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

[bukIpower]

I'm with the past two posters......


You have a month to scout a team and you don't know what they're like? I don't buy that. With what we did to Michigans Offense/Defense you should've won by 50 with the great Vince Young at the helms, but what happened? How come you couldn't jus copy our style for one game? Simple, You don't have the speed we do on defense and your offense for some reason couldn't get it done through the air on a Michigan Defense that we had our way with. Say what you want, but you're covering up your teams faults.

We just have more weapons plain and simple on offense, and on Defense we're just faster thats all.

We're getting on you hard because you come in with this bold prediction of 35 points by Texas. You guys can win, but in order you need not one but atleast two guys to step up on defense to create problems and keep our offense off the field (that sounds weird to say).

 

[buckiprof]

That said, I would concede that the Rose Bowl wasn't entirely accurate as well, and should be taken w/ a grain of salt. By grain of salt, I dont' mean that I expect Vince to run for 200 yards and score 5 TD's on all big 10 teams.

You shouldn't have that expectation for VY when he is in the 'Shoe, since we have a little more speed on the defensive side of the ball than scUM, especially at LB.

If we bring it the way we did against Michigan and Oklahoma State, playing at night in The Shoe, then Texas will not stand a chance.

Exactly!!

 

[buckzip]

This will be a very entertaining game.

Hopefully the home field will give OSU the advantage

 

[BuckTwenty]

Saw the Texas board, and Mili's right-- there's no use in wasting time over there.

If those Texas posters think they're going to be playing the same Buckeye team that played Marshall at the beginning of the season and Northwestern/Wisconsin/Iowa in the middle of the season, they are GREATLY mistaken and are going to be VERY surprised.

 

[EngineerHorn]

Kind of off-topic, but......

Tresselball vs. Spread, errr.... "Shotginn"

These, technically, should be mutually exclusive. Or at the very least they are products of two very different philosophies.

I know why the switch was made, and it makes perfect sense. But will JT still emphasize ball control and field position? Or stay in the spread most of the game? This is a pretty bad analogy, but wouldn't that be like Steve Spurrier suddenly deciding to line up in the 'Bone and run the ball 60 times a game?

The offseason sucks.


Oh, and about that board, don't go there. I warned some of y'all about that place in a post I made about a month ago. It's always that way. A cesspool.

Instead, go to www.hornfans.com
That's the biggest board- it has a lot less smack talk and a lot more intelligent football discussion.

Or go to www.burntorangefanzone.com
It's a lot smaller, but VERY friendly. They're pretty hungry for outsiders over there. They'd be tickled pink if a few Buckeyes registered. Oh, and you do have to register in order to even read the football boards. It sucks, but it also keeps a lot of the trash out.

 

[zincfinger]

The Buckeyes ran the ball on over 60% of their plays in the Alamo Bowl and on almost 70% of their plays against Michigan. Their most explosive offensive toward the end of last season didn't entail as big an overhaul in philosophy as you might think (although the mix up of formations did change somewhat).

 

[jwinslow]

Unless tOSU gets a sizeable lead, I think you will see Tressel stay in the shot-ginn and the 4-wide most of the game. Surely he'll sneak in some i-formation, but I think forcing Texas to keep up with our speed at every wideout position, RB, and QB (assuming Smith is the guy) will be our best strategy. From the sounds of it, Texas has a good front four and could disrupt our running game a bit if we abandon the pass too much.

Tressel ball is more about the types of plays that are run. At times, it was actually safer to pass rather than handoff to Fumbdell Ross. :)

 

[CleveBucks]

avoid the Texas Rivals site. Use www.hornfans.com for much better discussion.

 

[sacosud]

"The game"

I have to think that Texa is going to have to spread out our defense and throw quick slants and screens to have any success. They will be easy throws with low risk. I look for them to use that one rb set and throw early from this set, If they have success then you will see the VY factor faking to the rb and trying to run to tackles or get outside. The Buckeyes ends must stay home and force VY to the teeth of the defense. Texas will try to get a rb or wr matched up with AJ or Bobby.

