CFP Title Game, Alabama vs tOSU, Jan 11, 8:15 ET on ESPN, Miami

[LordJeffBuck]

I'm not going to do a detailed recap of this game, because it's not really worth the effort. Here are my quick thoughts:

1. Offensive play calling was abysmal. Zero creativity, no attempts to test Bama deep, insistence on establishing a running game that wasn't going to happen without Trey Sermon, stupid quick tempo decisions (all three backfired), bubble screens with two tight ends wide (kind of gives the play away, don't you think?). The only chance that Ohio State had was to win in a shoot out, and Ryan Day brought a pop gun to the OK Corral. Compare to Bama's highly creative play calling, which they didn't even need because they were clearly the better team.

2. Defensive scheme was mind boggling - using four LBs against true Speed in Space? Tuf Borland covering DeVonta Smith? Baron Browning in coverage when he once again proved that he can be a force rushing the passer? No clue what they were trying to do, but I'm just some guy sitting at home watching on my TV.

3. Losing Tommy Togiai, Tyreke Smith, Trey Sermon, and eventually Wyatt Davis didn't help, but even with those four healthy for the entire game there was a noticeable talent gap in favor of Alabama. There's a lot of dead weight on this roster, and several highly-rated recruits who simply haven't made an impact despite being in the program for 3 or 4 years. I expect to see plenty of true freshmen (recruiting class of 2021) getting early playing time and some older guys hitting the transfer portal.

4. Overall, it's hard to bitch about a year in which Ohio State won their 4th consecutive Big Ten title, beat Clemson, (likely) finished #2 in the country, and lost to a team that was clearly the best in CFB. So I'm done bitching.

5. This season was messed up in so many ways. I'm glad that it's finally over. Maybe next year will be our year ... or the year after that ... or sometime down the road....

 

[bukIpower]

Sarks probably celebrating with a jug of Tito's vodka right about now.

He had that rolling pre game at the pep rally what are you talking about lol

 

[Hstead]

I'm not going to do a detailed recap of this game, because it's not really worth the effort. Here are my quick thoughts:

1. Offensive play calling was abysmal. Zero creativity, no attempts to test Bama deep, insistence on establishing a running game that wasn't going to happen without Trey Sermon, stupid quick tempo decisions (all three backfired), bubble screens with two tight ends wide (kind of gives the play away, don't you think?). The only chance that Ohio State had was to win in a shoot out, and Ryan Day brought a pop gun to the OK Corral. Compare to Bama's highly creative play calling, which they didn't even need because they were clearly the better team.

2. Defensive scheme was mind boggling - using four LBs against true Speed in Space? Tuf Borland covering DeVonta Smith? Baron Browning in coverage when he once again proved that he can be a force rushing the passer? No clue what they were trying to do, but I'm just some guy sitting at home watching on my TV.

3. Losing Tommy Togiai, Tyreke Smith, Trey Sermon, and eventually Wyatt Davis didn't help, but even with those four healthy for the entire game there was a noticeable talent gap in favor of Alabama. There's a lot of dead weight on this roster, and several highly-rated recruits who simply haven't made an impact despite being in the program for 3 or 4 years. I expect to see plenty of true freshmen (recruiting class of 2021) getting early playing time and some older guys hitting the transfer portal.

4. Overall, it's hard to bitch about a year in which Ohio State won their 4th consecutive Big Ten title, beat Clemson, (likely) finished #2 in the country, and lost to a team that was clearly the best in CFB. So I'm done bitching.

5. This season was messed up in so many ways. I'm glad that it's finally over. Maybe next year will be our year ... or the year after that ... or sometime down the road....

Nail..............meet hammer

 

[808 Buck]

Hate losing the big one but beating Clemson trumps everything from a national perspective. Still believe the stench from not beating Dabo would be far greater than what happened tonight. Ohio State lost to a better team. Nobody in the country was beating that team this year. Just need to keep recruiting, keep developing, and keep an edge.

