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A Few Thoughts on Yesterday's Game

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Whether Tressel wanted a close game is debatable, but there's no way he would ever purposely give Illinois a chance to come back. And thank god for the shortened game yesterday or the Illini would really had a chance to get back into this thing. Here's what I think happened:

1). Tressel thought 17 points was enough to beat Illinois. Ultimately, it was, but not before the Illini mounted a scary comeback late. Moral of the story? No matter what kind of offense or defense you have, if the other team has the momentum for an entire half, big leads are definitely surmountable. The 24 point mark that's been talked about so much should again be set as the benchmark for the offense, not 17, not on the road and not against a talented team.

2). It was too late to recapture momentum once it became apparent that 17 points will not provide a sure win. We were not giving Smith good protection and our WRs weren't getting open. The worst thing that could have happened was for Smith to get the ball knock out from him (remember Germaine in the 98 MSU game?) or if Illinois were to intercept the ball.
 
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It's great that we step back, take a deep breath, and compose ourselves. As LJB says, a win's a win right now. Trust in Tressel. He has the big vision. This team is as talented and composed as any in the country. I, for one, fell very confident about our last two conference games this season.

However, I do think a degree of concern (or more accurately, frustration) with the second half offensive scheme is not inappropriate. While I completely understand the notion of buttoning down the offense to prevent turnovers and to milk the clock, when you run on first down almost every time, unless your OL is in control you're not going to be able to move the ball when the defense is playing 8-9 guys near the line. In the second half, we had 11 first-down plays, 10 of which were runs by Pittman and the other a pass to Pittman, for a grand total of 12 yards. We put ourselves in 2nd- and 3rd-and-long situations nearly early drive, which allowed to defense to tee off and hurry/sack Troy five times. Not exactly the best way to maintain ball control and drain the clock.

As said earlier, we still won, we're in control of our own destiny, and we're the #1 team in the country. Folks going overboard on criticism need to chill out. Conversely, those steadfastly justifying the second half play calling need to understand how others could be frustrated. By the way, a Buckeye loss does indeed ruin, or at least significantly dampens, my weekend...
 
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I am of the opinion, likely naive, that enthusiasm and emotion can do much to overcome simple physical shortcomings. Illiinois yesterday fielded a team that has less talent, position by position, than Ohio State. Yet, they hung tough in the 2nd half and got within sight of a glimpse of an upset.

Was any part of the hanging tough due to a clear emotional charge that the Illini possessed?
Yes, though I would argue that emotional imperative grew as the game went on in the 2nd half -and in this they had assistance from their opposition.

Was any part of it it due to Ohio State going into a 2nd half shell on Offense - allowing the Illini to feel that they were "in the game?"
Yes, and this was the assistance they needed. You simply did not see the same flourishes on Offense from the Buckeyes in the 2nd half that you saw in the first. At the break it was 17-0, the machine was humming along, even if in 3rd, rather than top gear. After the half the team went into a simplistic play-calling mode. If Tressel has learned anything from the second half it likely is the limits to which he can put the Offense and Defense respectively. I do not know whether this was by design (as in he wanted to test those young'uns, give them a taste of adversity thus far missing from the season) or a happenstance of the flow of the game.

Were there other factors that influenced matters?
Unquestionably there were factors like this.
Boone was missed, simple as that. He was missed in the rushing game for his blocking. The re-shuffling of the line that demanded did not put on the field a Left side from which a dependable gain might be obtained.
Boone was missed, less simple than that. Perhaps Boone should get a de facto award for pass blocking skill, if only by inference. His assignment in pass plays is critical, protecting that blind side, keeping the shape of the pocket for those extra two counts. Too often yesterday the pocket lost shape earlier and Troy was forced into movement early - before receivers had fully run out their patterns. Couple that with the simplified play-calling and growing enthusiasm of the Illinois Defense in the 2nd half and the lack of output in the last thirty minutes becomes slightly less mysterious.

Chris Wells was definitely missed following his fumble - he will overcome this issue, I am sure. On second and long in the 2nd half how much different might things have gone if the bulldozing Wells were able to carry the pile for 5 yards, leaving 3rd and much more makeable?

My guess is - a lot, a whole lot.

One last missing factor, Ginn and full speed or the lack thereof. Ginn did not look at full speed yesterday - how badly was the healing fracture affecting him?

Like LJB said though, this is a win and a win is win. Though, to return to the intro to this post, and a focus on emotion and enthusiasm, or in the Buckeyes case, playing with purpose and fire. The machine that ran up 17 first half points at low RPM stalled in the 2nd. Was part of that due to a less than fully amped up Buckeye team? I hope not. Was part of that due to the Buckeyes looking ahead to 11/18, or perhaps yet to depantsing Northwestern on 11/11 thus exorcising any remaining ghosts of 10/02 2004? Perhaps.

Thus and regardless, to help ensure team focus for next week (when hopefully all the players are back at full strength) I think Tressel should have the team write out 1,000 times

"I Will Not Look Past Northwestern" - and so forth.

