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2008 Ohio State Offense

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Anyone else having flashbacks to the 02 offensive line?

I remember every time MoC was in the game all of a sudden holes started opening up like mad, but when Mo Hall or Ross got some reps the holes just weren't there. Sound familiar to anyone..?
 
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CPD
Don't take any offense: Some Buckeyes admit frustration with impotent attack

by Doug Lesmerises Tuesday October 14, 2008, 10:20 PM


medium_pryorpassmf.jpg
Marvin Fong/The Plain DealerThe indecision which has plagued freshman QB Terrelle Pryor (2) has prompted some Buckeyes to suggest more playing time for former starter Todd Boeckman. But Boeckman isn't particularly supportive of the idea.



COLUMBUS -- Do one thing different, Ohio State tight end Rory Nicol asked of his teammates. Try one thing different this week. "Because when you do the same things, you get the same results," the senior said Tuesday. "So let's challenge ourselves. You don't have to tell me what it is, but let's go to Michigan State and look like an offense that's been playing together for two seasons."
As opposed to an offense that's coming apart.
Three days after failing to score an offensive touchdown in a 16-3 win over Purdue on Saturday, the Buckeyes hit the practice field Tuesday in a continued search for answers. After not a single offensive player earned a winning performance against the Boilermakers, senior left tackle Alex Boone said Nicol led the charge in asking more of the offensive line, where the struggles have been most obvious. And he said even the defense chimed in.
"The defense is more like, 'What's going on?'" Boone said. "They're laying it out there for us and we're not really doing anything. This will be the perfect week for us to come back."

Boone said the changes are primarily motivational, because there's not much personnel shifting left to do. Younger receivers such as DeVier Posey and Lamaar Thomas already have seen the field more. On the offensive line, freshman Mike Brewster is starting at center and freshmen tackles Mike Adams (foot) and J.B. Shugarts (shoulder) are out with injuries when they could be options.
While Todd Boeckman has heard some teammates say he could help the cause, and junior tight end Jake Ballard suggested that a two-quarterback system with current starter Terrelle Pryor and Boeckman could make sense, coach Jim Tressel was not committing to a Boeckman scenario on Tuesday.
He stuck with the vague notion that Boeckman will be needed at some point.

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Canton
Tressel takes blame for OSU offense's sluggish performance
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
BY TODD PORTER
[email protected]

COLUMBUS Duke ? yes Duke ? has a better scoring offense than Ohio State. Duke ? yes Duke ? is ranked ahead of the Buckeyes in total offense. And ? ready for this? ? Temple has a better passing offense than the Buckeyes.

No wonder Jim Tressel offered to apologize for Ohio State's offense. But Tressel isn't pointing fingers at any one player. Instead, he said he will look at what the coaches are planning and see if that needs adjustment first.

"I think you always have to start by being troubled by the plan, because there's got to be some reasons why you're not executing," Tressel said. "If you said it's just because John Doe didn't execute, that's a copout. You would never start and say, 'Well, gosh, you know, if these guys were better, we'd be fine, because that's not true.' "

What has Tressel determined?

"I'm not going to confide in you," Tressel said. "We're working on it."

As far as the players, though, Tressel didn't find a single one on that side of the ball worthy of being named the team's offensive player of the week. More telling is for the second time this season no offensive lineman was honored with the Jim Parker lineman of the week.

"If an apology is what you'd like, we can all go to lunch. I apologize," Tressel said Tuesday. "We'll try to get better. But we're working and trying to win games."

All kidding aside, if offensive rankings and stats determined the outcome of a game, the Buckeyes would have lost to Purdue.

OSU, ranked 12th, has its toughest two-game stretch of the season at No. 20 Michigan State and then at home in a night game against No. 3 Penn State.

OSU's offense and freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor are coming off their worst performance of the season against Purdue. The Boilermakers had the worst defensive unit in the Big Ten, according to rankings. Still, Pryor couldn't engineer a single touchdown drive at home during a lackluster 16-3 win.

