2021 Team Discussion

[Jaxbuck]

And the losses of Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, Damon Arnette, and Jordan Fuller.

You lose a monster pass rusher, two lockdown corners, and the captain of your defense, and you're going to have a dramatic statistical slide, it's simply inevitable.

With that being said, the defense did look pretty awful at times last year, and they got blown apart by Alabama. tOSU needs to upgrade talent on the field and on the staff.

For this very reason I am personally withholding judgement of Coombs as a DC until we see what he does next year.

Modern college defenses are at a disadvantage that is for sure so I'm not expecting a shut down unit. I do, however believe, you have to be flexible and disguise what you are doing. Everyone has a base defense, single high or whatever. How well can you mix and match off your core and get those 4-5 stops every game?

Given his history with the defenses pre-Hafley, I have some reservations but I just don't think we've seen enough until we see him get a full year of development and install time with the kids.

 

[LovelandBuckeye]

Have faith.

 

[1926Buckeyes]

And the losses of Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, Damon Arnette, and Jordan Fuller.

You lose a monster pass rusher, two lockdown corners, and the captain of your defense, and you're going to have a dramatic statistical slide, it's simply inevitable.

With that being said, the defense did look pretty awful at times last year, and they got blown apart by Alabama. tOSU needs to upgrade talent on the field and on the staff.

Wondering if Coombs would be ok with keeping a Co-DC title and have them bring in another DC to assist while he gets his feet wet constructing gameplans and calling plays. Unless Mattison called plays this year. I can't remember.

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

And the losses of Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, Damon Arnette, and Jordan Fuller.

You lose a monster pass rusher, two lockdown corners, and the captain of your defense, and you're going to have a dramatic statistical slide, it's simply inevitable.

With that being said, the defense did look pretty awful at times last year, and they got blown apart by Alabama. tOSU needs to upgrade talent on the field and on the staff.

In addition: DaVon Hamilton, Malik Harrison, Jashon Cornell, and Robert Landers. Only one of those guys isn't in the league, and it's because of height.

 

[baremu527]

Have faith.

Exactly!! We will be fine. I don’t comment on this site much but have been an adamant follower since my undergrad days (04-08). When I was in school, we were blown out by two Sec teams in the NC game that had a clear talent advantage on us. Urban and now continued with Ryan day have closed that gap. Literally the only two teams that can even come close to us in the past decade in terms of talent and winning are Alabama and Clemson (one of those teams we beat down last week and the other we beat down in ‘14 for a championship).

Yes, we had a bad loss, but looking at the talent on the roster and what we have coming in, I will bet my salary on the fact that we will be back to the CFB playoffs pretty regularly over the next 5 years. We faced a historically great Alabama team who had sure fire first rounders stay another year in school to win a championship (and they do this every year). We had a young depleted secondary that was not sticking with Alabama’s receivers regardless of game plan. I hear people wanted more press coverage, but do you remember when Wade tried to press Smith at the LOS? Smith literally ran right past him, untouched. That’s probably why you didn’t see more of that lol. I bet that game would of looked a lot different if Okudah, Annette, and Young stayed like Harris and Smith did for Bama.

In all, the sky is not falling and we are the only team (beside Clemson) positioned to give Bama trouble for the foreseeable future. We definitely need better coaching on the backend (looking at you Coombs) and some luck to complete the job, but we aren’t going anywhere. We were the second best team in the country this year and that’s ok considering the circumstances of this season. One loss to a juggernaut in the NC game with literally every meaningful award winner playing for them doesn’t mean we are on the same level as Michigan talent wise. We’ll be back probably even next year, regardless of who stays or leaves for the draft. We are fine. #GoBucks

 

[muffler dragon]

For this very reason I am personally withholding judgement of Coombs as a DC until we see what he does next year.

Modern college defenses are at a disadvantage that is for sure so I'm not expecting a shut down unit. I do, however believe, you have to be flexible and disguise what you are doing. Everyone has a base defense, single high or whatever. How well can you mix and match off your core and get those 4-5 stops every game?

Given his history with the defenses pre-Hafley, I have some reservations but I just don't think we've seen enough until we see him get a full year of development and install time with the kids.

Agreed.

I did see a reporter (from any Buckeye outlet) made a comment that, unfortunately, rang true to me, but I'm hoping that it's a one-off (season-wise):
[paraphrase]Sarkisian did to Coombs what Day has done to Don Brown.[/paraphrase]

 

[calibuck]

Personally, I am/was of the opinion that tOSU had closed the talent gap a bit more than was exhibited against Bama. That being said, I can see our WRs doing the same thing that the Bama WR did, so maybe tOSU was simply outcoached? Disappointed that the D didn't make their usual adjustments to stop what was working, OR why Wade was giving away so much ground so often. Also, the way the back and forth of the Bama WR worked, Wade was giving away an extra 10 yards going behind the DBs. Pretty hard to make up that distance, methinks. Guess should have switched to a zone, especially after Wade had been torched several times. Hope he comes back for next year to prove himself. Go Bucks!