The key to this game is the Buckeye defensive line they must keep Texas lineman off Schelgel,Aj, and Carpentar staying disciplined is the key for The Bucks. I see this game as a shootout. The Bucks will have early sucess for many many reasons already stated night game,the crowd,lack of respect from Texas and the Big 12, and fresh legs, however as the game goes on Texas will find holes and yes score alot if they stick with the game plan.

NOW before every Buckeye poster with more than 500 posts start screaming at me hear me out. OSU offense is going to be explosive this season. I see OSU opening the middle of the defense with our WR's and also see whoever is rb going for big yards. The Wr's are wicked good and Te's should be pretty dependable. This means Texas can not bring 8 or 9 in the box call it the "GINN FACTOR" which we did not have last season till the 4th game sooo every defense we faced had 8-9 in the box and run blitzing, after week 4 or 5 You can see how defense's had to respect Ginn and that was a huge diffrence. I see the Texas defense confused early and OSU making some big plays for big yardage. I think the lines on both sides are the keys...in the end I see a ESPN INSTANT CLASSIC but I see the Buckeyes pulling it out..1. I'm a HOMER......
2. OSU has to many weapons on offense this year...3...OSU has the better defense at least on paper and I will admit I know nothing about Texas defense
except what I have read on here. I just can't wait to be in the shoe that night. Let me also point out I hope I'm dead wrong. I will be rooting for the Buckeyes to blow out the Longhorns but I just do not see it like that.

OSU UT

31 24


Possible Texas mistake "early" running counters and misdirection "thinking is to
mess up a agressive speedy defense". The Buckeyes are too disciplined and
the speed is too much, Texas tries this early and it will play into the Buckeyes
hands. Possible OSU mistake early trying to pound the Texas Defense and overpower them. OSU will be better off to open things up from the word go then go to power running. I'm no expert by far just one man's thoughts.

 

[jwinslow]

Analysis of spring game by posters on hornfans.com:

Overall I am excited about our passing and Vince running. Our RB or O-line needs to step up, D-line was good. Coverage got burned, made one Interception but that was on a high pass from Nordgren that was tipped up in air. Receivers did good, only a couple of drops. We actually did a screen pass that went for 15 or so yards. Wright actually tipped it but RB caught it and turned up felid. We did a Screen last year in the Spring game but not really in any games. Several people commented on the play.

They did a couple of kick-offs early and that was the only ones. First play or first kick off Taylor takes it to the house. We were wondering if they were going full speed as it looked like half speed but that was answered on next kickoff. Good hitting, no letting up. Big question mark is kick coverage.
...
The bad news is without a running game, and with VY not scrambling we could not move the ball in the red zone. Overall Vince looked great, but was obviously working on his passing.
It looks like our defense could be one of our best ever, but I don't know about the offense, except to say Vince Young will probably have to carry us
....
I left out a lot of praise they had about their DL dominating their OL... Vince is supposed to be a lot better passer now according to that game and their analyses

 

[AKAK]

Kind of off-topic, but......

Tresselball vs. Spread, errr.... "Shotginn"

These, technically, should be mutually exclusive. Or at the very least they are products of two very different philosophies.

I know why the switch was made, and it makes perfect sense. But will JT still emphasize ball control and field position? Or stay in the spread most of the game? This is a pretty bad analogy, but wouldn't that be like Steve Spurrier suddenly deciding to line up in the 'Bone and run the ball 60 times a game?

Just as a point of clarification....

Ummm... I think you've got the wrong impression of Tresselball.... It DOES emphasize field position and ball control (meaninig don't turn it over)... BUT... it DOES NOT MEAN line up in the I and pound it down your throat.... we do run a lot... but we've been running the spread since '02... not as a base offense... but If we have a base formation, I don't know what it is....

Let's make one thing very clear... Tressel will use his strengths... people on this and other buckeye sites often misinterpret that to say that to imply that he'd go from wishbone to fun n' gun depending on personnel... not the case... he'll always be conservative based on the points of good D, Ball Control, good special teams etc... BUT... on the other hand... how "out there" is "Shot Ginn"... well.... I guess its Urban Meyer "out there".... but in case no one noticed... Urban RUNS THE OPTION.... might be a spread option... but its still the option.

