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- Thread starter jimotis4heisman
- Start date
I think some folks might think I posted the NCAA team rankings as a complaint. Actually, far from it. I also posted our defensive rankings.
I suppose no one should be surprised that some people are complaining about the offense. After all, where's John Cooper when we need him? Still, I am surprised when people complain about vanilla play calling and running it right down Illinois' throat in the first half.
I couldn't see the game but I could watch the weather radar and those rain bands had wind gusts of about 20mph. They also were popping up rather unpredictably, seeming to pass by Columbus, and then five minutes later condensing right above Ohio Stadium.
Why take the chance of running the football when your guys are slashing like the Ohio State backs were?
Now, at halftime, you have to be thinking that Illinois is adjusting to stop the run. So, Tressel comes out throwing.
Illinois is not a very good team, quite frankly. Sagarin has them at about the same as Syracuse, Maryland, Louisville, or Bowling Green. They'd be fourth in the MAC. So, it's not wise to crow too loudly about the outcome of yesterday or the week before.
But, Ohio State has played some cupcakes in recent years and not shut them out, right? Wow. On defense, things look incredible.
Our offense clearly isn't at the same level, yet. Yet. Still, our offense is learning. As Brewster said, they are "starting" to get the hang of it. When you are learning, not everything goes right. You just don't run over any team on every play, especially when they know what is coming.
I have no problems with Ohio State's play on offense yesterday. They learned. The learning curve is a little bit steeper this week and it continues to climb until The Game, albeit with a few easier games thrown in.
I just wish people would enjoy that Ohio State is in the Top Ten again and looking like a team with a purpose.
If that doesn't thrill you and you need something to complain about, Sagarin's ELO has us ranked #23. That's the one used by the BCS and it does us ugly.
I'd rather focus on the Sagarin Predictor, which most accurately predicts the outcome of games. Ohio State is #6. That sounds pretty good to me.
I suppose no one should be surprised that some people are complaining about the offense. After all, where's John Cooper when we need him? Still, I am surprised when people complain about vanilla play calling and running it right down Illinois' throat in the first half.
I couldn't see the game but I could watch the weather radar and those rain bands had wind gusts of about 20mph. They also were popping up rather unpredictably, seeming to pass by Columbus, and then five minutes later condensing right above Ohio Stadium.
Why take the chance of running the football when your guys are slashing like the Ohio State backs were?
Now, at halftime, you have to be thinking that Illinois is adjusting to stop the run. So, Tressel comes out throwing.
Illinois is not a very good team, quite frankly. Sagarin has them at about the same as Syracuse, Maryland, Louisville, or Bowling Green. They'd be fourth in the MAC. So, it's not wise to crow too loudly about the outcome of yesterday or the week before.
But, Ohio State has played some cupcakes in recent years and not shut them out, right? Wow. On defense, things look incredible.
Our offense clearly isn't at the same level, yet. Yet. Still, our offense is learning. As Brewster said, they are "starting" to get the hang of it. When you are learning, not everything goes right. You just don't run over any team on every play, especially when they know what is coming.
I have no problems with Ohio State's play on offense yesterday. They learned. The learning curve is a little bit steeper this week and it continues to climb until The Game, albeit with a few easier games thrown in.
I just wish people would enjoy that Ohio State is in the Top Ten again and looking like a team with a purpose.
If that doesn't thrill you and you need something to complain about, Sagarin's ELO has us ranked #23. That's the one used by the BCS and it does us ugly.
I'd rather focus on the Sagarin Predictor, which most accurately predicts the outcome of games. Ohio State is #6. That sounds pretty good to me.
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crazybuckfan40
Head Coach
MaxBuck;1552471; said:
Keep in mind I said to be an elite team we need to convert those situation into tds...
Lets look at 7 drives...
IL 24 - 3rd - 2...pryor for -9 yds - FG
IL 28 - 3rd - 5...Pryor for -1 yd - FG
Ohst 40 - 3rd - 3...Herron for 2 yds - PUNT
IL 10 - 3rd-4 Pryor incomplete pass - FG
IL 36 - 3rd - 2 Saine rush for - 1 yd - PUNT
IL 33 - Pryor Fumble
IL 3 - 3rd - 3...Pryor incomplete - SCORED ON 4th down
Those are 7 drives. Where we had 3rd - 5 or less inside Illinois territory and one on our 40.
Not one of them did we convert in TD's other than the last one where we had to go for it on 4th down.
I don't care how bad the weather is, 1 out of 7 of those drives for TD's is not good if we are an elite team against a sad defense...
