crazybuckfan40
Head Coach
Back with the third installment of this years season. Well as I predicted last week this was going to be a major trap game and we would be sleepwalking thru most of it.
Offense:
Well it wasnt the best performance from these guys. I think at first they were trying to do a little too much in terms of different formations and with the lack of emotion it was hard for them to get in a rhythm.
QB's: A
Just an A for the day. He missed on some throws and came out kinda flat, and took a couple sacks that I didnt think he should of. But overall he ended up with another nice day at the office and should still be atop the heisman race.
It was also nice to see all the other qbs get in there and all had completions.
RB's: A+ b/c Pitt got us started today.
Pittman - He was really the one that got us started. On the second fg drive when we were down 7-3, he started to run over people and had two runs that seemed to wake some people up. Also his long run was a thing of beuty.
Beanie Wells - He is still adjusting to the speed of the game, but you can always see his wiggle when he takes the handoff. Give him a couple more games and i think we will all be seeing the force that we have been expecting.
M. Wells - At times he goes down to easy. But that was a nice td run he had. Still like how we are getting him the ball in space.
WR's - A- another solid day, but they came out a little lackadasical not getting open like could have.
Ginn - Another day at the office for him. He wasnt getting open on the deep route as much as usual, but he had a solid day and 2 td's. Still waiting for him to bust a punt return or ko return.
Gonzo - Another nice game for Gonzo.
Robo - I believe he had that one catch against the sidelines. He can really work the sidelines and he has such great hands.
Hartline/Small - both had nice catches. Both look to be very good in the future.
Hall - Great to see him back out there, and he even had the one catch.
TE/FB: - A
Nicol - Once again very good blocking, and he had a huge game in terms of catching the ball which is just another weapon for Smith to use.
White - He also had a couple nice catches today.
OL - B+.
They played a pretty good game, but they had some stupid penalties and some missed blocks. Alot of it had to do with the lack of emotion and then I think the stunting and quickness of Cincy's d-line really hurt them early and they were not allowing us to get going on O.
It was also great to see all the o-lineman get in there again.
Overall the offensive unit is going to be tough for anyone to stop. Way too many weapons. If we are stopped it is b/c we stop ourselves.
I was also impressed with Cincy and their D and their ability to stay with our receievers and get penetration from their D-line. I think in the end our weapons and overall depth wore them down.
Also our O has been in the redzone 13 times on the season and we have scored 9TD's and 1FG. And if you remember the 2 times we didnt score were the time Zwick fumbled on his first play and Wells also fumbled. Overall that is very impressive stat.
K's:
It was also great to see our kickers have a 3/3 day. And every single one of them was longer than 42 yds. And all kickoffs besides 1 was a touchback.
And Trappasso had another fine day at the office.
Defense:
The Defense was faced with 13 total drives for the game. Out of them 13 drives they broke down like this:
1 TD
3 INT
8 Punts
1 end of game.
We forced 4 3 and outs and 12/13 drives were 5 plays or less. On the year our D has seen 35 drives. We have 10 3 and outs and 26/35 drives have been 5 plays or less. That is awesome.
Also Cincy's longest drive of 8 plays, we still forced them to punt. We had the one bad drive where Cincy had the 3 big plays and scored in 5 plays.
Also Cincy never ran a play inside our 20. Their only td was a 23 yd pass.
26 pts in 3 games is outstanding.
Also you have to love all the TO's we are forcing this year. Just in this game we had 3INT's and 1 FF which went out of bounds, but caused Cincy to lose yards on the play as it bounced backwards.
On the day I counted 8 sacks:
Rose - 2
Homan - 1
Pittcock - 2.5
Animal Jr - 1
Gholston - 1
Kerr - .5
We also had 3 TFL's.
On the day Cincy had 20 plays of their 48 go from anywhere from 1-negative yards.
They were also only 3/11 on third down conversions.
Once again we were rotating guys like crazy. I believe I saw just about every scholarship player out there besides Patterson. I didnt see him once again, maybe I just missed him.
We also ran basically 3 different formations all game. They were the 4-3 base formation and Nickel base and the Nickel(Leo) I will call it with Gholston standing up as either a rusher or dropping back into coverage.
