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

[lvbuckeye]

Understood, and coaching is a big part of it...but it's been known for years now, chemistry of the team is a huge part of success. I'm going to say this and i'm sure y'all are going to hate me for it, but the year that OSU won the national championship (02, right?)..they didn't have the MOST talented team of everyone out there. Krenzel and company only averaged like 12 points a game, but any time they needed that one play, or that one stop...any time they needed anything, they pulled together and got it done. As much as people point to coaching, that's just the players coming together and refusing to lose and trusting the person next to them. I personally believe Mack isn't as great a coach as others out there, but I still think he's a great coach who is getting the job done. Any one who complains about 4 straight 10 win seasons is crazy

umm... i guess that perception is reality, but in '02 Ohio State scored 45, 23, 50, 45, 19, 51 points respectively in the first six games of the season... they were much better of O than you seem to think... granted, when we lost MoC, the O struggled, but we only scored less than 13 points one time that year, so to say we averaged 'like 12' is ignorant at best, and borderline flaming...

as for the rest of the post, the Seniors this year were Frosh in '02 and know what it takes to win it all... they are focused and hungry... by contrast, the Seniors at UT know what it takes to lose to your rival every year (twice by 40+ points) and never win shit... which experience do you think is more valuable?

 

[PlaywithPride21]

The only passes Zwick didn't complete seemed to be the longer throws. He did have the touchdown to Holmes, but that was a better catch than it was throw. Secondly, I am not basing what I posted solely on one game. Looking through last year it was much of the same. Zwick continually throws off his back foot and overshoots his receivers leaving him prone to interceptions. While I may be partial to Smith, based on his Michigan performance, he can hit receivers deep more than a couple times.

Tressel did not have Zwick throw many deep balls, though when JT did, JZ missed. If Texas pressures Zwick and he throws off his back foot, interceptions could be problem.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

yeah, but you have to take into account the teams....teams change every year. what were these teams ranked when you beat them, what were you ranked?? if this was the year that you won the NC, then of course you should beat these teams.....think about what you're saying. If you beat nebraska in teh past 2 years or whatever (which i know it isn't)...but still you have to take into account the ups and downs of each team and conference and such

Every team has ups and downs, including ours, so that's irrelevent. The fact that we consistently beat Big 12 and Texas-based teams, across the board and over a long time frame, shows that Ohio State has a superior football program that is markedly above those of the Big 12 and out of Texas.

 

[zincfinger]

I think that it's pretty hard to judge whether or not Zwick would have hit Holmes on that play or not.......watching TV replays isn't the most accurate form of judgement. If that, along with his INT were his worst plays yesterday......I'll take it......along with a 34-14 victory.

Very true, and I'm not arguing that the pass would have been completed. For whatever it's worth, I don't think it would have been, and I thought the interference call was a little questionable because I'm not sure the ball was catchable. What I'm arguing is that, even if you register that as an incomplete pass, to judge that the guy as deficient in throwing the long ball based on 0-1 yesterday is too strict, particularly when he has completed long balls before.

IMO i think if zwick has one bad series they are going to switch smith in...watch and see

I agree that Smith comes in when, and if, the offense has one or two stagnant series.

The only passes Zwick didn't complete seemed to be the longer throws. He did have the touchdown to Holmes, but that was a better catch than it was throw. Secondly, I am not basing what I posted solely on one game. Looking through last year it was much of the same. Zwick continually throws off his back foot and overshoots his receivers leaving him prone to interceptions. While I may be partial to Smith, based on his Michigan performance, he can hit receivers deep more than a couple times.

Tressel did not have Zwick throw many deep balls, though when JT did, JZ missed. If Texas pressures Zwick and he throws off his back foot, interceptions could be problem.

Either way, it's selective memory. Smith hit one deep bomb against Michigan. It was a nice throw, and the most impressive part of the play was his movement in the pocket to buy Gonzalez time to get separation behind the defense. If you want to cherry-pick, though, Zwick hit some nice long balls against Marshall, particularly in the first half. As I said before, since Zwick only attempted one deep one yesterday (and had a pretty high completion percentage overall), it's not clear to me how that translates to him being unable to complete the longer throws. And as for Tressel's not calling long balls, it seems likely to me that that had as much to do with Miami's defensive approach as with Tressel's confidence, or lack thereof, in Zwick's arm.

