy as this could have been.

Will can't throw deep.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

T

That wasn't an onside kick, he clearly just shanked it and got lucky it bounced off someone and back toward the other way

I know, that’s why I’m going to file that under crazy ass shit. It was an opportunity that we missed out on that, had it just gone for a FG, would have been a difference maker.

Also why I consider It to be a team loss. Far too many examples of “just one thing” being different and we’d have a different outcome. That’s notwithstanding the instances that Oregon had that were similar… but it certainly felt like we had more than our fair share of those things.

 

[BUCK3YE5]

Man, lot to unpack from this one.

The defense...woof. That was the worst defensive performance in years. They just flat out got their asses beat. The DL did absolutely nothing the entire game. Denzel Burke had the worst game of his career (and he's had plenty of bad ones, probably the weirdest career for an OSU player that I can remember). The tackling was laughably bad. Just flat out god awful execution across the board. Ransom makes a nice play on the 2 point attempt and his slow ass gets caught from behind. And where are his teammates to block for him? Those 2 points would have been huge, obviously. Just a pathetic display from the defense across the board that frankly I didn't think was possible from this team especially given how good they were last year.

Ryan Day...these losses in big games are becoming way too familiar. The lack of situational awareness and clock mismanagement in this game was mindblowing. How can you not be wary of an onside kick from the 50? Why are you not calling timeouts before the 2 minute warning and just letting precious seconds go to waste? He also obviously did not know the clock would continue running after the penalty at the end. Ending that game with a timeout in your pocket is coaching malpractice. I also feel like Day overreacts to situations that have happened in the past. He heard the criticism from the lack of aggressiveness at the end of the Georgia game and because of that was way too aggressive at the end of this game. We had the ball at the 28 yard line with 40+ seconds and a timeout. How in the fuck are we continuing to only throw the ball at that point? It just doesn't make sense. He took a ton of heat for handing the ball off to Hayden for one play in that Georgia game, but that was the right thing to do! It just didn't work out, and that happens sometimes. So this time we go full air raid and guess what, we get a soft ass OPI call that essentially ended the game. Just fucking stupid shit. The guy really just can't get out of his own way in big moments and it's starting to look like this is just who he is. How he & the team respond to this is going to be huge because his job should absolutely be on the line right now as far as I'm concerned.

If there's any positive to take from this game, it's that Will Howard answered all the questions (boneheaded final play aside). He was fantastic in this game, put the team on his back and did everything to win this game. And with competent coaching, would have won. Concerns about him are gone, at least for me.

Overall, a weird fucking game. It was very Brownsy in that sense. This loss sucks right now, a lot, but in the grand scheme of things, this team still has everything in front of them and I think they can do it. I would love our chances in a rematch with Oregon on a neutral field. But Day needs to wake the fuck up and so does the defense.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

Time to get on the elliptical and get my daily dosage of youtube. I’ll be interested to see what people, not here, are saying.

 

[inliner311]

Knowles relies on mis-direction before the snap. It's easy to stop a pass rush when you know there are only going to be 3 or 4 coming for the QB. Every. Single. Down.

It's also pretty easy when those 3 or 4 that are coming for the QB are the d-linemen only. The o-line just has to focus on picking up the 4 d-linemen since the likelihood of someone from another position is going to blitz is real low.

Knowles can show more guys coming in pre-snap but I'm sure there is enough tape to show that he rarely actually sends anyone else. I'm sure coaches just tell their o-line to focus on the 4 d-linemen and the RB can just pick up the extra guy if he comes.

 

[Bucklion]

For this putting this on LJ, I’m not…necessarily…disagreeing or dismissing that…but it absolutely could be the Knowles scheme instead. For example, the Steelers used to have a DL that established contain and filtered people to the LBs to make a million tackles. Guys like Brett Keisel were really effective at what they did, but they weren’t used as elite pass rushers in that scheme. It’s hard to tell who is at fault, coaches or players, or which coaches, or which players, but something ain’t right.

 

[RhodeIslandBuck]

For this putting this on LJ, I’m not…necessarily…disagreeing or dismissing that…but it absolutely could be the Knowles scheme instead. For example, the Steelers used to have a DL that established contain and filtered people to the LBs to make a million tackles. Guys like Brett Keisel were really effective at what they did, but they weren’t used as elite pass rushers in that scheme. It’s hard to tell who is at fault, coaches or players, or which coaches, or which players, but something ain’t right.

I think the player development, especially in the edge, has been lacking severely for years.

Also tough for me to give LJ too much credit for the Bosas and Chase. They showed flashes of brilliance from the minute they suited up. Watching Zach Harrison, Coop, and Baron actually get better at the NFL level makes me wonder what the hell happened.

