Game Thread Ohio 14, Ohio State 26 (Sept. 6)

[Best Buckeye]

FYI... OCBF is looking for some help on his drunken game observations blog.

:p

Don't laugh Shetuck , it actually happened like that .

The guy was simply estatic over getting to Dot the "I".
Caripes I'd give a nut to get to dot the I.

 

[NFBuck]

Overall I am confident the coaching staff and the seniors will have the team ready for USC. Should be a good game.

I think that is one very big thing to take away from this game. They surely know they underachieved and will come out hungrier than ever. The staff knows they underachieved and will push them harder than ever The negative press that they're are gonna be hearing all week will only fuel that fire. In the end, this may well be a blessing in disguise.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I have stayed away from posting all day to try and take the emotion out of it. Needless to say its almost 12 hours later and I have some major concerns. I'm sure these have all been beat to death by now but I have to vent a little.

Offense
-no seperation by WR's
-TB happy feet and throws late over the middle (I don't see any improvement over last year and thats 2 games now, not just today)
-OL has looked uninspired, slow and soft. Little to no push in short yardage situations.

Defense
-DT's no penetration and can't keep the OL off the LB's(again I see little to no improvement in this area from last year)
-Heacock still seems married to the rush 3 drop 8 soft zone game plan that worked so well against UF/UI/LSU
-Mobile QB's can find receivers let loose in the secondary far too often


There are a lot more but the main theme I saw today was a carbon copy of what has happened in the last 3 games we have lost. The only difference was that we just had so many more athletes than OU we managed to win.

I find myself oddly calm at this point heading into the USC game for one simple reason. This will all be over soon. Either we will know once and for all that this team is wildly overrated and see it humbled on the national stage one last time or we'll see them finally back up some of the talk and hype and take a step toward another NC run.

This week I don't want to hear sound bytes from players and coaches about seeng things they need to work on and making adjustments etc. Its the same old stuff thats been going on since Glendale. The book is out on this team. We see the same game plan now used against us that Urban Myer showed everyone back in Jan '07.

No more excuses, I don't want to hear about fat QB's, let downs, playing in hostile environments or injuries. Go earn some freakin respect against a quality opponent (even in defeat if it happens that way) or we OSU fans need to start coming to grips with the fact this team just isn't that good.

I have a strong suspicion that its the latter but I'd love to be wrong. We'll know for sure, one way or the other by this time next week.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

At least with a game like this we weed out some of the fair-weather fans.

Let's leave the weed stuff to PSU.

 

[Yertle]

No more excuses, I don't want to hear about fat QB's,

Karsatos?

Seriously, I agree 100%. Not much to write home about today, and it's getting increasingly frustrating to see our inability to make adjustments.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Seriously, I agree 100%. Not much to write home about today, and it's getting increasingly frustrating to see our inability to make adjustments.

agreed

I chalked the UF game up to JT and his staff just having a terrible time of it. Happens to the best of 'em.

I went with the Illinois loss being a case of the Zookers just playing their one perfect game a year and we were the unfortunate victims.

I rationalized the LSU loss by saying we simply weren't good enough and it was in their place.

No more excuses after USC one way or the other. If it goes the bad way I think people are justified in their questioning of our problems making adjustments. There is no coach in America I would want at OSU over JT but he isn't perfect and he, and his staff, are not beyond reproach. The adjustment issue will be a big one if we go down in our old familiar fashion.

 

[Yertle]

I feel like I'm having the same conversation with you in two threads now. Anyways, after reading your posts, I'm completely agreeing with you about everything except deminishing the positives from the past few years because of a few bad games. This coaching staff and players have improvements that need to be made. And they need to learn to make them faster - as in the middle of a game. But, it has still been a fantastic decade for Buckeye football.

 

[BengalsAndBucks]

Hmm, quick thoughts:

-This is OU's National Championship Game. They haven't played a game that means this much to them since the MAC championship in 2006, and they probably wont again anytime soon. Its not that surprising that they were able to get up for this game. Meanwhile, the Bucks have a showdown that will define AT LEAST this season looming a week from today. I'm not saying that the lack of fire is ok, I'm just saying its not that surprising.

