My thoughts:
Besides the false starts, the offensive line played a decent game. They did a good job run blocking and, for the most part, a decent job pass blocking against the best pass rushing team in the country. But the false starts were HUGE. Boone had a pretty good game and will be missed, as did Rehring. Bryant Browning is not the right tackle of the future, honestly right now I highly doubt he is starting anywhere on the line next season. Way too many false starts, and he just gets abused by good pass rushers.
Defensive line played one hell of a game. For being a supposed weakness all year, they really really stepped up tonight and kept us in it. They did a decent job getting pressure with 4 man fronts and a great job bottling up the running game. If only Rob Rose could have caught that McCoy throw...
Pryor had a pretty good game, only saw a few bad decisions, but the bad decisions he did make really came back to bite us. First, running out of bounds 2 yards short of the first down on the first drive was absolutely huge, and honestly I just don't understand how that happens. Its not like he couldnt see the stick, he ran out of bounds right in front of it, and he easily could have gotten those extra 2. The same thing on the third drive, sure he already had the first down on that drive but those 5 yards make that 46 yard field goal try versus a 51 yard try. I know the snap was bad on that play but who knows how things may have been different with those 5 yards, I just dont get why he was running out way before he was forced to.
Pryor's throwing mechanics are still far behind where they need to be for him to become a dominant passer, but he makes up for all of it with his feet. After one season watching it, I'm still amazed at the way he just glides, its crazy to watch. I just wish he would run when the running lane is open, there was one play I think on the third FG drive where he could have easily run for a first and instead he tried to force a tough pass in there and it was incomplete. The yards are the same whether you run or throw or crawl for them, so just get them.
Their first drive of the third quarter was a huge backbreaker. Chimdi's PI on a ball that was overthrown on third down, a good fake punt call against our D on 4th and 3, another fourth down conversion, not to mention some help from the refs on that roughing call. That call, along with not calling the PI on the first drive, were both huge in the outcome, IMO. If we could have gotten one of those breaks on that drive, entirely different outcome to the game.
The second TD drive for Texas was a thing of beauty, and we looked helpless to stop it. Honestly I thought the rout was on right then. As much as we looked tired and out of shape, I put so much more of that on the coaches. Our players weren't even getting set, they kept waiting for the defensive call from the sideline, and half the time the ball was snapped while they were looking over. At that point, call a timeout, give your guys a breather, and tell them hey if they get a first down they are going to go hurry up so get to a 4-3 base cover 2 and be ready for the snap. We had to know they were going to do that, and still we were just completely unprepared for it.
Wish we could have seen more creativity out of the TP and Todd on the field formation. Every single time we ran it, TB took the snap with TP split out wide and TB threw a pass. There is SO MUCH we could have done out of that formation, even just simple stuff that would have been more confusing. Have TP in a shotgun and run TB in motion across till he lines up under center to take the snap. Run a pistol with TB and TP. Option pass, or fake an option pass. The formation with two quarterbacks doesn't do you a whole lot of good if they know whats coming every time you run it. I LOVED the idea when I first heard but honestly, if TP is just a receiver, might as well bring in a polished receiver. I will give them props for the fade though, great play call and I'm pretty sure Pryor is un-defendable on that route if the ball is well-thrown.
We played hard, fought back from adversity where in the past we have just folded, and that was great to see. These seniors will be dearly missed, but we will also have a lot of talent returning next year. If you told me before the game that Colt McCoy would have 450 total yards, I would have started crying right then and there thinking we had been blown out by 21. Hell of a performance by the Bucks; not a win, but a hell of a performance.
One last thing- anyone who thinks we will in ANY way benefit from the loss of the most physically gifted running back in college football and maybe in Buckeye history is freaking retarded. Sure we may end up being better next year than this year, but that in NO WAY will be because of the loss of Beanie. He is an absolute stud, and while Boom may fit a certain system better, he just can't do the things that Beanie can do, and I fear that we will come to regret that many times next year.
