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2005 Pre-Season Chatter

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2005 Pre-Season Predicitions, Questions, Comments

I was excited at the beginning of this season at the prospect of everyone coming back next season.

But there has been little to no growth at just about every position except linebacker and Ted Ginn.

Does Jim Tressel hire an offensive coordinator? Does Mark Snyder get aggressive on defense? If the answer is no, then I see next season shaping up a lot like this season.

For the record, if Bollman is going to go, Geiger will have to do it. Tress won't fire any of his guys. Take that to the bank.
 
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ysubuck said:
I was excited at the beginning of this season at the prospect of everyone coming back next season.

But there has been little to no growth at just about every position except linebacker and Ted Ginn.

Does Jim Tressel hire an offensive coordinator? Does Mark Snyder get aggressive on defense? If the answer is no, then I see next season shaping up a lot like this season.

For the record, if Bollman is going to go, Geiger will have to do it. Tress won't fire any of his guys. Take that to the bank.
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Let's worry about scUM before we worry about next season.

There is still a lot of football between now and then.

We have THE GAME, 15 more practices for the bowl game, the bowl game itself, and spring and fall practice.

There is plenty of time to get better - we have the foundation (i.e. talent).

Geiger will never never never go in and fire an assistant coach over Tressel without somekind of violation to justify it.
 
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It will start and end with the lines.

The defensive line will need to replace Fraser, who has been strong, but not dominant. Kudla seems to have shown the most improvement on the D-line. The rest of the line needs to work on strength, technique and attitude during the offseason.

LB's are set, especially with D'Andrea back. I would like a little more depth though as they are all gone after next year.

DB's should be in decent shape. S will be set with Whitner and Salley and the kids. Fox will definitely be missed. Underwood has the talent, but needs to understand the game. Hopefully it will come to him like D'Andrea. It will be interesting to see if Ginn gets some snaps.

The offensive line continues to look like a train wreck. Simms, at guard, and Mangold are capable, but they cannot carry the line. Rehring needs to play the entire michigan game at LT, in my opinion. Barton is coming along fine. The problem seems to be they are not playing consistently. One mistake by one guy on a play just does the rest of the line in. The offensive line is one position where the smallest mistake can just snowball in an instant. I wish they would stop shuffling players around at various positions during the game. That is what practice is for. Figure out who should play what position and leave them there. Boone and the gang will be a welcome addition.

The RB's and FB's have to get better. Pittman will have some more experience and practice under his belt and Haw will be unleashed. Johnson has shown some ability.

The TE's perplex me. Hamby was great at the beginning of the year, disappeared in the middle and is now dropping passes. Let's hope Nicol and Frost are able to step up next year.

WR's are good to go. They are the strength of the offense. However, if the QB does not have time they are useless.

QB will be interesting. Zwick and Smith will be looking at the same situation as the start of this year, but Boeckman's redshirt will be gone. I hope he sees some snaps with the first team next year so we get a better read on him.

You just cannot expect to replace someone like Nugent. He will be missed the most. Trepasso has been consistent, but can shank here and there. It is tough to step in after Groom and Sanders.

Next year will definitely be interesting. Getting to a bowl game was critical this year in order to get that extra month of practice. The team will need it, particularly for next year.
 
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Our biggest loss will be Nugent. We are not losing much talent this year, especailly if Santonio stays. With more experience and a good freshman class we should be better. How much depends partially if JT gets an O coordinator. If the playcalling doesn't get better the BEST I see us doing is losing 3 games and it easily could be worse. Our schedule isn't easy next year.
With the O-line talent available next year their will be no excuse not to be able to run the ball.
 
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This team will be great not only next year, but for the next two years.

Going back to 2001, looking at the losses to UCLA, Illinois, Penn State, and South Carolina, I think we see how thin the margin of error is for Tresselball. This season, just like 2001, we seem to find a new offensive bum of the week ... always someone to step up and make that key drop, fumble, penalty, or interception that kills a drive or kills a game.

Just like 2001, this team is loaded with athletes without chemistry, offensive playmakers without an offensive identity, and defensive studs who miss the big 3rd down tackle. Despite playing as poorly as they can, they're 6-4 heading into Michigan week.

Personally, I think the Iowa game was the wake-up call the team needed, and looking over the roster, the turnover shouldn't be too bad with the losses of only Fox, Nugent, and Frasier. Obviously, we miss Dantonio, but Snyder is getting experience that will help him for next year, and tonight we finally saw some sign of a big half time adjustment to turn the game around in the 3rd quarter, which had been missing all season.

Looking back at this year, the turnovers and 1st down false start penalties are just killing the team. Despite everything else, even no running game to speak of, if it weren't for those two things this team would probably be 8-2, if not 9-1 (If Holmes doesn't fumble the punt return against Wisconsin, even that game likely has a different outcome).

