O-Zone (Official Thread)

[crazybuckfan40]

I for one am not ever sure how to take this breakdown. I for one usually like to do some sort of breakdown after a game like this when everyone is critiquing the offense.

For the first down you I can't tell how many were actually designed passes that actually become runs b/c Smith was flushed and had to take off or be sacked.

If there is anyone who has the game I would be interested to know how many of the running plays were actually where Smith was being pressured and had to take off.

Just one little thing about the offense. I do remember that the after our fg drive our next drive ended in a 3rd and about 15 where we just handed the ball off, played safe and kicked it away. Well they went down and scored. Our O was in the same position the next time and we called a pass. I believe Ginn was going up the sidelines for a streak and Pittman ran a skinny post. Well it was overthrown and picked off. Now what you guys of rather had on 3rd and 15. I know some of you guys were propably bitchin' when we ran it on 3rd and 15 and some where then bitchin' when we tried to pick up a 3rd and 15, when they dropped into a 7 man zone. If we run it again we are ahead going into half time and tied at the end of the game.

 

[smith288]

The play call was fine for the situation but Smith isnt reading the defenses worth a crap hence the pick. I dont mind the gutsy call but I do question the player who has shown no ability to read a defense with any consistency.

I dont think we need to ditch the offense we have, I just think we need to ditch Smith as our starting QB. 2 losses equals no national championship so its time to give Boeckman a chance to grow...sure the season isnt over yet but I also dont think Boeckman is a step down from the previous two who never lit the world on fire.

Call me UM scum if you want, but Smith isnt a legend to me just because he trounced the wolverines... I lay as much fault in the pathetic defense and game planning of UM than I do in the abilities of Smith.

Anyways...thats just my opinion as worthless as it is to Tressel and company.

 

[jwinslow]

the sad thing is, if Smith improves, nobody is gonna give him a lick of credit, they are just gonna say it's the result of crappy defenses. Does anyone know whether Texas played man or zone, b/c he looked like Zwick out there in the first half. I was not paying attention to the defense, but rather Smith's delivery, awareness and progression.

 

[justanotherbuck]

After watching the game, reading the game breakdowns, examining the play calling, taking injuries into account, etc., etc., etc., I come to this conclusion. Smith really just had a terrible game. He is the field general and as such, he needs to do the proper things at the proper times to let the rest of the offense succeed.

When he needed to complete passes, he missed open receivers. Now this could be a product of the defense, but every zone defense has a weakness and he needed to see that and exploit it.

When he needed to run, he was indecisive and held the ball too long (which I believe accounted for at least half the sacks). You can't sit in the pocket for 5-7 seconds and expect your now depleted OL to block a good front four/five for that long. He was indecisive in the pocket (probably due to what Penn State was showing him) and cost us in some key situations.

If Troy Smith plays a decent game Saturday night I believe we win. Is the entire loss on him? No, play calling could've been better though I think it's probably not that much different than what we did in the Iowa game. Was the O-Line perfect, no, but I didn't see breakdown after breakdown either. Smith had plenty of time on many occasions and the ones in which he didn't, he didn't do a good job of exploiting the lanes available to pick up 3-4 yards when he could have.

Troy Smith is still somewhat inexperienced. I think he really needs to spend lots of time in the film room with his QB coach and really try and understand the right situations to use his talent. I feel he saw some things Saturday that either he hadn't seen before or has just never been comfortable with. Now that he knows his weakness in this area, get it fixed. I think he has the tools to be a good QB, but he needs to know when to use what tool.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

The play call was fine for the situation but Smith isnt reading the defenses worth a crap hence the pick. I dont mind the gutsy call but I do question the player who has shown no ability to read a defense with any consistency.

I dont think we need to ditch the offense we have, I just think we need to ditch Smith as our starting QB. 2 losses equals no national championship so its time to give Boeckman a chance to grow...sure the season isnt over yet but I also dont think Boeckman is a step down from the previous two who never lit the world on fire.

Call me UM scum if you want, but Smith isnt a legend to me just because he trounced the wolverines... I lay as much fault in the pathetic defense and game planning of UM than I do in the abilities of Smith.

Anyways...thats just my opinion as worthless as it is to Tressel and company.

If you read Winslows sig, you will see what my response will be.

How come he has one bad game, I know he has struggled, but I thought we attested that Texas was game speed and lack of preperation, SDSU was just overall hangover game from Texas, Iowa was great, Now all of a sudden he sucks.

The common denominator in games when Smith has a good game it is when the running game is going. Like scUM last year and Iowa this year.

Also for your suggestion of putting Boeckman in, This season is not over, and Smith is still going to be our qb next year, so why give up on him now.