My point is, lets not get too caught up in semantics of what you expect to see as far as "philosophies"... here are the things you can expect from a Tressel Offense... Ohio State Will Run the Football... even to a fault. Ohio State will take shots at you deep.... not more times than we need too, but at the moment you get the wrong guy one on one... the QB will have the green light to go over the top (As long as the game is in question) and Ohio State's Quarterback will run the ball by design, no matter what his name is... Krenzel, Zwick, or Smith.... and we'll do all of these things out of any formation at any time.

The question is what will we do more often this year than we have done in the past? Well that's easy.. get the ball to the Home Run Hitter WR's... slants, Bombs, reverses... weird slot option plays... whatever.... that's the difference you saw at the end of last season... and that's the difference you'll see from 02... Tressel may be conservative... but he'll get the ball to the difference makers enough times.

But... having said all that... if I'm Texas... I'm not so much worried about what Ohio State's offense is going to be able to do... I'm more worried about what my offense won't be able to do... and... again... Vince Young will not, and cannot win this game on his own on the road... I don't mean any disrespect... I think he's a fantastic player... BUT... On paper.. our D is legit. Period. Once again... on paper.... this is the best group since 96, IMO. They are going to punch people in the mouth.

 

[Zurp]

It looks like our defense could be one of our best ever, but I don't know about the offense, except to say Vince Young will probably have to carry us

Sounds like good news to me. Someone else made the comment (I believe on this thread) that no ONE person can beat the Bucks in the 'Shoe. I believe that if the Bucks contain VY, they've contained the 'Horns.

 

[sandgk]

Kind of off-topic, but......

Tresselball vs. Spread, errr.... "Shotginn"

These, technically, should be mutually exclusive. Or at the very least they are products of two very different philosophies.

I know why the switch was made, and it makes perfect sense. But will JT still emphasize ball control and field position? Or stay in the spread most of the game? This is a pretty bad analogy, but wouldn't that be like Steve Spurrier suddenly deciding to line up in the 'Bone and run the ball 60 times a game?

The offseason sucks.


Oh, and about that board, don't go there. I warned some of y'all about that place in a post I made about a month ago. It's always that way. A cesspool.

Instead, go to www.hornfans.com
That's the biggest board- it has a lot less smack talk and a lot more intelligent football discussion.

Or go to www.burntorangefanzone.com
It's a lot smaller, but VERY friendly. They're pretty hungry for outsiders over there. They'd be tickled pink if a few Buckeyes registered. Oh, and you do have to register in order to even read the football boards. It sucks, but it also keeps a lot of the trash out.

EngineerHorn:

Thanks for these (re-posted) leads. Kinda confirms / correlates with our collective impressions of sites emanating from rivals (bucknuts included). I wonder if part of the problem with that fan site concept is a mistaken notion some have that you've paid for something, hence they buy the right to act like some sort of jerk.
And -- once again welcome to our discussions here.

 

[High Lonesome]

BUT... On paper.. our D is legit. Period. Once again... on paper.... this is the best group since 96, IMO. They are going to punch people in the mouth.

wow thats saying a lot. you have had some pretty salty D's since '96

Some one asked about the Texas O line a couple of pages back, I dont have much time but the short version is there are two Lombardi award finalists and outland candidates on there and the center(only one not a returning starter) saw significant playing time last year and is not expected to miss a beat. A long while ago in parts of this thread long forgotten i posted some links about the O Line and what mack has said/thinks about them

 

[Zurp]

Some one asked about the Texas O line a couple of pages back, I dont have much time but the short version is there are two Lombardi award finalists and outland candidates on there and the center(only one not a returning starter) saw significant playing time last year and is not expected to miss a beat. A long while ago in parts of this thread long forgotten i posted some links about the O Line and what mack has said/thinks about them

Someone, please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Miami's O-line supposed to be pretty good in 2002? I would think so, since they were the awesomest offense in the history of football, according to all the "experts". I remember reading in SI (no, I don't have a link) that the coaches were constantly teaching the O-line what to do if OSU threw this defensive rush or this one or this one against them. The article said that Miami never really got it, and by the end of the game, they were basically saying to the O-line "do whatever it is you can do out there." Miami couldn't solve the different rushes, stunts, blitzes, etc. that Ohio State had.

I have no doubt that Texas has a great O-line. VY wouldn't look very good without a good O-line (no one would). But are they going to be ready to stop a defense that even Miami couldn't solve?