Starting January 1, 2005, these kids need to carry a football around campus under their arms until September. Sleep with the darn thing under their pillows if they have to. Wrap 'em in silk like Northwestern does, just stop putting the ball on the turf and making bad poor decisions in crunch time.

I'm optimistic. If this season is as much a parallel to 2001 as I think it has been, we'll beat Michigan next week and win a national championship next year too.
 
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I couldn't see Santonio leaving..... especially after he hasn't done too much since that marshall game. I'd say 1 more year for him and he's done..... Next year will be a hell of a year if it all goes to plan. I think we definatly need an Offensive Coordinator, and our defense with as much speed as we'll have next year definatly has to play more aggressive. I hope Bollman is gone.
 
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An addendum to my post above.

I think the key to the national title run in 2002 was the big, nationally televised game against Washington State.

Next year, Texas comes to the 'shoe. That will be the game that a title run hinges on, and Cedric Benson will be long gone when that rolls around.

Regarding the complaints about Bollman and the offense, etc ... that was the same story in 2001. I remember listening to 1460 and hearing all the complaints about how boring Tresselball was, how mistake-prone the team was, and that neither Tressel or Bollman were good Xs and Os coaches. Remember, a lot of people wanted to can Tressel midway through the season?

These are talented, but very young kids up and down the depth chart. Give the linemen an offseason to pack on 15 or 20 pounds, and an offseason to think about this year and dedicate themselves in the weight room.

Everyone talks about the 14 draft picks, but that doesn't include the 5 undrafted players, Mo C, and all the RBs who bolted the program because they thought they would be buried on the depth chart behind Mo C for two years. Add in the other Cooper recruits from the 2000 and 2001 recruiting classes that bolted after Tressel came in, and this team is void of 4th and 5th year veteran players and leadership. I don't know many coaches who could get 6-4 out of what this program went through the last two years with turnover 2-deep at nearly every position.
 
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An improvement I'd like to see is some speed in the power positions on D.

I think Schlegel, D'Andrea & Carp are all good LBs, but I'd like to see a quick LB like Cie Grant to play alongside Hawk.

Additionally, a defensive lineman with the quicks of Will Smith has been lacking. And on that note, a slobber-knocker like Darrion Scott would be nice as well.

Also, I do think that Alex Boone will make an immediate impact on the offensive line next year.
 
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Many of you have indicated that a key to next season is hiring an Offensive Coordinator. Do you honestly think that JT will actually do that?!?

This team needs help on both lines in talent, depth, attitude and desire. The success of next year's team depends on this more than anything else.
 
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buckiprof said:
Many of you have indicated that a key to next season is hiring an Offensive Coordinator. Do you honestly think that JT will actually do that?!?

This team needs help on both lines in talent, depth, attitude and desire. The success of next year's team depends on this more than anything else.
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OC - Absolutely not. There is no way JT hires a true OC. He has won his way and will continue so.

I agree with the attitude comment. I really haven't seen it this year and it is something we are lacking.
 
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gobucks7 said:
With the O-line talent available next year their will be no excuse not to be able to run the ball.
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Yes there will be, and his name will be Jim Bollman.

buckiprof said:
Many of you have indicated that a key to next season is hiring an Offensive Coordinator. Do you honestly think that JT will actually do that?!?
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No, but if he fired Bollman and we got good production out of the O line all questions about his play calling would go away. When the O line plays well (against Indiana) JT is on top of his game ... he isn't handicapped.

Norm Chow couldn't call effective plays when:
1) There is no running game.
2) The QB(s) have 2-3 seconds to throw the ball everytime they drop back.
 
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  • Hopefully next year both the Offensive and Defensive lines will be able to build some depth. Looking at the last two years of recruiting, it seems pretty good for the future but your guess is as good as mine as to how fast they mature at OSU. The experts say games are won or lost in the trenches. To date Ohio State is getting beaten to a pulp in that respect and thats HUGE for the success of this team. Next years Offense does look good with Mitchum, Rehring, Person, Skinner, Boone(WOW), Bemoll, Cordle all coming in possibly. Then you look at the defense and Vernon Gholston, Abdallah, Richardson, Pitcock, Cotton and it looks better there too.
  • Hopefully the rumors amoungst freinds are true that Coach Peterson is taking a more active role with the Offensive line instead of Coach Bollman. That is a key issue for me.
  • As for the rest of the "key" positions; they are all young as well but everybody has seen flashes of talent and brilliance there. They just need time to mature as well.
  • Last but not least OSU has befuddled me this year totally on recruiting RunningBacks and nobody is talking on the staff as too who they got in the bag for this year. I have faith they will start building a good pipeline of realiable RB's soon though.
 
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