Of the 3 touchdown drives we were 1-2 on third down- the one being the drive where we had to go for it on 4th to score.
Basically what I am saying and if you want to blame it on the weather that is fine, but we saw the same thing against USC. We have to convert drives when we are on the opponents side of the 50 into tds, and the plays that are killing drives are short yardage. 3rd-5 or less. I think teams convert those situations about 60 or more percent of the time, and especially the 3-1, 3-2 situations.
We have a great athlete in the backfield, and a good offensive line. This should not be a problem.
Is it fixable? Absolutely. Don't let the defense know what is coming. run plays sometimes that are designed to get you 15, so the defense can't pack the box. Why not fake handoff and lay one out over the top. It would throw the defense off.
You notice teams, seem to always convert 3rd-1, 2 or 3 against us, and espeically the real short ones where they QB sneak it and we are sitting in nickel.
Yes Pettrey is a great kicker, but I get tired of seeing him run out there in a situation where we needed a TD, not a fg.
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NateG
Can't waste the day when the night brings a hearse
Now don't take my adiditions wrong.. but our offense is and has been a work in progress the whole year... They are not an elite offense... the weather caused a step back in seeing balance. I believe we will see the same style game that there was against Toledo against Indiana. Wisconsin will give OSU it's next challenge offensively and that is 2 weeks of practice and a game to get things in cohesion more. The line is coming together(many changes with personnel) It will get better and we can be elite by the end of the year.
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NateG;1553164; said:
Agreed! The more reps TP can get with the offense(especially in the passing game) the better off we're gonna look as the weeks go by! Our D is looking pretty stellar, after seeing what Iowa did to PSU, I'm not nearly as scared of their "vaunted" spread HD O anymore. And I can definitely see our O line wearing them down. We just need TP to be more accurate and efficient and don't be afraid to run the ball when those lanes close and just run forward instead of trying to juke/cut back and run for a TD on every play.
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matcar
Mostly banned
NateG;1553154; said:
All in all, I felt a whole lot better about line play Saturday than I have felt in recent memory. Having said that, all of your points in bold are excuses for not getting the job done in those cases.
I'm REALLY pleased with where we seem to be headed, but I'm w/ CB40 that the score coulda/shoulda been worse.
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scarletngray
Gold Pants
I really like the new blocking schemes the Offensive staff implemented in the running game against Illinois. We are also seeing a bit more use this year of the TE and RB in the passing game. We have seen a screen to a RB and a middle screen to a TE. Against NAVY we saw a number of passes to the TE and we see a couple passes each game to the RB out in the flat. We have also seen passes in the flat to the FB and downfield to the FB (Saine) this year.
It's great seeing Tress use all these weapons, as well as TP taking advantage of occasional secondary receivers in the passing game. And as we all know, the passing game will only get better as the running game continues to improve. There is still a long way to go but I like the progress that I am seeing on the Offensive side of the ball.
I also concur about the OL becoming more cohesive and getting better each week. Hopefully that unit can stay injury free for the rest of the year.
OUR BEST DAY'S ARE YET TO COME!! DO I GET A WITNESS??
:osu:
It's great seeing Tress use all these weapons, as well as TP taking advantage of occasional secondary receivers in the passing game. And as we all know, the passing game will only get better as the running game continues to improve. There is still a long way to go but I like the progress that I am seeing on the Offensive side of the ball.
I also concur about the OL becoming more cohesive and getting better each week. Hopefully that unit can stay injury free for the rest of the year.
OUR BEST DAY'S ARE YET TO COME!! DO I GET A WITNESS??
:osu:
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NateG
Can't waste the day when the night brings a hearse
matcar;1553195; said:
Coulda yes Shoulda maybe... like I said many might not think the same especially if they weren't in the stadium. I stood in about 3-4 inches of water the whole game and at times it was difficult to see the field from the front row of C deck. If the fact that they pulled passing from about 60% of drives(2 passes first half, 9 in the second) as an excuse then ok... but remember that Illinois knew when runs were coming and the offense did as good of a job as they could against one of the more athletic defensive lines in the Big 10. It should and I believe will get better going forward. But believe me... if you watched it from home (I did both thanks to dvr) you didn't get the feel of this game... especially the first half...scUM 07 is the only thing close and that offense was more ELITE than this year's. Conditions effect offense more than defense.
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UpNorthBuckeye
Hall of Fame
IMPROVEMENT!!!
As a poster who has criticized the offense a couple of times this year, I have to say I was happy with the progress of the offense Saturday.