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CPD

Ohio State Buckeyes' offense searches for a way forward

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- One thing different, Ohio State tight end Rory Nicol asked of his teammates. Try one thing different this week.
"Because when you do the same things, you get the same results," the senior said Tuesday. "So let's challenge ourselves. You don't have to tell me what it is, but let's go to Michigan State and look like an offense that's been playing together for two seasons."
As opposed to an offense that's coming apart.
Three days after failing to score an offensive touchdown in a 16-3 win over Purdue on Saturday, the Buckeyes hit the practice field in a continued search for answers. After not a single offensive player earned a winning performance against the Boilermakers, senior left tackle Alex Boone said Nicol led the charge in asking more of the offensive line, where the struggles have been most obvious. And he said even the defense chimed in.
"The defense is more like, 'What's going on?' " Boone said. "They're laying it out there for us and we're not really doing anything. This will be the perfect week for us to come back."

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Blade

Article published Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Ohio State offense is big mystery
Errors hampering execution
By MATT MARKEY
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
COLUMBUS - Seven games into the 2008 football season, Ohio State might be the biggest enigma in the country. The Buckeyes are motoring along, but it seems like they've got a five-speed transmission that can't get out of low gear. Ohio State, ranked as high as No. 2 in the polls this season and sporting an offense that returned nine starters from last year's Big Ten champion that played in the national championship game, has been winning. But they also have been struggling with forward progress. The Buckeyes rank near the bottom of the Big Ten in many offensive categories and are 95th in the nation in total offense. There are only 25 Division I teams that have been less productive than Ohio State so far this season, and that group includes the long-suffering folks at Syracuse, Temple, and now, Michigan.

The Buckeyes' conference wins have come against three opponents with a combined 2-6 Big Ten record, and Ohio State has beaten them by an average of just nine points per game. In their six games against Division I opponents, the No. 12 ranked Buckeyes have outscored the opposition just 127 to 100. "I hate to say it, but we're not executing," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said yesterday as his team continued preparation for Saturday's game at No. 20 Michigan State. The Buckeyes went without an offensive touchdown in last weekend's win over Purdue, and had just 222 yards of offense against the Big Ten's worst defense. "Probably the poorest thing we did on offense was our lack of consistency, and it showed in our grades," Tressel said. "We didn't have anyone [on offense] grade a winning performance. Therefore there must have been enough errors by guys through the course of the time that you were going to have a hard time putting together a string of first downs." Tressel said that following the Purdue game he felt that the Buckeyes' blocking up front had been deficient, and he did not want freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor to shoulder the blame for the current offensive struggles.
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What Offense?

The title sums it up.

What Offense.

Pryor (bless his talented heart) is still a freshman. The receivers are not really deep threats with "break out " speed. The line is very below average at this point. The defense can improve as well. Almost every team has issues at this point. What ever happened to the chant "USC might be the best team ever to step foot on the field?" Oops, they can play mediocre at times. Time to strap on the helmets one notch tighter and get better. All in all they are OUR Bucks and they are just a one loss team. Michigan State will be a test. I hope Ringer doesnt run wild. How many teams play Spartans and Trojans in a year?
Is this ancient history class? GO BUCKS.:osu:
 
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Things aren't so bad...

Guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but our offense isn't so bad. Bear with me a moment as I draw some similarities:

1.) The NC team of '02 had a reasonably poor pass offense. Krenzel didn't make mistakes, but he rarely passed for over 200 yards. The reason we won games was the running game and defense/special teams.

2.) The same thing is happening this year. Beanie Wells is tearing it up, but the pass offense isn't there. The defense is playing pretty well, and Malcolm Jenkins/Laurinitis are really heating things up.

3.) Remember how we would sneak through games that year? We didn't blow people out, and we had many, many close calls. Yet, at the end of the year, we stood tall as the NC.