 

[bukIpower]

I'm not going to do a detailed recap of this game, because it's not really worth the effort. Here are my quick thoughts:

1. Offensive play calling was abysmal. Zero creativity, no attempts to test Bama deep, insistence on establishing a running game that wasn't going to happen without Trey Sermon, stupid quick tempo decisions (all three backfired), bubble screens with two tight ends wide (kind of gives the play away, don't you think?). The only chance that Ohio State had was to win in a shoot out, and Ryan Day brought a pop gun to the OK Corral. Compare to Bama's highly creative play calling, which they didn't even need because they were clearly the better team.

2. Defensive scheme was mind boggling - using four LBs against true Speed in Space? Tuf Borland covering DeVonta Smith? Baron Browning in coverage when he once again proved that he can be a force rushing the passer? No clue what they were trying to do, but I'm just some guy sitting at home watching on my TV.

3. Losing Tommy Togiai, Tyreke Smith, Trey Sermon, and eventually Wyatt Davis didn't help, but even with those four healthy for the entire game there was a noticeable talent gap in favor of Alabama. There's a lot of dead weight on this roster, and several highly-rated recruits who simply haven't made an impact despite being in the program for 3 or 4 years. I expect to see plenty of true freshmen (recruiting class of 2021) getting early playing time and some older guys hitting the transfer portal.

4. Overall, it's hard to bitch about a year in which Ohio State won their 4th consecutive Big Ten title, beat Clemson, (likely) finished #2 in the country, and lost to a team that was clearly the best in CFB. So I'm done bitching.

5. This season was messed up in so many ways. I'm glad that it's finally over. Maybe next year will be our year ... or the year after that ... or sometime down the road....

I agree with all of this...

You saw the happiness after the Clemson game and part of me wonders if that was the end of our season. We just seemed satisfied after that... shit I know I was. Still am frankly...

The only thing at this point I'm saddened by is we didnt keep it close. Who knows what kind of harm this does to us in the future. I know what 2006 and 2007 did to the program and I hope this doesn't set us back.

Edited... not shitting on this years team.

 

[OHSportsFan]

I'm not going to do a detailed recap of this game, because it's not really worth the effort. Here are my quick thoughts:

1. Offensive play calling was abysmal. Zero creativity, no attempts to test Bama deep, insistence on establishing a running game that wasn't going to happen without Trey Sermon, stupid quick tempo decisions (all three backfired), bubble screens with two tight ends wide (kind of gives the play away, don't you think?). The only chance that Ohio State had was to win in a shoot out, and Ryan Day brought a pop gun to the OK Corral. Compare to Bama's highly creative play calling, which they didn't even need because they were clearly the better team.

2. Defensive scheme was mind boggling - using four LBs against true Speed in Space? Tuf Borland covering DeVonta Smith? Baron Browning in coverage when he once again proved that he can be a force rushing the passer? No clue what they were trying to do, but I'm just some guy sitting at home watching on my TV.

3. Losing Tommy Togiai, Tyreke Smith, Trey Sermon, and eventually Wyatt Davis didn't help, but even with those four healthy for the entire game there was a noticeable talent gap in favor of Alabama. There's a lot of dead weight on this roster, and several highly-rated recruits who simply haven't made an impact despite being in the program for 3 or 4 years. I expect to see plenty of true freshmen (recruiting class of 2021) getting early playing time and some older guys hitting the transfer portal.

4. Overall, it's hard to bitch about a year in which Ohio State won their 4th consecutive Big Ten title, beat Clemson, (likely) finished #2 in the country, and lost to a team that was clearly the best in CFB. So I'm done bitching.

5. This season was messed up in so many ways. I'm glad that it's finally over. Maybe next year will be our year ... or the year after that ... or sometime down the road....

As usual, LJB nails it.

As far as next year...or the year after...or it could be another 12 years. Or even 34. Winning a championship is hard, so it’s nice to remember those special years. At least OSU is in a great spot to get an invite to the dance. More than 120+ other programs can say. We’re really good. And spoiled.

 

[bukIpower]

You know what dude, you're a fucking asshole. I make a post about loving this team and this program with tears in my eyes and YOU want to dissect it by overanalyzing a comment I made about Alabama being the better team. KISS MY ASS!!!

Piece (As in you're a piece of shit)

Ban me if you folks need to, personally, I don't care.

It's okay man... I was just disagreeing that we shouldnt lost this bad.

I get it though and I apologize if it seemed like I was downplaying what it meant to you.

 

[jwinslow]

Not by this much...

