2011 tOSU Football Discussion

[Buckskin86]

Leadership will be at a premium even as winter conditioning begins, which was one reason why All-America junior center Michael Brewster opted to return for his senior season rather than head for the NFL.

"The biggest thing that hit home for me when all of this happened was having people telling me, 'You've got to come back and be a leader,'" Brewster said. "It was like they were looking at me as somebody who can help make sure everything is going to be all right.

"So I guess that was kind of my calling, to do what I needed to do. And looking at the bigger picture, I thought about how much Ohio State football means to some people. It kind of reopened my eyes."

Sanzenbacher already had labeled Brewster a potential leader, even before the other five were cited in December by Ohio State and the NCAA for selling memorabilia and/or receiving discounts for tattoos. Brewster will be a four-year starter, which means he has proved himself on the field, Sanzenbacher said, and then he showed his dedication by putting off a move to the NFL.

"Anytime you have guys who have a chance to make that decision and they decide to come back, you know they are very goal-oriented," Sanzenbacher sad. "Obviously, he feels like he can get better as a player and also wants to accomplish more as a team.

"So with him along with a lot of the other guys, I think they will be all right in the leadership area."

Who could be some of those "other guys"? Brewster named a few, such right tackle J.B. Shugarts, defensive end Nathan Williams and defensive lineman John Simon, all veteran starters.

"You always look to guys who are battle-tested, by that I mean guys who have held their own in games," Brewster said. "But then, another guy we can look to in my opinion is someone like Etienne Sabino (a junior linebacker who took a redshirt season in 2010). Maybe he didn't play this year, but he's a smart guy and an older guy, and he's got to be one of those guys ready to step in."

Leaders usually don't come out of nowhere, Sanzenbacher said, and they usually aren't fakes.

"From the moment you walk into Ohio State you start to build your reputation, your perception of who you are, whether you know it or not," he said. "When it comes time to lead, you just need to be that person, you don't need to step too far out of yourself."

Which is why he said Zach Boren, a fullback who will be a junior, could emerge.

"He might be a little off the radar, but he is a young guy I have watched through this past season especially who you could always count on," Sanzenbacher said. "For one thing he's tough, and you know there's never going to be a quit in him. So from a teammate standpoint he has the characteristics of, 'OK, I can get behind this kid.'"

http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...-leaders-must-emerge-next-season.html?sid=101

 

[jimotis4heisman]

id like to see a faster tempoed offense next year. in 2010 ohio state ran 59 offensive plays per game, compare to oklahomas 88. i understand the difficulties with a system where you can go three and out in less than 25 seconds, but personally i think this is the deepest, fastest and the team with the most compete in the big ten (not sure on conditioning etc). i think running another dozen or so plays would put more pressure on other teams depth as the game wears on. the impact of clock, rules changes has been significant over the past 10 or so years, when in the mid 90s most teams were running on average of 80-85 plays a game.

northwestern and michigan lead the conference with 74 or so plays a game, running 80 or so in home games.
ohio state ranked 113 with 59 plays a game, down from 64 the year prior.

 

[Diego-Bucks]

id like to see a faster tempoed offense next year. in 2010 ohio state ran 59 offensive plays per game, compare to oklahomas 88. i understand the difficulties with a system where you can go three and out in less than 25 seconds, but personally i think this is the deepest, fastest and the team with the most compete in the big ten (not sure on conditioning etc). i think running another dozen or so plays would put more pressure on other teams depth as the game wears on. the impact of clock, rules changes has been significant over the past 10 or so years, when in the mid 90s most teams were running on average of 80-85 plays a game.

northwestern and michigan lead the conference with 74 or so plays a game, running 80 or so in home games.
ohio state ranked 113 with 59 plays a game, down from 64 the year prior.

Not even trying to play the Tressel-card, but I just doubt you'll see a significant increase in plays per game average next year. They may be aware that they ought to get more plays into the mix, but to increase by 12 plays a game is going to require a significant effort for the next few seasons in a change of philosophy. The current squad isn't built to make that severe of a jump very effective.

However, I see your point and agree. We have a talent edge for the most part; it would be wonderful to try to amplify that edge into the advantages on offense it can generate.