 

[martinss01]

45 of 64 plays had 3 or more WR's lined up (70%). Eight of those 45 plays ended with the ball in a WR's hands (18%) 3 of those on the last drive.

this is the stat that jumped up and hit me upside the head with a bat about 3 times. 45 plays with 3 wr's or more. EIGHT were completed passes. there is NO WAY ON EARTH anyone can tell me psu, or any other db group for that matter, can cover all 3 of our wr's so well that they are only open 8 out of 45 attempts. we have problems people. we have very serious problems.

we completed 13 passes, 8 of them resulted in first downs. conversely, we ran the ball 39 times for 6 first downs. now, im no math whiz... but this tells me that if i have a qb who can get the ball into the wr's hands, i CAN move the ball.

 

[TraderLee]

I know what you are saying but this will never happen. Also do you honestly think that the offense isnt trying.

All I can say is if the offense came up as big as the defense on Saturday, we would have won by 20.

 

[exhawg]

this is the stat that jumped up and hit me upside the head with a bat about 3 times. 45 plays with 3 wr's or more. EIGHT were completed passes. there is NO WAY ON EARTH anyone can tell me psu, or any other db group for that matter, can cover all 3 of our wr's so well that they are only open 8 out of 45 attempts. we have problems people. we have very serious problems.

we completed 13 passes, 8 of them resulted in first downs. conversely, we ran the ball 39 times for 6 first downs. now, im no math whiz... but this tells me that if i have a qb who can get the ball into the wr's hands, i CAN move the ball.

Hell, Zwick completed 9 of 15 passes against Texas with 3 blatant drops and only playing half the game. I would have to think Texas has a better defense than PSU.

 

[jwinslow]

this is the stat that jumped up and hit me upside the head with a bat about 3 times. 45 plays with 3 wr's or more. EIGHT were completed passes. there is NO WAY ON EARTH anyone can tell me psu, or any other db group for that matter, can cover all 3 of our wr's so well that they are only open 8 out of 45 attempts. we have problems people. we have very serious problems.

we completed 13 passes, 8 of them resulted in first downs. conversely, we ran the ball 39 times for 6 first downs. now, im no math whiz... but this tells me that if i have a qb who can get the ball into the wr's hands, i CAN move the ball.

which might suggest our playcalling is not as bad as it seems. I'm not saying it's great, but clearly TS had his head on backwards vs PSU. Players do have bad games sometimes, and for a raw QB like Smith, that's probably gonna be uglier than other games.

The texas game involved much less scoring than we would like, but TS did not miss many WRs in that game. 2-3 times he nearly turned it over, but we did not see balls that flew past or below WRs like other games. He came out rusty against sdsu, threw crisp passes against an easier man coverage at Iowa, and was awful against PSU. This is why he's not a good QB yet, but it doesn't prove he has always sucked. He is not as bad as the game we saw saturday, however he probably also should be given a simpler reads until he improves. Instead, we will supply him with wide open WRs this weekend and no rush, since MSU stinks, and that should help a lot for him and Teddy :)

Hell, Zwick completed 9 of 15 passes against Texas with 3 blatant drops and only playing half the game. I would have to think Texas has a better defense than PSU.

I don't know that Texas has a better defense. I would say if we were in Austin, it would have been an easier way to judge. That crowd played a big factor. It's not an excuse we can claim later, but we would be offended if someone claimed the crowd didn't affect them as a visiting QB. Zwick was better vs. Texas, but he had two near INTs too (that Roy Hall pass was bad, the defender could have picked it off had he turned... and the Robinson (DE) bat down, I've seen their DE's come up with those INTs from highlight reels last year). Zwick seems to read defenses better, tho I'd say Troy read the Texas one fairly well. Tho somehow I think Zwick would have been able to solve the SDSU defense :)

 

[exhawg]

and the Robinson (DE) bat down, I've seen their DE's come up with those INTs from highlight reels last year).

Not to nit pick, but it is the RB's job to keep the DE's hands down on quick passes. We always had the RB's cut the end man on the line when I played. Even if he misses it should keep the DE's hands down long enough to get the pass off. Pittman didn't even make contact with the DE.
The Hall catch was a great play by Hall on a suspect throw, but how many times did CK throw balls like that to MJ? Sometimes you have to let your players make plays, and Hall is the only WR we have that can go up and fight for balls like that.

 

[jwinslow]

no I agree, Pittman is the one that gets an earful after that play, however a pump would have been good when he noticed the lack of blocking. And yes CK did make a career out of those plays to Jenkins. That's why I said Zwick was better, which i think is a compliment b/c I thought Smith played pretty well for his first game back vs. Texas.