-I felt like we got good pressure from the D-line today, but at the same time it almost seemed to be the wrong type of pressure. I felt like our DEs and our DTs were getting upfield to get pressure, and that was leaving so many of the wide open running lanes for the QBs to escape into. While I am glad to see any type of pressure from the DTs, I feel they need to work on making sure that pressure is not sacrificing contain, which I felt they did today. In that same vein, I am relatively suprised that we did not spy OU's QB at all, especially after one particularly long 3rd down conversion that looked pretty bad for us at the time. Their QBs had 65 of their 145 rushing yards, and none of them were designed runs.

-As easily as it seemed like they were moving the ball, we only gave up, in reality, 3 big drives- 11 play, 72 yard that ended in the TD in the 2nd, and two 9 play 40 yard drives that ended in punt/int.

-Boeckman still isnt checking down well. He locks on and there were multiple times that something hadn't developed yet and instead of checking down and finding someone else, he waited a second longer and then tried to force it into a bad/uncatchable situation. His progressions need to speed up a bit.

-Chekwa I thought did a great job of staying home on QB scrambles. Predictably, the guy who kept getting burned on them was the newest secondary member, Jermale. Musta been 5 times he left a guy wide open when the QB started to scramble and luckily for us most of those were drops.

Overall, a win is a win, but I hope the return of Beanie + DWash + USC atmosphere will have us more ready to play, cause if we come out like that again...

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

I have stayed away from posting all day to try and take the emotion out of it. Needless to say its almost 12 hours later and I have some major concerns. I'm sure these have all been beat to death by now but I have to vent a little.

Offense
-no seperation by WR's
-TB happy feet and throws late over the middle (I don't see any improvement over last year and thats 2 games now, not just today)
-OL has looked uninspired, slow and soft. Little to no push in short yardage situations.

Defense
-DT's no penetration and can't keep the OL off the LB's(again I see little to no improvement in this area from last year)
-Heacock still seems married to the rush 3 drop 8 soft zone game plan that worked so well against UF/UI/LSU
-Mobile QB's can find receivers let loose in the secondary far too often


There are a lot more but the main theme I saw today was a carbon copy of what has happened in the last 3 games we have lost. The only difference was that we just had so many more athletes than OU we managed to win.

I find myself oddly calm at this point heading into the USC game for one simple reason. This will all be over soon. Either we will know once and for all that this team is wildly overrated and see it humbled on the national stage one last time or we'll see them finally back up some of the talk and hype and take a step toward another NC run.

This week I don't want to hear sound bytes from players and coaches about seeng things they need to work on and making adjustments etc. Its the same old stuff thats been going on since Glendale. The book is out on this team. We see the same game plan now used against us that Urban Myer showed everyone back in Jan '07.

No more excuses, I don't want to hear about fat QB's, let downs, playing in hostile environments or injuries. Go earn some freakin respect against a quality opponent (even in defeat if it happens that way) or we OSU fans need to start coming to grips with the fact this team just isn't that good.

I have a strong suspicion that its the latter but I'd love to be wrong. We'll know for sure, one way or the other by this time next week.

Yeah. Pretty much hit it on the nail here. Personnel-wise the core of this team has been here for the past two to three seasons; no illusions about how much better we are going into this season. The key is Beanie. If we give Beanie the ball 35 times against SC, we win that game. It's as simple as that. Had we given Beanie that many carries against LSU we would be the defending champions. With that said I don't know if the coaches will do that, just like I don't know if the coaches will ever get away from the three man rush or the empty backfield look with Boeckman by his lonesome in third and short situations.

As many 1st round picks and seniors as we have on this defense, I envy Miami FL's defense. Their 'rebuilding' defense showed more intensity and strength at the point of attack, exerted more pressure, and made more sure tackles than our defense had in the past 3 seasons. That was a powerful UF offense they played in the swamp, one that most teams would not like to put their defense up against on primetime television, and Miami completely shut them down for three quarters.

