Game Thread Game Two: #1 Ohio State 24, #2 Texas 7 (9/9/06)

[MyMamaTastesFunny]

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Couldn't agree more. Let's take our country back. (Sorry, I know this isn't appropriate board material)

Back to football. What are the tough games for OSU next year, outside of UT?
You've got Michigan and Penn St. at home. Anyone else you're focused on?

 

[EngineerHorn]

What the hell?! I posted a picture of a scantily clad Elisha Cuthbert (check the URL). Must be some joke the host plays on people who link images.

With that said, that is a funny picture.

 

[rocketman]

Back to football. What are the tough games for OSU next year, outside of UT?
You've got Michigan and Penn St. at home. Anyone else you're focused on?

Can't ever underestimate Michigan in The Game (especially since Lloyd Carr's job is probably going to rest on the outcome). But, playing at home helps.

PSU shouldn't be too huge of a hurdle as they lose 12 starters or something stupid like that. Granted they still got Derrick Williams on offense and Paul Posluszny on defense coming back but I don't think it will be enough to cause us a huge problem. Besides, revenge is best served in Ohio Stadium.

At Iowa will certainly be challenging. At MSU won't be a cakewalk, especially since Drew Stanton made our defense look pretty average last year. It all depends on if we can catch them after their annual mid-season self-destruction.

 

[thackattack]

What the hell?! I posted a picture of a scantily clad Elisha Cuthbert (check the URL). Must be some joke the host plays on people who link images.

With that said, that is a funny picture.

Um, did you say Elisha Cuthbert??? Good golly, work on that post man! I need to see this.

 

[bukIpower]

I can live with what you are saying.. I think the game will start off much like last year with you guys grabbing a quick 3-0 or 7-0 lead and then us maybe fighting back with you guys then grabbing the lead again till the 4th quarter. I'm hoping the texas heat isn't too much of a factor for the buckeyes because I'd love to have a fresh Chris Wells in the 4th quarter to hopefully pound the ball and take away some minutes off the clock. One thing is sure though, if you guys stop us from scoring touchdowns thats huge because we have no clue how our kicker is going to do.

As far as your loses go. You guys have noted that the loses on the line don't particulary hurt which is very true I think you guys will still be strong (Althought losing Rodrigues is never a good thing). I do believe however that losing A. Harris and Huff is a big blow not only in talent but in leadership. I was very impressed with both of those boys leadership abilities last year and you guys will need to find more leaders to step up and take their roles.

As far as your offense goes... I would just hope we blitz blitz and blitz some more and get to your QB like we did last year especially with you guys having a brand new QB with little experience. What our defense needs to do is to play under control also because I know one little slip up and Pittman/Charles/Sweed/and company can easily turn a draw or a quick slant into a 60 yard gain very easily. I think it's going to be imparitive that you guys do a lot of 3 step drop passes and a ton of quick hitting plays. Anythign that takes time would be a mistake because this defense is in all honesty probably just a tad faster than last years. Althought we may be faster than last year our speed isn't nearly as big (mainly at LB).

SHould be a great game and either team could win. We have the Wildcard thought with Troy Smith at QB.

 

[High Lonesome]

it's going to be imparitive that you guys do a lot of 3 step drop passes and a ton of quick hitting plays

this year, for better or worse, looks to be the return of the greg davis 3 yrd out....

also, this is a night game and as such I doubt that the heat will play much of a factor. It will be in the 90's but its not like it doesn't get hot in ohio in september.

in my experience/opinion, weather conditions aren't a big factor unless it is a gail force wind. tosu will hydrate and be fine.

the loss of huff and harris is a leadership loss as much as anything as we have tallent all over the defensive side of the ball, from what i have heard Brian robinson is doing a great job of picking up the slack in that department as well as a couple others that return from last year like tim crowder and arron ross.

The offensive side of the ball looks to be exploding with tallent even with romonce gone yet there is still a huge question mark at qb, all talk about texas begins and ends here.

lets be honest if texas had a proven starter then we are the #1 team to start the year no question. He wouldn't even have to be great, just tested and proven, a david green type. if vy had come back we would have been the run away favorites and would most likely have surpassed more than a few offensive records, especially with the 12th game comming against sam houston

 

[EngineerHorn]

Um, did you say Elisha Cuthbert??? Good golly, work on that post man! I need to see this.

Least I can do after posting the bearded lady. I would take it down, but I still think it's funny.

