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Game Thread Game Three: #1 Ohio State 37, Cincinnati 7 (9/16/06)

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osugrad21;609729; said:
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OSU tugs along

Buckeyes handle Bearcats with ease
Sunday, September 17, 2006Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus- The start had been less than robust, and Ohio State was trailing for the first time this season when the second quarter began at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.
Then defensive tackle Quinn Pitcock, a probable NFL first-round pick whose excellence often is hidden in the muck of the trenches, set up shop in the Cincinnati backfield.
Led by three sacks from the senior captain, the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes tossed aside their early blahs like Pitcock tossed aside blockers, pulling away for a 37-7 win over the Bearcats that will keep OSU atop the polls.
"I've always thought Quinn was great," defensive coordinator Jim Heacock said. "The problem is he's down inside and he's in on a lot of tackles, but nobody sees them. I always wish people would watch film with me and see him making plays and holding up two guys."
His plays were obvious Saturday, and necessary.
Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith threw two touchdown passes, both to Ted Ginn Jr., completing 21 of 30 passes for 203 yards, while Antonio Pittman rushed for 155 yards on 16 carries, including a 48-yard touchdown run.
But coming off a 24-7 win over Texas last week, the offense didn't get going early, gaining just 40 yards in the first quarter. So the Buckeyes were trailing when the second quarter began, 7-3, after a 22-yard Cincinnati touchdown pass from Dustin Grutza to Jared Martin.
"It just didn't look to me like we had quite as much pep in our step as we came into this football game," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.
Pitcock had pep in every one of his 295 pounds. On the fourth play of the game, he got to Grutza for his first sack. On Cincinnati's first drive of the second quarter, Pitcock burst into the backfield and missed Grutza twice before linebacker James Laurinaitis got the sack. Pitcock stopped a run play on second down for a 1-yard gain. Then on third down, he forced Grutza to dump the ball off for a short gain.
Pitcock said he noticed on film Cincinnati (1-2) focused its protection on the outside more than the inside and anticipated he could exploit inside gaps.

"It feels like the whole play happens in a split second," Pitcock said of his sacks. "You're overwhelmed because it's over so quick and you don't even realize it."
That's how fans may feel about Pitcock - they don't realize what he's doing. His job last year was taking up blockers so the Buckeyes' experienced linebackers could roam free. This season, he and fellow senior tackle David Patterson are the physical and emotional leaders of the defense.
"This year I think he's a little more active," Heacock said. "He's coming off the ball and being a little more aggressive. I think sometimes he plays too cautious, too disciplined, and today he cut loose a little bit."
With their Big Ten schedule beginning at home against Penn State next week, the Buckeyes (3-0) aren't looking to hold anything back. Gashed for 323 rushing yards in their first two games, Ohio State limited Cincinnati to minus-4 rushing.
"I think they've heard so many negative things about how bad they were going to be this year, I think sometimes it wears on them," Heacock said of his defense. "I think these kids are very anxious to show they're not bad either."
The defense had eight sacks and snagged three interceptions while the offense didn't turn the ball over. Once they got rolling, the Buckeyes burned Cincinnati with underneath crossing routes in the passing game while Pittman sparked the rushing game. The Bearcats pushed hard early, and coach Mark Dantonio, the former OSU defensive coordinator, offered some blitzes and other rushes OSU hadn't seen before. But, inevitably, Cincinnati wore down.
"We came to play today," Dantonio said. "The defense played well but ran out of gas."
According to Smith, who grabbed control of the Heisman Trophy race with Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn's struggles in a loss to Michigan, the Buckeyes got what they wanted.
"This was our first test of adversity," Smith said. "You need that in a season to become a national championship-caliber team. If everything is just vanilla, you don't know what the other side tastes like."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
[email protected], 216-999-4479
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Thanks for the post!:)
 
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COACH TRESSEL: I don't know what to say, Dom, he made all those sacks, I can't help with how or why. Quinn Pitcock, I've said all along, our two inside guys, Quinn and David, I don't know I don't know if anybody in America has a pair like that.
PITCOCK: He showed me the pass rushing move.
COACH TRESSEL: I did?
PITCOCK: Yeah.
COACH TRESSEL: No wonder we didn't have pep in our step.
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:lol:
 
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CleveBucks;610168; said:
I'm not sure why, but they're using fewer 2-return-man formations on punts than in the past. A lot of times the gunners aren't being blocked well at all.
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I do believe that was exactly why he was remonstrating after getting tackled early on an attempted return against Texas. It had an air of Ginn telling one or more fellows in the wedge that they have to pick up blocks.


He might have a point, as he cannot do this all by himself.
 
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Another Snippet from the "Bucket of Bullets" Column

On BN a particularly good column this week in the Bucket of Bullets series.

The summary of the game vs Cincy - focus.
All elements were out of focus in that first half and for much of the game. Defensive blown assignments, no push by the offensive line, penalties so frequent that the Bearcats had to decide which ones to take; line-drive kickoffs returned half the field and a punting performance that could be labeled ?laconic?. The good stuff? That was mostly in the second half and that was mostly after Cincinnati got tired.

