A few observations after the SDSU game

[Jaxbuck]

We won by 21 points, I dont see Lousiville jumping three spots in the BCS, and Ohio State will be the best ranked one-loss team in the country. We didnt impress anyone, but for us to be dropped because we only won by 21 points is a joke, Id be shocked if it happened.

Plus, we will move up a couple spots next week after we beat the piss out of Iowa.

Get ready to be shocked.

Pollsters love offense and we only had about a 25 vote lead on L'ville in the coaches poll and less than 150 votes in the AP iirc.

Iowa and scUM lost the ability to help us with style points last week and thats assuming we even win. Iowa has the type of D that can totally stop TS running and force him to win by throwing. That just scares me right now.

 

[BrutusBobcat]

Jax, man...I'd trot out all of the same old arguments if I weren't watching USC annihilate an allegedly decent Arkansas team. Do yourself a favor and don't flip it on, you'll be despondent. They hung 42 on the Hogs in the first half alone. :(

Oh, they're about to go in for more. Yippie.

 

[scarletngrey11]

I still cant see it happening, yeah I understand that it is a definant possibility, but I just cant see pollsters being so stupid. SDSU was what, a 27 point underdog? Just because we didnt completely cover that doesnt mean we should be jumped by any team.

Iowa looked like shit today against a I-AA team, on the rivals board they are actually admitting that they dont have a chance.

 

[Bucklion]

I want whoever is the QB to succeed, because I don't care who it is, but if our only successful plays are a quick swing pass and a QB draw, we are in for a long Big Ten season offensively. I watched most of the teams in the conference play over the last 2 weeks, and there isn't one of them that won't be able to stop a QB draw or scramble if that's all they are worried about. If we don't get some vertical passing going (and, laughably, by vertical passing I mean passes of between 8-15 yards...never mind deep balls) I don't care how good of a runner Troy is...it won't work.

There are no pushover conference opponents anymore, and you can't beat them with a QB that can't pass the ball...I don't care who it is or how well they run. I was almost afraid that some of the scrambling Troy did today would work instead of wouldn't...not because I wanted to see him fail at all, but because against a better defense, it will rarely if ever work, and I don't want him to think it will.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Jax, man...I'd trot out all of the same old arguments if I weren't watching USC annihilate an allegedly decent Arkansas team. Do yourself a favor and don't flip it on, you'll be despondent. They hung 42 on the Hogs in the first half alone. :(

Oh, they're about to go in for more. Yippie.

Too late, I made the mistake of watching the first quarter.

I'm just done with it. My position is that wholesale coaching changes need to be made on the offensive side of the ball. OSU has the resources to hire a big time OC and let him work with all the talent we have. I'm completely over amatuer hour.

Anyone here think Norm Chow would only score 27 fucking points against SDSU with these players?

 

[jlb1705]

First of all, let me say I have been disgusted to see the revival of zone blocking. Pittman has shown he's man enough to get the tough yards. Especially against teams like SDSU, they should be knocking people off the line and letting Pittman run through. I'm tired of seeing our backs run laterally all the time. Did anyone see the running in the Tennessee - Florida game? Granted, the backs for both of those teams are bigger, but it also shows that it's possible to use elusiveness while moving forward instead of sideways.

Second, I have to say that I still don't see how Troy Smith is a better choice than Zwick right now. I too got tired of seeing single-wing football out there. Somehow, Zwick has been more decisive AND has made better decisions.

I don't like having an offense where the QB is rolling out all the time. On an offense that has so many playmakers (supposedely), it makes little sense to take away half the field by rolling the QB out.

It seems to me that the Bucks are facing a lot of zone coverage to negate the speed at WR. That makes a lot of sense from a defensive perspective. I think the playcalling has failed to adjust accordingly to that to force the opponent to abandon that style of defense. Also, I think Zwick does a better job of reading zone defenses and finding the receivers when they sit in a hole in the zone.

