Any Coaching Changes this Offseason?

[CookyPuss]

I judge the coaching staff by whether or not they put the team in position to win each game. Last year against UF, I felt the gameplan was bad and they didn't make some obvious adjustments (hell, my mom was calling it). I didn't see that in this game. Sure, you can pick at a call here and there, but you can do that in any game. The Bucks had every chance to take this game and mistakes (some dumb, some not) piled up to contribute to the loss. The only thing that bothered me were some of the things Boone had to say after the game.

LINK

"I couldn't believe that guys were fighting with other guys, this isn't a barroom. You don't need to be fighting with your own teammates. We were here to play football, (but) some guys didn't get that," a still-stunned Alex Boone, the massive Ohio State tackle, said as he stood in the middle of the nearly empty Superdome field an hour after his Buckeyes had been embarrassed by LSU, 38-24, in the BCS Championship Game.


"Everyone was fighting with each other and I'm like, 'Calm down. It's OK. It's halftime.' But everyone's like, 'This is your fault,' and 'No, this is your fault.' I was like 'Calm down, we got a half to go.' But some guys panicked like the game was over ...
" ... On the field, the personal fouls, the roughing the punter, the stupid things, that's not Ohio State football."

I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't have more control of the situation. But without being there and knowing the details, I'll trust the staff was doing everything they could. Seems that the boys were too amped up. Emotion can be a great motivator, but like anything too much can hurt you. Still, I'd rather have them be too pumped than playing flat.

 

[wells]

Did I watch a different game then everyone else? My seat was awesome, but damn the prevailing attitude towards the coaches and team by many fans is absurd. Great coaching isn't seeing how many different formations, personnel sets, or trick plays we can run. Gameplans shouldn't necessitate the collective Madden nation stickies their pants before halftime.

The coaching staff came up with a more than adequate game plan to win. Execution, mental errors, and a few plays that didn't go our way cost us the game. We were much closer to a championship than what the final score indicated; make no mistake it very easily could've gone the other way.

 

[Sportsbuck28]

I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't have more control of the situation. But without being there and knowing the details, I'll trust the staff was doing everything they could. Seems that the boys were too amped up. Emotion can be a great motivator, but like anything too much can hurt you. Still, I'd rather have them be too pumped than playing flat.

People are really blowing that halftime sitch way out of proportion. It happens a lot more than people think, and as a player if I was down by 14 at the half in the national championship game, you can bet I'd be pissed as shit.

 

[GoodLifeSean]

People are really blowing that halftime sitch way out of proportion. It happens a lot more than people think, and as a player if I was down by 14 at the half in the national championship game, you can bet I'd be pissed as shit.

Basically there is three attitudes when losing in the locker room.
Calm and Thinking is good
Pissed is good if it can be focused
Acceptance is the unacceptable one

 

[TJnTN]

Again, I just didn't like what I saw out of the defense in the second quarter especially. When things started going getting tough and we were getting "punched in the mouth" I expected to see us punch back. I haven't rewatched the game yet but I remember watching and thinking "When are we going to wake up start fighting back?" Instead, they looked demoralized. All I could think of was that guy you all know or played sports with that when he wasn't playing well you could pretty much close the book on him. That player that when they get down on themself, you'd see their confidence just get worse and worse (snowball downward).

All I have to say is I don't ever want to see anything like that again.

 

[CookyPuss]

Again, I just didn't like what I saw out of the defense in the second quarter especially. When things started going getting tough and we were getting "punched in the mouth" I expected to see us punch back. I haven't rewatched the game yet but I remember watching and thinking "When are we going to wake up start fighting back?" Instead, they looked demoralized. All I could think of was that guy you all know or played sports with that when he wasn't playing well you could pretty much close the book on him. That player that when they get down on themself, you'd see their confidence just get worse and worse (snowball downward).

All I have to say is I don't ever want to see anything like that again.

I saw some guys sucking wind when they were on the field too much. I saw some good blocking and holding by LSU. I saw some misdirection which caught guys out of position. I saw some bad tackling. I saw frustration. I didn't see quit.

 

[Buckeyecty4]

Some of you can blame it on the players not executing all you want.. but when it happens 4 times in two years against the better opponents on the schedule, i point the finger at the defensive coaches..

Better gameplans, better adjustments, quicker adjustments, and better preperation would elminate alot of the lack of execution.. Am I the only one who say a defense running all over the place before the snap cause they didnt know where to be or what LSU was doing?

Im not giving Heacock much love for 05.. it was a senior laden, very talented defense, that didnt need much coaching.. they were stud players who had been at OSU for 4-5 yrs..

In 06 i will give Heacock a pass.. the D was young.. but he should get no pass for 07 and the failures against Illinois and LSU.. these were kids he had been prepping for two seasons, this is his defense now.. not like in 05 when it was basically the remnants of Dantonio and Snyder..

 

[TJnTN]

I saw some guys sucking wind when they were on the field too much. I saw some good blocking and holding by LSU. I saw some misdirection which caught guys out of position. I saw some bad tackling. I saw frustration. I didn't see quit.

I agree they were probably very exhausted and I'm not saying they just gave up. Obviously, the second half was a different story. There was just a period during the game (2nd quarter) I felt someone.....a coach.....a captain.....someone needed to fire that team up.........hell call a timeout if they need it. I don't know. Just my observation....I could be way off.

 

[BengalsAndBucks]

I'd like to see the running backs get more involved in the passing game. With talent like Brandon Saine and LaMaar Thomas, why wouldn't you? Throw it to one of them, have em move after the catch, and move out of bounds. Boom, you have just gained 4 yards.