The defensive plan tonight was just bad. That said I'll say this for Alabama... that was the best OL and best QB we've ever played. We will never play anyone like that again.

Now whether that performance was due to our inept plan or their skill is completely up in the air but I'd venture to guess it's somewhere in the middle.

They're really good up front and Jones is really good.BUT... We had a pretty trash game plan.

You really need to sleep this off. The back shoulder sideline throw was probably his best and hardest throw of the night. For 15-20 yds.

Great year with an amazing team and a killer scheme that has guys running wide open regularly. And he completes passes near the LOS for about 150 a game, and Najee picks up first downs and tds on check downs all day long.

Remarkable O, and saban appears to have a non stop train of offensive wizards at his disposal, with BoB coming next.

He can make really great throws. He didn't have to tonight.

 

[Jake]

I'm not going to do a detailed recap of this game, because it's not really worth the effort. Here are my quick thoughts:

1. Offensive play calling was abysmal. Zero creativity, no attempts to test Bama deep, insistence on establishing a running game that wasn't going to happen without Trey Sermon, stupid quick tempo decisions (all three backfired), bubble screens with two tight ends wide (kind of gives the play away, don't you think?). The only chance that Ohio State had was to win in a shoot out, and Ryan Day brought a pop gun to the OK Corral. Compare to Bama's highly creative play calling, which they didn't even need because they were clearly the better team.

2. Defensive scheme was mind boggling - using four LBs against true Speed in Space? Tuf Borland covering DeVonta Smith? Baron Browning in coverage when he once again proved that he can be a force rushing the passer? No clue what they were trying to do, but I'm just some guy sitting at home watching on my TV.

3. Losing Tommy Togiai, Tyreke Smith, Trey Sermon, and eventually Wyatt Davis didn't help, but even with those four healthy for the entire game there was a noticeable talent gap in favor of Alabama. There's a lot of dead weight on this roster, and several highly-rated recruits who simply haven't made an impact despite being in the program for 3 or 4 years. I expect to see plenty of true freshmen (recruiting class of 2021) getting early playing time and some older guys hitting the transfer portal.

4. Overall, it's hard to bitch about a year in which Ohio State won their 4th consecutive Big Ten title, beat Clemson, (likely) finished #2 in the country, and lost to a team that was clearly the best in CFB. So I'm done bitching.

5. This season was messed up in so many ways. I'm glad that it's finally over. Maybe next year will be our year ... or the year after that ... or sometime down the road....

The better team won. Doesn't really require a lot of analysis.

The fact that we even had a season in the first place, much less hand Dabo his ass, made it all worthwhile.

 

[Hstead]

Second most yards we have ever given up in a game in OSU history. I know this offense was good, but I am afraid we also made it look better than it might have been. For fucks sake, ND slowed them down better than we did. We never hinted at stopping them all night.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

I'm not going to do a detailed recap of this game, because it's not really worth the effort. Here are my quick thoughts:

1. Offensive play calling was abysmal. Zero creativity, no attempts to test Bama deep, insistence on establishing a running game that wasn't going to happen without Trey Sermon, stupid quick tempo decisions (all three backfired), bubble screens with two tight ends wide (kind of gives the play away, don't you think?). The only chance that Ohio State had was to win in a shoot out, and Ryan Day brought a pop gun to the OK Corral. Compare to Bama's highly creative play calling, which they didn't even need because they were clearly the better team.

2. Defensive scheme was mind boggling - using four LBs against true Speed in Space? Tuf Borland covering DeVonta Smith? Baron Browning in coverage when he once again proved that he can be a force rushing the passer? No clue what they were trying to do, but I'm just some guy sitting at home watching on my TV.

3. Losing Tommy Togiai, Tyreke Smith, Trey Sermon, and eventually Wyatt Davis didn't help, but even with those four healthy for the entire game there was a noticeable talent gap in favor of Alabama. There's a lot of dead weight on this roster, and several highly-rated recruits who simply haven't made an impact despite being in the program for 3 or 4 years. I expect to see plenty of true freshmen (recruiting class of 2021) getting early playing time and some older guys hitting the transfer portal.

