A Few Observations from A-Deck

[MaxBuck]

1. The Buckeyes are a very good football team, with incredible depth of talent. But the loss of numerous starters on both sides of the ball takes a toll. Against a talented team like Toledo (or Miami), that loss will likely be especially noticeable, as it was yesterday. Against an extremely good team like Wisconsin or Nebraska, it might mean a loss. Let's hope we're at full strength for those games.

2. I've started to hear grumblings from fans in the stands about ticket prices ($75 each). Gene Smith, keep your ears and eyes open. Oh, and in its never-ending desire to fit more fat Buckeye-state asses into a fixed linear distance, we saw the athletic department had placed seat numbers that involve people sitting with one cheek on one bench and the other on another bench - with vertical difference of more than a half-inch. If I spent my $5,000 Buckeye Club on those seats, I'd be royally [censored]ed.

3. The Donato's Pizzas have become about as large as poker chips, and a lot less tasty than last season. Blue Jackets pulled their contract in favor of Papa John's. Given how few people I saw eating pizza at halftime, don't expect to see Donato's in the Shoe next season.

4. Most of the big-time playmakers I see on this team are freshmen - Devin Smith, Braxton Miller, Brad Roby, Michael Bennett, Ryan Shazier. The future could hardly look brighter for this team.

5. Andrew Sweat is everywhere, seemingly. He has grown incredibly over the past two seasons.

6. Etienne Sabino seems to be gaining in comfort level game by game. Maybe he's a guy who plays by "flow," and needs PT in order to find it. Whatever, hope this trend continues, because he has lots of talent.

7. Players who have been largely AWOL this season: Tyler Moeller, Storm Klein, Philly Brown. Maybe the tweaked ankle that I understand was "re-injured" has affected Philly more than we know. It was nice to see Storm make the leaping INT.

8. Not sure about O-line, since evaluating them requires a skill set I don't have. But they sure were overwhelmed by Toledo, and that doesn't bode well for the remainder of the season. Heck, the running game against an execrable Akron team stuttered at times.

9. Some of the Toledo offensive linemen looked just huge. In particular, one guy who was out with injury (Farha?) was absolutely enormous - he has to be 6-9 at least. Ohio State may get generally the most talented linemen in Ohio and environs, but we don't necessarily get the biggest.

10. I didn't expect an undefeated season, and still don't. In fact, I can count as many as five losses that would not surprise me in the least (Nebraska, Miami, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan). Our performance in these games, especially, will determine whether I'll support Coach Fickell remaining in his head coach position next season. (Not that my support means anything, but I bet most other fans think pretty similarly.)

11. Heard lots of people in the stands who were talking about traveling to Miami for next week's game. Something tells me the stands there may be majority Buckeye. GO BUCKS!

 

[RugbyBuck]

I'll add a few from 6A:

Bauserman: The difference in perceived speed and actual lack thereof between last week (admittedly against Akron) and live on Saturday was disturbing. Sitting behind the play and seeing it develop was excruciating. No doubt that we have some speed and talent at receiver, but they can't stay open forever; there is finite width/length to the field. JB was like paint drying from the second he pulled back from center. The roll-outs that were so effective last week were painful to watch and the release, when it finally came, well, more of the same. He didn't throw any picks, though, and it could, I guess, have been worse, and the running game certainly wasn't opening things up for him. I just can't help but think that an athletic qb with a laser quick release and strong arm could do some things with this offense.

Hit of the day: Adonis Thomas' block on Dominic Clarke in the 4th qtr rattled my teeth.

Defense: No one wants to give up 22 to Toledo, but this defense is good and has all kinds of upside. They got put in unbelievably bad positions over and over and finally stopped the bleeding at the end. We are going to continue to need this game rescue squad, I'm afraid.

Overall, we had a fantastic trip to Columbus and day in the Shoe (we stayed in the stadium until the troopers threw us out). Couldn't have asked for better weather and thanks to wadc45 and TDD for showing us a hell of a time. I'm just thankful that Jeni's Ice Cream doesn't have any Atlanta locations.

 

[southcampus]

I'll add my general observations from south stands aa deck.

1. Our 3rd down options are limited this year without a running QB. I was a huge TP supporter while he was here and even I took for granted his ability to move the chains on 3rd down when things broke down.

2. We have GOT to get better kicking field goals. I think we missed 2, one which should have been in for sure. Another thing we've taken for granted.

3. We again are seeing special team coverage nightmares. You can bet your ass more teams will be coming after our punts with Arky and Toledo both reaching home on blocked punts. That's downright embarrassing. I feel the downfield coverage on punts has been good and so have Ben's punt yardage and hangtime. That will be crucial this year.

4. Our D line has got to be more consistent. QB had all day on some occasions, and on other occasions he had less than 2.5 seconds. I'd like to see more pressure from the front four in general.

5. Tyler Moeller really struggled to shake blocks this past weekend. He is one of our more instinctive players and natural blitzers but he seemed out of position on short passes and struggled with play recognition. So did our LBers for the most part. As much as I'd like to chalk that up to youth, that's clearly not the case. Lets get that fixed this week fellas.

6. Our offense is in dire need of a playmaker. The last 3 years it's been TP. Someone needs to step up and be the guy. I look at Stoney as an X-Factor, not a playmaker. We really need Jordan Hall BAD in my IMHO. If not him, I think we need Braxton in there.

7. I was discouraged with the lack of running room the offensive line provided. I think this can be chalked up to Toledo's gameplan of stacking the box and selling out for the run, daring us to stretch the field vertically.

8. Really loved what I saw from Big Hank. He was held/tackled/assaulted on almost every occasion and was still very disruptive. I love him in the game. I also love Michael Bennett in the game. Very high motor and has a nose for the ball.