 

[martinss01]

which might suggest our playcalling is not as bad as it seems. I'm not saying it's great, but clearly TS had his head on backwards vs PSU. Players do have bad games sometimes, and for a raw QB like Smith, that's probably gonna be uglier than other games.

thats why we have stats:
25 pass (39%)--13/25 for 139 yards 1 INT
39 runs (61%) for 91 yards 1 TD--2.3 ypc

1st Down--26 plays (41%) for 104 yards

7 pass (27%)--5/7 for 50 yards
19 runs (73%) for 54 yards--2.8 ypc
ave. gain of 4.0 yards​

on first down we gained 4 less yards on 5 plays than we did on 19... *ponders*

2nd Down--23 plays (36%) for 79 yards

10 pass (43%)--5/10 for 59 yards
13 runs (57%) for 20 yards 1 TD--1.5 ypc
ave. of 7.6 yards to go
ave. gain of 3.4 yards
​

holy crap! we were almost 50/50! probably had nothing to do with consistantly needing 8+ yrds for a first down.

3rd Down--15 plays (23%) for 47 yards

Eight pass (53%)--3/8 for 30 yards 1 INT
Seven runs (47%) for 17 yards--2.4 ypc
ave. of 7.9 yards to go
ave. gain of 3.1 yards
conversions--5/15 (33%)
Playaction Passing
3/6 for 30 yards
​

holy mother of god! we passed more than we ran!!!! nah, couldn't possibly have anything to do with us consistantly needed 6+ yrds for a first down...

yep, a whirlwind of trickerfication! people whine and moan about execution. its kinda hard to execute when the opposing team knows exactly what you are going to do and exactly when you are going to do it. talent and execution don't mean squat when the other team is in your huddle. the most average of teams can keep pace with the best in such a situation.

The texas game involved much less scoring than we would like, but TS did not miss many WRs in that game. 2-3 times he nearly turned it over, but we did not see balls that flew past or below WRs like other games.

ts completed 5 passes against texas. of the other 6 that were incomplete, 3 were right to defenders.

He came out rusty against sdsu, threw crisp passes against an easier man coverage at Iowa, and was awful against PSU. This is why he's not a good QB yet, but it doesn't prove he has always sucked. He is not as bad as the game we saw saturday, however he probably also should be given a simpler reads until he improves. Instead, we will supply him with wide open WRs this weekend and no rush, since MSU stinks, and that should help a lot for him and Teddy :)I don't know that Texas has a better defense. I would say if we were in Austin, it would have been an easier way to judge. That crowd played a big factor. It's not an excuse we can claim later, but we would be offended if someone claimed the crowd didn't affect them as a visiting QB. Zwick was better vs. Texas, but he had two near INTs too (that Roy Hall pass was bad, the defender could have picked it off had he turned... and the Robinson (DE) bat down, I've seen their DE's come up with those INTs from highlight reels last year). Zwick seems to read defenses better, tho I'd say Troy read the Texas one fairly well. Tho somehow I think Zwick would have been able to solve the SDSU defense :)

if you can't find the holes in a zone, qb might not be a postion for you. if scum lite plays anything but zone against ts their defensive coaching staff should be strung out in the street, beaten, stabbed, shot, and possibly killed a little later on.

 

[jwinslow]

it's just now dawning on me that the dvd recording downloaded from BP's torrents misses some plays before two different FGs in the first half. There were probably some misses in there that I didn't get to see in the rewatching. Good rebuttals above.

 

[ysubuck]

Saturday is going to be very telling. I agree with martin that the word is out now that Smith struggles with his reads (if it wasn't out there before). MSU beat a Notre Dame team that is very well coached and does very well offensively. I know that not everyone is a believer in Notre Dame, but I am of the opinion that that team is extremely well coached and they are getting better every week.

MSU can score and if the offense that showed up on Saturday night shows up this Saturday then Ohio State is going to lose.

At some point it just has to wear on the defense. I think we saw that in 03 in the Michigan game. That defense bailed out games all year long and I think they were just whipped mentally (and physically) when the Michigan game rolled around. I'd hate to see that happen with this group, but it has to wear on a unit when they are asked to win games with virtually no support from the other two units (offense and special teams).

Hell, AJ Hawk made the comment, "It's our job to not let them score if the offense happens to turn it over." That's an admirable statement, but come on, they were at the 2 yard line!!! Is that what has been instilled into this team? I honestly don't hear the offensive players taking that kind of ownership, but maybe I've missed something.

 

[hoat]

I'm so aggravated with the lack if offense I won't even go into it. I have said since JT took over that he was too conservative for me, but his record is hard to argue with. So without getting on a soap box or anything, is it possible that maybe TS just had a bad night? Trying the glass is half full approach.