 

[DaveyBoy]

good point...we saw firsthand what a no huddle offense did to a very athletic Arkansas defense. They didn't know what hit them. I think OSU could hit 60 or 70 points multiple times next year against the likes of Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, and Michigan

It would be fantastic to be able to get 2 1,000 yard rushers next year too.

id like to see a faster tempoed offense next year. in 2010 ohio state ran 59 offensive plays per game, compare to oklahomas 88. i understand the difficulties with a system where you can go three and out in less than 25 seconds, but personally i think this is the deepest, fastest and the team with the most compete in the big ten (not sure on conditioning etc). i think running another dozen or so plays would put more pressure on other teams depth as the game wears on. the impact of clock, rules changes has been significant over the past 10 or so years, when in the mid 90s most teams were running on average of 80-85 plays a game.

northwestern and michigan lead the conference with 74 or so plays a game, running 80 or so in home games.
ohio state ranked 113 with 59 plays a game, down from 64 the year prior.

 

[matcar]

id like to see a faster tempoed offense next year. in 2010 ohio state ran 59 offensive plays per game, compare to oklahomas 88. i understand the difficulties with a system where you can go three and out in less than 25 seconds, but personally i think this is the deepest, fastest and the team with the most compete in the big ten (not sure on conditioning etc). i think running another dozen or so plays would put more pressure on other teams depth as the game wears on. the impact of clock, rules changes has been significant over the past 10 or so years, when in the mid 90s most teams were running on average of 80-85 plays a game.

northwestern and michigan lead the conference with 74 or so plays a game, running 80 or so in home games.
ohio state ranked 113 with 59 plays a game, down from 64 the year prior.

It IS interesting that in the last 2 bowl games the Bucks used an up-tempo pace to attack the opponent and it was highly effective.

I don't know if I'd like to see that run like Oregon does - meaning 100% of the time, but I definitely would enjoy something like that for a couple series each game.

 

[NFBuck]

Well, with a new starter under center for the first handful of games, a faster tempo seems highly unlikely. Especially if they're going to rely on a deep stable of backs to grind it down opponents throats. Even after TP returns, there's gonna be a rust factor. Plus losing the most dependable receiver on the team. I'd expect the offense to take a step backwards initially next season. We'll see how things go after TP and the others return.

Personally, I couldn't care less. They went 12-1 with that tempo this year. If ball control and defense means a bunch of close wins vice running 70 plays and forcing turnovers, I'll take the former.

 

[Taosman]

Ty Moeller would be an obvious choice for a captain on defense. And maybe Simon. And Sweat.

 

[buckiprof]

id like to see a faster tempoed offense next year. in 2010 ohio state ran 59 offensive plays per game, compare to oklahomas 88. i understand the difficulties with a system where you can go three and out in less than 25 seconds, but personally i think this is the deepest, fastest and the team with the most compete in the big ten (not sure on conditioning etc). i think running another dozen or so plays would put more pressure on other teams depth as the game wears on. the impact of clock, rules changes has been significant over the past 10 or so years, when in the mid 90s most teams were running on average of 80-85 plays a game.

northwestern and michigan lead the conference with 74 or so plays a game, running 80 or so in home games.
ohio state ranked 113 with 59 plays a game, down from 64 the year prior.

Not sure about those numbers or where you got them or if you only included certain games rather than the entire season, but the numbers I found are from here and show the following.

Ohio State was ranked 43 with 68.9 plays per game. OK was 1 with 86.5 plays per game.

While OK did run more plays per game, OK only averaged 5.6 yards per play (tied for 55) whereas OSU averaged 6.5 yards per play (tied for 16).

OSU scoring offense was at #11 at 38.8 ppg and OK was at #14 at 37.2 ppg.

OSU was at 14 in TOP at 32:10 and OK was at 52 in TOP at 30:17.

If it is me doing the coaching, I will take the offense that has over a 2 minute TOP advantage, scores more points per game, and averages more yards per play (almost a full yard per play) over an offense that averages more plays per game. (Maybe that also has an effect on defense performance, maybe it doesn't. But OSU scoring defense was ranked at #5 (14.3 ppg) and OK was ranked #33 (21.8 ppg).)

