Game Thread Game Two: Texas 25, Ohio State 22 (final)

[jwinslow]

I think it speaks volumes to the ridiculous string of RBs Texas has had... and how if a team does not stop them its over. The question will be whether Selvin and RT can be that great, or whether they will just be another good college RB.

Wisconsin was the only team who ran with some success on us in the shoe, and the lack of offense (no line, scrambling, running game, and one WR) cost us in that game. The only thing that was a little weak in that game was CB EJ Underwood... who is prone to getting burned and was benched for good soon after that game... he gave up a couple big passes.

I realize VY adds another dimension to any offense... but don't discount the way our "average" DL blew up Michigan's top OL, disrupted their running game, and blanketed their excellent WRs.

Until I actually see Texas' WRs perform on the field, I will be skeptical. They may have all the talent in the world, but they won't match the experienced, proven talent of Edwards, Avant & Breaston by the 2nd game of the year. And those three were managed quite well.

VY's scrambling ability changes the passing game some, but most of his damage was done on designed QB draws... and your best blocking WR is gone.

Anything can happen in a football game... however the fact that Texas has been running a smashmouth offense for years... and now is shifting gears to a spread/speed formation with very little experience/consistency at RB/WR should be a big questionmark going into this game.

 

[EngineerHorn]

I think it speaks volumes to the ridiculous string of RBs Texas has had... and how if a team does not stop them its over. The question will be whether Selvin and RT can be that great, or whether they will just be another good college RB.

You're exactly right, and that's what I'm afraid of. The way our current offense is set up, we need our stud in the backfield. SY and RT are great backs, sure, but like I've said all along, we will not have close to the kind of production we got out of Benson. That goes without saying.

It'll be interesting to see what Captain Dipshit (Greg Davis) has done with the offense after Ced's departure.


Without Haw, does the tOSU running game have much potential? I know about the receiving corps, but haven't heard much about who will line up in the backfield with Troy Smith.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Captain Dipshit (Greg Davis)

 

[jwinslow]

Pittman should be decent... he's not a true speed back but probably cannot handle 30+ carries like Haw probably could. He's basically a speedy RB that is big enough to take the hits, but would not be your choice for 4th and 1 - HB Iso plays.

Pittman showed some great moves during the Scarlet and Gray game... and this was largely against the first teamers in the 1st half.

The only highlight reel we have of that doesn't include many of the runs... maybe someone can splice the spring game footage into some clips of pittman.

 

[EngineerHorn]

You made some good points in your edit that I didn't see.

Until I actually see Texas' WRs perform on the field, I will be skeptical.

Ditto.

VY's scrambling ability changes the passing game some, but most of his damage was done on designed QB draws... and your best blocking WR is gone.

WR? Oh, you mean the Extended tackle position? heh. If there's one thing they'll excell at as a unit, it'll be blocking. Now actually catching the ball is a different story. I'm hopeful, but see my response to the previous quote above.

however the fact that Texas has been running a smashmouth offense for years... and now is shifting gears to a spread/speed formation with very little experience/consistency at RB/WR should be a big questionmark going into this game.

Smashmouth offense, eh? I suppose that description works pretty well. I don't think Greg Davis has an "offense." It's just a bunch of random plays in various formations thrown together like a pre schooler does with maccaroni and elmer's glue.

But I will give him some credit for changing the offense to suit the players. In '98 with Ricky it was mostly I-formation with lots and lots of isolation, delay draws, and play action.

From '99 to the early part of 2003, it was mostly West Coast. Greg Davis has a man crush on Mike Shanahan and Gary Kubiak.

Then with Vince, it went to the unimaginative spread you saw last year and some of the year before.

EDIT: As usual, you are a step ahead of me. Yeah I'd like to watch some footage of y'all's Spring Game. It sounds as though we have similar RB situations. But with your receivers, inexperience there won't hurt the Buckeyes as much as it might hurt us.

 

[jwinslow]

Here's an interesting question, what happened when you tried to run those designed QB draws against better defenses... such as OU? We saw what the hapless Michigan D did against your team, but clearly VY didn't do that all year.

Davis probably didn't let VY do his thing enough, but what kept Young from doing that more often early on? Was it blocking mistakes? Defenses cheating on the play expecting a QB draw?

 

[EngineerHorn]

They were disciplined and maintained the gaps. One or both Safeties were up within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage most of the time. Vince had nowhere to run. Neither did Cedric. It also didn't help that Stoops and Venables knew exactly what we were going to do.

That's what most other teams did against us, but only OU had the athleticism to pull it off.


The OU game spawned a few new plays which you'll probably see in September. The single wing, speed option, and power option. Why these weren't used against the dirt burglars is a question I've been asking since I saw them used against Tech.

An option pass would be a wonderful thing to incorporate, but we haven't seen that yet. Probably won't either.

