Game Thread For the Natty vs ND, “One More, Then Forever”, Jan. 20th, 34-23 Buckeyes!

[Captain Buckeye]

i agree with this.

make howard and the OL run 10-15-20 play drives, and gamble that the mistakes they make and/or penalties they draw will have a bigger impact than the handful of amazing plays from the WRs and RBs.

on offense i don't think there's going to be much ND can do.

for the texas game i said we'd win if we score 28. and that was more than enough.

for ND i'm gonna say if we score 21 we win. and even that might be too much. i doubt ND will get more than 3 scores / two touchdowns.

If a defense is blitzing the drives have the potential to be 1-4 play drives though. IMO what Texas and TCUN did is the ticket for forcing us to execute 10+ plays.

Any rate that’s my opinion and I’m likely wrong anyways haha

 

[BostonDomer]

So you’re better now with no Joe Alt and no Blake Fischer? Your center last year was good too and your left tackle is out and your right guard might be too.

I’m sorry but Give me a break that’s absolutely ridiculous to say.

Yes so much better and more consistent now as a unit. Alt and Fisher played vs Louisville and we couldn't block them at all. Alt as great a player as he was for example missed the block that caused Hartman's 1st pick vs Louisville.

The factor you might be forgetting about is coaching Denbrock is a new(rehired) OC and Rudolf is in his 2nd season as OL coach.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Normally I’d agree with your approach but that’s not been the recipe to beating OSU outside of last years Cotton bowl which obviously up front and at QB we were a mess for that game. ND sort of did that last year but again a worse OL than this year and a worse QB than this year.

I think blitzing heavy would be a mistake because someone will be open and I’d think they’d be open pretty quickly too.

so you think shutting down the skill for 60+ plays gives you better odds?

Like I said, don't think in absolutes, think in percentages. Howard and the OL are the weakest parts of the offense. It isn't as simple as "just play man and blitz" there are a lot of ways to attack the weaker parts.

 

[Mike80]

so you think shutting down the skill for 60+ plays gives you better odds?

Like I said, don't think in absolutes, think in percentages. Howard and the OL are the weakest parts of the offense. It isn't as simple as "just play man and blitz" there are a lot of ways to attack the weaker parts.

Captain isn't totally wrong though.

The idea isn't to attack as much as it is to make Ohio State be methodical. Bring and play different looks and don't let the superstars beat you immediately. Texas very nearly pulled it off. Penn State also very nearly pulled it off in October.

At the end of the day it comes down to the Ohio State OL vs. the Notre Dame DL. Ohio State has faced better and won. If they do their jobs things will fall into place pretty reliably.

 

[shetuck]

I'm always going to say 30 in this day and age. Break 30 and we should be fine with this defense.

Penalties, sacks and turnovers can turn this into a nightmare.

defense will win this game. i’m very confident about our defense.

defense wins championships.

 

[Telekinesis]

I dropped this in Jack’s thread, but I’m leaving it here as well. Excellent read.

One More, Then Forever | By Jack Sawyer

Coming back as a senior is a decision I’d make again in a heartbeat.

www.theplayerstribune.com

 

[Jaxbuck]

Captain isn't totally wrong though.

The idea isn't to attack as much as it is to make Ohio State be methodical. Bring and play different looks and don't let the superstars beat you immediately. Texas very nearly pulled it off. Penn State also very nearly pulled it off in October.

At the end of the day it comes down to the Ohio State OL vs. the Notre Dame DL. Ohio State has faced better and won. If they do their jobs things will fall into place pretty reliably.

Maybe I'm confusing with the word "attack".

tsun attacked our weakness. Texas attacked our weakness. Neither of them did it by just sitting in single high, press man and blitzing every down.

You can attack the decision making of Howard and the OL, confuse their reads, their blocking schemes etc. in all kinds of different ways.

I'm not trying to predict outcomes, I'm just saying that's the surest way to success against our offense. The odds of shutting down the skill guys consistently are next to none.

 

[Mike80]

Maybe I'm confusing with the word "attack".

tsun attacked our weakness. Texas attacked our weakness. Neither of them did it by just sitting in single high, press man and blitzing every down.

You can attack the decision making of Howard and the OL, confuse their reads, their blocking schemes etc. in all kinds of different ways.

I'm not trying to predict outcomes, I'm just saying that's the surest way to success against our offense. The odds of shutting down the skill guys consistently are next to none.

I for one don't think Notre Dame has the horses to shut Ohio State down on the outside or with the backs.

I think a very important distinction is TCUN didn't attack Howard and the OL as Ohio State's gameplan was exposing that weak part and trying to win with it all the same. We've seen an entirely different scheme since that datum point. Case in point against Texas - they absolutely tried to cover Smith with 2 or 3 dudes in some sort of zone scheme. And for that, it worked. But it didn't stop Ebuka or Tate. And when they absolutely had to have a drive, they got it from Howard.

