2015-16 Ohio State Quarterback Discussion

[cincibuck]

I was just thinking of this... opportunity cost.

They have to weigh what they give up with their selected starting QB. They give up any running threat with CJ as the starter...

No doubt Barrett and Miller were/are better runners. But for three huge games Cardale was at least decent as a runner. He was not as good on the read option, but he proved capable on knowing when to pull it down and run. IMO he seems to have lost confidence in his judgement of when to run and when to stay with the pass.

Saturday Penn State kept putting a DE out beyond the tackle and he kept interrupting both the run and the pass. The failure of the coaches to account/adjust for him and his wide split assured that Cardale was not going to have the time to throw deep.

 

[TooTall]

Cardale led OSU to a NC last year, and against teams better than JT faced. Point is, who cares what happened last season--if you want to rip Cardale for his play this year, you should also look to what JT has done passing the ball this year, which isn't much so far. If he gets the ball on Saturday, hopefully he'll change that.

You say "he's going to need to throw"... Just throwing it out there, the dude can throw the ball just as well as Cardale. IMO, he actually throws it better, while doing a much better job of working through his progressions.

 

[bukIpower]

No doubt Barrett and Miller were/are better runners. But for three huge games Cardale was at least decent as a runner. He was not as good on the read option, but he proved capable on knowing when to pull it down and run. IMO he seems to have lost confidence in his judgement of when to run and when to stay with the pass.

Saturday Penn State kept putting a DE out beyond the tackle and he kept interrupting both the run and the pass. The failure of the coaches to account/adjust for him and his wide split assured that Cardale was not going to have the time to throw deep.

Yeah I agree. Its not that CJ can't run its that he's very reluctant to run and oddly like you mentioned that wasn't as much of a issue for him last year.

 

[bukIpower]

Great stats. Sputtering out of the gate simply cannot happen against MSU and scUM. If it does, I could see Ohio State in a 10-0 or 14-0 hole that would be fairly difficult to claw out of with momentum being on the side of two pretty solid defenses.

If our weakness is rushing defense then what better way to force a team away from that than one jump out to a quick lead.

IMO a offense that scores early in the game is only going to help our defense get the ofence out of their game plan and play ino our hands due to our strong pass rush.

Would any of you take Jake Ruddock to lead a comeback against our secondary and pass rush if we go up 14-0 In the first? Didn't think so... start fast.

JT can throw though... he went for 3500 yards last year with 35tds. He's more than capable and we will see a expanded pass game if he starts at Rutgers

 

[jwinslow]

Yeah I agree. Its not that CJ can't run its that he's very reluctant to run and oddly like you mentioned that wasn't as much of a issue for him last year.

It absolutely is that he can't run very well. His lateral quickness is very limited, which is why Virginia Tech parted the red Sea and begged him to keep it on the speed option.

He can run downhill with speed, run through people and sidestep a guy or two. On those plays he can be effective.

It was an issue against Alabama and that led to being buried on 3rd and a mile all day. That set up situations where he could scramble against a small number of defenders or sit in the pocket and fire lasers. That's what he's built to do, run sparingly like an nfl qb.

It didn't matter as much against Oregon because Zeke ran wild and did so on the same play about four hundred times in a row and the defense was stellar.

It didn't matter against Wisconsin because the entire team was unstoppable and Joe B would have cruised to a blowout win with that kind of supporting cast.

 

[lvbuckeye]

JT as a starter, Ohio State is 11-1
Cardale as a starter, Ohio State is 10-0 including a National Championship

Re: Urban was quoted as saying, "I see what you see."

Tough call but at this point in the season; (the way I see it) I'd go with JT.

The difference is that through his first ten starts, CJ has 16 TDs. Through his first ten starts, JT had 45.

 

[woofermazing]

It absolutely is that he can't run very well. His lateral quickness is very limited, which is why Virginia Tech parted the red Sea and begged him to keep it on the speed option.

He can run downhill with speed, run through people and sidestep a guy or two. On those plays he can be effective.

It was an issue against Alabama and that led to being buried on 3rd and a mile all day. That set up situations where he could scramble against a small number of defenders or sit in the pocket and fire lasers. That's what he's built to do, run sparingly like an nfl qb.

It didn't matter as much against Oregon because Zeke ran wild and did so on the same play about four hundred times in a row.

