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Game Thread 2015 Sugar Bowl: (1) Alabama vs. (4) Ohio State, Jan 1st @ 8:30p ET, ESPN (civilized thread)

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finally a great place for Sugar Bowl discussions. I prefer my sugar to be fine, not cubed.

Sugar-bowl1.jpg
 
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Enduro R said:
Lol. I wasn't going to go there.
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Haha, grew up my whole life in the Springfield area and will be heading back for the holidays...the only good thing about it may have been Trey DePriest but he went to "y'all" anyways :lol: So anyways, we always welcome friendly posters from opposing fanbases that can give us some insight. Glad to have you on board.

So I have one point/question: I saw Bama play some this season and it did seem they were susceptible to getting beat deep...do you think that is a problem with scheme, talent, or a combination of both? Or something else? I could not really tell from the little I had watched and was curious. Another point would be that our offense is very similar to Auburn's overall: Spread read-option base but can just as easily run between the tackles as it can go to the perimeters with the athletes we have...plus we have some deep threats (I think Coates and Devin Smith are very similar) and a QB that can launch it a mile, but I think we have a better mix of intermediate guys that can move the chains...the big wildcard there is if our QB can hit those intermediate opportunities with a fair amount of consistency. In any event, this is not some finesse spread like most teams have. It is a physical, down-hill and high-paced attack that makes you worry in every gap on the field. Hell, even our QB is a 6-5 250 lb. battering ram that looks for a stiff arm or a lower of the shoulder before the play ends. Not really puffing the chest because Bama's defense will present plenty of challenges, but I just wanted to say I think the most similar offense you have faced in that regard is likely Auburn.

BUT...the defense is light-years ahead of Auburn's. Our defense has progressed every week and now they are playing at a near-elite level (which might have been realized against Wisconsin if it is not a flash in the pan). Right now, OSU is #15 in total defense and Bama is #11. Not sure how your D has progressed/regressed through the season, but ours has improved by leaps and bounds from Week 1 to Week 14. Our DL is crazy talented but the back 7 was young...now they have learned, gained tons of confidence, and are playing much better overall.

A final point to our own fans...no need to even address trolls. Just report them to mods and the banter should be manageable. We are going to have plenty of debates and valid arguments, as we have two large and passionate fanbases. If that fills up hundreds and hundreds of pages, fantastic. But addressing the trolls in lengthy debates is just going to give the mods a headache and way too much unnecessary work.
 
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RB07 brings up some good points. One of the few things that concern me about this game is what happens if we get behind by a TD or two early. We jumped on Wiscy fast and hard...after we went up 14-0 it was all over. That might seem somewhat hyperbolic, but the defense was fast, aggressive, and as Gus Johnson said during the broadcast, "blood thirsty"...once Wiscy was down two TDs they were done. Obviously Alabama is far more balanced: A mobile QB with the #7 passing efficiency rating in the entire country, a Heisman-finalist WR, and a couple of solid RBs. Definitely not a one-trick pony like Wiscy, so I'm in no way expecting the same results from our defense on Jan 1st. I'm hoping that if we do happen to get down early, we remain resilient and don't panic.

My second concern is how 12 Gauge (the nickname for our 3rd-string QB, Cardale Jones) handles the pass rush. Even though Wisconsin's defense was higher-rated than Alabama before their game with us, I don't think their DL is as good as Alabama's...they got some occasional pressure, but nothing sustained. If our OL keeps the dogs at bay even relatively well, I like our offense's chances of scoring a fair amount of points. Conversely, if the rush is anywhere near what we faced against VT (which I think, hopefully, won't happen) then we could be in some deep kimchi.
 
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Welcome aboard, Enduro! Not all new posters have been rubbish and the ones who have added discussion instead of insults to the table have been welcomed and always will be. I've never had a problem with Alabama football, personally. I've been to the stadium, mingled with the locals, bagged a local woman (cough, jk, but true), had a good time. Always admired the teams that they've fielded and I even own a few pieces of Bama gear gifted to me that are tucked far away due to superstitious bs. :lol:

Buddy of mine is a huge Bama fan. We've been spouting back and forth and sending well wishes with the game coming up. Exciting stuff for us, as we've both been waiting for this matchup for a while now. We made a deal to buy tickets for the National Championship if we were playing one another a few years ago. Unfortunately, I can't make the trip to NO for this one.