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In the first two games of the season, we were witness to ? probably ? the best back we are going to see all year (Garrett Wolfe), then both the best offensive line (Texas) and the best defensive line (Texas). Last Saturday? OSU played one of the best two teams in Cincinnati. And for the first time in years, it looks like the Bengals might be the better of the two. Yet, we made the Bearcats into a better team than they are. And as the Buckeyes start to see teams with both good QB?s and good running attacks, they have to step up in all departments. Let's let the stepping begin this Saturday against Penn State, eh? Remember guys ? you owe them one?
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Not really much he said there that you can strongly disagree with.
 
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sandgk;610187; said:
I do believe that was exactly why he was remonstrating after getting tackled early on an attempted return against Texas. It had an air of Ginn telling one or more fellows in the wedge that they have to pick up blocks.


He might have a point, as he cannot do this all by himself.
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yep, i mentioned that earlier in the thread. people like to point to the production ginn has had in the past with punt returns. i like to note the great blocks holmes threw on those returns. right now, the blocking looks weak on punt returns. until that changes returns will look equally so.
 
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Unfortunately, some heat seems to be creeping towards Coach D...

Link

Numbers hardly add up
Virginia Tech's defense looms large against UC
BY BILL KOCH | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
If the University of Cincinnati football program really is making progress in its third season under head coach Mark Dantonio, the numbers are disguising it.
As the Bearcats (1-2) prepare to play at No. 11 Virginia Tech (3-0) on Saturday, they have lost their last five games to Division I-A opponents, including the final three games of 2005 and the first two of this season.
In those five games, they've been outscored 183-47. Their only victory during that span was a 31-0 win over Division I-AA Eastern Kentucky.
Since becoming a member of the Bowl Championship Series with their move to the Big East Conference last season, the Bearcats are 2-8 vs. fellow BCS teams, their two victories coming over Connecticut and Syracuse.
The Bearcats do occasionally show promise. To their credit, they played No. 1 Ohio State fairly evenly in the first half last Saturday, only to fold in the second half for the second straight week.
"I don't really know the reason for that," Dantonio said Monday, "because I know we make good adjustments at halftime. We come out ready to play. When we looked at Ohio State, they scored once in the third quarter to make it 20-7 (on a 60-yard drive). We had a chance to get out of the drive and didn't do it. In the fourth quarter, I think we just really ran out of gas. I saw a lot of missed tackles."
While the defense sparkles at times, the UC offense is basically a mess. The line, which allowed a league-high 40 sacks last season, already has allowed 12 for 85 yards this season, including eight last week against Ohio State.
The Bearcats average a paltry 53.3 yards rushing per game - last in the Big East.
"We need to be able to run the football," Dantonio said. "We're not the type of team that can drop back and throw the ball 50 times ... We've got to continue to find ways with different formations and different blocking angles.
"We have to continue to do it with technique," Dantonio added.
"If one person blows an assignment, it makes the whole group look ineffective. I think we have running backs that, if given the opportunity, if they get into space, can make people miss, but that has yet to show itself. If you go back to last year, we've run it more effectively than we have this year."
UC ranks last in the Big East in scoring offense (17.7 points per game) and seventh in total offense (293.0 yards per game).
Improving those numbers will be difficult this week against a Virginia Tech defense that has shut out two of its first three opponents and has allowed only 10 points this season.
The Hokies, who left the Big East Conference in 2004 for the Atlantic Coast Conference, have held their opponents - Northeastern, North Carolina and Duke - to 204.7 yards per game, just 82.7 rushing yards.
They rank first nationally in scoring defense (3.3 points per game), eighth in total defense and have outscored their opponents 109-10.
This is the third game in a brutal stretch of schedule that started with Pitt on Sept. 8, followed by No. 1 Ohio State last week and now Virginia Tech.
Still ahead are road games at No. 8 Louisville (Oct. 14) and No. 4 West Virginia (Nov. 11).
Dantonio says he embraces such tough competition.
"We need to have a measuring stick here," he said. "We need to measure where we're at against the best teams in America."
 
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OZone

September 19, 2006 2:10 PM
Football: OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel announced the players of the week for the Cincinnati game at his week press luncheon today.
Offensive Player of the Week - Antonio Pittman
Defensive Player of the Week - Quinn Pitcock
Special Teams Player of the Week - Aaron Pettrey
Attack Force Player of the Week - James Laurinaitis
Offensive Lineman of the Week - Steve Rehring
Hit of the Week - Ted Ginn JR.
Scout Team Offensive Player of the Week - Andrew Moses
Scout Team Defensive Player of the Week - Chimdi Chekwa
Scout Team Special Teams Player of the Week - De'Angelo Haslam
Tressel remarked the Rehring graded out the highest of all the offensive linemen last week despite having to play two different positions (tackle and guard) as a substitute. He also singled out Pittman for bringing a spark to the OSU offense when it was struggling in the first half against the Bearcats.
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