 

[bukIpower]

Personally, I am/was of the opinion that tOSU had closed the talent gap a bit more than was exhibited against Bama. That being said, I can see our WRs doing the same thing that the Bama WR did, so maybe tOSU was simply outcoached? Disappointed that the D didn't make their usual adjustments to stop what was working, OR why Wade was giving away so much ground so often. Also, the way the back and forth of the Bama WR worked, Wade was giving away an extra 10 yards going behind the DBs. Pretty hard to make up that distance, methinks. Guess should have switched to a zone, especially after Wade had been torched several times. Hope he comes back for next year to prove himself. Go Bucks!

Game is all about matchups.... Having 2 starting DL out vs maybe the best OL I've ever seen and asking a very thin secondary to deal with one of the best WR to play and the results can end up being that way.

That said we certainly did not call a good game IMO on either side. We did not stay aggressive on offense and clearly the issues were plenty on defense.

It was a bad matchup for 2 position groups and these things happen but the talent gap is really really thin.

 

[Systems_id]

Have faith.

I mean I was a little depressed yesterday but I was nowhere near as upset last year. Looking at it rationally it was a miracle we even got to the NC and stuffing a plunger up Dabo’s ass was even sweeter.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Have faith.

Anybody who's lost faith in Ryan Day is a fucking moron

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Personally, I am/was of the opinion that tOSU had closed the talent gap a bit more than was exhibited against Bama. That being said, I can see our WRs doing the same thing that the Bama WR did, so maybe tOSU was simply outcoached? Disappointed that the D didn't make their usual adjustments to stop what was working, OR why Wade was giving away so much ground so often. Also, the way the back and forth of the Bama WR worked, Wade was giving away an extra 10 yards going behind the DBs. Pretty hard to make up that distance, methinks. Guess should have switched to a zone, especially after Wade had been torched several times. Hope he comes back for next year to prove himself. Go Bucks!

You're forgetting that teams can change drastically year to year. 2019 tOSU probably beats 2019 Bama by at least 2 TDs. This was just Bama's year. During the pregame, it was mentioned that over the last 5(?) years Bama had 48 draft picks while we had 45. The talent gap between the programs isn't as wide as that game made it seem.

Maybe we'll have to wait til 2022 for our year, but there's no reason to believe this was our last chance at a Natty for the foreseeable future.

 

[calibuck]

Agreed OregonBuckeye, agreed. Guess you verified my feeling that the talent gap wasn't as wide as Monday's game showed, (Jimmys and Joes), so it must have been the Xs and the Os. The defensive scheme wasn't the best (adjustments were not what was needed?), and it showed by putting our players not in positions to make plays. Coach Day said they'd been outcoached, and rightfully so. Anyway, am very confident that the Buckeyes will rise again, and again, and again. With the offensive firepower that's coming (or already in house) in, the future is bright indeed. Go Bucks!

 

[buchtelgrad04]

The most important thing this off-season, IMO, won’t be retaining certain players or even losing Mick or Pantoni. It’ll be Day hiring someone who has experience with the single high defense he’s married to.

Coombs is a bad fit as DC. Would love to keep him here, but he shouldn’t be DC if Day is going to want to continue with C3/C1 defense.

 

[RugbyBuck]

This could've gone in several threads, but I decided 2021 is best. Having worked through the stages of grief, here's where I wind up: was it worth losing to Alabama like that to beat Clownson? Fucking A, it was. That was the national tv monkey that we absolutely had to get off of our backs. Yes, the goal was to win the whole thing, but if that wasn't possible (and, clearly, it wasn't), this was an ok result that allows us momentum carrying into the 2021 season. There are issues (perceived and actual), but this team will be young and talented.

 

[bukIpower]

This could've gone in several threads, but I decided 2021 is best. Having worked through the stages of grief, here's where I wind up: was it worth losing to Alabama like that to beat Clownson? Fucking A, it was. That was the national tv monkey that we absolutely had to get off of our backs. Yes, the goal was to win the whole thing, but if that wasn't possible (and, clearly, it wasn't), this was an ok result that allows us momentum carrying into the 2021 season. There are issues (perceived and actual), but this team will be young and talented.

Completely... and I also can't be convinced that our guys finished the season on New Years day. IMO we've seen it two years in a row with OSU/Clemson getting to the title after playing very physical and emotional games and then having nothing left in the final.

#1 has a big advantage provided the #4 is not Clemson/OSU/Alabama.