Run a formation of 3 WR, 2 RB, 1 QB, and you can get this. I saw Brandon
Saine get that 44 yard catch because people were not accounting for that RB. So, why on 3rd downs was the only back out Maurice Wells (Who was only in there for blocking)? Well, I mean, obvious Mo is a great blocker, that is why he was out there blocking. Why wasn't there a running back or a tight end running and getting open?

You mean like how every time Brandon Saine came into the game he ran a wheel route, and Boeckman locked in on him, and wouldn't check down? He was like 1 for 5 throwing to Saine on the wheel route, and every time Saine came in everyone in the building knew it was coming. What we needed to do, (and this was tough against LSU cause you need to be able to commit an extra blocker to Dorsey) is use the TE like LSU used Dickson. We ignore our TEs in the passing game all year, I really thought we would use them extensively this game.

Again, I just didn't like what I saw out of the defense in the second quarter especially. When things started going getting tough and we were getting "punched in the mouth" I expected to see us punch back. I haven't rewatched the game yet but I remember watching and thinking "When are we going to wake up start fighting back?" Instead, they looked demoralized. All I could think of was that guy you all know or played sports with that when he wasn't playing well you could pretty much close the book on him. That player that when they get down on themself, you'd see their confidence just get worse and worse (snowball downward).

All I have to say is I don't ever want to see anything like that again.

This is where being in a weak conference really hurts us. So many of our games aren't tough games, and so, like everyone in the LSU locker room said, we don't know how to maintain our composure and keep playing hard when we get down 14. That's partially coaching, but mostly the players individual attitudes and their experience levels (and to be fair, I was at the game and a large majority of the fans quit on the Bucks as soon as they went down 14. Embarassing). And if you dont want to see it again, I can get you the date of the walk-on tryouts and you can make sure that when you make the team you never quit.

Some of you can blame it on the players not executing all you want.. but when it happens 4 times in two years against the better opponents on the schedule, i point the finger at the defensive coaches..

Yes, its really terrible that the team didn't have a great defensive game against the 4 best offensive teams on our schedule over the past two years. Thats called playing other teams with talent. It happens sometimes. I don't even know why we would even bother playing USC next year they will probably beat us by 90 because our coaches are so awful.


They only coaching call that I personally question was the 3 and 4 midway through the 4th quarter. Boeckman took a 5 step drop and was sacked, and we went for it on 4th and 8 when he fumbled. Now maybe going for it was truly just a matter of it was right in between the field goal and punt line and a field goal wouldn't really help. But if you knew you were going to be in 4 down territory, why dont you run your incredibly powerful and relatively fresh back on third to set up a 4th and 1?

 

[TJnTN]

touche

Here's to hoping the competition in the Big10 gets better and better prepares us in the future!!!

 

[Jaxbuck]

This is where being in a weak conference really hurts us. So many of our games aren't tough games, and so, like everyone in the LSU locker room said, we don't know how to maintain our composure and keep playing hard when we get down 14. That's partially coaching, but mostly the players individual attitudes and their experience levels

A very astute observation.

The 2002 team was as battle tested and mentally tough as they come. 6 games out of the 13 leading up to the NC game were 7 point or less knuckle busters. When the NC game went down that same trail you knew we had the advantage in that regard.

The past 2 years the teams have never been tested by a good team untill they get a freakin great team frothing at the mouth ready to win a NC and we just haven't handled it well at all.

2008 offers us a chance at a more mature team and a lot tougher competition along the way.

I still think Tress didn't run enough on offense and I'm sick to death of all the zone on D.

 

[buckiprof]

I still think Tress didn't run enough on offense and I'm sick to death of all the zone on D.

Agree 100% with both parts.

 

[Zander42]

I agree with Buckeyecty4. I hope Heacock gets a head coaching job soon. I think he'sa great position coach, but I don't think he's proven himself against crative offences with good players. He gets a good reputation becaues we constantly have some of the best players in football, and that will get you a lot of good numbers and wins. But unless you can adapt to creative play calling, you will get burned that is coupled with other top notch programs.

What I kept seeing was players out of position to make plays. The players were making plays, when in position, but about 3 or 4 times in each drive (just enough) on the second quarter, thy guys just looked lost. I didin't notice missed tackles until we were way down in the 3rd, and that was because the guys were trying to go for the ball, which is understandable. (At some point you have to try to make a play, and it doesn't matter of you loose by 14, 21 or 28, if you loose.)

If he's still DC when we go to USC, I think we'll have problems. I hope he can turn it around, but Pete Carroll is also a very good offensive mind and is the master of the halftime adjustment. I'm optomistic and I think we match up well with them, but we can't have players hopelessly out of place 3 or 4 times on each drive.

-z

 

[Buckeyecty4]

There is a misconception around this game that all the personal fouls were giving LSU extra downs..

When in reality it was just the roughing the kicker... Most the personal fouls just added yardage, and it's not like we would have stopped them anyway, even without the added 15 yards..

LSU was having their way with our D in the first half.. the personal fouls just let them score quicker, but you're fooling yourself if u dont think they would have scored on all those drives anway.. they were doing whatever they wanted to our D

 

[OCBucksFan]

And the turnovers, those meant nothing too, all Heacocks fault, no one to blame here but Heacock, you're right, I mean he was out there telling Boeckman to throw the interception that resulted in a touchdown in the second quarter, same in the fourth quarter, both of which resulted in 14 LSU points, and the roughing the kicker, that resulted in 7.

But then again, if those hadn't happened it wouldn't have mattered because LSU would have put more points on us

So, since you got all the answers, who should we hire?