 

[bukIpower]

highlonesome- To be honest if you guys had Vince Young I would put our chances of winning at 1 outta 20. With Vince Young your Offense would be unstoppable again and your defense would be just as stout. I think all of us buckeyes would agree Texas would/should be #1 to start the year. Hell to be honest I still believe Texas SHOULD be #1 to start the year. I think it should be Texas #1 and OSU #2. Thats good to hear you guys have some people trying to step up and become leaders but you won't truely know till its in the 4th quarter against us if those leaders are going to actually step up.

As for the heat at night in Texas. I would be scared of the weather if it was during the day. However, since its a night game it wouldn't be as hot as a Columbus Day (again I'm comparing a Texas Night to a Columbus Day). I think weather won't play a factor to be honest because these are Division 1 programs and both condition extreamly hard.

I will tell you this though if you scramble your QB's against us you'll have a very difficult shot of winning that ball game. NcState did that against us 2 years back when we were AWFUL on defense to start the year and we did an outstanding job of just blitzing the QB and getting pressure ( I do realize Texas is a hell of a lot better than Nc State tho).

Aaron Harris was there almost all the time when either Troy or Pittman was running the ball so I'd like to think that hopefully with our veteran front and extreamly deep backfield we could hit you guys in the mouth to start the game.

I think for Texas to take control of the game you guys MUST run the ball. If you look at the past we aren't very successful stopping big backs such as Matt Burnestien from Wisconsin, or Chris Perry. I would think that Melton would be huge in this game as he could probably ware on our front 7. Although I will say the coaches are quoted as saying our Defensive Tackles are probably the strongest its been since Tressel's been here. Thats saying a lot considering the group we had back in 2003. So I would think running straight dive plays won't be too successful. Off Tackle might be a different animal though?

 

[High Lonesome]

I think for Texas to take control of the game you guys MUST run the ball. If you look at the past we aren't very successful stopping big backs such as Matt Burnestien from Wisconsin, or Chris Perry. I would think that Melton would be huge in this game as he could probably ware on our front 7. Although I will say the coaches are quoted as saying our Defensive Tackles are probably the strongest its been since Tressel's been here. Thats saying a lot considering the group we had back in 2003. So I would think running straight dive plays won't be too successful. Off Tackle might be a different animal though?

I doubt that you will see much of henry melton in anything other than short yardage, if you do then it will be because we are blowing you out and i just don't see that happening. You will however get a very large dose of Jamaal charles and selvin young (who is in the best shape of his career, lets see if it translates on the field). We will still run the zone read and as such we are much more likely to go off tackle than run a true dive.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

[crazybuckfan40]

Here is my take on the Texas O-Line, yes they were very good last year, but VY can make any oline look good, b/c you don't blitz a guy like VY b/c or bring your ends hard, b/c if he is able to duck under the end or get around the outside he is screwed. It is the same thing for us with Troy.

WIth that said the Guards are goign to have to work even harder this year, b/c they are not going to be a able to allow much penetration b/c if McCoy or Snead have to try and escape the pocket the ends are goign to be able to run him down unlike with Young. Also the Tackles are going to have be better b/c they arent goign to have to deal with ends ducking spin move back to the middle instead of always just keeping outside contain.

I am not saying it can't be done, but the mobile QB in college football helps the whole team out tremendously.

 

[bukIpower]

While both McCoy and Snead are definatly scramblers (I think I"m correct) they just dont' have "IT" that VY had. Selvin Young doesn't scare me nearly as much as Charles does. On the same Token neither guy scares me near as much as does #11 (the name slips my mind for the moment). Yeah I kinda figured with your zone read its all about getting to the edges anyways, but to maybe keep us honest you'll have to go between the tackle a couple times?

lol But man its a good thing to hear you wont' be running Melton at us very much. Look for us to pressure you from all angles and hopefully force you to run inside. If we can force you to do things you don't like to do like throw the ball and run the ball in the middle of the field I think OSU should be ok.

Its hard for me to say what Texas should do against OSU's offense though because simply I'm just not sure what we're better at? We're pretty equally well off in both running and passing the ball? Whatsy our take on this Texas? What would you like to see done against our offense to try and shut us down? I would think it would be to stop the running game, and you can't really use the same gameplan as last year because we dont' really run the same set that much anymore.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

While both McCoy and Snead are definatly scramblers (I think I"m correct) they just dont' have "IT" that VY had. Selvin Young doesn't scare me nearly as much as Charles does. On the same Token neither guy scares me near as much as does #11 (the name slips my mind for the moment). Yeah I kinda figured with your zone read its all about getting to the edges anyways, but to maybe keep us honest you'll have to go between the tackle a couple times?

lol But man its a good thing to hear you wont' be running Melton at us very much. Look for us to pressure you from all angles and hopefully force you to run inside. If we can force you to do things you don't like to do like throw the ball and run the ball in the middle of the field I think OSU should be ok.

