I was so frustrated Sat night I sat down and charted every offensive possession to see what I could learn.
First, let me say that they won the game - and that is no small thing. They beat a B1G undefeated team (regardless of the quality of IU's schedule) on the road. The defense contributed greatly to the overall struggle via penalties and brain farts. Not too worried about them though. They have been pretty consistent all year. They will clean up the penalties and miscues and continue to give Ohio State a good chance to win games. The Ohio State offense was pretty good on penalties. Braxton's PF wiped out a TD and the illegal shift forced a FG rather than a 3rd and long chance. Mike Ts throat slash didn't look like a throat slash, but was inconsequential anyway. The receivers blocked better. The OL performed well, particularly in the 2nd half. So, there was some noticeable improvement in areas.
That said, after looking at each possession and each play call, it's hard to deny that the offensive coaching staff is confused about who they want to be and how they want to use the weapons at their disposal. It is a cluster of dysfunction. Indiana, from the get-go was going to load the box and force Cardale to throw on them. Every team is doing that - yet the offensive staff chose to force a touch to Braxton on the first play for -7 yards. The playcalling fails to indicate a commitment to a particular identity or any pre-planned way to distribute the ball. Obviously, at half, they chose to give the ball to EE (wise), and they changed the way they were blocking. This led to 3 explosive runs that saved their arses. With 10 MINUTES left in the game (with a 7 point lead), they decided to not trust Cardale to throw a single pass. My friend Bob texted me at about that point and said, "Don't you get the feeling that Cardale is on the verge of doing something really, really stupid?" Evidently, the coaching staff had that same feeling, and that is a problem that should not be glossed over. On their last possession - where a first down would have essentially ended the game - on 3rd and 12 they called a lead draw that led to a punt and the final drama. Urban/Warriner/Beck chose to punt and play defense rather than try to win the game with their QB. That is a worrisome development - and it appears they made that decision very early in the 4th qtr. I'm sure every team from here on out is going to try to be close enough get Ohio State to shut down the passing game for the entire 4th qtr.
The Bucks were 2/14 on 3rd downs. Cardale was 3-6 passing on 3rd downs for 0 first downs. They had one sustained drive the entire game: 10 plays for 66 yards that led to a FG. They had one drive (after the moronic fake punt) of 4 plays for 4 yards that led to a FG. All 4 OSU TD's were the result of short drives and explosive plays: 23 yd reception by MT, and runs of 55, 65, and 75 by EE. Translation: this offense is incapable of stringing first downs together, eating clock, and scoring a TD. Scary - because the offensive production basically consisted of 4 explosive plays. If IU only allows 3, that game is tied late in the 4th. If they only allow 2, OSU probably loses that game.
Braxton had 2 touches, Mike T 4, Jalin M 4, Vannett 1, Wilson 1, C Smith 1, and C Samuel 1. Curtis Samuel didn't practice much last week, and Corey suffered the broken leg, but neither of them are prime targets. EE had 25 touches, but the remainder of the offense involved Cardale running (awful) and passing (not efficient). The QB - with designed runs and scrambling - had runs of: 0, -8, -2, -1, -6, -4, +5, -5, and -2 for a net -23 yards. He did not throw for a first down on 3rd down all day. He threw 2 consecutive inaccurate throws on goal to go where an accurate pass on either would have scored a TD. And he threw, in Urban's words, "an inexcusable" pick in the redzone. The QBR for Cardale in this game was 8. 4 of the 5 lowest QBRs since Urban Meyer has been at OSU are owned by Cardale this year. The cluster of dysfunction in the passing game has to be due to some combination of: QB play, receiving corps play, QB coaching, overall coordination of the offense. After looking at the play calling for the whole game, you get the sense that it started off with some kind of plan, but pretty quickly devolved into "let's try this, no that", and ultimately to "let's win with Tressel-ball": run 3x's, punt, and play defense - which won the game, but barely, and is not very good at inspiring confidence that anyone in charge of that side of the ball really knows what they want to do or how they want to do it.
Now, I just want to vent. I am pissed off beyond all reason about this QB situation. Could it be that the guy who the team voted to lead them as a captain might want that guy to lead them on offense? We are having problems distributing the ball to playmakers. Who had the best season in OSU history distributing the ball last year over 12 games? He is over on the sideline. We aren't being efficient on offense. Who was the most efficient QB in the B1G last year? He is wearing a headset. We need to score more TD's. A guy who produced 45 last year didn't even play Saturday. We aren't good running the ball from the QB position? The guy who ran for 1K and 11 TDs last year has been made a de-facto assistant coach. They changed the offense to fit Cardale so that they could do this power running/long passing offense, and Cardale has 5 TD's and 5 Int's. They put JT in to run the offense designed for Cardale, and he struggles too. Well, no wonder! Plus he is not getting the practice reps he would need to succeed when he has had an opportunity. Granting that I am getting paid 0 for what I know about football, and Urban is getting slightly more than that, I have to say that he picked the wrong guy to lead this offense, and I sense he feels he is at the point where he just has to ride it out for better or worse. He can't change the offense back in mid-season, so this dumpster fire is what we have: neither QB can run it well right now, but Cardale will have to get better - and he probably will, but it still makes me want to puke. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It wasn't broke last year, but they did try to fix it, and now all of us are going to have to live with it.