It didn't matter against Wisconsin because the entire team was unstoppable and Joe B would have cruised to a blowout win with that kind of supporting cast.

Well it didn't hurt that Oregon was terrified of Devin. The cornerback cushions and the depth of their safeties were just comical, they were so afraid of getting beat deep that they pretty much let us do everything else. Meanwhile Indiana puts their safeties 8 yards from the line of scrimmage, that's just insulting!

And everyone is blowing what happened in the Penn State game out of proportion. Farris could not block Nassib, so the coaching staff decided to leave him unblocked and option him instead. To do that we needed JT in there, so the switch was made.

Regardless of the quarterback, the direction of the offense scares me. Our H-back type players are the only ones still healthy, so we are featuring our horizontal game much more and have eliminated any kind of vertical passing. That just encourages a loaded box and makes it more difficult to run. MSU is a team that forces you to beat them by going deep, and scUM will be very similar with all the press man they play. We need to get vertical to beat those teams if they can contain our running game.

 

[lvbuckeye]

You're the guy who finds the need to jump on a message board to claim that an OSU player "sucked." And, just FYI, whether you said Cardale "sucked" or "sucked that day" doesn't make your statement any less embarrassing or ridiculous.

It doesn't make it any less true either, though the choice of words could be better.

 

[Buckeye86]

I think Cardale has lost confidence and it is impacting his game in a negative way. I think a big part of it is a lack of a go-to play for him.

The other big part is losing so many quality WRs; but even that doesn't change how many throws he missed.

It also impacts the play calling as the coaches struggle to find something that consistently works for Cardale.

In contrast, with JT they just call a read option, he runs it really well, they start moving the ball, everyone gains confidence and the play book opens up for the coaches.

I have been a big Cardale supporter and defender, but given the current WR position and his current struggles, I think JT needs to be the primary guy with Cardale coming off the bench as a change of pace.

If JT can open up a fairly comfortable lead maybe the coaches would be more willing to go vertical and take advantage of Cardale's biggest strength- but that goes back to the decimated WR corps again.

 

[bukIpower]

Anyone notice too how much the speed option has opened up with JT at QB? Teams have got to stay just a shade longer in the box due to JT'S threat to keep it.

The stats keep piling up on why JT should move forward as the starter. As for fearing the direction of the offense? I'm not worried in fact I'm PUMPED due to a few reasons.

1. We won this way in 2013 with Braxton

2. We will become lethal in the play action due to how effective we are running the ball and as such things will start to run easier and easier in the pass game.

3. We will get healthy after the BYE for the stretch particularly out wide and in the secondary

 

[Bill Lucas]

We will become lethal in the play action due to how effective we are running the ball and as such things will start to run easier and easier in the pass game.

This is the key to me. Defenses haven't adjusted to the run game with JT in yet so we're just pounding them. When they adjust the passing game for him will open up and Ohio State will truly be the multidimensional juggernaut that we saw last season.

 

[buckeyesin07]

You say "he's going to need to throw"... Just throwing it out there, the dude can throw the ball just as well as Cardale. IMO, he actually throws it better, while doing a much better job of working through his progressions.

That's nice that you're of that opinion. Hopefully, JT will prove you right (assuming he gets the start on Saturday). He hasn't thus far this year.

 

[Coqui]

Based off of a tweet this morning, I'm guessing Cardale is starting.

 

[kinch]

Asking as someone who didn't coach football, have they pulled Cardale's right to pull the ball down and run? I can't understand how someone who played the long pass, short pass, run if necessary game so well in the biggest, toughest three games of 2014 can be so different at times this year. seems to be hesitant to run, seems to still be looking downfield when he has decided to use his feet and not going full tilt the way he did against Alabama and Oregon. Is he saving himself for the NFL?

I don't think he is saving himself. It appears to me that he is trying to be a more complete QB and it is not as easy as it looks.

 

[SEREbuckeye]

Based off of a tweet this morning, I'm guessing Cardale is starting.

Saw the same tweet, and came to see if others were of the same mindset. This could very well pertain to a number of things, but the QB battle seems to be the leading factor (maybe).

He could mean that he's getting the starting nod and curious to see who's in his corner for support, or JT is getting the start and he's a bit emotional and wonder who will still support him. Sorry but his tweets are held to a different standard than the others, and his public out cries get old.