 

[Oh8ch]

I am fine with either QB - quite happy in fact. And if we are going to sit in the pocket and throw the ball I can't argue much for Smith over Zwick. But next week we are going to get a lot more pressure. The pocket is going to collapse much more quickly. When that happens I want Smith to be the QB trying to make something happen.

 

[martinss01]

I think that it's pretty hard to judge whether or not Zwick would have hit Holmes on that play or not.......watching TV replays isn't the most accurate form of judgement. If that, along with his INT were his worst plays yesterday......I'll take it......along with a 34-14 victory.

yep, we had argueably 2 deep balls all game for zwick. one went for a td and the other holmes all but was tackled making his break for the ball. when a team gives you 8 yrds per pass play... screw going deep!

now smith does throw a better ball and is the more athletic of the two. but imo he has 2 knocks against him. A. he's going to be rusty. zwick had 2 miscommunications with wr's that i saw and a poor decision on a throw which resulted in an int. we can expect the same sort of thing out of smith his first game back. do we honestly want those kind of mistakes to happen against texas? or against a team to be determined later? B. smith is a mobile qb. this is a double edge sword. yeah, he can get outside of the pocket and make things happen. but one thing i have found almost universally true about teams with mobile qbs is if you take his ability to make plays with his feet away from him, more often than not you completely take him out of the game. if he can't run, his ability to pass all but drops off the board.

our defense has done this to countless mobile qbs. personally i think the coaching staff has a real interesting decision to make.

 

[Sdgobucks]

I am fine with either QB - quite happy in fact. And if we are going to sit in the pocket and throw the ball I can't argue much for Smith over Zwick. But next week we are going to get a lot more pressure. The pocket is going to collapse much more quickly. When that happens I want Smith to be the QB trying to make something happen.

This is a great point. You also have to consider the fact that the defense will have to change the way they rush the QB when they are dealing with someone as mobile as Smith. It will probably force them to slow down their pass rush and concentrate on containing him.

 

[AirForceBuck]

This will be the FOURTH Big12 team to bite the dust in four consecutive years against OSU. The best that Texas can hope for is to take the crowd out of the game, but thats not likely at all. After the halftime unveiling of the new Woody Hayes memorial/honors - this game will be that much more meaningful and emotional for the fans, players and coaches. The crowd will be bleeding Scarlett and Grey in unison with the Buckeyes.

 

[gregorylee]

Dood,

You're sounding like a weasle, it is generally unacceptable around here to count anything over a hundred years ago as relavent. Why don't we just stick with things that at least coencide with bobby socks and shit. Concidering college football didn't really start mattering nationally until the 40's and even then teams were ravaged by the war. Let's call the standard starting point 1950.

 

[UTcain]

word

 

[akronbuck]

Troy Smith or boeckmen

I am not a zwick man. I hate qb's that can not take there:( eyes off there target

What else can a qb do really bad besides fumbling, letting that corner and safety now thats his first option all day long

Please, dont take that to bad. He had a good game but, he could of had a great game for there would not be any ??? who is the starter against Texas

Then again , Tressel loves to send the ?????'S for all to guess whats next.

Boeckmen's faked throws and complete look arounds the fields were amazing
zwicks needs that to become the one he was suppose to be

 

[daddyphatsacs]

Troy Smith or boeckmen

I am not a zwick man. I hate qb's that can not take there:( eyes off there target

What else can a qb do really bad besides fumbling, letting that corner and safety now thats his first option all day long

Please, dont take that to bad. He had a good game but, he could of had a great game for there would not be any ??? who is the starter against Texas

Then again , Tressel loves to send the ?????'S for all to guess whats next.

Boeckmen's faked throws and complete look arounds the fields were amazing
zwicks needs that to become the one he was suppose to be

Keep in mind that Boeckman played against a deflated Miami defense......so of course he's going to look a little better. I will agree that he made some nice throws though.

 

[akronbuck]

true- but, when you have the wr's like the bucks do it makes the qb look great if he has the vision to hit the better option

That can and should be a nightmare for the other team

I feel like glenn, galloway, jenkins and boston are playing now at ohio state:)

why didn't zwick ever go deep, he had all day to pass. The line did a great job

 

[scarletngrey11]

did he need to go deep? no.

 

[LightningRod]

IMO i think if zwick has one bad series they are going to switch smith in...watch and see

And if Smith then follows up with one bad series, then I suppose Boeckmann comes in for the remainder of the game?