Go Bucks!
 
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I was amazed how much not having Boone in there affects the entire offense

I think there was so much emphasis on providing scUM reminders about Troy's running that Troy got lax with his throwing fundamentals.. albeit, IMO, it was more important to remind scUM about Troy's running than it was to have a great passing game yesterday...

I would have used Stan White to double team and support Schafer's side.. and thrown a ton yesterday... Robo and Hartline were on fire... and ready to play

I think Curtis Terry is terrific and our best tackling LB .. I think Marcus Freeman is becoming the Freeman we expected but still lacks good tackling skills... all the LBs except Terry need to improve there...

I think Malcolm Jenkins (yo Jersey) will be the best lockdown CB in college football next year

I think Antonio Smith's confidence thus playmaking grow geometrically every game .. and he will be drafted...

I think Gonzo was still feeling the effects of the concussion...

I am getting more and more confidence in Pettry... a 50 yard kick with that wind... smack in the center of the posts... yesssssss
 
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Good points, Mili.

It's one thing to go conservative (which we all know Tress will do at times) but another thing to not make changes when that conservative play is clearly hurting the team. Frustation is a great word. Confusion, is perhaps, another. I'm just confused as to why he did not go back to a more open style of play. It seems to me that one of Coach T's trends is once we turnover the ball, he goes conservative. The game definitely changed after C. Wells fumble.

Thankfully, we came away with a win, against an up and coming team in Illinios. And thankfully, we have one of the best Defenses in the nation, perhaps the best, that kept the game in check when our O was struggling.
 
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A couple of problems with what happened yesterday.

Pittman should not have to carry the ball that many times. It wears on the body, especially with the stack coming against the run game. What if he is now playing at 75% because of some blows he took yesterday? I don't think that is a good strategy, regardless of what the motivation is.

Mo Wells got no attempts. Pretty clear that benching Beanie was acceptable in those circumstances, but why nothing for Mo? He usually gets 6 carries a game or so.

Blowouts are good for second-stringers and third-stringers. I am always in favor of achieving a blowout whenever possible, so that the hard-working freshmen and sophomores can get a taste of some game action.

This is the hardest game to figure out in the Tressel regime, for, as opposed to the previous years' offensive frustrations, the frustrating part of this game came AFTER a 17-point lead was achieved. In that sense, this game was not at all like the close matchups of "ought-two and ought-three." This seemed to be a spite of the fans and players, for some reason. Those years, the method was frustrating, but obvious. The method of this game was not so easily deciphered. No one still knows exactly what was happening.

I would hope any Buckeye fan who has spent thousands of hours and years on the internet, television, at games, etc...would have their weekend somewhat ruined by a Buckeye loss. We follow the Buckeyes because they are GOOD, and we grew up with them being good.

By the way, we are still number one and headed for Arizona. So...I'm still happy.
 
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I know everyone is down on Chris Wells, but I think he's still a vital piece of the puzzle. You hope that the message has been sent by now, but that fumble yesterday was extremely disappointing. You play him against NW, and believe that you will see that improvement.
 
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A couple of thoughts:

I agree with both the original post and Mili's take generally.

As far as what the hell happened, my take is as follows:

1. Give Illinois credit: Their "D" gave the Bucks trouble even in the first half despite the 17 points scored, and they showed they have some real talent for sniffing out ball carriers. They also showed that when an opportunity to seize momentum is offered, they can take it.

2. Just accept JT's "total season managment" . . . as frustrating is it is sometimes. There is no question that his insistence on running AP into stacked blitzing fronts on virtually every first down in the second half was at best questionable in the context of game management . . . and I suspect even he feels the game got more interesting than he thought it would. I hated it because I thought he'd get Troy killed by forcing 3d and long throwing situations, but I think he ultimately wanted to get the hitherto lightly used AP hit a bunch in anticipation of what's likely to happen versus UM and to toughen the OL by making them bang their heads against a brick wall for a bit. Still, I'd have been a lot happier if they'd picked up two yards on all those first downs instead of losing three . . . IMO, handicapped by play calling or not the OL run blocking this year has been the weakest part of the offense.


3. Since the Bucks survived it, a little adversity is not a bad thing. I will be more concerned if they play similarly versus Northwestern next week.

4. I think JT's handled Beanie's fumbling perfectly this season. At first, he built him up by putting him right back in, then he raised the standard a bit by holidng him out some, but still getting him plenty of carries later, and now he's laid down the law. Beanie will get his shots next week, and it's up to him to make the best of them: I think he will.
 
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I blame Spielman...

I think it was all the announcers fault especially that m*ch*g*n homer Spielman... (kidding)

A win is a win as nerve racking as it was, I have had lower blood pressure this year as compared to the championship year to which my wife and dogs are happy. but yesterday brought back chest tightening moments from that glorious 4th down stop.
 
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we missed Alex Boone.

as i watched Shaefer get beat time and again, i found myself wondering if perhaps bringing in Whaley (or is it Cordle?) at center and moving Datish back over to tackle might help shore up the protection...
 
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