We were in Nickel only 18 times compared to 40 last week. Usually this consisted of Animal Jr. and Freeman at lb and Washington/Jenks as the corners and Smith as the nickel back. All lbs besides Terry played in this formation
We were in the 4-3 for 25 plays. Once again all lbs were in this formation even Spitler and Lukens got some plays at the end.
And we lined up in Nickel(Leo) 5 times. I really like this formation as it gives Gholston a chance to get a head start and run around the O-lineman or to drop into coverage and give us an extra cover guy.
Another change that we made at times was to have the Safties play closer to the line. Russell was playing only about 7/8 yds off the los at times and he was there in run support at times today. Mitchell not as much but he was more in coverage.
Overall we had a good TEAM defensive effort. We made some big plays and forced 3 huge TO's. I think Animal Jr's INT was the play of the game for the defense as it saved a td right b4 half. Once again another impressive outing by the defense especially allowing -4 yds rushing.
Overall I was pretty impressed with what Cincy had to offer and I think down the road they will have a solid O. I really liked their QB and his ability to get outside the pocket and make plays.
Once again these 2 guys need a lot of credit for the scheme and adjustements. Haecock and Fickell
DE's: A-
Gholston got back in the stat column today with his sack and Rose got in there with 2. Richardson, Barrow and Wilson played solid today and also had some big plays.
Gholston did a much better job today against the double team and not letting them wall him completely inside. Wilson had a couple batted balls and had pressure on the Qb.
Rose had a coming out party and it is obvious why he has so much hype surrounding him.
I would say that you can say we have a plethera of DE's on this team.
DT's: A+
Pittcock played the game of his life. He had 2.5 sacks and he was the one that got there on his third one and then Kerr helped him bring him down. I also think he had about 3 or 4 QB hurries and he was the one that forced the QB out of the pocket on the Animal Jr's INT. He was also destorying the middle of the oline and allowing the lb's to really fill the holes.
Patterson/Penton/Denlinger were also very solid and they had their plays too.
Overall it was clear that they won the battle upfront and allowed the lb's and safeties to roam free and make plays.
LB's: B
Once again another solid performance from all the lb's. Today they seemed to be filling a little bit better and not catching as much on the tackle sand being able to get outside and make the plays. Also not sure whose responsability the first td catch was, but it looked like the LBs were out of thier zone.
Animal Jr.: just continues to make a name for himself. His statline read 9Tackles, 1 TFL, 1 Int, 1 Sack. Played a very good game.
Kerr: played a solid game and played a little more than last week. He had a sack and was in on quite a few plays when he was in there.
Homan: He stepped his game up a little bit more. He still was catching on a few stops, and missed a couple tackles in the backfield, but overall he was reading and making plays.
Freeman: probably played his best game of the season, he was reacting much better. Not sure on his overall numbers, but they seemed to be running away from his side.
Spitler: He was in for 4 plays and he was in on 2 of them. He has also been good on special teams. I think he is going to be a player in a couple years.
Grant/Terry: played solid.
S's: B
B Mitch: Once again not sure of his responsabilities, but he was strong in coverage, just hasnt been their in run support like he was the first week and there was one swing pass where he let the blocker force him outside and turn turn the play in far enough to allow the backers to get there.
N. Patterson: DNP, still curious about that one.
JamO: Still not making the impact plays people are hoping for.
A Russell: He played a very solid game. They had him up closer to the line and was making some good plays in the run support. He also made a great play on the INT he had and was smart not to bite on the double pass.
CB's: A+
Jenks, Washington, Smith once again played great.
Jenks is one of the best cover corners I have watched. He is always with his guy stride for stride and does a heckuva job on the jump balls.
Good Things:
- Once again all the guys playing. Have to love the depth of the team.
- No plays for Cincy inside the 20 yard line.
- Once again the secondary shutting down the passing game.
- Only 7 points!!!!!!!!!
- 3 TO's!!!!!!!!
- 8 Sacks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Negatives:
-Sluggish performance to start.
- Cut blocks. I still saw this at times, but Cincy didnt do it as much as the previous 2 teams.
- Still catching at times.
- oline blocking early. Really struggled.
- The field looked like shit, anyone know what was up with that.
Overall another solid game. Now time for PSU. I know the team will say this is not a revenge game, but you know they are going to be thinking that. I think this is a situation like Texas where they have an inexperienced defense with athletes around him. I think we will be able to pressure him into mistakes. And I think our speed on O is going to be able to move the ball on them. I see this shaping up much like the Iowa game last year.
