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

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From the Ohio St. preview on College Football News...

With more talent than anyone else on its schedule (including the teams from Ann Arbor and Austin), Ohio State has to open up the attack a little bit more and start to use all of its weapons.
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This just got me thinking and maybe I'm biased (of course I'm biased) but I disagree. I think we've both got talent coming out of our ears but I think Texas has a slight edge. Which may or may not equal a win in September. Here's my rundown of who has the advantages on offense and defense.

Offense:
QB - Texas
RB - Equal (Both have unproven talent that may really step it up this year)
WR - Ohio St.
TE - Texas (I understand Ryan Hamby is a pretty good TE but David Thomas is top 5 in the nation)
OL - Texas

Defense:
LB: Ohio St.
Secondary: Texas
DL: Texas

OL and DL are probably where we have the biggest edge over Ohio St. and the rest are pretty comparable. Well I'd say we have a huge edge over y'all at QB but that may not be how it works out in the game. Your LB's versus Vince is going to be really interesting. Of course this is all opinion, but I think it's pretty fair and and I think that even though I have Texas with the edge in 5 of the 8 categories, that we're actually really close teams talent wise.

Thoughts...
 
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I think by "talent," the writer is referring to difference makers with the ball in their hands. Texas has some players, but the writer probably meant Santonio and Ginn in particular when he wrote that. I could be wrong, but you don't generally refer to the most talented team as the one with the biggest hogs up front. Besides, the context is the offense needing to utilize more of its weapons. We've got a bunch of good receivers and return men, with some speed in the backfield (including at QB), so that's the gist....

BTW, I don't think the Horns have a big advantage in their offensive line this year, but I will grant you an advantage (perhaps large?) in comparing the defensive lines. That's not a result of detraction from your front five, but confidence that ours will step up this year.
 
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I can see what you're saying about playmakers. We've got the huge threat in Vince and then the list falls off quickly. Ramonce Taylor might really light teams up next year but he hasn't been tested as a full time back yet. David Thomas is a big time threat but he's a tight end and only gets the ball a handful of times each game. After that it's pretty much a list of guys who may be big time playmakers but haven't seen the field yet in any capacity.
 
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Offense:
QB - Texas
RB - Equal (Both have unproven talent that may really step it up this year)
WR - Ohio St.
TE - Texas (I understand Ryan Hamby is a pretty good TE but David Thomas is top 5 in the nation)
OL - Texas

Defense:
LB: Ohio St.
Secondary: Texas
DL: Texas
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Seems reasonable, except i think we have the better Secondary.
 
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Here's a comparison of the secondaries, it has the stats from CFB.com for your projected starters and last years stats for the top four returning secondary players from UT. This is not a list of our projected starters but the stats for the best four returning players. Andrew Kelson (soph.) figures to be a cog in our secondary this year, but only played in one game last year because we were set with Huff and Geiggar(grad.) at safety.

Texas:
Michael Huff (S/CB): 73 tackles, 2 int, 14 broken up passes
Cedric Griffin (CB): 68 tackles, 2 int, 6 bup
Michael Griffin (S): 49 tackles, 1 int, 3 bup
Tarrel Brown (CB): 38 tackles, 2 int, 3 bup

Ohio State:
Ashton Youbouty (CB): 61 tackles, 4 int, 14 bup
Nate Salley (FS): 55 tackles, 2 int, 4 bup
Donte Whitner (SS): 69 tackles, 1 int, 1 bup
Tyler Everett (CB): 39 tackles 1 int, 6 bup

After looking at this I change my advantage Texas to a push. We have four solid players and Kelson is a stud that may be able to make a huge impact next year, but I don't know if y'all have a player like that who CFB.com didn't account for.
 
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Jamario O'Neal was the #1 corner until recruiting started picking up and his sophomore year commitment wasn't good for ratings. He is Ginn's adopted brother and the latest 5 star DB from glenville (2003 - Whitner, 2004 - Ginn, 2005 - O'Neal, 2006 - likely Ray Small at least a 4 star).

He looked fantastic in the Army AA game and his guy only caught one pass and that was at the very end of the game. Our spring game showed little, except that Sirjo Welch (sure tackler, smaller but was a standout at gunner last year) and Shaun Lane can fill in nicely. We also may get senior EJ underwood back who got brief PT his freshman year and has seen the field some ever since.

I don't think either side will be weak. The only strength I see is that your DBs seem to be of the larger sort, so I can only hope they aren't quite as speedy. If that is the case, it might favor our offense as our top-3 WR's are burners (Holmes is the "slow" one actually).
 
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Huff is arguably the fastest player on our entire team (its between him and Ramonce Taylor) and Cedric Griffin is a speedster too. I'm not sure about Brown, Kelson, or Michael Griffin. We have definitely switched to a larger secondary in the last few years, Kelson continues that at 6-2 210lbs. I figure Kelson is quick though because he played some RB in high school and even had a few carries last year, he also returned punts and kickoffs in high school.

Hope this doesn't mean I'm the devil since this is the 666th post on this thread.
 