If the Oline does its job, this allows the offense to remain efficient. Everyone points to "big plays" but its the efficient gains of 5-7 yards that keep the offense going. Assuming the defense remains at the insanely efficient level it's been playing at through the CFP, and Notre Dame has absolutely no one on the caliber of Golden or Bond or Helm to truly threaten them..... I still think this one ends up more like the 2014 National Title game against Oregon than not. I think Notre Dame and Tennessee are very comparable teams in this scenario.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

Trying to compare ND units to past OSU opponents is just transitive property and doesn't really tell the truth.

To me it's as simple as this; I'm the ND defensive coaches, what are my best odds of success? Shut down the skill (WR's and RB's)? or attack the QB and OL? Don't think in absolutes, "this will happen" or "that will happen" you can't predict the future. What path gives you the best odds?

I'm going after Howard and the OL and trying to force them to make mistakes. It all comes down to how well I can do that and conversely, how well they can handle what I do.

So, what you’re saying is that if you were a ND coach, you’d game plan?

 

[jwinslow]

 

[osuvictory1]

Joel thinks OSU 35-17 and that’s a really good pick I think. I’ve seen a bunch of people in this range.

I just freaking pray we are the aggressive passing team from the first two games this post season and not the dysfunctional team we saw between quarters 2 and 3 in the cotton bowl which is the same offense we saw vs TCUN multiple years, Penn state multiple years, and Nebraska this year.

We’ll know a lot after the first quarter. If we have 120+ yards of offense and maybe 10 points that’s a great sign but if it’s 0-0 and we have 40-50 yards that’s pointing toward a 4th quarter finish.

We cannot go into the 4th with a close game IMO. That’s the game ND will win and I know we won vs them last year like that and beat Texas that way. However, that’s not the situation we want to be in at all.

Thats how you get Cie Grant slinging Dorsey to the ground on 4th down to win as a multiple score underdog.

This post season, I am hoping that Day brings in some sort of analyst who can script some offensive game plan against teams who follow the defensive game plan that Nebraska, Scum and Texas implement that baits OSU into running and slow things down. I found myself agreeing with Klatt about that coverage being the most effective against OSU.

Day typically blames execution as the reason the offense gets bogged down, however, it seems to be something that he and Chip really don't have a good handle on, and in turn they seem to get lulled to sleep during that coverage. They are too smart to be "baited" into running their offense a certain way, yet it seems to happen every single time that they are defended that way.

OSU also made it harder on themselves with the penalties against Texas. Which can also be a by product of running a offensive scheme that just is not working to it's full potential.

Anyway, it's too late for anything to change fundamentally.

I agree with Klatt, I don't see ND getting on the board that much, so their best hope is to try to get a slow moving sludge match. I would love to say that can't happen, but we have seen it 3 times already just this season.

 

[Jaxbuck]

So, what you’re saying is that if you were a ND coach, you’d game plan?

-all kinds of stunts along the front 7 to attack the OL. Especially the right side. It's OSU's weakest point in terms of physical ability.
-I'd target Howard with disguised coverages that confuse his first read and hope pressure gets home.
-I'd pull a page from tsun and Texas, lighten the box and force them, by headcount, to run between the tackles.

You have to mix and match and not be predictable of course but those are the "how's" (as far as my X & O knowledge goes) that give me as the ND coaches the best chance.

I'm looking for the same thing that we have seen many times in the past when teams make our offense score in 8+ plays instead of 4 or so. Holding calls, false starts, turn overs, sacks, Howard declines the throw and runs for a short gain. If this is is allowed to be a game of long possessions then it will be close late and then ND has the edge.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

-all kinds of stunts along the front 7 to attack the OL. Especially the right side. It's OSU's weakest point in terms of physical ability.
-I'd target Howard with disguised coverages that confuse his first read and hope pressure gets home.
-I'd pull a page from tsun and Texas, lighten the box and force them, by headcount, to run between the tackles.

You have to mix and match and not be predictable of course but those are the "how's" (as far as my X & O knowledge goes) that give me as the ND coaches the best chance.

I'm looking for the same thing that we have seen many times in the past when teams make our offense score in 8+ plays instead of 4 or so. Holding calls, false starts, turn overs, sacks, Howard declines the throw and runs for a short gain. If this is is allowed to be a game of long possessions then it will be close late and then ND has the edge.

Couldn’t agree more, especially if I were scheming against us. I was just pointing out that you were advocating that Marcus and staff do their jobs this week.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Couldn’t agree more, especially if I were scheming against us. I was just pointing out that you were advocating that Marcus and staff do their jobs this week.

I am just elaborating on my earlier point that this game should (if Freeman and company are smart) be on Howard and the OL.

Freeman goes full frontal and runs some 10 man defense level coaching out there, they can kiss the baby. OSU is far too talented for them to just line up and win man on man battles across the board. RG and RT are a concern. Center is somewhat less so but can be beaten. Howard is a damn good college QB but he can also have his moments. WR's and RB's are all elite, NFL guys. You'd be an absolute fool to try and make that the way to go (let's call it a Coombsian game plan).

 

[cmstophe]

Not sure how relevant the Nebraska game is at this point.

Looking at this as unbiased as possible, and I’m a super nervous Buckeye fan, I just don’t see ND’s path to victory being anything but extremely narrow. Feel like a lot will have to go their way. It could certainly happen, just feel like it’ll be pretty wild if it does.

Wish it would get here already.