Doing a controlled (maybe one or two series each game, maybe not even doing it every game) muddle huddle type deal could be a nice change of pace, but I do not believe that doing so to simply increase the number of plays per game has much merit. Doing so to give the other team one more thing to prepare for may have some merit.

 

[Mrstickball]

good point...we saw firsthand what a no huddle offense did to a very athletic Arkansas defense. They didn't know what hit them. I think OSU could hit 60 or 70 points multiple times next year against the likes of Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, and Michigan

It would be fantastic to be able to get 2 1,000 yard rushers next year too.

Thats what I was thinking. The up-tempo stunned Arky, and I can't see why we wouldn't work with it more in the future.

 

[ginn421]

Doing a controlled (maybe one or two series each game, maybe not even doing it every game) muddle huddle type deal could be a nice change of pace, but I do not believe that doing so to simply increase the number of plays per game has much merit. Doing so to give the other team one more thing to prepare for may have some merit.

We actually did this early on this past season. I see no merit in going to 100% hurry up just to run more plays...why you would want to after seeing our O stats compared to OU's (who has a similarly talented roster) makes no sense. More chance for turnovers while decreasing our TOP and putting our defense on the field for longer stretches? No thanks.

 

[pnuts34]

We actually did this early on this past season. I see no merit in going to 100% hurry up just to run more plays...why you would want to after seeing our O stats compared to OU's (who has a similarly talented roster) makes no sense. More chance for turnovers while decreasing our TOP and putting our defense on the field for longer stretches? No thanks.

I concur. Switch it up, but don't be locked in on 1 type of running your offense

 

[jimotis4heisman]

i believe those numbers were only for conference play, the theory there is you wipe out the cupcakes and the offensive pile ons of the games like marshall, emu, etc.

im not advocating soonerball, rather accelerating the pace a tad, but on a substantial level. then again the tressel way has been to get a lead, sit on the lead by taking the air out of the ball to translate to basketball terminology. in much the same way woody hayes revolutionized the game by huddling 5-7 yards from the los, rather than the traditional 10 was it increased the number of plays he could run, though only slightly marginally.

 

[buck2006]

I understand he's been the 3rd linebacker in the base 4-3 defense and a significant back-up in 2009. But Heacock runs a much smaller percentage of plays in the base 4-3 than before and I'd be more inclined to say that Moeller and Bryant was that 11th starter (or at least saw more snaps on average in a game this past year than Sweat). Again, that's my perception of Sweat's on field performance, not necessarily fact. But I think perception plays a key role in a captain so I wonder how others feel. Was he invisible? Far from it. But I just don't know the extent/effectiveness of his on field contributions.

His off-field contributions I know next to nothing about. But to be clear, I have admitted that to me, he is not a CLEAR choice of captain. I wouldn't disagree with him being named captain, but he isn't an obvious choice. Again, I don't know what criteria Tressel uses to select the captains. In 09, the Buckeyes ran with 3 permanent captains and they were all on defense. Maybe we see a small number of 2011 captains.

The gist of my argument I feel is somewhat validated by your comment "who else on D would be a sure and solid selection, other than Sweat?" This premise essentially tells me that you reach a conclusion that he is a valid option in a field that is now void of many valid options. My point that I made was that the most obvious thing going for him is that he is a senior who has started who is not suspended... I'm not sure we are very far apart in this.

The Buckeyes have 3 clear captains so far in my imo: Brewster, Moeller and Nate Williams.

Brewster will be a captain what a leader he has been for the Buck?s!!!
Moeller I agree should be a captain.
Sweat would be my other pick on D; he has seen more time than Moller has on the field will lead the team in tackles this year in my opinion!!
Nate Williams may be a captain but I would not bet the farm, his issues off the field will hurt him.
I think we may have a rotating captain this year.

 

[Meyer]

Sweat wont lead the team in tackles if hes strongside again

 

[Taosman]

Going to be interesting. Must, absolutely must beat Wiscy and State Penn. Win our division and make the Championship game. Don't win our division and it's off to Orlando or worse. I'm not optimistic right now.