 

[Jaxbuck]

-I felt like we got good pressure from the D-line today, but at the same time it almost seemed to be the wrong type of pressure. I felt like our DEs and our DTs were getting upfield to get pressure, and that was leaving so many of the wide open running lanes for the QBs to escape into. While I am glad to see any type of pressure from the DTs, I feel they need to work on making sure that pressure is not sacrificing contain, which I felt they did today. In that same vein, I am relatively suprised that we did not spy OU's QB at all, especially after one particularly long 3rd down conversion that looked pretty bad for us at the time. Their QBs had 65 of their 145 rushing yards, and none of them were designed runs.

If you watched the BTN practice special, Heacock was heard telling the Leo's to not get too deep on their pass rush. I'll be damned if that wasn't exactly what they were doing today. The ends were rushing too deep, the DT's couldn't collapse the center of the pocket and it left huge running lanes for the QB.

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

BTW, the radio announcers said Denlinger was taken out of the game. Let's hope that isn't too serious.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

Observations from A27 Seat 14 or thereabout

Just back to Northwest OH for a pitstop before heading back to Chicago on Sunday. Spent the last hour reading the ENTIRE thread.

My thoughts: This was a very frustrating game to watch as a Buckeye fan. I'm not sure who gets the credit for this. Maybe as I type it will come to me.

Let's start off with the Skull Session. During said session JT said something to the effect of, "and we'll need everyone of you helping to root us on to get by this Ohio U team today." When he said that I thought, good thing I just took a piss otherwise I'd have peed my shorts laughing... Foreshadow?

Good things:

Obviously the OU turnovers. Was nice to see the D getting a few like that. A number of them came at critical times, which also definitely helped.

Boom. Wow... he looked really good. Needs to get some more time under him, but he looked very good.

One word: Dane.

Todd, for the most part looked good too. I think that a few of the receivers who typically are sure-handed... weren't so sure-handed today. So, statistically he may not look as good as how he played. Also like how he tucked an ran a few times. Thought that I was watching CK there a couple of times. He does need to learn how to get down tho.

Number 82. I had a lot of time to think on the drive home about Ray. A part of me thinks that I'd think a lot more of him if he was given the opportunity to take #4 back and he responded with "Naw... I kind of like Ray Small #82." Meaning, his quotes from the last week (i.e. personal responsibility) combined with how he played today may make for a new Ray Small... a better Ray Small. Why look back. I say #82 looked real good on him today. Very happy for this young man.


Fullback play. I chuckled to myself the first time the team lined up in the I. And then I was reminded of why it works. Liked the play from the FB position today.

Penetration / QB pressure. We seemed to be so close to Boo so many times today. It did look like a lot of over pursuing. But, once he got free, he was just gone.

Which leads to the bad:

Reading the thread just brought back the feelings that I had sitting in the stands. Almost every play I remember feeling just as the rest of you did. Just yuck.

Say what you will, but one of the worst parts of today had nothing to do with what happened on the field... but what happened (or didn't) in the stands. It wasn't until sometime, maybe mid-way, in the third quarter before the crowd got into the game. It was completely apathetic. I've seen more spirit during a Catholic Mass given in Latin. There were a few third-downs where I felt bad standing up to make noise in fear that I'd block the people behind me. Blech... I stood up and had my 4-year old on my shoulders for most of 'em. WTF... How hard is it? Really? Go to game, get excited, show excitement, make noise. Wash, rinse, fucking repeat. Buckeye fans... be ashamed. That was disgraceful.

... what was I saying? Oh, yeah... over pursuit. Looked like we were going to get to Boo a few times today and just ran right by him or missed a tackle. I imagine that there were a few holding calls missed as well. Not going to know until I watch the game when I get home, but it did feel like they ran right past Boo a few times today.

Ability to effectively defend an unbalanced line. Was it me or did Frank have a few too many drinks when he was planning for this game. Seemed like the OU line was unbalanced quite a bit and we had some difficulty with that.

Missed tackles. It also felt like there were quite a few missed tackles during the first half. Felt better in the second half tho.

Am I supposed to be on the field confusion. There was more than one instance that we were having guys run on the field right as the play would start. Need to get that straight, sooner rather than later, eh?

All about heuristics... here's one: Taking a sure safety is better than a 0.333 probability of letting a fumble get recovered in the end zone. Kick the ball out the back next time. Glad it didn?t' make much difference, but watching that play felt like what I expect a vasectomy would feel like.