Hope you'll stick around and provide some good insight! JWinslow had an excellent breakdown of our guys in the other thread, shame it was buried.
 
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Here you go, hope he doesn't mind me posting this here:

Any OL conversation will come down to the coach, Mr. Ed Warinner. He took a young but talented bunch and coached them up into a very good OL in 2012 and the best around in 2013. That was backed up when 3 of them started as rookies in the NFL this year. A fourth pretty good one also graduated in Marcus Hall.

Coming into this year, he had:
LT Taylor Decker - 4 star stud recruit - future NFL pick (rd 2?) - punishing blocker, good in pass pro. Moved over from RT last season. His only weakness is a proclivity towards false starts.
LG Pat Elflein - 3 star OL - took over for Marcus Hall when he was ejected vs UM. Physical, athletic blocker. First team All B1G selection.
OC Jacoby Boren - 3 star OL - undersized but smart and so tough. Youngest brother of legendary Boren family (oldest bro transferred from UM, middle bro was a captain and switched to MLB to save 2012 season).
RG Billy Price - 4 star DT - moved from DL last season while redshirting. More gifted than some of the new guys but still maturing. He was a major weakness early in the year but has come along very nicely.
RT Darryl Baldwin - 3 star DL - moved from DL a few years ago. Big, agile kid. Has the build of a LT and the athleticism. Went from a guy no one thought would contribute (a few years ago) to arguably the most steady OL of them all.

Our OL coach is great and we thought he could mold this mismash of talent into something respectable. I don't think anyone envisioned them becoming a fairly physical group in the run game and arguably a better pass protection unit than their predecessors.

At TE, OSU has two very good, 6'5" athletes with great size, solid athleticism and soft hands. #5 Jeff Heuerman was injured for a large part of the season, but when healthy OSU loves to run twin TE sets with Jeff and #81 Nick Vannett. They are not gamebreakers but very reliable and effective safety valves down the seams, in the flats and settling into soft spots in the zone. They are also punishing blockers.
Ohio State Devin Smith Amazing One-Handed TD Catch

#6 Evan Spencer is the best blocking WR in the league and not a lot else. His hands are not great in traffic and his athleticism is nowhere close to the others on this list. He has however chipped in a few plays like this:

OSU WR Evan Spencer Makes Amazing One-Handed

#17 ATH Jalin Marshall plays the h-back role in this offense, which is essentially a slot back position. He is extremely efficient on jet sweep pop passes, though the offense will often use him as a decoy to set up counters or playaction behind it (they waited until the 3rd quarter against Michigan to actually get him the ball). He has very good speed, good strength but most of all he has excellent vision. He is a chain mover who can run through and around tacklers to find running space. He operates in a very different manner from the other h-back...

Jalin Marshall Dominates Second Half With 4 TDs

#2 Dontre Wilson went down in the PSU game with a broken foot vs Michigan State. He fought through it and still caught a TD after the injury, but has been out ever since. He will be back for the bowl game. Unlike Jalin, who is a physical runner that also has speed, Dontre is a jitterbug. He has good speed but it is his quickness that is his best asset. He can stop and start with the best of them, though he is still learning to mature in this offense. He is not going to run through any arm tackles like Jalin.

Note this video is a poor man's version of Dontre, as he improved his strength and quickness quite a bit. Last year some people called him "stompy" because he almost seemed to stomp angrily when he ran.

Dontre Wilson Freshmen Highlights

#84 Corey Smith is finally coming into his own a little bit. He redshirted during his first season in 2013 (juco) and was pretty rough in his first few months (especially virginia tech). He is a small slot type of WR (6' 175") built for quick screens and making plays after the catch. He should not ever be asked to catch a jump ball as he has struggled mightily in this area.

B1G CCG Corey Smith

Johnnie Dixon would be listed here but he went down with an injury early in the season.
 
