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a tribute to the guys who stepped up big

martinss01

blissfully stupid
we have a lot of threads dedicated to individual players. thought id start one and dedicate it to all the players who had great games saturday. feel free to list the guys and the specific plays that come to mind. it doesn't have to be as big a play as ts to gonzo on the final drive. just plays that brought a smile to your face. maybe give some of more overlooked players some credit where it is most certainly due.

how about harley's play on special teams? the only kickoff huston didn't bury deep in the endzone went to breaston at around the 1. don't know about anyone else by i got a little conscerned when i seen scum setup a fairly decent wall and it looked like he might have had a lane up the middle to the left. then out of nowhere harley flys through and owns breaston at the 15. he looked like superman flying through. a great play and really changed the game. the denial of field position or worse was huge all game as scum was never able to drive the length of the field against our d. not the biggest play of the game. but i think there was more value in that play than you can easily measure.

marcel frost. he's played very well all season and really stood tall on saturday with some very big catches. had a wiff on a block late but ts made a great move and ended up throwing a completion late in the game if i remember correctly. but other than a few minor mistakes played what appeared to be a very solid game.

alex boone played very well. did he play both right and left tackles at times? i thought i saw him on both sides of the line at various points in the game. who was the lineman we brought in at tight end for the "jumbo" package? tyree or something? i haven't been able to find him anywhere. he had a heck of a game as well. what about tressel for coming out with that lineup?

though ive brought it up repeadedly at this point, how about laurinaitis stepping up HUGE. talk about sink or swim! how would you react to "oh hey, your first start is going to be for bobby carpenter when he gets hurt in the first play of the game. oh and its in the greatest rivalry in the history of sports. oh and we're on the road. oh and a big ten championship is on the line. oh and a possible bcs birth. no pressure k...?" pucker factor... 9.9835 :wink:

hard to not mention schleg's. he had a monster of a game. it was pretty clear that was designed. but he stepped up and took on the role of the focus of the d very very well. looked to me like a lot of pressure was put on his shoulders and he held up flawlessly. he's had a great career for us.

there was such a mix of great and rough performances. i still can't help but have a big shitty grin on my face. i could talk about that game for months!
 
personally id throw in brandon mitchells name

nate salley had a few huge pass break ups including one that saved a for sure td when ashton got roasted.

i said it before the game whoever controlled the line of scrimmage would win the game. our o line played extremely well even with shuffling of lines 3 or 4 times.
 
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My top lesser-recognized players were Laurinaitus, Frost, and Salley...

Frost probably had his best game as a Buckeye, Laurinaitus had to fill a giant hole, and even though his name wasn't called a lot (1 tackle), he didn't get beaten or run over, so he must have played well enough that Michigan didn't attack him. Salley was typical Salley, but I think he is under recognized by fans
 
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:) Someone beat me to it: it was great to see Harley get that tackle on the kickoff. I was watching the game with some UM fans and they got all excited when the kick was NOT in the end zone, and then Harley completely sold out on the diving tackle and cut Breaston down. Excellent!

I also noticed the first time we kicked off, the first Buckeye down was Sirjo Welch. It was great to see him doing that again, although he never got a chance to smack anyone.

Props to Mangold, getting hurt... I said to the scUM suckers, "he'll be back!" and sure enough, there he was after sitting out one play.

I read somewhere that Carpenter has been hurt for several weeks. Is that true?? How's that for high pain tolerance??

Other than our linebackers, we also have to be proud of the entire defensive backfield: all game long, Whitner, Salley, Mitchell, Youboty, etc. were giving HARD hits. I believe they helped take the life out of the UM offense.

One last point which I have not read yet is --- how about JT's play calling? The O-Zone guy breaks down the plays, yardage gained, etc., and I am expecting the numbers will be pretty telling as respects throwing on first down, yardage gained on first down, etc. We didn't do the "run it twice and then try to make it on 3d and 7" offense. As we all know, on the last drive, they didn't even have a third down. It's not enough just to line up in the "spread", but JT ran a beautiful offensive game plan. Gotta love it!

As a die hard fan living in Michigan, I LOVE the Tressel era. A few more years like this and I will forget all about coach what's-his-name. Watching Carr yell and pee his pants on the sideline reminded me of Cooper, and I was so glad and proud that we have Tressel now.