Ok, it must feel at this point like I'm knocking Todd... I'm not. I think that he played pretty good today, given the limited help he got from the Brians.

Play calling? Keeping cards close to chest is one thing, but it seemed like the play calling was overly basic? perhaps so basic that the O never got in sync? Don?t know.

O?line ? way too many times did an Attack Cat end up in our backfield wrapped around Mo or Brandon?

Also felt like there were a lot of non-calls out there. Like, did OU get hit with any holding calls?

I'm tired and heading to bed. I wish that I had more positives to go with the negatives right now... but I'm really tired. I'm just glad that we got the win. Time to move on and focus for SC.

The team will have to play much better next weekend. I?m confident that they?ll be able to get it done next week. I?m sure that the coaches have a lot of teaching opportunities based on today?s game.

... ok, and all that said, I've not had a chance to see the game on the DVR yet so my opinions may change when I actually watch it from a better vantage point, and with the ability to rewind. But for now, and until I get home to Chicagoland this is the best I can offer.

Best to all!

 

[Kurt Sexington]

Rough game. I was gone for most of the day and just caught the highlights and yeah, it seemed pretty ugly. OSU has some stuff to fix coming into the game vs. USC for sure. the O Line play has really been sub par for what OSU is capable of and the defense just isnt playing up to its capabilities.
That said, OSU seems to have their mind in the right place. Hartline called the win "pathetic" which was not a slight to OU but rather a blunt statement to the fact that the Buckeyes just didnt play a good game. As a SC fan I certainly hope OSU continues to play poorly when they visit us next week () but I know this team is doign some serious oul searching right now and is ready to put in some time and effort this week to make sure they have their A game ready for Los Angeles.

 

[BUCKYLE]

Just back to Northwest OH for a pitstop before heading back to Chicago on Sunday. Spent the last hour reading the ENTIRE thread.

My thoughts: This was a very frustrating game to watch as a Buckeye fan. I'm not sure who gets the credit for this. Maybe as I type it will come to me.

Let's start off with the Skull Session. During said session JT said something to the effect of, "and we'll need everyone of you helping to root us on to get by this Ohio U team today." When he said that I thought, good thing I just took a piss otherwise I'd have peed my shorts laughing... Foreshadow?

Good things:

Obviously the OU turnovers. Was nice to see the D getting a few like that. A number of them came at critical times, which also definitely helped.

Boom. Wow... he looked really good. Needs to get some more time under him, but he looked very good.

One word: Dane.

Todd, for the most part looked good too. I think that a few of the receivers who typically are sure-handed... weren't so sure-handed today. So, statistically he may not look as good as how he played. Also like how he tucked an ran a few times. Thought that I was watching CK there a couple of times. He does need to learn how to get down tho.

Number 82. I had a lot of time to think on the drive home about Ray. A part of me thinks that I'd think a lot more of him if he was given the opportunity to take #4 back and he responded with "Naw... I kind of like Ray Small #82." Meaning, his quotes from the last week (i.e. personal responsibility) combined with how he played today may make for a new Ray Small... a better Ray Small. Why look back. I say #82 looked real good on him today. Very happy for this young man.


Fullback play. I chuckled to myself the first time the team lined up in the I. And then I was reminded of why it works. Liked the play from the FB position today.

Penetration / QB pressure. We seemed to be so close to Boo so many times today. It did look like a lot of over pursuing. But, once he got free, he was just gone.

Which leads to the bad:

Reading the thread just brought back the feelings that I had sitting in the stands. Almost every play I remember feeling just as the rest of you did. Just yuck.

Say what you will, but one of the worst parts of today had nothing to do with what happened on the field... but what happened (or didn't) in the stands. It wasn't until sometime, maybe mid-way, in the third quarter before the crowd got into the game. It was completely apathetic. I've seen more spirit during a Catholic Mass given in Latin. There were a few third-downs where I felt bad standing up to make noise in fear that I'd block the people behind me. Blech... I stood up and had my 4-year old on my shoulders for most of 'em. WTF... How hard is it? Really? Go to game, get excited, show excitement, make noise. Wash, rinse, fucking repeat. Buckeye fans... be ashamed. That was disgraceful.

