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Observations from the barcalounger

Oh8ch

Cognoscente of Omphaloskepsis
Staff member
Just some pent up ramblings on the NC St game -

When you look at the final score 22-14 is not terribly impressive. But another way to look at it is that with just over 14 minutes left in the game OSU scored for the SIXTH time. NC St had scored only ONCE. When that happens you would expect to be blowing somebody out. Gotta give JT credit for finding a way to take a game like that down to an onside kick with a minute and a half remaining.

On that same theme, we are always screaming about the ‘prevent’ Defense that never seems to prevent anything. But NC State’s last drive – although successful – took 12 snaps and almost three minutes. Each second was important in a game where OSU barely ran out the clock before having to execute the most important play in football – where a block could have changed the outcome of the game.

I have been defending Dustin Fox against his detractor for the past two years and still think he is a very fine CB. But I gotta admit that the secondary wasn’t missing anything on Saturday. He could have a hard time getting his job back when the time comes.

There is a thread on BN talking about how the OL was opening holes on Saturday and that Ross couldn’t find them. This is the first time I have tried to watch a replay of the game this year and I have made it through the running plays from the first half in slow-mo. I just don’t see it. Any holes were short lived and on many plays there was an NC St Defender in the backfield almost as Ross was getting the ball. Granted, a great RB should have dodged those defenders once in a while. A great RB should have bounced it outside now and then. And a great RB would have hit those holes that were there before they closed. Ross is not a great RB and nobody is trying to make that case. But credit for his performance has to be shared with the OL and the coaches who designed and called those plays.

That said, I know TA McLendon. TA McLendon is a friend of mine. And Lydell Ross is no TA McLendon. That guy didn’t need holes. He has speed, he can find holes if they are there and create them if they are not, and if he wants to get one more yard he is going to get it no matter who is hanging on to him. If that was the ‘gimpy’ version I don’t want to play him at full strength. If he wasn’t hurting what was Amato thinking by not playing him every down? Injuries may force him to stay at NC St for a fourth year and if that happens watch for the Wolfpack to finally deliver on their promise next season. They only start 6 seniors.

Kudos to Zwick. He is not the QB we want him to be. He is not the QB he is going to be. But Saturday he was the QB we needed him to be. I was grateful that Davis struggled as much as he did to help keep the heat off Justin. It clearly showed how much of a factor experience can be. I don’t know what he faces in practice, but that was a tough – and experienced – Defense. With all the blitzing going on he did a fine job of not forcing a pass into coverage.

This may also be the best Troy Smith has looked all season (sorry – just had to say that). But he is still one snap from being the starter. Like Justin he needs some reps and some time.

I am hearing a lot of folks saying that we absolutely HAVE to play better than this or the season will go in the toilet when we hit the meat of the Big Ten. Too bad those folks just started following college football. This team looks more like the 2002 team every week.

As for 137 yards total offense – the lowest total in at least the past four years – we should have seen it coming. Under Tressel’s philosophy, every time Nuge kicked a FG the more the O was going to button it up. There is always another gear in JT’s O, but you aren’t going to see it until it is needed (witness that OSU has scored TDs in 6 of 7 OT possessions).

If I were a Rogaine salesman I would plan trips to the home cities of each of our opponents the week after we play. These folks have to be pulling their hair out. Not only do we win, but week after week we leave teams feeling that they were the better team and would have won if only….. Can you imagine the frustration level of the NC St players and fans? They went three OTs last season at our house. Now they hold us to 137 yards and commit all those turnovers and penalties. Clearly they were the superior team, right? Ain’t it great to be a Buckeye?

Anther interesting tidbit about being out-gained 256 to 137. We still managed to hold the ball for at least 8 minutes in every quarter – winning the TOP battle by over 9 minutes. (Compare this to the previous week when Marshall won that same battle by over 11 minutes.)

Kudos to the crowd. The more FGs Nugent kicked the more clearly you could hear “Nuuuuuge” on TV. And late in the game I distinctly heard a “Let’s Go Bucks” chant. Not bad for an environment NC St fans warned us would put the noise level in the shoe to shame.
 
I agree with the OL problems in the first half. I rewatched many times and lets just say the C and both Guards did not have their finest half of football.

The second half was more of the sputtering we saw all of 2003, missed block..then next play good blocks back misses hole...next play obvious play call 14 guys waiting in hole...QB overthrows wide open reciever, defense wont back off...punt.
 
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On TA, I don't think he's even the best RB on the team. Bobbie Washington really impressed me before he went out with the injury. It's hard to believe that Miami screwed with him and basically ran him off.
 
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Great observation Oh8ch:

As for 137 yards total offense – the lowest total in at least the past four years – we should have seen it coming. Under Tressel’s philosophy, every time Nuge kicked a FG the more the O was going to button it up. There is always another gear in JT’s O, but you aren’t going to see it until it is needed (witness that OSU has scored TDs in 6 of 7 OT possessions).

That bears repeating

... There is always another gear in JT’s O ...