 

[nwbuckeye]

[quote=Jaxbuck;266329. We're now going to work on year 3 of having an offense ranked 90th or worse in all of college football. That's completely unnaceptable for a school with our talent.

I belive wholeheartedly in winning games with a stout defense and superior special teams but its ok to be good on offense when you have the talent. You dont HAVE to be bad on offense to be a defensive oriented team. I swear to god it seems like they do it on purpose sometimes.

let me throw some numbers out here: usc 42 (FIRST HALF), scum 55,louisville 63,uga 44,msu 44,ucla 41,vatech 45 and on and on. sure if they play OUR defense they dont put up those kinda numbers, hopefully, but it is down right embarassing watching our offense do absolutely nothing with the ball. it is just amazing to see other teams hit wide open receivers time after time, throw the ball deep into one on one coverage, and have backs run through holes my grandma could hit and then flip back to our bucks and see no semblence of continuity or imaginative play calling whatsoever or anything you dont see watching games at the high school level. the impact this has on our offensive recruiting cannot be even put into words, it just amazes me that talent like holmes would even bother to come to the osu after what has gone on here for the last 3 or 4 years. i love our defense to death but even they must be scratching their heads

 

[Bucklion]

Troy didn't seem to wait long enough today to see if they could find the spaces in the zone..he was pulling it down to run after his first read most of the time.

I don't know if Zwick is a better option or not, but if we're going to have a passing game, Troy needs to be committed to pass first, run second, when we start playing better defenses.

 

[smackbuck]

I have seen manny games of college football this season and i have never seen a qb go to the side line and talk to the head coach during a drive as much as our qbs do. are our qbs just stupid and cannot be trusted or are they being coached too much?

on offense is about rhythm and flow you have to let the players make plays you can't tie am up like dogs and tell them what to do on every single play, but im afraid tressel is too much of a control freak to let that happen. the only time he let the players play was at the end of last year where the team had nothing to lose.

there is no excuse with all this talent on the offensive side of the ball that we can look this anemic.

jim bollman dick tressel and joe daniels are a liability who would have trouble getting a position at a division 2 school, but since they are all tressels friends and family i guess its all good.

if tressel doesn't get an oc who runs the offense in the next few years than im afraid that will be his downfall, because he can't ride his one lucky championship forever. who by the way was won by the players hearst and guts despite the coaching holding them back, those lucky bounces won't be there anymore and the wins will turn into loses just as easily.

 

[BUCKYLE]

3-1: (our record in bowl games and against scUM the last 4 years). i wish coop would have "held his players back" more often.

 

[OH10]

I know that Troy did nothing today that would make me feel confident about the rest of the season. Now, I can say I don't feel good about Zwick or Smith. Unless Troy can somehow get his timing back, and be more accurate, it's going to be a long season for this offense.

No vertical passing game! And there won't be. Not with Troy's problems right now and Zwick's inability to throw more than 5-7 yards downfield.

I still think you have to go with Troy though. This team is too one dimensional with Zwick in the game. It's just screen passes and short slants. Even though he uses it too much as a crutch, Smith at least brings some added element with his scrambling ability.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Guys, you're not going to see OSU bust out half a hundy against Sandy Ego State. Why? Cause Tress and Co. just aren't going to show very much against them. And why should they? We beat SDSU playing our basic O. No need to go verticle. No need, and no need to risk and INT.

I understand all the frustration surrounding our O but I fail to see where coaching overhaul is needed. We're simply not going to show Iowa ANYTHING on film of our SDSU win. I'd like to think our basic O score more point, but lets also remember, Smith is still warming up and knocking rust off. (No, he doesn't get forever to do that, but alot of you seem to be expecting the November 2004 Troy Smith without letting him get back to game speed. It's HIS fault he's off game speed, it's HIS fault he's rust.. but, we still gotta let him find his groove. Again, can't wait forever, but we sure as fuck can wait while we put it in cruise control and knock of SDSU)

It was frustrating sitting in the stands listening to everyone groan when Smith took off running. Yes, Smith missed downfield reads. No question. I'm not saying Smith grades out A. It's just bizarre that people are saying shit like, "Oh, gret there he goes again... pitch the ball for once!!" when Smith is gaining yards and such. I doubt these people said this kinda crap when Smith was rolling up 150 yards against Michigan. Give the kid a chance to settle back in. Yes, he's got happy feet. Yes, he's locking in on WR's. He needs to get better... but for chirst's sake, chill.