Offense:
Well it wasnt the best performance from these guys. I think at first they were trying to do a little too much in terms of different formations and with the lack of emotion it was hard for them to get in a rhythm.
QB's: A
Just an A for the day. He missed on some throws and came out kinda flat, and took a couple sacks that I didnt think he should of. But overall he ended up with another nice day at the office and should still be atop the heisman race.
It was also nice to see all the other qbs get in there and all had completions.
RB's: A+ b/c Pitt got us started today.
Pittman - He was really the one that got us started. On the second fg drive when we were down 7-3, he started to run over people and had two runs that seemed to wake some people up. Also his long run was a thing of beuty.
Beanie Wells - He is still adjusting to the speed of the game, but you can always see his wiggle when he takes the handoff. Give him a couple more games and i think we will all be seeing the force that we have been expecting.
M. Wells - At times he goes down to easy. But that was a nice td run he had. Still like how we are getting him the ball in space.
WR's - A- another solid day, but they came out a little lackadasical not getting open like could have.
Ginn - Another day at the office for him. He wasnt getting open on the deep route as much as usual, but he had a solid day and 2 td's. Still waiting for him to bust a punt return or ko return.
Gonzo - Another nice game for Gonzo.
Robo - I believe he had that one catch against the sidelines. He can really work the sidelines and he has such great hands.
Hartline/Small - both had nice catches. Both look to be very good in the future.
Hall - Great to see him back out there, and he even had the one catch.
TE/FB: - A
Nicol - Once again very good blocking, and he had a huge game in terms of catching the ball which is just another weapon for Smith to use.
White - He also had a couple nice catches today.
OL - B+.
They played a pretty good game, but they had some stupid penalties and some missed blocks. Alot of it had to do with the lack of emotion and then I think the stunting and quickness of Cincy's d-line really hurt them early and they were not allowing us to get going on O.
It was also great to see all the o-lineman get in there again.
Overall the offensive unit is going to be tough for anyone to stop. Way too many weapons. If we are stopped it is b/c we stop ourselves.
I was also impressed with Cincy and their D and their ability to stay with our receievers and get penetration from their D-line. I think in the end our weapons and overall depth wore them down.
Also our O has been in the redzone 13 times on the season and we have scored 9TD's and 1FG. And if you remember the 2 times we didnt score were the time Zwick fumbled on his first play and Wells also fumbled. Overall that is very impressive stat.
K's:
It was also great to see our kickers have a 3/3 day. And every single one of them was longer than 42 yds. And all kickoffs besides 1 was a touchback.
And Trappasso had another fine day at the office.
Defense:
The Defense was faced with 13 total drives for the game. Out of them 13 drives they broke down like this:
1 TD
3 INT
8 Punts
1 end of game.
We forced 4 3 and outs and 12/13 drives were 5 plays or less. On the year our D has seen 35 drives. We have 10 3 and outs and 26/35 drives have been 5 plays or less. That is awesome.
Also Cincy's longest drive of 8 plays, we still forced them to punt. We had the one bad drive where Cincy had the 3 big plays and scored in 5 plays.
Also Cincy never ran a play inside our 20. Their only td was a 23 yd pass.
26 pts in 3 games is outstanding.
Also you have to love all the TO's we are forcing this year. Just in this game we had 3INT's and 1 FF which went out of bounds, but caused Cincy to lose yards on the play as it bounced backwards.
On the day I counted 8 sacks:
Rose - 2
Homan - 1
Pittcock - 2.5
Animal Jr - 1
Gholston - 1
Kerr - .5
We also had 3 TFL's.
On the day Cincy had 20 plays of their 48 go from anywhere from 1-negative yards.
They were also only 3/11 on third down conversions.
Once again we were rotating guys like crazy. I believe I saw just about every scholarship player out there besides Patterson. I didnt see him once again, maybe I just missed him.
We also ran basically 3 different formations all game. They were the 4-3 base formation and Nickel base and the Nickel(Leo) I will call it with Gholston standing up as either a rusher or dropping back into coverage.
We were in Nickel only 18 times compared to 40 last week. Usually this consisted of Animal Jr. and Freeman at lb and Washington/Jenks as the corners and Smith as the nickel back. All lbs besides Terry played in this formation
We were in the 4-3 for 25 plays. Once again all lbs were in this formation even Spitler and Lukens got some plays at the end.