4. Overall, it's hard to bitch about a year in which Ohio State won their 4th consecutive Big Ten title, beat Clemson, (likely) finished #2 in the country, and lost to a team that was clearly the best in CFB. So I'm done bitching.

5. This season was messed up in so many ways. I'm glad that it's finally over. Maybe next year will be our year ... or the year after that ... or sometime down the road....

Point 3 is especially true for the DEs. We didn't need a Bosa or Chase Young this year. A group like 2017 with Hubbard, Lewis, and Holmes would have sufficed. Zach Harrison didn't make the leap, Tyreke Smith didn't provide any consistency, and guys like Friday and Baptiste haven't shown much of anything. Cooper was the only steady DE this year. We desperately need to land JT in the 2021 recruiting class and hope he has a Bosa-like impact early on. We have a lot of LB and DB talent on the way but the DL looks more uncertain to me

 

[dragurd]

Second most yards we have ever given up in a game in OSU history. I know this offense was good, but I am afraid we also made it look better than it might have been. For fucks sake, ND slowed them down better than we did. We never hinted at stopping them all night.

ND stopped them better cause 1. they were a better D 2. Alabama's Defense had no fear of ND. So they didn't try to keep scoring points like they did on us when they went up big. The 4th quarter shell they went into was the same shell they ran the entire 2nd half against ND.

 

[Jim Hunter]

You really need to sleep this off. The back shoulder sideline throw was probably his best and hardest throw of the night. For 15-20 yds.

Great year with an amazing team and a killer scheme that has guys running wide open regularly. And he completes passes near the LOS for about 150 a game, and Najee picks up first downs and tds on check downs all day long.

Remarkable O, and saban appears to have a non stop train of offensive wizards at his disposal, with BoB coming next.

He can make really great throws. He didn't have to tonight.

Good game Bucks, your team is loaded and we were fortunate to play one of our better games tonight. A couple of nights ago, I posted that with a healthy Waddle and Dickerson, it may very well be the best offense in the history of college football. I still think you'll are good enough to beat us on a given day but knew you were going to have to outscore us to do it Next year is a rebuilding year for us we lose 90% of our offensive production, and I don't see it with as much youth that we'll have on that side of the ball along with a new OC. We'll play again, likely in two years in the playoffs. Until then, enjoy the ride.

 

[GreenwoodBuck]

I personally think that Xichigan is and always will be our game of the year. That game seems to be the greatest emphasis each year as it should be. Clemson was our Xichigan game this year, no doubt. People in the South always ask me how Ohio State can beat up on Xichigan but always seem to choke or play bad in the playoffs. I feel like if you asked any player if they'd rather beat Xichigan and miss the playoffs, or lose to Xichigan nd make the playoffs, they would choose the former. My point is, hats off to Bama, but we didn't have near the swagger tonight that we had 10 days ago. I feel like we were content with getting revenge on Clemson, which we did, and anything extra was just icing on the cake. Maybe losing Sermon took the sails out of us. Who really knows? But, congratulations Alabama. Here's to next season!

 

[bukIpower]

Second most yards we have ever given up in a game in OSU history. I know this offense was good, but I am afraid we also made it look better than it might have been. For fucks sake, ND slowed them down better than we did. We never hinted at stopping them all night.

And that's where I can't grasp...

You really need to sleep this off. The back shoulder sideline throw was probably his best and hardest throw of the night. For 15-20 yds.

Great year with an amazing team and a killer scheme that has guys running wide open regularly. And he completes passes near the LOS for about 150 a game, and Najee picks up first downs and tds on check downs all day long.

Remarkable O, and saban appears to have a non stop train of offensive wizards at his disposal, with BoB coming next.

He can make really great throws. He didn't have to tonight.

I'm good... guys I apologize for crushing anyone tonight for being critical of our plan. You all are right... it's probably not the moment to be critical.

They're really good but like a lot here have said (myself included) we made it a lot easier than it probably had to be.

I'm just so happy we beat Clemson though and got back to the pinnacle of the sport. There's no shame though in also being disappointed that we didn't keep it closer.

I really didnt see this coming. I thought we'd at least take either 6 or 22 out completely. Forcing them to fight left handed which would get us a few possessions to build a lead before they could adjust.

Part of me is just happy this years over though...I love this team but not knowing who's in or out has in itself been exhausting.