Game Thread BCS National Championship Game: tOSU 24, LSU 38 (final)

[LSUTyga73]

My thoughts

-Had this game came out just the opposite with OSU winning and LSU having 5 personal fouls, 3 turnovers and a blocked FG, the media would be screaming LSU lost, OSU did not win. This game would have been another 03 classic without the mistakes.

I gotta disagree with you there. If you watched the postgame analysis by Herbie, Fowler, Corso and all them, all they talked about was how OSU lost the game. It kind of upset me in a minor way, but they did not mention LSU winning the game once at all, but all they could talk about was how this was going to set OSU back.

-My favorite play of the game was Well's stiff arm. It is not often you are able to lift an opposing player off his feet who is running at you.

Yeah, it was crazy stiff arm. Bad tackling technique on that one by Chevis, he's normally a very good tackler....gotta go for the legs next time though

 

[osugrad21]

DDN

Tom Archdeacon: Katrina refugee, LSU fan has fond feelings for Ohio

QB Mallett will transfer, and two receivers are entering the NFL draft.

​

By Tom Archdeacon
Staff Writer

Thursday, January 10, 2008

As we waited to board our Continental flight from New Orleans to Houston on Tuesday afternoon, 18-year-old Rageev Sabhwani ? wearing a purple LSU shirt and baggy gold pants ? approached Jim Tressel, who was in a scarlet polo shirt and charcoal gray slacks.
A day after his Ohio State team had lost the BCS championship game to Louisiana State 38-24, Tressel was headed to the national football coaches convention in California.



I was headed back to Dayton and Rageev was on his way to the University of Oregon where he's a freshman. He'd just spent a few days back home in New Orleans helping his parents run the string of gift shops they have in the French Quarter and enjoying the title game's party scene. In the process, he spent a little time with a girl who'd come down from Dayton, the town he was transplanted to after Hurricane Katrina.



Cont...

 

[stowfan]

Here's an interesting thread from the Michigan board. I'm making no excuses but Ginn Jr., Gonzo and Pittman may have helped a bit. Once agfain, congrats to LSU.
Scout.com: Michigan Forums List

 

[Tigris Panthera]

Here it is in case you missed it

Maybe that education gap is as bogus as that speed gap. Just kidding, don't get all bent out of shape. :-)

Sorry, the pic won't show up for some reason. It was a good shot too. .hmmessage P { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px}BODY.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma}


Clifford Melius, R.L.A.

TThe Louisiana State Fighting Tigers founded by William Tecumsah Sherman - 38
The Ohio Scarlett founded on July 5th - 24

 

[gregorylee]

OSU Offense during the BCS Champ game (Split from Beanie Wells thread)

I haven't rewatched the game, but all the bitching about the play calling. Is there a chance that the passes were called because they had 8 or 9 in the box, and were dictating to us what to call? Again I don't recall the details of the entire second half, but before the game if you were told "single on the outside" I am sure most of you would have said "throw the gotdam ball!". It just didn't work out for the Bucks....

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

The play calling stuff seems to me especially weird considering that the game I watched, as confired by the actual statistics, showed the Buckeyes moving the ball just fine. You don't call a fumble play. You dont call a pick. What "killed" OSU wasn't play calling. It was execution. I don't even know why we're going on about this.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

as confired by the actual statistics, showed the Buckeyes moving the ball just fine.

Most of our yards came on the 1st two possessions and the garbage time TD drive. The stats don't tell the whole story. We were struggling and it was during LSU's run of 31 unanswered points.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Most of our yards came on the 1st two possessions and the garbage time TD drive. The stats don't tell the whole story. We were struggling and it was during LSU's run of 31 unanswered points.

You talking about the game played on January 7, or some game played on your PS2? I don't mean to be glib, but Ohio State had a meaningful possession as late as 6:00 to go in the 4th, on a drive that ended up failing at the LSU 30. I'm not going to sit here and say OSU never got stopped and drove the ball at will. THat surely didn't happen. But, a lot of folks around here must have been watching a completely different game than the one I saw. As I've said since that night, Ohio State's problem was execution. Plain and simple. It wasn't the plan. It was the execution of it.