And we lined up in Nickel(Leo) 5 times. I really like this formation as it gives Gholston a chance to get a head start and run around the O-lineman or to drop into coverage and give us an extra cover guy.
Another change that we made at times was to have the Safties play closer to the line. Russell was playing only about 7/8 yds off the los at times and he was there in run support at times today. Mitchell not as much but he was more in coverage.
Overall we had a good TEAM defensive effort. We made some big plays and forced 3 huge TO's. I think Animal Jr's INT was the play of the game for the defense as it saved a td right b4 half. Once again another impressive outing by the defense especially allowing -4 yds rushing.
Overall I was pretty impressed with what Cincy had to offer and I think down the road they will have a solid O. I really liked their QB and his ability to get outside the pocket and make plays.
Once again these 2 guys need a lot of credit for the scheme and adjustements. Haecock and Fickell
DE's: A-
Gholston got back in the stat column today with his sack and Rose got in there with 2. Richardson, Barrow and Wilson played solid today and also had some big plays.
Gholston did a much better job today against the double team and not letting them wall him completely inside. Wilson had a couple batted balls and had pressure on the Qb.
Rose had a coming out party and it is obvious why he has so much hype surrounding him.
I would say that you can say we have a plethera of DE's on this team.
DT's: A+
Pittcock played the game of his life. He had 2.5 sacks and he was the one that got there on his third one and then Kerr helped him bring him down. I also think he had about 3 or 4 QB hurries and he was the one that forced the QB out of the pocket on the Animal Jr's INT. He was also destorying the middle of the oline and allowing the lb's to really fill the holes.
Patterson/Penton/Denlinger were also very solid and they had their plays too.
Overall it was clear that they won the battle upfront and allowed the lb's and safeties to roam free and make plays.
LB's: B
Once again another solid performance from all the lb's. Today they seemed to be filling a little bit better and not catching as much on the tackle sand being able to get outside and make the plays. Also not sure whose responsability the first td catch was, but it looked like the LBs were out of thier zone.
Animal Jr.: just continues to make a name for himself. His statline read 9Tackles, 1 TFL, 1 Int, 1 Sack. Played a very good game.
Kerr: played a solid game and played a little more than last week. He had a sack and was in on quite a few plays when he was in there.
Homan: He stepped his game up a little bit more. He still was catching on a few stops, and missed a couple tackles in the backfield, but overall he was reading and making plays.
Freeman: probably played his best game of the season, he was reacting much better. Not sure on his overall numbers, but they seemed to be running away from his side.
Spitler: He was in for 4 plays and he was in on 2 of them. He has also been good on special teams. I think he is going to be a player in a couple years.
Grant/Terry: played solid.
S's: B
B Mitch: Once again not sure of his responsabilities, but he was strong in coverage, just hasnt been their in run support like he was the first week and there was one swing pass where he let the blocker force him outside and turn turn the play in far enough to allow the backers to get there.
N. Patterson: DNP, still curious about that one.
JamO: Still not making the impact plays people are hoping for.
A Russell: He played a very solid game. They had him up closer to the line and was making some good plays in the run support. He also made a great play on the INT he had and was smart not to bite on the double pass.
CB's: A+
Jenks, Washington, Smith once again played great.
Jenks is one of the best cover corners I have watched. He is always with his guy stride for stride and does a heckuva job on the jump balls.
Good Things:
- Once again all the guys playing. Have to love the depth of the team.
- No plays for Cincy inside the 20 yard line.
- Once again the secondary shutting down the passing game.
- Only 7 points!!!!!!!!!
- 3 TO's!!!!!!!!
- 8 Sacks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Negatives:
-Sluggish performance to start.
- Cut blocks. I still saw this at times, but Cincy didnt do it as much as the previous 2 teams.
- Still catching at times.
- oline blocking early. Really struggled.
- The field looked like shit, anyone know what was up with that.
Overall another solid game. Now time for PSU. I know the team will say this is not a revenge game, but you know they are going to be thinking that. I think this is a situation like Texas where they have an inexperienced defense with athletes around him. I think we will be able to pressure him into mistakes. And I think our speed on O is going to be able to move the ball on them. I see this shaping up much like the Iowa game last year.
