Game Thread Navy 27, at tOSU 31 (Sep 5th, ESPN)

[Gothmog8]

Back, burned, and tired.

My post game thoughts:

1. Great Pre, Half, Post game stuff. Bands, Fans, and Planes were great!

2. What was with the option left, hurry, up-the-middle, followed by option right, hurry, up-the-middle series of play calls? Granted the 1st set caught Navy off-guard, but the 2nd set didn't get them a 1st down if I recall. I agree with whomever mentioned earlier that maybe some screens would have helped.

3. Damn sun was hot. I am scarlet and gray/white striped now.

4. My man Ballard from Springboro had a good day. As much as I was excited to see RB/TE catching the ball, I was wondering where the deep ball was? Are Navy's Dbs that good, or was there a more secretive reason?

5. Running looked ok, at least it went for 100+. Too many stuffs, where Navy got 3-5 yds in same situation. OL problems again?

6.Guess practicing against the triple option was easier than actually defending the triple option.

7. Exciting and upsetting 4th Q. Longest safety I ever saw and for a team that is known for running, how does Navy get an 80 yard TD pass?

8. TP is looking good. I only saw two bad plays, the pick, and an almost pick into coverage. Great run (3rd Q or 4 Q) where he looked trapped and spun out and reversed the field for a pass.

9. Other than the missed XP, special teams looked great.

10. Lots of film study and fundamentals needed this week. If that was USC instead of Navy today, it would have been ugly I think. Or not. Maybe OSU would have played a little more aggressive. Dunno. I know the D looked tired. I hope they put a lot more pressure on the QB next week.

:osu:

 

[Buckeye Chris]

Im not going to say after seeing this game that im not nervous...But I am, I mean Navy showed that they can hold there own against a BCS contending team. I also give them major props for almost beating us. But at the end of the day the team with the most points is victorious. So just be happy we walked away with the W...

 

[billmac91]

im sure its been stated....butnot kicking the field goal was one of the most mind-boggling decesions in Tressel's tenure at tOSU.

Second most mind-boggling decesion may have been to insert Joe Bauserman at the end of the first half when TP was in rhythm and the offense was rolling......and the game was still easily within reach.

Lack of respect for Navy's ability to come back? Being too nice? I'm not sure, but we had a chance to stepon their throat at the end of the second quarter, but instead came away with 3 points and let Navy feel a sense of pride for keeping us out of the endzone.

Just bizarre. Really disappointed in those decesions....just really, basic football decesions, that the staff dropped the ball on....

Hopefully we have a great week of practice, and put this near diaster behind us quickly. After a slow first quarter, USC looked like a well oiled machine, albeit against San Jose St.

 

[craigblitz]

Game played out almost like I thought it would. I thought we would win by about 6 but it was a little closer with 4. The O-Line did not not play terrible but need some work for sure.

Pryor has a lot more confidence in what he wants to do with the ball this year and that will lead to some good things.

Our WR outside of Washington look pretty good. And get this passes to the TE... Oh my! Carter and Pryor seem to have a connection, and everyone likes to overlook the Great Dane but the kid delivered again today.

Running Backs - Solid... nothing that makes you say wow, but it was good seeing Saine back to what appears to be a healthy form.

FullBacks - Boren is going to be a beast, and I am not sure what the other FB was but he had some great blocks as well... I will have to check it might have been Adam Homan.

D-Line - I thought they were pretty solid to be honest. Larimore played a good game and Williams is going to be a beast. My inexpereineced eye really liked having Heyward and Worthington in the middle.

Linebacker - Good gracious, Rolle is quick to the LOS. Other then that they were pretty quiet. Austin played ok but didn't seem to have the sideline to sideline speed needed to make some plays. Homan was real solid as well.

Secondary - Anderson had a ROUGH day in many regards. Coleman is a beast... glad he decided to come back. Torrence is going to be a really good CB for the Bucks. Hines is Hines and is fun to watch... needs to watch the mental lapses but great asset out there.

Petrey.... Nice... Looking at it at the stadium that 52 yarder has at least 3-4 yards before it was even close... What an asset to have.

Coaching... We had a lot of things clicking for a while. When Bauserman came in it seemed to knock the rythem we had. I know it was planned but it would have been nice to see this play through. Real dissapointed in some of the D play calling... I think we could have placed our player in better positions to make plays.

I don't know how much USC can take away from this game to tell you the truth. I think on D we will be a lot more agressive and I hope on O we take that big leap between game 1 and 2.

End of the day great day for football, the Shoe looked amazing and the Bucks will be just fine.

 

[Buckeye Chris]

Now we just have to wait for the USC thread to be opened back up.

Hoenstly I dont think we need to think much on this. Any team can beat any other team on any given day. Navy put up a good fight today but we still came out on top thats all that matters to me, Now we can move on and get ready for a game that can make or break our season.

 

[BoxCar_Willie]

Also, Stefanie Spielman didn't look that good. Is her cancer back?

Yeah, saw them on mothers day at the franklin park conservatory. She looked much better today.

