Game Thread Illinois 28, Ohio State 21 (final)

[Jaxbuck]

We've struck early and often against nearly everybody the last 6 or 7 games. I don't know that Juice compares to really anybody we've seen, but his lack of accuracy will be his downfall.

YSU ran the zone read spread with a much better passer and decision maker at QB. Obviously he wasn't the runner Williams is. Northwestern is the closest thing we played this year to Illinois scheme wise. UW is the most similar in both scheme and talent.

All in all its a dangerous offense but an athletic defense that is well coached and well disciplined can handle any option attack. Its really still just assignment football like back in the day vs the triple option out of the wishbone.

We'll be fine.

 

[MD Buckeye]

I don't know that Juice compares to really anybody we've seen, but his lack of accuracy will be his downfall.

He definitely struggles with his accuracy (56.2%). I think our D will come away with atleast 2 INTs and hopefully atleast one of them is a pick 6.

what was that kid's name from Fla?

Are you referring to Leak or Tebow? Before Urban Meyer showed up in Florida, Leak definitely ran more.

Kinda like that kid from Washington

Hit him hard, hit him early....

I can see "some" similarities to Locker, but then again, Locker is basically "on his own" in Washington. Williams has plenty of weapons surrounding him (he just can't seem to get the ball to them lol). Even though we contained Locker, I hope we don't see similar rushing stats from Williams (14 carries for 102).

 

[ytownbuckeye]

we know what happened to last guy they called "juice"

 

[RoscoeParrish]

Spy Juice, have help over the top on Benn, and have Laurinaitis on Mendenhall, the Bucks will roll...And I don't think they'll be able to stop us on offense.

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Leman already a hit show for Illini
Ever-present Iinebacker worrisome for Buckeyes
Thursday, November 8, 2007 3:39 AM
By Shawn Mitchell


The Columbus Dispatch

Carolyn Kaster Associated Press
J Leman, left, who leads the Big Ten in tackles, enjoyed a stellar game against Ohio State last season.




According to his team biography, Illinois linebacker J Leman wants to pursue a career in television after his playing days are over. That's not after he graduates. Leman has already done that. He's enrolled in a graduate program after earning a degree in speech communications in three years.
No, only after he is done playing football. And that likely won't be any time soon.



Cont...

 

[buckeyeinfla]

2 things: 1. illinois plays a lot better at home than on the road..2. mendenhall has been kept under 100 by the good teams they have faces (wiskey, psu and michigan)....i think this would be a game where osu just gets up big and rolls

 

[Coqui]

We stopped Ringer but MSU tended to run right at us. Illinois will use misdirection and option to try to get their yards kinda like Washington. I can't wait for the game. 48 hours til I leave for C-bus.

And the only way to stop us is to run right at us. Our LB's are too fast to run the option. Our D-Line is aggressive enough to push past a misdirection.

 

[Oh8ch]

1. Illinois plays a lot better at home than on the road.

Other than the slip against Iowa, In their other three road games they beat Syracuse by 21, handed Minnie their worse loss of the season and held Indiana to their second lowest point total of the year.

Illinois' three losses include a four point loss to Iowa where they were intercepted in the end zone on their last drive, a six point loss to the #7 team in the country where they were intercepted at the one on their last drive of the game, and a game where they went into the fourth quarter tied with Michigan.

If we roll we will be the first team to do so.

15.5 is a lot of points.

 

[Tlangs]

And the only way to stop us is to run right at us. Our LB's are too fast to run the option. Our D-Line is aggressive enough to push past a misdirection.

I hope you are right. It makes me nervous since Juice has talent around him. Locker at UW had no one. It will be a lot tougher to contain the option with Mendenhall as the pitch man plus with Benn running around in the secondary it will keep our DB's more honest. I see an option pass coming our way.

 

[daveeb]

The Missouri game was in St. Louis, Missouri. A neutral location.

The bottom line on the performance of Illinois on the road and at home is that they have played a lot of better teams at home. This is good for them, as they should be stronger next year when they go out on the road against better teams.

 

[Coqui]

I hope you are right. It makes me nervous since Juice has talent around him. Locker at UW had no one. It will be a lot tougher to contain the option with Mendenhall as the pitch man plus with Benn running around in the secondary it will keep our DB's more honest. I see an option pass coming our way.

Agreed. I'm hoping Tressell worked more on fake situations after the Wiscy game though. We were almost exposed during the Penn State game by a few as well. The 2nd time it happened at Penn St. though I think we covered it much better. Regarding running Options, we've always contained those. We finally had one person attacking each person to prevent the run after the pitch. hopefully we can keep that up.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Agreed. I'm hoping Tressell worked more on fake situations after the Wiscy game though. We were almost exposed during the Penn State game by a few as well. The 2nd time it happened at Penn St. though I think we covered it much better.

Insert "Michigan State" for "Penn State"? :p

 

[OCBucksFan]

Anyone else think that JT & the Bucks will try and strike early & often (deep passes) as they attempted vs. Purdue? Since obviously, the Illini secondary isn't very good.

Also, out of all the QBs that this Buckeye defense has faced over the past two years, who would you compare Juice Williams to? (as being a dual threat QB)

My hope is that we see more variety in the offense from the go, last week's constant passes left me a little frustrated, a healthy dose of Beanie will keep a lot of pressure off of Todd and keep the corners honest.

 

[3yardsandacloud]

Agreed. I'm hoping Tressell worked more on fake situations after the Wiscy game though.

Geez, I don't know. That fake was well covered. Our LB just stumbled a bit right at the end, otherwise it's probably batted down. Secondly, the pass was (considering it was from a punter to another punter) PERFECT. Not only that, the catch was pretty damn good as well (again, considering it was from one punter to another).

I was actually surprised that everyone played assignment ball so well on that fake.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

I searched for this and didn't find it...

I wouldn't be surprised if I missed it, because I expected someone would have commented on it by now...

anyhoo...

Chris Martin of the BTN is at it again. He stated that Illinois will be the first team that matches up with Ohio State athletically.

Seriously.

Gerry DiNardo gave him half a dozen chances to back off. His most charitable offering was giving Martin the opportunity to admit that Illinois didn't have "as many" athletes as Ohio State.

I actually laughed out loud as Martin just dug his hole deeper. He stated categorically that Illinois has as many athletes as Ohio State; that they can go "toe-to-toe" with us. He finished by saying that Ohio State might win but that there was "no way" that they would "out-athlete" Ohio State.

Having given the poor boy plenty of opportunity to back-pedal, Dinardo just punked him up one side and down the other. He said OSU will absolutely out-athlete Illinois, and he asked Martin where he was going to be on Saturday and said he would give him his cell number (the clear implication being that he was going to smack his punk-ass down again when he was proven wrong). Even Dave Revsine got into the act by reminding Chris of how much credibility he'd lost with his comments during the Ball State broadcast.

I'm still laughing.