Have not read the threads around here yet or anything so I'm probably just repeating a bunch of stuff already said, but I need to vent a little bit.
Tressel and the rest of our staff was just plain outcoached in every facet of the game for the first time since Tressel has been here IMO. That being said, let's be glad that won't happen many more times during the rest of the time Tressel is here.
First of all, a little breakdown on what happened with the offense/ its' gameplan. First of all, the execution was clearly not there tonight. However, the plays contributed to this. All night we saw Troy double clutch with the ball or hold on to it longer than he normally would. The recievers weren't getting open. Well let's take a guess at why that was. We have exceptional talent at the WR position even without Ginn, so he can't be the excuse. Florida has a solid secondary, but they are not the best in college football. The DB's were obviously well prepared by their coaches and knew what routes we liked to throw and run in certain situations. It was almost like the Florida DB's knew our plays so they could neutralize our playmakers and their route running at WR. Also, our Offensive line had their worst game of the season by far. Our tackles got absolutely smoked by the Florida defense ends and the blitzes that Florida brought confused our line. The one play that sticks out in my mind was the one at the beginning of the 4th quarter where the Gators had a zone blitz on and someone came off the corner and Boone completely whiffed on him. You would have to think with over a month to prepare, you woulds have seen and studied every blitz possible and you wouldn't have those kinds of protection problems. Finally, our offense I think was set back early because we failed to establish the run. I beleive our first series after the Florida score when it was 7-7, we ran three straight passes for a 3-and-out. We've been setting up our pass all season with Pittman and Wells running the ball. It doesn't make sense to me. One more additional point about the offense. I remember watching last year's Notre Dame game, seeing new wrinkles put into the offense across the board. It kept the defense off balance and gave them something else to worry about that they haven't seen before. I didn't see one play last night that was a wrinkle of one of our common plays/formations. Here's and example of something that could have been put in, especially with a mobile QB like Troy. We all know that our bread and butter running play is the inside trap and we have had great success with it throughout the season. How about a naked bootleg off of it? How about a little play action, then try and hit gonzo on the fade? That big 4th down play when Chris Wells got stopped... it was a trap. A little predictable, and I'm sure Florida spent alot of time preparing to stop that play.
As for the defense, I'm kind of getting grumpy thinking about the game so I'll keep it short. WHERE WAS THE PRESSURE? It's Chris Leak at QB. He's not very mobile and will make mistakes under pressure. He can be very good when he has time to sit back and throw. So we rush 3 or 4 each play with minimal blitzing... it just doesn't make sense to me. Heacock seemed to call plays in that game because he feared the big play ability of Florida. What baffled me, was that he didn't bring more pressure throughout the game. It seemed as if we never cranked up the heat on Leak.
I dunno, just some random thoughts there, but I'm not feeling good thinking about it. Not a good day for buckeye nation...