 

[NFBuck]

Another opinion that may be unpopular, but I'm sorry - LJ needs to retire. His tenure here was incredible for a lot of years, but since 2020 one thing that is hard to deny about his DL is underachievement. We recruit way too well to have a DL that isn't as dominant as it should be on a regular basis and has been pushed around in too many big games. We take high 5* recruits and get low 4*/high 3* results. Bow out with grace.

 

[BUCKYLE]

This is exactly like the VATech thread in 2014. Everyone venting after a tough loss. I get it.

We're gonna win it all. I'm not letting anyone here diminish my enthusiasm for this team. Everyone has glaring weaknesses. Everyone. We still have more talent than all of them.

Autzen is a damn hard place to play. We lost 2 OL. Horrible officials both ways. That OPI doesn't get called 100% of the time until it did.

Sometimes I think people here compete to see who can be the most pessimistic. I only get to watch these guys so many games a year. I'm gonna enjoy the ride to the championship. Yall can wallow in misery if you want.

 

[inliner311]

For this putting this on LJ, I’m not…necessarily…disagreeing or dismissing that…but it absolutely could be the Knowles scheme instead. For example, the Steelers used to have a DL that established contain and filtered people to the LBs to make a million tackles. Guys like Brett Keisel were really effective at what they did, but they weren’t used as elite pass rushers in that scheme. It’s hard to tell who is at fault, coaches or players, or which coaches, or which players, but something ain’t right.

I do think it's scheme. I think a good part of creating a pass rush is making the o-line communicate and have to figure out where the rush is going to come from. Miscommunication by the o-line tends to lead to pressures and sacks. When an O-line can settle in and don't need to communicate who they need to pick up, it's an easy day for them. At some point they are going to figure out to stop 4 d-linemen with the 5 o-linemen then settle into those blocking assignments. This holds especially true when the talent level equals out which is why I think this defense doesn't look good in big games.

When you keep changing how you rush the QB, the o-line has to keep communicating and at some point they are going to mess up. You need to make them communicate every passing down and keep them questioning what they need to do.

 

[AKAK]

I'm not going to rehash most of the many shortcomings you guys have already pointed out.

I will say, I think for both the players and coaches, I think this is the best possible time for the bye week.

It was just a sloppy game with shitty adjustments and they were from all the usual reasons, poor in game coaching, lack of discipline and the environment in the stadium (and the shit OPI)

But, we can't have dumb penalties (which had not been a problem), lose turnovers, manage the clock like ass and win against good teams on the road (and look, the missed kicks were not as big as that shank turned onside kick, I don't personally think Oregon deserves all that much credit and I think Lanning is a tool.)

Everyone part of the program needs to execute better, all 3 units, all the coaches, everyone. The defense needs to decide if its going to limit big plays or get the football. The offense needs to figure out how its going to account for the defense being able to dictate pressure because they're not scared of the deep ball. But mostly we need to build confidence based on sound execution and leadership.

We're going to have a pretty good idea on Nov 2 if we applied the lessons learned here or not. I realize everyone wants to get back after it but I think a week of camp can help.

 

[Bucklion]

I'm not going to rehash most of the many shortcomings you guys have already pointed out.

I will say, I think for both the players and coaches, I think this is the best possible time for the bye week.

It was just a sloppy game with shitty adjustments and they were from all the usual reasons, poor in game coaching, lack of discipline and the environment in the stadium (and the shit OPI)

But, we can't have dumb penalties (which had not been a problem), lose turnovers, manage the clock like ass and win against good teams on the road (and look, the missed kicks were not as big as that shank turned onside kick, I don't personally think Oregon deserves all that much credit and I think Lanning is a tool.)

Everyone part of the program needs to execute better, all 3 units, all the coaches, everyone. The defense needs to decide if its going to limit big plays or get the football. The offense needs to figure out how its going to account for the defense being able to dictate pressure because they're not scared of the deep ball. But mostly we need to build confidence based on sound execution and leadership.

We're going to have a pretty good idea on Nov 2 if we applied the lessons learned here or not. I realize everyone wants to get back after it but I think a week of camp can help.

Definitely ideal for a bye week, given the penalties and blown assignments.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

Definitely ideal for a bye week, given the penalties and blown assignments.

except for the fact that we've seen this before.... Marshall... quoting myself from that game thread

I dont know if I'm happy Marshall is moving the ball to get the Def seasoned and expose some things... or frightened...

 

[osubartender23]

My concern was the porous Ohio State offensive line. I know they had two starters down but Oregon owned those guys most of the night when they wanted to.

The OL was doing pretty decent prior to the injuries. Sieravold was overmatched and Zen, well it’s obvious why he hasn’t seen the field much.