4.) Remember in '06 when we DID blow people out? Our offense was ridiculous, scoring left right and up and down. We had the Heisman Trophy winner, a good running back and several quality recievers...and got humiliated in the NC.

I look at all those things and say I sorta like how things are shaping up. We aren't an offensive powerhouse, although the opportunity is there with the obscene talent at QB and RB. Yes, there are things we can do better (Block the entire play for example, rather than allowing the D-Line to walk right through) but all in all, lets just wait and see. Who would have thought that a team that struggled through games all year (I'm talking about '02) would end up beating the mighty Hurricanes of Miami?

It remains to be seen whether the NC is out of reach for this year, but regardless, lets let these guys prove that its about winning, not about how we win.

Go BUCKS!
 
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Derek, I am with you your sentiments, the only part that really concerns me is the fact that we had to show a lot of heart to beat wisky in their house and Penn State was just on a stroll through the park on a Sunday aternoon. We need to be on our best day with the passing game, and they need to be on their worst day, running the ball.
 
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I love your optimism, but:

The 2008 defense just doesn't compare that 2002 defense. Particularly along the D line. That 2002 defense was good enough to win the field position battles that "Tresselball" needs in order to be effective.

This 2008 team has already had a game against a "powerhouse" team and that team beat the Buckeyes badly in all facets of the game. Had the D shut down USC and Ohio State lost that game 14-3 or 17-10 I might be inclined to accept the comparisons to the 2002 squad, but that didn't happen. You can argue that Beanie wasn't in there, but I don't think Beanie is good enough to overcome a 32 point beating.

Krenzel was able to overcome some of his shortcomings by being able to get himself out of trouble with his feet. IMO, Todd can't do that and TP is a true freshman who is going to make mistakes. That's not a knock on Todd as much as it is a knock on the O line. The O line can't give Todd the time he needs to be an effective passer.

I just don't agree with comparisons to the 2002 squad, particularly in light of the USC game. That game wasn't as close as the score made it look IMO.
 
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Derek2k3;1292757; said:
Guys, correct me if I'm wrong, but our offense isn't so bad. Bear with me a moment as I draw some similarities:

1.) The NC team of '02 had a reasonably poor pass offense. Krenzel didn't make mistakes, but he rarely passed for over 200 yards. The reason we won games was the running game and defense/special teams.

2.) The same thing is happening this year. Beanie Wells is tearing it up, but the pass offense isn't there. The defense is playing pretty well, and Malcolm Jenkins/Laurinitis are really heating things up.

3.) Remember how we would sneak through games that year? We didn't blow people out, and we had many, many close calls. Yet, at the end of the year, we stood tall as the NC.

4.) Remember in '06 when we DID blow people out? Our offense was ridiculous, scoring left right and up and down. We had the Heisman Trophy winner, a good running back and several quality recievers...and got humiliated in the NC.

I look at all those things and say I sorta like how things are shaping up. We aren't an offensive powerhouse, although the opportunity is there with the obscene talent at QB and RB. Yes, there are things we can do better (Block the entire play for example, rather than allowing the D-Line to walk right through) but all in all, lets just wait and see. Who would have thought that a team that struggled through games all year (I'm talking about '02) would end up beating the mighty Hurricanes of Miami?

It remains to be seen whether the NC is out of reach for this year, but regardless, lets let these guys prove that its about winning, not about how we win.

Go BUCKS!
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Derek, welcome to BP. You're gonna like it here!

You make some good points, but the major diff. is consistency. In 02, the men were fired up, went out and finished plays and generally didn't make too many mental errors. They were mentally tougher than almost any modern Buckeye squad. And they consistently played to their ability.

This year's squad is still searching for the one part of the game to hang their hats on. We're not a ground and pound team like we normally are, and we have some serious line issues in terms of both mental errors and finishing plays off.Lastly, we're not playing to our ability. Whether that's schematic or not is up for debate, but we certainly have enough talent to blow through teams we have crawled through.
 
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