I have been amazed this week by all of the analysts and fans crying about our lack of offensive yards against NCState. Did any of you watch the game? It was never in doubt, if the game actually got close JT would have opened up and gotten just enough points to put it away. Why try to force unneeded points when you are almost guaranteed to add 3 to a comfortable (in Tressle-ball) lead?

Fortunately games are still won by scoring more points than your opponent not by having better looking game stats.

NikT
 
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137 yards of total offense is a misleading stat, IMO. It looks horrible on paper, but look at where the offense was starting from. I believe that the average starting field position for the offense was the Buckeye 49. That's pretty good field position and, conversely, isn't going to translate into a ton of yards.

Granted if they had scored touchdowns on those possessions it would have been more yards, but they did score on their possessions. Just some food for thought.
 
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Oh8ch said:
I have been defending Dustin Fox against his detractor for the past two years and still think he is a very fine CB. But I gotta admit that the secondary wasn’t missing anything on Saturday. He could have a hard time getting his job back when the time comes.

That's crazy talk. Even if Youboty were clearly better, and I don't think anyone other than KillerNut would say that, no way a senior captain who has started as many games as Fox has doesn't get his job back, not to mention he's the best tackler we have at corner.
 
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There is just one thing that bothers me about the Offence! With the change the BCS has made in taking out the SOS factor in the equation, you now need to have a bigger margin of victory to sastisfy the human element in the voting for the BCS to make it to the title game, the comment (we have another gear for the offence) that gear needs to be used more frequently. imo.
 
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That's crazy talk. Even if Youboty were clearly better, and I don't think anyone other than KillerNut would say that, no way a senior captain who has started as many games as Fox has doesn't get his job back, not to mention he's the best tackler we have at corner.
I agree with Nutty on this one, Fox is our best corner...period....end of discussion.....when he is healthy, he will be the starter, 30 straight games says it all.


Anther interesting tidbit about being out-gained 256 to 137. We still managed to hold the ball for at least 8 minutes in every quarter – winning the TOP battle by over 9 minutes. (Compare this to the previous week when Marshall won that same battle by over 11 minutes.)
good point....I agree....we have to win the time of possesion war.
 
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Fortunately games are still won by scoring more points than your opponent not by having better looking game stats.

NikT[/QUOTE]


I've long thought that many (read that media) were obsessed with stats. Five hundred yards doesn't mean anything if you lose. Maybe a better stat would be points per hundred yards? Might be a better measure of productivity.
 
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BuckeyeBlitz04 said:
had a starting field position of like there own 25. When ours was on their 40. Not much room to go when we start out like that due to our defense!
Excellent point, which Mili pointed out in another thread. As he put it, I'd take a 3 yard TD drive over an 80 yard drive any day of the week.

Another thing - I was going to give this another game or two before bringing it up, but I might as well make the "detractors" aware of this. Killernut, and other Fox detractors, feel he is not good in coverage. I challenge you so-called detractors to watch the boundary corner in the next couple of games, and see if you still feel Fox can't cover, or if the scheme calls for the loose coverage. If Youbouty (or Underwood, whoever plays the boundary) gives up the same type of receptions as Fox, then maybe that will earn Fox more respect, while proving that the scheme is actually the root cause of those receptions typically given up by Fox.
 
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That's crazy talk. Even if Youboty were clearly better, and I don't think anyone other than KillerNut would say that, no way a senior captain who has started as many games as Fox has doesn't get his job back, not to mention he's the best tackler we have at corner.
Ashton's INT was a combination a poorly thrown ball due to pressure, a receiver falling down, and adequate coverage. I would guarantee you Fox or pretty much any other of tOSU's DBs would have made that pick. Ashton played well, but Fox's run support was missed early on. I do feel comfortable with AY out there, but given the choice, I would want Fox.
 
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BuckNutty said:
That's crazy talk. Even if Youboty were clearly better, and I don't think anyone other than KillerNut would say that, no way a senior captain who has started as many games as Fox has doesn't get his job back, not to mention he's the best tackler we have at corner.

Exactly. If Tressel starts Ross at RB because he's a senior despite his performances, then you can bet the farm that he'll start Fox again once he returns.
 
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What a beautiful game plan

The game plan against NC State was beautiful. We played our pace of football and took the home crowd out of the game. We won the turnover battle big time plus the time of possesion and field position battles as well. Nobody got hurt. The game was never in doubt. The performance was complete and total domination. We ran a bunch of ugly plays but they were safe, ugly plays. A lot of people would like us to have run to the outside more but remember we gave up a touchdown on a sweep against Marshall. The fumble in this game took 3 minutes to convert. Not only do I like beating NC State I like watching it done with Tresselball.

There were a lot more positives than negatives:
QB play - Zwick proved he could take a hit
Pass Defense - awsome
Pressure - good
Run D - take away a 41 yard run and Mclendon has is very ineffective.
Punter - good - and we all breath a sigh of relief

These are all improvements over last week. I am very, very happy with the game.

Smithlabs
 
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