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2013 Buckeye Football Pre-season News

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Ohio State football: Spring ball about players in hand

Considering the hoopla that accompanied the closing days of Ohio State?s 2013 football recruiting season, it makes sense that fans are eager to see what Jalin Marshall, Dontre Wilson, Ezekiel Elliott and James Clark can bring to the Buckeyes? spread offense.

All four were playmakers in high school, and they are expected to give coach Urban Meyer?s offense the ?wow? factor it lacked on a consistent basis during his first season. So it would seem plausible that as coordinator Tom Herman dives into the start of spring drills this afternoon with the nine returning starters from last year?s offense, he would be daydreaming about what those new additions will bring to the unit in August.

Well, not so fast.

.../cont/...
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Football picture day...

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Chris Fields

Steve Miller

Vonn Bell

Ryan Shazier
 
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RSBucky;2353246; said:
Seems that the author of that preview expects a letdown. Cautionary tales have their place, but I don't see this team letting down ala USC '12.
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He also has Vonn Bell ranked as the #9 player on the team. A list that doesn't include Noah Spence or Adolphus. Didn't even bother reading after I saw that.
 
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Actually, I thought it was a fair read. Sure, we went 12-0 last year and you are what your record is, but let's be honest with ourselves... a few different bounces and there were 2 or 3 losses. When teams like Cal, Indiana, and Purdue test you WELL into the 4th quarter (or overtime), it might be wise not to expect a NCG as a gimmie the following year. Saying that this year is a NCG appearance or bust is a bit foolish to me. And yes, I'd agree that the mentality of the two seasons are totally different. There were no targets on our back last year (except for maybe from Michigan) and this year will be completely opposite. That has to make things a bit tougher.
 
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Yertle;2353806; said:
There were no targets on our back last year (except for maybe from Michigan) and this year will be completely opposite.
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Wrong. There are alway targets on our backs, period. You think Purdue and Indiana played us as tough as they did because we were having a down year? No, they did so because they have our game circled on their calendar every time we're on it. We're something like 52-2-2 against Indiana since 1951...you don't think they'd love to be the first IU team to beat Ohio State since 1988? Not to mention Wisconsin always gives us their best shot. The targets on our backs this year will be no larger than they were last year...
 
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MililaniBuckeye;2353815; said:
Wrong. There are alway targets on our backs, period. You think Purdue and Indiana played us as tough as they did because we were having a down year? No, they did so because they have our game circled on their calendar every time we're on it. We're something like 52-2-2 against Indiana since 1951...you don't think they'd love to be the first IU team to beat Ohio State since 1988? Not to mention Wisconsin always gives us their best shot. The targets on our backs this year will be no larger than they were last year...
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Case in point: they have a new head coach because Hope didn't pull the upset. We lose that game good chance mustache still has a HC job.
 
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I know I'm personally trying to be cautiously optimistic about the year. I think it's definitely within reason to go undefeated again but only because our schedule is really light. Lets be honest with ourselves until our team proves us other wise we are a powerful offense overall but we lack consistency when passing. Do we get better throwing the ball? I bet we do because Braxton will know where all the pieces are located, he will have more weapons like Marshall or Wilson or Clark, and he has been trending upward with his accuracy.

However with the defense we are replacing a great defensive line with 4 new players, albeit with enormous potential. Our linebackers are unproven outside of Shazier (who I think will be the B1G defender of the year) and our secondary while experienced and with loads of talent is very prone to the big play.

I love the potential all over the board to be much better than I anticipate but me personally I'm tempering my expectations as best as I can. I think we will be a better all around offense with a even more devistating rushing attack thanks to Marshall and Dontre's arrival. I also IMO believe our defense won't be quite what we are accustomed to as well. I am expecting a fast, aggressive defense that is still puzzlingly exposed to the big hitter (30+yards). I also think that our sack numbers will be better overall this year as will our pass defense but I also can see us having more issues in run support.

Do I think we go undefeated? I think we can but lets be real we've only had what 6 undefeated teams EVER? I think the schedule lines up great but something in me is telling me we drop 1 game.

If I had a guess I would say it would be Wisconsin. Power offense that can come straight at our young front 7, and a defense that returns a good big of talent in their front 7 to match up with our rush offense. Their strengths IMO kind of align with our weaker points. I'm just glad it's our first night game at home this year because that should really help.
 
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