Its hard for me to say what Texas should do against OSU's offense though because simply I'm just not sure what we're better at? We're pretty equally well off in both running and passing the ball? Whatsy our take on this Texas? What would you like to see done against our offense to try and shut us down? I would think it would be to stop the running game, and you can't really use the same gameplan as last year because we dont' really run the same set that much anymore.

I think while both McCoy and Snead have some mobility it isnt the mobility that is going to be enough to scare the D and keep a spy on them or get out of their game b/c he is hitting us with long runs. I don't think I would even compare them to Krenzel in terms of running b/c he was just so smart and knew the right place to go at the right time, that it made him a good runner.

 

[jwinslow]

Our 05 D did not force many turnovers, but they did not need to do so in most games. It will be interesting to see if our D is more aggressive this year. I believe we may be faster (DE?, MLB, SLB?, FS, SS?), but not sure we can dominate as well at individual positions (especially LB). OSU is never going to be reckless on D, but JT teams have always been more aggressive on D than O.

It will be interesting to see how the OL comes along. Mangold is irreplaceable that early, and Sims is a tough replacement. Datish was very up and down in 05, and went from being criticized to being an anchor on the line. It will be interesting to see how LT Boone and LG Rehring (pre-spring starters; both 6'8") handle the left side. Cordle was #8 on the OL list behind Boone/Rehring. If he is ready to go as a frosh, that will give the coaches more flexibility (ie Datish at LG).

I always get a kick out of the hornfans.com posters who think heat will be unbearable, even if its in the evening. Didn't a bunch of texas defenders cramp up during the unusually humid rose bowl? I'm not suggesting this will happen again, but I bet Texas fans would predict that USC would have struggled with the humidity, not them. Anyway, you guys have been very reasonable about it, just wanted to chime in on that point.

 

[High Lonesome]

I think while both McCoy and Snead have some mobility it isnt the mobility that is going to be enough to scare the D and keep a spy on them or get out of their game b/c he is hitting us with long runs. I don't think I would even compare them to Krenzel in terms of running b/c he was just so smart and knew the right place to go at the right time, that it made him a good runner.

Here is the difference, McCoy is a mobile qb but make no mistake, he is a pocket passer. Snead, however, is a true running threat. Before commiting to texas he was going to florida to run Urban Myers option, spread thing he calls an offense. It looked to be a great fit as Snead is often compared to Alex Smith. He will take the ball and run and has a little wiggle in him too.

as far as stopping your offense, I have no clue. the good news is that we have a veteran defense that had to play against our offense last year. I don't think that anything that tosu does will suprise them but that is not to say that we can stop you either.

Here is my take on the Texas O-Line, yes they were very good last year, but VY can make any oline look good,

every year we hear some reason why our returning offensive players were good the year before but wont be in the comming year.

First the roy williams and co. were only good because of simms/applewhite then cedric was only good because the big 3, then Vince was only good because of cedric, and now the oline was only good because of vince. aggy is the king of this. I will give you that vince made the whole offense better but the oline was very tallented in its own right and will be just fine without him.

I always get a kick out of the hornfans.com posters who think heat will be unbearable, even if its in the evening

you and me both, do they really think that 90 degree heat will hurt anyone, the only weather conditions that have an effect on the game of football is wind because it can help one team and hurt the other, everything else must be delt with by both teams.

 

[bukIpower]

Good points by all really... Yeah I don't believe Colt or Jevan will pose nearly a threat as VY. We won't have to center our defense around stopping just one player. It was hard last year because we put so much stock into keeping his running in check that we had multiple breakdowns in our secondary. This year I think our secondary will be more capable do defend the Texas Offense just mainly because they don't have to know where Vince is at all times.

As for the weather this won't play a factor. Just because Texas practices in more humid weather doesn't mean they won't cramp up (like winslow said about the rosebowl).

I think our secondary is definatly going to be a lot faster than last year. Jenkins and Amos (I predict them two even though they both are LCB's this year) are both faster than our starters last year. O'neal is even with Whitner as far as speed. Mitchell or Patterson are both faster than Salley so thats an upgrade. We definatly are faster at Middle backer, and I think both our outsider backers (animal/Freeman) are the same as Hawk and carpenter. Our D-line however is going to be a lot faster. Pitcock and Patterson make a quicker inside combo and Wilson/Richardson are faster than Kudla/Patterson from last year. The term "speed" has been used to best describe our defense so far and lets hope that our "speed" can prevent some big plays early on in the year.