... what was I saying? Oh, yeah... over pursuit. Looked like we were going to get to Boo a few times today and just ran right by him or missed a tackle. I imagine that there were a few holding calls missed as well. Not going to know until I watch the game when I get home, but it did feel like they ran right past Boo a few times today.

Ability to effectively defend an unbalanced line. Was it me or did Frank have a few too many drinks when he was planning for this game. Seemed like the OU line was unbalanced quite a bit and we had some difficulty with that.

Missed tackles. It also felt like there were quite a few missed tackles during the first half. Felt better in the second half tho.

Am I supposed to be on the field confusion. There was more than one instance that we were having guys run on the field right as the play would start. Need to get that straight, sooner rather than later, eh?

All about heuristics... here's one: Taking a sure safety is better than a 0.333 probability of letting a fumble get recovered in the end zone. Kick the ball out the back next time. Glad it didn?t' make much difference, but watching that play felt like what I expect a vasectomy would feel like.

Ok, it must feel at this point like I'm knocking Todd... I'm not. I think that he played pretty good today, given the limited help he got from the Brians.

Play calling? Keeping cards close to chest is one thing, but it seemed like the play calling was overly basic? perhaps so basic that the O never got in sync? Don?t know.

O?line ? way too many times did an Attack Cat end up in our backfield wrapped around Mo or Brandon?

Also felt like there were a lot of non-calls out there. Like, did OU get hit with any holding calls?

I'm tired and heading to bed. I wish that I had more positives to go with the negatives right now... but I'm really tired. I'm just glad that we got the win. Time to move on and focus for SC.

The team will have to play much better next weekend. I?m confident that they?ll be able to get it done next week. I?m sure that the coaches have a lot of teaching opportunities based on today?s game.

... ok, and all that said, I've not had a chance to see the game on the DVR yet so my opinions may change when I actually watch it from a better vantage point, and with the ability to rewind. But for now, and until I get home to Chicagoland this is the best I can offer.

Best to all!

 

[BrutusBobcat]

A few steps back from the ledge

I've not sat down and watched a replay, so some of these thoughts may change, but here's what I'm coming away with:

- Credit OU a bit. The Bobcat wide receivers did a nice job making catches and running routes. Solich had a solid game plan, and his players executed well most of the afternoon.

- Lay off the "we can't stop mobile QBs" talk. No one can. That's why we're all excited about Pryor and why three of the best college QBs of this decade are named Smith, Young and Tebow. Right now, having a good mobile QB falls under what racing legend Marc Donohue called the "unfair advantage".

- This team will sink or swim on line play, period. Today the OL and DL were nothing special. They need to be special in seven days in LA.

- Sanchez isn't mobile. I feel better already.

- You're backed up on your own goal line. Why are you in the shotgun? Yeah, I know. No one likes an X-Box coach. Still...I think we won't see that next week.

- Just like in 2002, when the main tailback is down, this offense sputters. Beanie creates plays whether he has the ball or not. It's time-worn, fundamental football. Force the D to bring the safeties up, putting eight men in the box, then go up top to your big play receivers.

- The only way Pryor plays against USC is if we're up by 4 TDs with two minutes to go. Don't get me wrong, the kid is going to be great and looks like he's getting up to speed, it's just that the way he's been used so far doesn't lead me to believe that he's being prepared for that game. If he sees the field with the game in doubt, I'll fall over with shock.

- Ray Small makes every punt exciting. He knows that there's a fair catch rule in football; he just don't care.

- Turnovers change football games. The plays that locked this game up were turnovers. The play that could have cost the game was a turnover. I like the ball hungry nature of this defense, and if that keeps up, it's the most important improvement we'll see over last year.

- I am sick and tired of seeing Ryan Pretorius on the field. Enough. Quit trying to help the guy win a Groza and set a D1A scoring record. He can make his points one at a time like everybody else.

- Then again, it is great to know that if a game comes down to needing a 50+ yard FG with time expiring that he's had some practice.

- People have criticized the red zone offense. I've not noticed one at all. What game are you watching?

- If this OU team can cut down on the turnovers and show up like this every week, they're going to put the hurt on some teams in the MAC.