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Chalumpa, I would agree with your list with the exception of the secondary. We have a serious potential AA in Youboty at corner and a senior S in Salley who's projected as one of the top five safeties for next year's NFL draft. The other safety position will be manned be either Everett or Whitner who are both solid players and ferocious hitters. The big question is our other corner. If we even get a decent guy there, our secondary will be one of the best in the country. Even if talent-wise OSU and UT are a push in the secondary, I think the coverage ability of our LBs over your LBs allows our secondary more freedom to roam. Otherwise, I think your list is quite accurate. Well, if Smith has a game like he had against Michigan, I'll put him equal to Young.
 
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id agree with the ohio state guys, ashton is a shut down corner and from ohio state fans that says a lot (springs, winfield etc) I think a telling thing will be team speed. At the OKST game i sat next to a guy who claimed he had been to every game for 4 or 5 years i forget exactly, but hawk, carpenter, freeman, boarhunter, lukens, etc and went through some pass prgression drills and his comment was "ya'll receivers wear some odd numbers" to which i responded, those are lbs, to which i got a nearly priceless face. team speed will be interesting....ask the hurricanes
 
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The key word is TALENT. Meaning the raw material to be the best. The OL has as much talent (Besides Scott), our DL has more talent, our secondary talent is sick, Pittman & Haw are young and explosive. Overall I would say the only position Texas has more RAW talent is QB. What the writer is saying is we have an abundance of talent here in Columbus. Heck, we have 2 backup Linebackers that would be starters easily on almost every college. We might have 4/5 WRs that would be your #1 WR at Texas, that is called depth.

But there is a difference between raw talent and the experience and accomplishments on the field. That is where you can say Texas is better at some positions. Because our talent was just starting to gain the experience last year and then applying that talent to its full extent against Michigan & Oklahoma State.
 
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jimotis4heisman said:
id agree with the ohio state guys, ashton is a shut down corner and from ohio state fans that says a lot (springs, winfield etc) I think a telling thing will be team speed. At the OKST game i sat next to a guy who claimed he had been to every game for 4 or 5 years i forget exactly, but hawk, carpenter, freeman, boarhunter, lukens, etc and went through some pass prgression drills and his comment was "ya'll receivers wear some odd numbers" to which i responded, those are lbs, to which i got a nearly priceless face. team speed will be interesting....ask the hurricanes
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I know that ya'll are very excited about the way that your team played in the alamo bowl at the end of the year(as you should be, they showed much improvment and loads of potential), but please remember one thing, osu was the 5 place team in the big 12 south last year. They were not a very good team. They are the classic example of a nuisance(i.e. always plays hard especially agianst rivals) I know that they had some very complementary things to say about your team as well. However, remember that they would sooner say something good about hitler than give ou credit. Also, in regards to the "funny numbers" comment, remember that osu( in a state not exactly known for its institutions of higher learning is the party school.

Piney said:
The key word is TALENT. Meaning the raw material to be the best. The OL has as much talent (Besides Scott), our DL has more talent, our secondary talent is sick, Pittman & Haw are young and explosive. Overall I would say the only position Texas has more RAW talent is QB. What the writer is saying is we have an abundance of talent here in Columbus. Heck, we have 2 backup Linebackers that would be starters easily on almost every college. We might have 4/5 WRs that would be your #1 WR at Texas, that is called depth. But there is a difference between raw talent and the experience and accomplishments on the field. That is where you can say Texas is better at some positions. Because our talent was just starting to gain the experience last year and then applying that talent to its full extent a
ainst Michigan & Oklahoma State.
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Please keep in mind that in 2002 (ie the 05 junior class) texas had what was considered the best recruiting class of the mac brown era and a top 5 (i think maybe #1) national class. I would be lying if I told you I knew how many of them were still on the team or making an impact, but the point is that I will put a Mac Brown team up against any in terms of talent. As horn fans we often get in arguements with aggies about whether or not mac is a great recruiter that can't coach up his tallent or if he is an amazing coach doing what he does with overrated players. Not really saying that you were implying either, just saw the opportunity to point out somthing that gets on my nerves.
 
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High Lonesome said:
Please keep in mind that in 2002 (ie the 05 junior class) texas had what was considered the best recruiting class of the mac brown era and a top 5 (i think maybe #1) national class. I would be lying if I told you I knew how many of them were still on the team or making an impact, but the point is that I will put a Mac Brown team up against any in terms of talent. As horn fans we often get in arguements with aggies about whether or not mac is a great recruiter that can't coach up his tallent or if he is an amazing coach doing what he does with overrated players. Not really saying that you were implying either, just saw the opportunity to point out somthing that gets on my nerves.
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Actually I do recall Texas having a #1 class but Ohio State was right behind them at #2. But sometimes recruit rankings are meaningless because alot of times it is based on numbers and getting overhyped players. Imagine, AJ Hawk was one of the unknown players of our recruiting class and now you would think he would be the star of that class. It just seems like the last few years we are hitting a high percentage of our recruits staying and showing their potential.

Trust me, I know Texas has talent. But just pointing out what the writer of the article was looking at.
 
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