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Game Thread Buffalo Bulls at tOSU, Aug 31, 12 ET, ESPN2

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Give Buffalo credit for making adjustments on D, especially the DEs, to stop Ohio State's bread and butter read option dive play for most of the latter parts of the game.

Granted, I still don't think Braxton reads the DE very well most of the time on that play, but the Buffalo guys weren't making it easy by playing it very well I thought (once they figured out that Braxton wasn't going to keep it much).

I also think our receivers need to do a better job finishing routes, especially when Braxton is scrambling. When the QB is keeping his eyes downfield and not just taking off when the pocket breaks down, the receivers need to bust their ass to get open downfield. I didn't think they did a very good job of that today.
 
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Mike80 said:
Granted - however in talking with my brother after the game as he was both on field level and up in the upper deck, he said the difference was very noticeable even within the stadium. Add in being amped up to play and going at game speed, the younger guys especially were having issues. Brax and Shazier will be fine going forward I think.
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Makes sense, and things will play themselves out going forward. I did see things that concern me but would like to seem them disappear before the next game.
 
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Here's a non scarlet view.

Offense looked like they did last year, great at times and bad at others. Defense was not good against the pass at all, when robey comes back that will help. I still believe OSU issues on d is Luke, I think he's a horrible game caller. OSU seems to be out of position more since he took over.

Braxton is a better passer for sure, and your number 1 is scary as hell.
 
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A few brief observations:

1. Decker gave up three sacks today, two by All American Khalil Mack, the third by some nobody (Nick Gilbo, a walk-on linebacker). Decker looked equally bad on all three sacks. This will be a problem going forward.

2. Braxton has an annoying (and dangerous) habit of giving up ground when the pocket breaks down, which often leads to huge negative plays. He got away with one in the third quarter when he was sacked and fumbled at the two-yard line, but the play was negated by a personal foul on the Buffalo defense (Khalil Mack with hands to the face).

3. Speaking of that play, the Buckeyes got lucky twice down near the goal line - first, when the Miller fumble was negated by a penalty, second when the Buffalo quarterback fumbled the snap on fourth and goal from the one. Without those two mistakes by Buffalo, the game might have been a lot closer than it was.

4. Ohio State had to shut down one guy on offense (Alex Neutz), and one guy on defense (Khalil Mack). Neutz had 9 receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown, while Mack had 9 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and a pick six. Not a good showing against either player.

5. The fourth down call was poor. Ohio State was up 23-0 at the time, and well on its way to a blow out, but the failure to convert really seemed to take the steam out the Buckeye offense.

6. On the positive side, the Buckeye offense proved that it can score from just about anywhere on the field, with long touchdowns of 49, 47, 37, and 21 yards.

7. One more thing that I forgot to mention - Dontre Wilson's 51-yard kick-off return was longer (by 15 yards) than any of the 29 kick-off returns from last year.

That's all for now. We'll know more after next week.
 
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DaddyBigBucks said:
Let's simplify this.

If you roll a pair of dice and decide that you "win" if you roll > 4, you have a great chance of winning, but if you roll 12 times, you're likely to lose twice.

Football is different in that the chance associated with each event is different, but outcomes are far from deterministic. Given this, stochastic methods still give the best rational expectation for season outcomes.

This means that, even though the chance of victory is greater than 50% for each game, the chance of winning all of them is MUCH less than 50%.

Since my only assertion is that OSU has a better than 50% chance of winning any given game this season, but that they are very unlikely to win them all, you're argument is not with me; it is with the stochastic methods that I learned at The Ohio State University.
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TL;DR Ohio State & stochastic methods taught me that no team is likely to go undefeated.

My larger point is: it's a long season and team chemistry goes a LONG ways, so lets wait a few weeks before declaring "12-2 squad."
 
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I'm not panicking on Taylor Decker yet. It's his first career start and the Buckeyes now have an OL coach with a reputation for improving his players over the course of their careers. Decker does need to improve and and quickly, but I'm confident that come hell or high water Warinner will extract some quality from the RT position by the time the meat of the schedule rolls around.
 
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I mean, by that logic, every year the Buckeyes go 12-2 & a 1-loss Buckeye team has no shot getting into the BCS Title game. Thank god for the playoff system.. although Ohio State may teach we go 13-3 at that point.

Just sayin' that if certain intangibles show/form on a talented team that is coached by a psychology major/2-time national champion.. Similar to last year at the MSU road trip, this team could gel & be something special. There is tons of talent.
 
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