9. Our corners have excellent ball skills and man coverage ability. Possibly the bright spot of our entire team. Clarke his been a complete bad ass in coverage. I love our situation in the secondary in general.

10. This team reminds me a lot of '08. We lack an identity because we're missing key guys. New guys are stepping up but it's hard to replace guys we've built our offense around. There will be hiccups but if we can survive them early in the year, we'll be in good situations down the road and into next year.

 

[kinch]

2. I've started to hear grumblings from fans in the stands about ticket prices ($75 each). Gene Smith, keep your ears and eyes open. Oh, and in its never-ending desire to fit more fat Buckeye-state asses into a fixed linear distance, we saw the athletic department had placed seat numbers that involve people sitting with one cheek on one bench and the other on another bench - with vertical difference of more than a half-inch. If I spent my $5,000 Buckeye Club on those seats, I'd be royally [censored]ed.

I don't know exactly what you mean here, but I feel it. I used to go to all the Friday and Saturday night hockey games at the old tiny rink. There were just numbers on the long bench for your seat. Some fat people would take up their number and yours. What are you supposed to do? And why do they get your seat? Wow that was annoying.

 

[buckeyesin07]

7. I was discouraged with the lack of running room the offensive line provided. I think this can be chalked up to Toledo's gameplan of stacking the box and selling out for the run, daring us to stretch the field vertically.

I will add this--on some of the running plays that only went for 1-2 yards, there was a cutback lane that was just missed. That comes with experience. At those times, I was really wishing that we had Hall or Herron available, as they're great at seeing a running lane that is somewhere other than where the play called for it to be.

 

[OneBuckeye]

My observations from the couch.

1. I echo everyone elses thoughts about the defense as they are a defense you can win titles with. However I thought Klien and Johnson over ran and missed a lot of tackles. I thought the defense played much better with Bryant and Sabino in. Moeller definately is struggling too, but I think he can get back to his old self. Overall though, they did more than was needed to win that game. Oh and I think Clarke Howard and Roby might be the best cover CBs we have had in a long time. I would like the nickle to have Bryant at Saftey and Roby Clarke or Howard at the star.

2. Something needs to change in the running game. Either the line isn't doing their job or the RBs aren't finding the holes. Against akron I thought the RBs could have done better, against Toledo I'm not sure what happend. JB will not be successful without a running game. Our play actions on second and third down fooled no one. Guiton and Berry running the read option would produce more than we got saturday. If we can't run the ball JB will be ineffective at which point we should get in the spread and put Braxton in.

3. I don't understand why Berry didn't carry the ball once last week. Does not make sense. Our running game requires RBs to hit cutback lanes and that is what this kid does best...

4. FG's need fixed ASAP as already stated.

 

[BrutusBobcat]

Either the line isn't doing their job or the RBs aren't finding the holes.

Both can be improved, but the latter is where the problem really lies. We're down to our fourth and fifth string backs. On a lot of teams, that would mean walk ons. Here, it just means 4* and 5* underclassmen who aren't yet up to their full potential. Once we see Hall, Herron and Berry back, I think that a lot of the problems we saw against Toledo will vanish quickly. There's a huge amount of experience missing out there right now.

 

[OneBuckeye]

Both can be improved, but the latter is where the problem really lies. We're down to our fourth and fifth string backs. On a lot of teams, that would mean walk ons. Here, it just means 4* and 5* underclassmen who aren't yet up to their full potential. Once we see Hall, Herron and Berry back, I think that a lot of the problems we saw against Toledo will vanish quickly. There's a huge amount of experience missing out there right now.

Let's hope. Still doesn't explain the lack of carries for Berry last week. We have 3 more games where I think this will be a huge issue until Boom comes back.

 

[MaxBuck]

1. I echo everyone elses thoughts about the defense as they are a defense you can win titles with.

This is an absolutely superb defensive team. I never thought I'd be saying that a fine linebacking contingent was the weak spot on the D, but I'm saying that - not a slam on the LBs, but instead a commentary on how good the D-line and DBs are. I must say that IMO the best three linebackers are Sweat, Sabino and Shazier, in that order.

Honestly, I'd be interested in seeing Shazier playing in place of Moeller at the "Star," though perhaps he has neither the training nor skill set to do so. He sure is impressive, though.

 

[korchiki]

This is an absolutely superb defensive team. I never thought I'd be saying that a fine linebacking contingent was the weak spot on the D, but I'm saying that - not a slam on the LBs, but instead a commentary on how good the D-line and DBs are. I must say that IMO the best three linebackers are Sweat, Sabino and Shazier, in that order.

Honestly, I'd be interested in seeing Shazier playing in place of Moeller at the "Star," though perhaps he has neither the training nor skill set to do so. He sure is impressive, though.

Moeller deserves his chance, but if we are going to change, I'd rather get Bryant in that spot. The kid can flat out play.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

10. I didn't expect an undefeated season, and still don't. In fact, I can count as many as five losses that would not surprise me in the least (Nebraska, Miami, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan).

If we lose five games, I'll not post here for a month...

Defense: No one wants to give up 22 to Toledo, but this defense is good and has all kinds of upside.

Defense essentially gave up 15. I would hope the defense won't have to face anymore drives starting at our 1-yard-line the rest of the year...

 

[Oh8ch]

FYI FROM YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

I have engaged Gatorubet to represent me in a copyright suit.

 

[MaxBuck]

FYI FROM YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

I have engaged Gatorubet to represent me in a copyright suit.

You snooze, you lose.

 

[Buckeye86]

Thoughts on a shaky second win: Toledo

 

[Buckrock]

Great stuff guys!!!

My observation from the bar stool.