Game Thread CFP Playoff Cotton Bowl, tOSU vs Texas, Fri. Jan. 10th, 7:30 ET on ESPN

[Wells4Heisman]

 

[Trevi]

Texas Longhorns fans are begging Ted Cruz to call off his bet with Ohio State alum and VP-Elect J.D. Vance — 247Sports

After surviving an overtime-thriller vs. the Arizona State, Texas has advanced to the semifinals of the College Football Playoffs and will now face Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl this Friday, Jan. 10.

apple.news

 

[shetuck]

or… we can just throw the ball to jeremiah smith.

i mean even ryan day said as much in his sunday press conference…

 

[Captain Buckeye]

or… we can just throw the ball to jeremiah smith.

Why not both?

 

[shetuck]

Why not both?

i know you're joking, but i don't think they're going to play the "short game" with us like you said.

we have had caleb downs parked, like a tomcat, in the middle of the field and daring opposing QBs to throw the last two games.

and i think this very disruptive presence is a big part of what totally scrambled iamaleava and gabriel's brains and made them super twitchy. that look has crept into being after the first oregon game, and after larry johnson finally gave up his stubbornness about his rushmen and a four-man front.

 

[Telekinesis]

i know you're joking, but i don't think they're going to play the "short game" with us like you said.

we have had caleb downs parked, like a tomcat, in the middle of the field and daring opposing QBs to throw the last two games.

and i think this very disruptive presence is a big part of what totally scrambled iamaleava and gabriel's brains and made them super twitchy. that look has crept into being after the first oregon game, and after larry johnson finally gave up his stubbornness about his rushmen and a four-man front.

Same. I look for them to let Quinn attack the DBs and take their chances. I feel like they’d rather try to beat us downfield rather than test our front. I just don’t think they want to go at Downs and Co. after watching these last two games.

I could be wrong, but this is what I look for them to try to exploit.

 

[shetuck]

Same. I look for them to let Quinn attack the DBs and take their chances. I feel like they’d rather try to beat us downfield rather than test our front. I just don’t think they want to go at Downs and Co. after watching these last two games.

I could be wrong, but this is what I look for them to try to exploit.

i expect them to throw to david igbinosun on every play lol.

 

[Telekinesis]

i expect them to throw to david igbinosun on every play lol.

Yep. If they’re watching the tape, they’ve got to take note of the PI issues. I’ve been concerned about it over the last two games, but it hasn’t happened yet. Still nervous about it if I’m being honest.

Hoping our guys bring their A game and don’t have issues that impact us, but it’s still a valid point, I think.

 

[shetuck]

Same. I look for them to let Quinn attack the DBs and take their chances. I feel like they’d rather try to beat us downfield rather than test our front. I just don’t think they want to go at Downs and Co. after watching these last two games.

I could be wrong, but this is what I look for them to try to exploit.

has he been getting the same number of targets? seems like that's been dropping off in the 2nd half of the season (after the oregon game).

 

[RB07OSU]

Same. I look for them to let Quinn attack the DBs and take their chances. I feel like they’d rather try to beat us downfield rather than test our front. I just don’t think they want to go at Downs and Co. after watching these last two games.

I could be wrong, but this is what I look for them to try to exploit.

I think you will see UT attack vertically because their run game is close to non-existent, so in other words I don't think they have a choice. Just don't give up big plays early and I think we can get them in panic mode quickly (i.e. close to what it looked like when Grabriel and Imawhoeverthename as the games wore on).

I would expect them to attack Iggy and hope for PI calls, but he has cut out the stupid PI plays in the last two games and maybe Mathews started to light a fire under him there to improve in that area.

We don't really create a ton of turnovers, but this is an elite defense regardless if they can apply pressure to the QB, make plays in coverage that aren't INTs generally, and get off the field on 3rd down (that last piece is crucial, we have improved on that). However, Ewers is somewhat turnover prone with 11 INTs this year and typically coming where he panics. Very good QB but we could try to force more turnovers in this game based on the UT games I have watched.

 

[shetuck]

I think you will see UT attack vertically because their run game is close to non-existent, so in other words I don't think they have a choice. Just don't give up big plays early and I think we can get them in panic mode quickly (i.e. close to what it looked like when Grabriel and Imawhoeverthename as the games wore on).

I would expect them to attack Iggy and hope for PI calls, but he has cut out the stupid PI plays in the last two games and maybe Mathews starting light a fire under him there to improve in that area.

We don't really create a ton of turnovers, but this is an elite defense regardless if they can apply pressure to the QB, make plays in coverage that aren't INTs generally, and get off the field on 3rd down (that last piece is crucial, we have improved on that). However, Ewers is somewhat turnover prone with 11 INTs this year and typically coming where he panics. Very good QB but we could try to force more turnovers in this game based on the UT games I have watched.

i agree... which means that we should get a ton of picks this game to make up for very few picks all season.

EDIT: i looked it up.... we have 9 ints this year. much higher than what i would've guessed.

 

[Telekinesis]

has he been getting the same number of targets? seems like that's been dropping off in the 2nd half of the season (after the oregon game).

I’m not sure exactly what the numbers are, but it does seem like there have been less targets his way. I think he gave up a couple to Oregon in the last game, but no PI calls.

I agree with RB, though… they almost have to go vertical in this game to have a shot.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Throw deep early. Throw deep often. PROFIT!

 

[Jagdaddy]

i expect them to throw to david igbinosun on every play lol.

The good news is that, as much as I loathe ACC refs, especially when playing an SEC team, this crew is a combo of the guys from our first two playoff games and they've been letting everyone play when it comes to PI.

 

[Trevi]

Ohio State’s coach reveals the secret behind its explosive College Football Playoff run

Ohio State's offensive coordinator details how the Buckeyes became the most dangerous game in the College Football Playoff.

www.cleveland.com

“I think we have the least amount of snaps of anybody in the playoffs,” offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said. “That’s by design. We huddled a lot more this year. We didn’t have games where we were running 100 snaps a game. But we had a long-term plan.”

OSU decided to be one of the nation’s slowest-tempo teams sacrificing plays and individual stats in the process. At times, it looked like a team fighting against its true nature because it had to. I sat 116th nationally in seconds between each play at 28.3, after being at 26.9 seconds (82nd) in 2023, 27 seconds (96th) in 2022 and 24.6 (27th) in 2021.

“We weren’t going to go into games and say, we’re going to get 100 snaps in this game,” Kelly said. “You do that three, four weeks in a row, then you’re running your team down a little bit we knew this wasn’t a four-team playoff when you play one game then you play another game. You’re going to have to win four games to win the whole thing.