But first let me say, the defense is just freaking awesome. As someone mentioned, we do seem to be allowing a fairly high % of 3d down conversions (stats, anyone?) BUT we have not been giving up any homerun balls, long plays (again, stats anyone?).
We are playing great stand-up, disciplined defense, and although a team might get a 1st down... or two.... we are making it really hard for anyone, INCLUDING USC, to put together a long scoring drive. They only had one, although it was a killer. But it was a killer because our offense didn't do much that night...
which brings me back to the point of this post. I LOVED the quick out (I had begged for that last two weeks). I loved the fact that we ran the power I very little (gotta check out the "by the numbers"). I was just very happy with the look of the offense. The deep handoff/option thing... it almost looks like a wishbone/wildcat (now there's an idea!).
Just very cool. Also liked how the three tailbacks are pressuring each other to do their best, or risk losing reps.
As an uneducated observer (never having played quarterback) it seems to me that all Pryor needs now is to get loose. Relax. Flow.
Maybe the coolest thing Saturday was the fact that we didn't have any delay of game penalties because our braintrust on the sidelines couldn't call a play. that's a nice sign.
I believe, and I admit I'm a slappy, but I feel really good about this season. Especially that scUM is playing what looks like Division I-A football again, which means we won't go into THE GAME with any false confidence this year. Who knows? We might both be ranked!
Feelin' good. Good job, team.
As a poster who has criticized the offense a couple of times this year, I have to say I was happy with the progress of the offense Saturday.
But first let me say, the defense is just freaking awesome. As someone mentioned, we do seem to be allowing a fairly high % of 3d down conversions (stats, anyone?) BUT we have not been giving up any homerun balls, long plays (again, stats anyone?).
We are playing great stand-up, disciplined defense, and although a team might get a 1st down... or two.... we are making it really hard for anyone, INCLUDING USC, to put together a long scoring drive. They only had one, although it was a killer. But it was a killer because our offense didn't do much that night...
which brings me back to the point of this post. I LOVED the quick out (I had begged for that last two weeks). I loved the fact that we ran the power I very little (gotta check out the "by the numbers"). I was just very happy with the look of the offense. The deep handoff/option thing... it almost looks like a wishbone/wildcat (now there's an idea!).
Just very cool. Also liked how the three tailbacks are pressuring each other to do their best, or risk losing reps.
As an uneducated observer (never having played quarterback) it seems to me that all Pryor needs now is to get loose. Relax. Flow.
Maybe the coolest thing Saturday was the fact that we didn't have any delay of game penalties because our braintrust on the sidelines couldn't call a play. that's a nice sign.
I believe, and I admit I'm a slappy, but I feel really good about this season. Especially that scUM is playing what looks like Division I-A football again, which means we won't go into THE GAME with any false confidence this year. Who knows? We might both be ranked!
Feelin' good. Good job, team.
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NateG
Can't waste the day when the night brings a hearse
UpNorthBuckeye;1553348; said:
You wanted stats so here you go...
Defense-
3rd down conversion defense- 75th nationally (59/24 40.68%)
4th down defense- 108 nationally (5/4 80%)
Red Zone Def Effec- tied for last 111th (5/5 100% 4 td's 1 fg)(wow...only 5 redzone trips)
Long tds(outside the 20)- 2 both against Navy(1 pass 1 run)
1st down defense- 21st nationally(15.00 per game)
Offense-
3rd down- 48th nationally (54/23 42.59%)
4th down- 47th nationally (4/2 50%)
Red Zone Effec- 57th nationally (18/15 83% 10 td's 5 fg's)
1st downs- 88th nationally (17.75 per game)
Pass Effec- 58th nationally (130.25 rating)
Did as much as I could comparison wise.... stats per NCAA site http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp
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NateG;1553390; said:
At this point the ranks don't mean much but a couple of percentages stand out to me.
-The defense has allowed 28 of 64 conversions on 3rd & 4th down. That's 43.75 % As good as the defense has been that's the Achilles heel so far. If you get into a game where the other team isn't turning it over or taking penalties you have to be able to get them off the field on money downs.
-Offensively a 55% TD ratio on Red Zone trips is obviously an area that needs improvement.
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NateG
Can't waste the day when the night brings a hearse
Jaxbuck;1553407; said:
I agree mostly with that... my only rebuttal is that its the first quarter of the season..when do stats count... (4/12 games) and the competition doesn't necessarily get easier especially in the fourth quarter(NMSU,@State Penn, Iowa, At scUM). But there is plenty of time to get better and I believe time heals alot of these wounds.
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It's an absolute FACT that some tOSU fans will complain about the offense until they are putting up 500 yards and 40+ PPG.
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