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^ @MililaniBuckeye Honestly, this is the exact thing I thought of when rewatching some of our past games. Honestly, a fast start may be a neutral start in this game. We have dealt well with adversity when a team comes back on us (Sparty, Ped State) but getting in the hole very early presents a new challenge, particularly with a predominantly young team. We know Urban will emphasize this but he cannot will that to happen, even with proper preparation.

But even more salient is the "blood thirsty" mentality point...our defense feeds off the offense and not the other way around. Every game when the offense sputtered for a bit, the defense folded like a cheap deck of cards. I would like to think we are beyond that but one game does not have me convinced, especially coming up against the likes of Bama. The defense needs to be able to have the offenses back when they falter because there is no grace period in this game.

But as @Telekinesis mentioned later in his post, this is a much anticipated matchup. I have heard fans on both sides say this is the matchup they wanted for tactical reasons. I think that is both sides being extremely cocky and completely missing the point...absolute nonsense. The reason we should both be excited is that OSU and Bama have been the biggest kids on the block both on the field and on the recruiting trail for some time and have yet to match up during that span...that means we want to fight each other. When I wrestled, I always wanted to know the best kid out there so I could begin to loathe him. Not because I did not respect him, but because I wanted to be the best and he was in my way. Urban and Saban have that exact mentality and they both wanted this game (our recruits receive letters letting them know the goal is to knock off Bama and assume the top spot). I expect an absolute war and two prepared teams to play great football in New Orleans.
 
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RB07OSU said:
Haha, grew up my whole life in the Springfield area and will be heading back for the holidays...the only good thing about it may have been Trey DePriest but he went to "y'all" anyways :lol: So anyways, we always welcome friendly posters from opposing fanbases that can give us some insight. Glad to have you on board.
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This is off-topic, but just a quick/funny story about Springfield:

I recently took someone through here for the first time and they asked me two questions:

1) Is this where the Simpsons live?
2) Is this where the Nightmare on Elm Street house is?

I told them the only thing exciting moving through Springfield is the army of Buckeye fans. :lol:

"However... Dave Chappelle lives in Yellow Springs. Hippie Town, USA!"
 
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Telekinesis said:
This is off-topic, but just a quick/funny story about Springfield:

I recently took someone through here for the first time and they asked me two questions:

1) Is this where the Simpsons live?
2) Is this where the Nightmare on Elm Street house is?

I told them the only thing exciting moving through Springfield is the army of Buckeye fans. :lol:

"However... Dave Chappelle lives in Yellow Springs. Hippie Town, USA!"
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Haha the place looks like a Scooby-Doo ghost town. Definitely some loyal Buckeyes there (as long as you can sort through the ones that ask how we are going to do without Terrelle Pryor...to which I asked how we were going to do without John Cooper). But Chappelle is my dude, I played some 3-on-3 with him and his friends at LA Gyms in Beavercreek. I resisted quoting the Prince skit line for line and he seemed to like me ok.
 
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RB07OSU said:
^ @MililaniBuckeye Honestly, this is the exact thing I thought of when rewatching some of our past games. Honestly, a fast start may be a neutral start in this game. We have dealt well with adversity when a team comes back on us (Sparty, Ped State) but getting in the hole very early presents a new challenge, particularly with a predominantly young team. We know Urban will emphasize this but he cannot will that to happen, even with proper preparation.

But even more salient is the "blood thirsty" mentality point...our defense feeds off the offense and not the other way around. Every game when the offense sputtered for a bit, the defense folded like a cheap deck of cards. I would like to think we are beyond that but one game does not have me convinced, especially coming up against the likes of Bama. The defense needs to be able to have the offenses back when they falter because there is no grace period in this game.