Go Bucks! Beat Notre Dame!!!!!!!!
 
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Yep I was going to mention Pitcock along with Patterson and Green. Everyone know Kudla has had a helluva year so the other guys on the Dline get overshadowed a little. Patterson had a great sack on Henne and Pitcock and Green were in the backfield all day making sure there were absolutely no running lanes to run in. Wonderful performance on Saturday.
 
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Other than our linebackers, we also have to be proud of the entire defensive backfield: all game long, Whitner, Salley, Mitchell, Youboty, etc. were giving HARD hits. I believe they helped take the life out of the UM offense.

don't forget everett on that there list :wink:. his pass interefence call in the endzone WAS NOT pi. that was an absolutely horrid call. he had several breakups and a few tackles on the day. whitner was well... whitner. i really hope he doesn't leave this year. i love watching him play.
 
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i have to go with Andre Tyree... this guy came out of HS as a TE, but suffered through multiple injuries throughout his career, as well as being switched back and forth from OL to DL seemingly every other week, then finally gets some meaningful PT in the last regular season game of his career, fittingly enough as a blocking TE, and he was just out there flattening scUM defenders... i'm pretty sure that other guys on the line probably graded higher, but if it was up to me, i'd give him the OL player of the week award...

and little Animal stepped up admirably in replacing Carp... i know he didn't light up the stat sheet, but that was mostly due to Schlegal playing like a man possessed... i wonder if he goes after wild boars with the same rage that he does after skunk bears... so i guess i have to prop Schlegs as well...

shit, i have tribute Carp the most of all... this guy was so upset that he got hurt that he was in tears, yet he never even took the time to change out of his uni... if his body was stuck on the sideline, his spirit was most certainly on the field, and i think that he was the inspiration for a fanstastic defensive performance in light of the miscues on O and ST... Nate Salley said everyone was crying with Carp at the end, and IMHO, without that inspiration, things might play out a little different...

and i have to tribute all the underclassmen who embrace the legacy that the Seniors are trying to leave, and are busting their asses as hard as they can to help those older guys go out on top. just like Pittman said, "i was out there cramping up, but there's no way that i could let these seniors down, so i just went back into the game, and tried to get the job done."

I LOVE ANTONIO PITTMAN!!
 
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lvbuckeye to antonio pittman: "We need you. Hell, I need you. I'm a mess without ya. I miss you so damn much. I miss being with you. I miss being near you! I miss your laugh! I miss-- I miss your scent. I miss your musk. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together."
:rofl: does this mean that Thump is gonna call me a homo? :slappy:
 
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i have to go with Andre Tyree... this guy came out of HS as a TE, but suffered through multiple injuries throughout his career, as well as being switched back and forth from OL to DL seemingly every other week, then finally gets some meaningful PT in the last regular season game of his career, fittingly enough as a blocking TE, and he was just out there flattening scUM defenders... i'm pretty sure that other guys on the line probably graded higher, but if it was up to me, i'd give him the OL player of the week award...

i thought his name was tyree! :) great info on him. i found nada :(. id support OL player of the week.

and little Animal stepped up admirably in replacing Carp... i know he didn't light up the stat sheet, but that was mostly due to Schlegal playing like a man possessed... i wonder if he goes after wild boars with the same rage that he does after skunk bears... so i guess i have to prop Schlegs as well...

lil animal being so quiet was probably part of the design of the d. it looked to me that he was being played in a way that gave a ton of support from other players in case he got beat. though i didn't see him actually need it at any point. he had a spectacular game.

shit, i have tribute Carp the most of all... this guy was so upset that he got hurt that he was in tears, yet he never even took the time to change out of his uni...

i think someone mentioned that it has been fractured since the begining of the year. i have absolutely 0 info on such things but i know certain persons have elluded that if people knew the pain he was playing through all year they would be shocked. if that rumor is correct, count me in the shocked group.

I LOVE ANTONIO PITTMAN!!

*snickers* you mean the slow guy with no vision who is far to small to play tb and will likely be replaced by some true freshman? :biggrin: boy didn't have a step up game... he had a step up season!
 
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