So, back to the point, you guys that are complaining about OSU not shellacking an overmatched opponant, worry not. The Shot Ginn will work just fine come November. Ginn will run a post and Holmes a Fly at some point. Smith will knock the rust off (Hopefully by next week) But quit worrying about style points. Come BCS Selection time, no one will remember anything about OSU v. SDSU.... But, they will recall OSU Mich. OSU Tex.. maybe OSU Iowa.

 

[Faust]

What is this based on, the Michigan game? Or video games?

Because this year, this season, I don't see how people make this comment with a straight face.

Which isn't to say that Justin is the "better QB" (I've always found such generalizations sort of assinine -- don't take that personally), just that I don't even remotely see the rationale behind a statement like this.

Would you quantify it? Because from a pure passing standpoint, today was a frightening display.






Our receivers were open a number of times, and just weren't thrown the ball. But hey, the scrambling was exciting, eh? :)

I did mention that Zwick has done a better job of distributing the ball than Smith. Granted, Smith is rusty. To be honest, however, I have doubts about Zwick's instincts and intangibles... attempting to switch the ball from one hand to another last week versus Texas is one example.


In any event, here's how I'd quantify it:

Smith's record as starting QB: 6-1
Zwick's record as starting QB: 4-4

 

[cincibuck]

Guys, you're not going to see OSU bust out half a hundy against Sandy Ego State. Why? Cause Tress and Co. just aren't going to show very much against them. And why should they? We beat SDSU playing our basic O. No need to go verticle. No need, and no need to risk and INT.

I don't disagree with your reasoning, but there's something to be said about doing what you think you're capable of doing in a game.

Can the Bucks go deep in practice? I don't know. But if you don't show that you can do it in a game situation how does anyone, your own players, the coaches, your fans or the media know?

IMO I don't think Tressel was trying to hide anything today. We have an anemic offense despite the presence of some very talented receivers. We have not demonstrated the ability to sustain drives aganist Miami or SDSU. We have not demostrated the ability to run against anybody, even if they line up to deny us the pass. Our biggest sin is that we can't punch the ball in from the 20 or exploit the field position we get from excellent special teams and an incredible defense.

If I were the defense I'd sue for non-support.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

In any event, here's how I'd quantify it:

Smith's record as starting QB: 6-1
Zwick's record as starting QB: 4-4

First, inaccurate: Zwick is 5-4.

Second, disingenuous: QB's aren't pitchers; tracking wins and losses is not a valid statistic for QB's, as football is much more of a team game than baseball. In football, you win as a team and you lose as a team.

let me throw some numbers out here: usc 42 (FIRST HALF), scum 55,louisville 63,uga 44,msu 44,ucla 41,vatech 45 and on and on.

Well, here's some numbers to consider: 23; 27; 19; 13; 10; 16; 14; 17. What do those numbers represent? Well, they are the total points which the Buckeyes scored in regulation against (respectively) Cincinnati, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan, and Miami during the 2002 national championship season. Looking back, those were all tremendous wins and integral parts of an unprecedented 14-0 NC run; at the time, some of those were pretty damn ugly (especially Cincinnati, Wisconsin, and Purdue, and most especially Penn State where the offense had 4 turnovers and didn't score a TD, and the key play of the game was a 59-yard punt by Andy Groom - tell me that you didn't want to kick in your television screen after seeing that abomination.). But, hey, it's all good now! :)