But as @Telekinesis mentioned later in his post, this is a much anticipated matchup. I have heard fans on both sides say this is the matchup they wanted for tactical reasons. I think that is both sides being extremely cocky and completely missing the point...absolute nonsense. The reason we should both be excited is that OSU and Bama have been the biggest kids on the block both on the field and on the recruiting trail for some time and have yet to match up during that span...that means we want to fight each other. When I wrestled, I always wanted to know the best kid out there so I could begin to loathe him. Not because I did not respect him, but because I wanted to be the best and he was in my way. Urban and Saban have that exact mentality and they both wanted this game (our recruits receive letters letting them know the goal is to knock off Bama and assume the top spot). I expect an absolute war and two prepared teams to play great football in New Orleans.
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Getting behind early would be a huge hurdle, but it's not one this team hasn't seen before -- this year even, and against the opponent that most closely resembles Alabama.
Didn't have a lead on MSU until under a minute left in the first half in part due to missed FG and muffed punt.

I have worries about the defense, however. They've done well against speed backs like Coleman and Gordon... but power guys like Cobb and Langford have caused issues. This makes sense considering that we sacrifice some size for team speed. It often seemed like they had Cobb or Langford for a minimal gain and they'd drag guys along to get those 4-6yd runs keeping them on schedule. If that holds true for Yeldon and especially Henry it could be a long day. Especially once Cooper gets worked in. Sims does seem to stare his receivers down though, so I'm hoping for some opportunism and more baiting from Vonn.
 
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kujirakira said:
Getting behind early would be a huge hurdle, but it's not one this team hasn't seen before -- this year even, and against the opponent that most closely resembles Alabama.
Didn't have a lead on MSU until under a minute left in the first half in part due to missed FG and muffed punt.

I have worries about the defense, however. They've done well against speed backs like Coleman and Gordon... but power guys like Cobb and Langford have caused issues. This makes sense considering that we sacrifice some size for team speed. It often seemed like they had Cobb or Langford for a minimal gain and they'd drag guys along to get those 4-6yd runs keeping them on schedule. If that holds true for Yeldon and especially Henry it could be a long day. Especially once Cooper gets worked in. Sims does seem to stare his receivers down though, so I'm hoping for some opportunism and more baiting from Vonn.
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One thing I took away from the Wiscy game is that our guys seem to be wrapping up much better than they had previously. I was especially proud of Apple coming through with a few open field tackles. If you'll recall, our guys used to try to just lay the wood and power backs would bounce off and keep moving forward, but now it seems like they're bringing the hit as well as getting their arms around the legs of ball carriers. These kind of fundamentals should serve us well if applied to Henry/Yeldon. I agree that if they're getting dragged, it's going to be a long night. Gotta be able to bring them down. Henry especially.

Just another quick observation, but... Darron Lee is becoming a beast. If this man hits you, you're going to feel it. I hope he puts his pads on a few players throughout the game.
 
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kuji rakira said:
Getting behind early would be a huge hurdle, but it's not one this team hasn't seen before -- this year even, and against the opponent that most closely resembles Alabama.
Didn't have a lead on MSU until under a minute left in the first half in part due to missed FG and muffed punt.

I have worries about the defense, however. They've done well against speed backs like Coleman and Gordon... but power guys like Cobb and Langford have caused issues. This makes sense considering that we sacrifice some size for team speed. It often seemed like they had Cobb or Langford for a minimal gain and they'd drag guys along to get those 4-6yd runs keeping them on schedule. If that holds true for Yeldon and especially Henry it could be a long day. Especially once Cooper gets worked in. Sims does seem to stare his receivers down though, so I'm hoping for some opportunism and more baiting from Vonn.
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I was going to put that caveat in there except the deficit was minimal at all times until we ran away with the lead. Even then, they had some garbage points that made it seem closer than it was. They scored, we scored. They scored, we scored. There was never a deficit larger than one score for us. The only time we have been down by more than one score the entire season? Virginia Tech. Not saying that is outcome-determinative based on one game, as it was much earlier and we have matured. Just saying it would be a test we have not faced and overcome yet. I am sure Saban is not oblivious to that fact and hopefully he forces the issue...we have some DBs capable of exploiting any forced plays.

But the second part...the balance does concern me some. Yeldon and Henry are a great 1-2 punch that could keep us on our heels with their physical front. Cooper could blaze us and their QB can play ball. We shut down Gordon because he was the only threat. We cannot do that now. I think we can successfully negate their strengths but it certainly has to be a team effort that is disciplined and even-keel.
 
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