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How Fast Is Osu?

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NOTREDAMECHIEF

NOTREDAMECHIEF

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ND has been dogged for sometime now as not having enough team speed which I would have to agree with expecially in the defensive backfield! AHHH!! Apparently though ND had 8-10 guys that have 4:4 or better speed not that measure a football player though. But I was wondering how many players does OSU have that can run a 4:4 or better?
 
We have a ton of guys who have run hand-timed, fudged 4.4s or better. When it comes NFL combine time, There's only three guys I'd bet money on running a flat 4.4 or better: Ted Ginn, Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, and Dustin Fox. I really doubt there are teams out there that are significantly above 5 or so guys who could put up a time like that at an NFL combine.
 
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OSU is one of a handful of teams with great team speed -- man to man, across the board. Some of the other "elites" when it comes to speed are USC, Miami, LSU, FSU, Georgia, Auburn, NC State (the only team with great team speed that posted a losing record...go figure). Teams like Oklahoma, Michigan, Penn State, even ND have a few burners but they do not have across the board flyers. And that might be by design...some schools still prefer pure power (at the sacrifice of speed) at certain positions.
 
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I think when people talk about team speed, it refers more to "big speed" than skill positions. With few exceptions (Ted Ginn, Jr. :biggrin: ) most teams WRs, CBs, Safeties, etc. run about the same speed. Fast teams are usually the ones with fast LBs and DL. I think that's where OSU stands out compared to other teams.
 
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NOTREDAMECHIEF said:
Charlie help a press conference today and when asked about what he tought about ND's team speed he said " I think the grass needs to be longer"....
Click to expand...
That reminds me of Barry Alverez's assessment of the Wisconsin program when he took over, "Our heart and soul is from Wisconsin, but our hands and feet had better come from somewhere else."
 
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This is my opinion based of of my track experience and coaching. IMO OSU has had dramatic improvement in overall team speed in the last 4-5 years. Tressel emphasizes speed and athletic ability in his recruiting. In the past we had a few guys with exceptional speed but now it seems we are loaded with speed. We have players on the bench(Erik Haw) that are easily in the top 1% of college football players as far as speed is concerned.

IMO this is why we have beaten Michigan 3 of the last 4 years. IMO our team speed has alowed us to beat them where in the past they would have beaten us. I know people are gonna refer to our teams in the 90's and all of that offensive speed. I THINK OUR DEFENSIVE SPEED IS THE KEY FACTOR IN OUR FOOTBALL SUCCESS. DEPTH IS ANOTHER FACTOR THAT WE NEVER HAD IN THE 90'S. Our starters were good but once they got worn down(Tim Biakabatuka) we got beat in the 4th. IMO the major difference in the last 15 years is more speed and depth on defense.

Michigan has about the same speed as OSU on the offensive side of the ball. They always seem to get studs on offense, BUT IMO they have gotten slower than OSU on defense. Their defensive players seem slower than ours and IMO that will determine the outcome of the OSU/MICH games of the future.

I know people are gonna get pissed about what I'm going to say but it's the truth. There is a reason why the florida schools have won 8 NC's in the last 20+ years...speed. IMO the northern schools have changed from the Big powerful players to faster athletes. It took us 20 years but OSU is one of the elite teams in the country as far as speed is concerned. Its not that the north doesn't have fast athletes it's that we played a tough 3 yards and a cloud of dust style of offense. We have adapted....

The top schools in the country as far as speed is concerned consist of about 10 schools

1. USC
2. Miami
3. Fl St.
4 OSU
5. lSU
6. Florida
7. Okie
8. Mich
9. Texas
10 VT

Michigan is slipping because they are focusing on bluechip offensive players and they are lacking in superior defensive players. The only reason they are 8 th is because of their speed on offense.

Honorable mention TOP 15
Iowa
Georgia
GT
Tennessee
Nc St.

Their is not that much difference between the top 10 teams but enough to make a difference on the scoreboard.

OSU is moving up every year in the speed category. There may be a day when even the commentators will get rid of our "slow B10" label. We have to win another NC or two to have that happen.
 
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