We can break it down to play by play and second guess each call. But, I watched the game. I saw what happened. I guess I just don't know what sort of magic we are supposed to have anticipated. What more were the Buckeyes supposed to do? Not throw to Hartline? Not throw to Robo? Stop trying Saine at TE? Just keep handing the ball to Beanie, right? From three scores down. Not sure that's a good plan, but... hey, that's just me.

AS for Beanie only having 9 carries in the 1st half... Last I looked OSU was having a great deal of success moving the ball right up until Robo dropped a TD which would have made it 17-10... and LSU took momentum with the blocked FG. The 2nd Q was not pretty. I admit that.

 

[ant80]

The play calling stuff seems to me especially weird considering that the game I watched, as confired by the actual statistics, showed the Buckeyes moving the ball just fine. You don't call a fumble play. You dont call a pick. What "killed" OSU wasn't play calling. It was execution. I don't even know why we're going on about this.

Don't know about that. I was sitting at the Skybar in Columbus watching the game, and I could predict around three quarters of JT's offensive plays calls. Execution killed us, but it's not like playcalling was spectacular. It needs a lot of improvement. IMO JT needs to hire someone to do the playcalling.

edit: let me clarify by saying I could predict generally, run or pass. I don't know enough about x's and o's to make more accurate predictions.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

You talking about the game played on January 7, or some game played on your PS2? I don't mean to be glib, but Ohio State had a meaningful possession as late as 6:00 to go in the 4th, on a drive that ended up failing at the LSU 30. I'm not going to sit here and say OSU never got stopped and drove the ball at will. THat surely didn't happen. But, a lot of folks around here must have been watching a completely different game than the one I saw.

I guess it depends what your definition of fine is then. When you are constantly in 3rd & Long and only convert 3/13 of them, I don't consider that moving the ball fine.

I don't mean to be glib, but Ohio State had a meaningful possession as late as 6:00 to go in the 4th, on a drive that ended up failing at the LSU 30.

And it failed because we had to go for it on 4th down because we couldn't covert on 3rd down.

I'm not suggesting our offense was completely inept, just very inconsistent and I guess my definition of moving the ball fine is basically what LSU did. Yes, they had fewer total yards than us but they rarely lost yardage on sacks or tackles for loss and consistently picked up chunks of yards that killed the will of our defense.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

I guess it depends what your definition of fine is then. When you are constantly in 3rd & Long and only convert 3/13 of them, I don't consider that moving the ball fine.

My definition of fine is dependant on the ability of the opponent compared with the production. 3 of 13 on 3rd downs is not a winning number. I agree. LSU's defense was pretty damn good. This isn't news. They had no obviously exploitable weakness... that is, one you could go at time and time again. You had to keep them guessing. Ohio State on the other hand, went again with the "you'll have to beat us with the short stuff" philosophy... which of course, LSU rightly took. Just like Illinois did... just like Florida did....

And it failed because we had to go for it on 4th down because we couldn't covert on 3rd down.

I'm not suggesting our offense was completely inept, just very inconsistent and I guess my definition of moving the ball fine is basically what LSU did. Yes, they had fewer total yards than us but they rarely lost yardage on sacks or tackles for loss and consistently picked up chunks of yards that killed the will of our defense.

See above. I agree Ohio State was inconsistent. That doesn't have anything to do with scheme though. It has to do with execution.... which, has been my point.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

See above. I agree Ohio State was inconsistent. That doesn't have anything to do with scheme though. It has to do with execution.... which, has been my point.

That's cool and I don't entirely disagree. All I was bringing up was your point about moving the ball fine. :)

 

[Bill Lucas]

My definition of fine is dependant on the ability of the opponent compared with the production. 3 of 13 on 3rd downs is not a winning number. I agree. LSU's defense was pretty damn good. This isn't news. They had no obviously exploitable weakness... that is, one you could go at time and time again. You had to keep them guessing. Ohio State on the other hand, went again with the "you'll have to beat us with the short stuff" philosophy... which of course, LSU rightly took. Just like Illinois did... just like Florida did....