 

[Jaxbuck]

im sure its been stated....butnot kicking the field goal was one of the most mind-boggling decesions in Tressel's tenure at tOSU.

I have the opposite view. I thought it was great to see Tress go for two very makeable 4th downs instead of auto kicking.

The fact we can't get enough push from the OL to get 1 yard in 2 plays against Navy is the mind-boggling part for me.

I don't know how much USC can take away from this game to tell you the truth

They have got to be licking their chops at what they saw from our FS trying to cover and from watching Navy's DL stand our OL up and control the LOS all day long.

 

[osubartender23]

A few thoughts:

- Jake Ballard needs to be utilized more. He just has great hands and showed it once again today with that leaping catch he made. If that ball was thrown a bit lower he had no one between himself and the end zone.

- Brian Rolle is going to be a good one. He is ALWAYS around the ball and making plays.

- The special teams play was good, except for that missed PAT.

- I think this defense needs to get a bit more speed at the LB position. Maybe sub in Sabino for Spitler? I know Spitler is a 5th yr SR, but it didnt seem like he has the sideline to sideline speed that is needed to be able to make plays on a consistent basis.

- Jermale Hines is 1 of the 2 best Safeties the team has right now. Coleman and Hines should be the starters right now. Over the last 2 games Russell has been burnt 3 times for TD's.

- No more planning to play Bauserman in set series ahead of time. If we would have left Pryor in there another TD was most definitely possible prior to halftime. Switching Qb's killed any type of rhythm or momentum that OSU had offensively, and they didnt seem to get it back the rest of the game.

- Duron Carter most definitely does have his fathers hands. This kid catches EVERYTHING that is thrown his way. I wouldnt be surprised to see him hop TWASH for the 3rd receiver spot.

All in all not a terrible day of football.

 

[Gothmog8]

im sure its been stated....butnot kicking the field goal was one of the most mind-boggling decesions in Tressel's tenure at tOSU.

Just bizarre. Really disappointed in those decesions....just really, basic football decesions, that the staff dropped the ball on....

Agreed and agreed. The Navy guys next to me were like, "you're not going to get it. We would. What a dumb call." and they were right.

 

[RB07OSU]

Here is the postgame report I did from today, hot off the press :

Postgame report

 

[Buckeyefrankmp]

im sure its been stated....butnot kicking the field goal was one of the most mind-boggling decesions in Tressel's tenure at tOSU.

I think there were more mind-boggling decisions if you really think about them. How about the fake field goal in the NC game against Miami. I think the actual play call (up the middle) was worse than the decision to go for it.

 

[ttk]

I was at the USC game and settled into my seat, and decided to check ESPN on my phone. Saw the score, and I nearly spit out my lemonade!

Glad to see you guys pulled through. I think both our teams played a little vanilla this week, I know we did especially. Very standard plays, nothing fancy.

Looking to get your best shot next week :) Reading through this thread has been very interesting!

 

[Mike80]

Whew! That was a close one.

This team is going to be (mostly) fun to watch this year, and sometimes painful to watch. Lots of youth, but they'll put it together. I love our TEs, and Carter is going to be another great Buckeye WR.

I loved how the teams ran onto the field together. Very cool!

Anyone know why Pryor had Vick on his face? That was a bit surprising.

Also, Stefanie Spielman didn't look that good. Is her cancer back?

Heh heh heh heh....she said she loves the Tight Ends

 

[Mike80]

Actually Billmac, we saw two mind-boggling moves today although the other was a bit of a repeat with the replacement of Pryor in the 2nd half. I don't consider a 10 point lead time to give the backup reps even against someone like Youngstown State much less Navy. Just saying....

A win is a win, but after replacing Pryor this wasn't the same team. I think the entire team exhaled and went flat once the replacement occurred.

I DO think that if they come out with intensity and with the crispness they showed especially the first quarter that they will give USC a run for their money. But after watching USC this is going to be a monumental task for where this team currently is as a team....They CAN do it, but they are going to need a spectacular week of practice and mistake-free football in the game itself.

 

[exhawg]

I have the opposite view. I thought it was great to see Tress go for two very makeable 4th downs instead of auto kicking.

The fact we can't get enough push from the OL to get 1 yard in 2 plays against Navy is the mind-boggling part for me.



They have got to be licking their chops at what they saw from our FS trying to cover and from watching Navy's DL stand our OL up and control the LOS all day long.

I liked going for it when they missed the first down, but I didn't like the play call. Power is a horrible play in short yardage. Just let the OL drive guys off the line rather than pulling a guy. It also would have been better to keep it in TP's hands. If he had faked the handoff and just rolled out they never would have stopped him from getting the first.
Putting Joe in in the first half might have killed the momentum, but I think he could be a valuable player in the red zone where they could line TP up at WR. TP is like the Lebron of CFB. Don't get me wrong I think we have some good WR's, but does anyone think that TP wouldn't be the best WR on the team if he was a WR rather than a QB?
I'm sure they will have some new wrinkles for SC next week. We will need to play an all around great game to win, but I think we can do it. It would be great to see TP take over.