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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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Gcashwell said:
What has OSU recruiting been like for the last four years compared to Bama? I hear you guys are young, is that true?
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Two schools in the nation have been in the top 5 in 247 composite recruiting for the last four years (including the 2015 class). Alabama is the perennial #1 in recruiting. The other school in the top 5 every year is Ohio State. No other school in the country has come close to matching the level of recruits of these two schools.
 
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Are the listed heights for these guys: Michael Thomas (6'3"), Devin Smith (6'1"), Jalin Marshall (5'11") correct? The reason why I ask is that Bama corners seem to have trouble with height. Kevin White (6'3" WVU), Sammie Coates (6'2"), and D'haquille Williams (6'2") all destroyed our slightly undersized secondary. It is my understanding that Sammie is closer to 6'4" and D'haquille is closer to 6'3". Apparently Bama's secondary is all an inch or two shorter than their listed heights.

Michael Thomas could be BIG trouble.
 
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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.

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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RB07OSU,
The scheme for zone read offenses typically has the coaches cheating up the safeties for sealing the edges or gap control so the linebackers can seal the edges. The leaves our DB's on an island. Man coverage gets us beat on deep balls. We are young and inexperienced in the back field. Our safeties are great but the CB's just need experience.
I believe the defensive scheme is good. They mix it up quite a bit and keep offenses guessing. Our D-line is better than it has been in quite a few years and they are deep. The deepest we have had. The Bama D is going to force you to throw it. I read on several posts here about running between the tackles on us. I would be surprised if they do not shut your run game down to minimal gains and force the QB to win the game. Thats what I would do. This should be a really interesting game. If Barrett was still playing I would say this game is a toss up. I just do not know that much about your #3 guy. From what I have seen, he can throw and looks to have more of a pocket presence than Barrett. Is my assumption correct? He isn't that fast but athletic enough to scramble.
This game will come down to the QB play. Sims has been known to come close to getting pulled in a few games. He tends to make dumb decisions at times.
 
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Gcashwell said:
Are the listed heights for these guys: Michael Thomas (6'3"), Devin Smith (6'1"), Jalin Marshall (5'11") correct? The reason why I ask is that Bama corners seem to have trouble with height. Kevin White (6'3" WVU), Sammie Coates (6'2"), and D'haquille Williams (6'2") all destroyed our slightly undersized secondary. It is my understanding that Sammie is closer to 6'4" and D'haquille is closer to 6'3". Apparently Bama's secondary is all an inch or two shorter than their listed heights.

Michael Thomas could be BIG trouble.
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Yes, at least within an inch. I'm an osu photographer and stand next to them a lot.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
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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I am sure Saban will put as much of the game on Cardale as he possibly can. If you guys can run the ball with consistency then we are in for a long day. We have never had a QB as dynamic as Sims. He is fast, has a strong arm, and is very elusive. His decision making is questionable at times and he stares down receivers. We can be a "quick strike" offense when we need to be. And that is why this is unchartered territory for us. We are usually 4 yards and a cloud of dust with play action mixed in. We resemble Spurrier's old Florida offenses with the "run and gun" more than a typical Alabama offense everyone is use to. Thats Lane Kiffin.
 
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Enduro R said:
RB07OSU,
The scheme for zone read offenses typically has the coaches cheating up the safeties for sealing the edges or gap control so the linebackers can seal the edges. The leaves our DB's on an island. Man coverage gets us beat on deep balls. We are young and inexperienced in the back field. Our safeties are great but the CB's just need experience.
I believe the defensive scheme is good. They mix it up quite a bit and keep offenses guessing. Our D-line is better than it has been in quite a few years and they are deep. The deepest we have had. The Bama D is going to force you to throw it. I read on several posts here about running between the tackles on us. I would be surprised if they do not shut your run game down to minimal gains and force the QB to win the game. Thats what I would do. This should be a really interesting game. If Barrett was still playing I would say this game is a toss up. I just do not know that much about your #3 guy. From what I have seen, he can throw and looks to have more of a pocket presence than Barrett. Is my assumption correct? He isn't that fast but athletic enough to scramble.
This game will come down to the QB play. Sims has been known to come close to getting pulled in a few games. He tends to make dumb decisions at times.
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Cardale (the number 3 guy) is a Redshirt Soph in terms of eligibility, but had his career taken a more direct path, he'd be a senior. Which is to say, he's been around quite awhile and has more maturity than his eligibility might otherwise indicate. True enough, other than the B1G championship game he had little work other than practice reps and mop up duty, but that said - when Miller went down in preseason camp, Jones was the #2 QB. Barrett earned the starting job over Jones mostly because the offense moved, quoting here, "a little bit better" with Barrett. While each QB (Barrett and Jones) do things differently, they are pretty close within the system as far as moving the Buckeyes down the field. Barrett, I think, is more accurate, but Jones has a big time cannon of an arm. I think Barrett has better touch on his short and intermediate passes as well, but Jones is good enough to get the job done, for sure. Barrett is a better runner than most people think, but he's no Braxton Miller. He's got more speed than Jones, but I don't think Barrett was a blazer.. more of a "game speed" guy. Jones would be more comparable to Tebow - that is to say - he's a huge physical specimen who is more of a power runner than a make you miss guy.

Of course, like most Buckeye fans I was thrilled with the way the Buckeyes exploded offensively against Wisconsin. But, I am not so confident that he'll be able to perform that way as a matter of course. For my part, assuming you're correct about Bama taking away the run - and assuming they can do so (As always, it'll come down to O-Line v. D-Line)- I think there's just not enough data to know if Jones will be able to force Bama to give more respect to the pass. I surely think he has the tools and ability, but again.. the Wisconsin game was just one game.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
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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I think Alabama will try to contain Cardale and take away the run game, rather than just rush 4 or more every play.
 
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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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Thats what Urban does. He did the same thing at Florida. He is a heck of a coach.
We will be balanced on offense. Make no mistake about that. But we can be beat if you can limit the run and force Sims (our QB) to put the game on his shoulders. Can he carry the offense through passing? Yes. He proved that in several games but he also tends to throw to the other team from time to time when pressured. Should be interesting.
 
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