See above. I agree Ohio State was inconsistent. That doesn't have anything to do with scheme though. It has to do with execution.... which, has been my point.

OK, why did we use this philosophy? We're supposed to have a sure fire first round corner in Jenkins and Washington is supposed to be the better cover corner. Then put them on a freaking island and man up.

The 3 of 13 on 3rd downs to me seemed to occur half the time because instead of a possession throw to get the first down I saw Ohio State throwing the ball 40 yards downfield. I'd rather see them take the downfield shots on 1st or even 2nd down and use 3rd down to move the chains and get Beanie more carries. If he could have approached 30 or more meaningful carries then he had a chance to wear the defense down.

 

[Buckeyecty4]

I felt our first down placalling was pretty good and effective..

But we had a bunch of 2nd and 5s, or 2nd and 4s.. and it seems like we threw on every one of those downs, and that is where alot of the Boeckman fumbles, and other junk seemed to happen, forcing 3rd and longs all game..

The worst stretch for me though came when it was 31-17.. we drive the ball with ease to the LSU 40.. the momentum is clearly changing, u can hear the buzz in the crowd..

And then we decide to pass the ball four straight times.. i think Boeckeman ended up fumbling twice in that set of downs..

That's the time a healthy dose of Beanie, who had ripped off some solid runs that drive would have been great..

Hell I would have pounded him 4 straight downs if i had to

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

That's cool and I don't entirely disagree. All I was bringing up was your point about moving the ball fine. :)

Fair enough. Fine, to me, wasn't meant to imply "at will"

OK, why did we use this philosophy? We're supposed to have a sure fire first round corner in Jenkins and Washington is supposed to be the better cover corner. Then put them on a freaking island and man up.

I agree. On the other hand, this Philosophy has won OSU a lot of games over the last 3 years. So...

Seems to me LSU's line play (O-Line is what I'm talking about here) was better than anticipted. I would say of course everyone knew the Oline was pretty darn good, but I personally found them to be better than I expected. They did a real good job handeling our pressure, and that makes the difference, I think.

The 3 of 13 on 3rd downs to me seemed to occur half the time because instead of a possession throw to get the first down I saw Ohio State throwing the ball 40 yards downfield. I'd rather see them take the downfield shots on 1st or even 2nd down and use 3rd down to move the chains and get Beanie more carries. If he could have approached 30 or more meaningful carries then he had a chance to wear the defense down.

Might have been a good plan early. I mean, it's easy to sit in hindsight and say OSU should have just kept giving the ball to Beanie. But... going back to the game...

Beanie pops the big one on the 1st drive.
next, OSU moves the ball thru the air, the wheel to Saine being a big big play.
Next OSU moves the ball yet again, deep in LSU territory thows to Robo who dropped it... Kick blocked.

Should OSU have given Beanie the ball instead of tossing it to Saine? No. Should OSU have given the ball to Beanie instead of going for 6? Maybe. But, Robo usually makes that catch.

My memory gets fuzzy here as to each possession and the results... I think the next one as a three and out, but if memory serves the passes were on time and the routes good. But, not good enough. LSU, with momentum, stepped up. Was this drive ended in a fumble around the 50? I forget. And then... of course, the gates kinda broke, notably with the underthrow down the sidelines resulting in a pick returned to the Bucks 21 or so. If TB had been able to air that one out better, who knows what might have happened. The coverage was good, it shouldn't have been thrown, if you ask me.

OSU could have done well, I think, to run plays designed to get LSU off the inside shoulder so much. If you're gonna throw it short, do it to the outside shoulder... make them respect that.

But... even though these plays might have worked.. let me say it like this... it seems to me OSU's offense was too good to require a change, but not good enough to not require a change... does that make sense? It's kind of how I looked at Jose Offerman's career. Too good not to make the roster, not good enough to play.