 

[jwinslow]

IIRC, Tressel visited OU, Arkansas, and LSU (formerly coached OkState)... the three guys who had some success stopping Texas' offense (the last to a lesser degree obviously due to the 2nd half). That will add a very interesting twist to this matchup. Also goes to show how much importance JT places on this game (especially considering he owns Carr ).

 

[Chalumpa]

You say that no one ran the ball well against you at home last season but that's not entirely true. Here I'm quoting myself from much earlier in this thread...

At home, your close call (<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City><ST1:pMarshall</st1:City>) and your loss (<st1:State><ST1:pWisconsin</st1:State>) were both able to rush for more yards than their season average. You had three home games where you allowed the opposing offense to rush for more yards than their season average whereas you only allowed one team (<st1:State><ST1:pMichigan</st1:State>) to pass for more yards than their season average. I account the <st1:State><ST1:pMichigan</st1:State> bump in passing from them a) being behind most of the game and b) having the most respectable passing attack of your home opponents. So it seems like the key to beating y’all at home is having a good day rushing the ball. If you’re curious, <st1:State><ST1:pTexas</st1:State> averaged 302.4 ypg rushing the ball last season (#2 in the nation.)

If you allow us to rush anywhere near our season average for next year I guarantee it will be a rough day for you. I'm not saying this will happen but as I said before, the formula for beating you at home seems to be having a good day rushing the ball and that just so happens to be what we do best.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

You say that no one ran the ball well against you at home last season but that's not entirely true. Here I'm quoting myself from much earlier in this thread...


If you allow us to rush anywhere near our season average for next year I guarantee it will be a rough day for you.

So, if Cincinnati only averaged 70 yards a game rushing for the year, you'd think their 72 yards was "running the ball well"? Just because a sucky rushing team happens to beat their season average against us doesn't mean they ran "well". No one averaged even 4 ypc against us at home. And even though a team may have rushed for more yards than their season per-game average, that doesn't take into account how many times they carried the ball against us. For example, although Marshall rushed for 150 yards (their season average was 113 ypg), they rushed 44 times against us, which is 11 carries over their 33 rushes per game for the season. In fact, their season per-carry average of 3.35 ypc was almost exactly the same as their ypc against us (3.4), so they really didn't run any better against us than they did against everyone else.

As for Texas rushing for their last season average against us (299 ypg), I'll do all but bet my house on Texas not doing that in The Shoe. In fact, Texas will be very lucky to get half that for the game, including Young's yardage.

 

[Chalumpa]

My point is that Marshall and Wisconsin weren't exactly rushing powerhouses last year but could still muster more than their season average. I believe we are going to be a rushing powerhouse and the only stat that stood out offensively for the teams that beat you or nearly beat you last season at home was their rushing. I don't think we'll get 300 yards rushing against you but I do believe it will be over 200 yards and that was proven last year to make the game hard for y'all to win. We'll see how this all works out but I think the key for any team to beat y'all at home next season is to rush the ball well and I think we will be the best rushing team you face all season.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

True, but my point stands that the reason why they rushed for more than their season average was because they had more carries than they did against anyone else. Plus, a point I failed to mention, was that both those games were early in the season when we were still getting used to playing without the 14 guys we lost to the NFL. We don't have that liability this year...we have three of four starting DL and all three starting LBs back, along with 3/4 of our staring secondary. Our rushing defense will be as good as any you've faced over the last few years, including the OU defense that kept ya'll off the scoreboard last season.

 

[bukIpower]

Well as it turns out Haw will not be suspended due to his violation so he'll be available. Also Pittman was the starter anyways so I think Texas should look into Pittman anyways before they looked at Haw. Pittman was/always will be the starter going into this year.



The only way to beat OSU is to run the ball so you're exactly right chalumpa.
We lost to Michigan 2 years ago because we couldn't stop the run.... However, last year we lost 4 games because we were young. Mili hit it on the head when he said how many players we lost to the NFL last year 14!!!! Plus with teams running 40 plus times on us in a game it sure blows the numbers up at the end of the game, but one thing that isn't impressive about any team is the YPC. I think if you truely want to find a weakness in the OSU defense I'd definatly look other places than the run defense.

For instance one thing OSU couldn't stop for their lives last year was the short screen passes to the WR's, and of course any route under 10 yards.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

For instance one thing OSU couldn't stop for their lives last year was the short screen passes to the WR's, and of course any route under 10 yards.

I'd say that was true up until the The Game. Aside from the one long screen to Hart in the first quarter, none of the their screens or short passes broke for anything big. If we play defense as well as we did in the second and third quarters of The Game, we beat Texas hands down...that, of course, is a big "if".

 

[bukIpower]

I agree Mili... We did play it alot better against Scum/Okie St.

I honestly think if we just keep Texas from running for over 200 yards we win by 2-3 scores. Something like 31-14, but if Texas cuts loose then I dunno what the score could be? Stopping Texas' running game is easier said than done tho they'll probably be the best running team we'll face all year.