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

Kurt Sexington;1252106; said:
As a USC fan, I certainly I don't want to come over here and blow USC on a Buckeyes board but one think I will say is that OSU needs to start scheduling its OOC games a lot more like SC, period. One reason why USC gets fluffed by the media, especially early in the year, is that they schedule major conference teams that are at least popularly PERCEIVED to be either good or not that bad and then often wins. This accomplishes several aims, namely making USC's opening wins look better and avoiding any real criticisms if they don,t really blow out their opponent.
Although OSU has been scheduling some real tough opponents of late, they sill tend to schedule to Youngtown State, Ohio combo and other MAC level teams to open up the schedule. Although most CFB teams do this, I just dont think it's productive. You need to start doing what USC does and in effect game the system by choosing OOC games that will likely appear tougher than they actually are and be winnable both at home and on the road. It's a win win. Your team plays better opponents, your wins are seen as more valuable and the fans get behind the team way earlier.

Again, I hope this doesnt come off as blatant worship of SC. There is mnay things SC does that I'm not a huge fan of and its conference play is, basically every year, annoyingly mediocre. One place they do excel though is in OOC scheduling and OOC play and I think OSU could have the same success and avoid some of the annoyances of outcomes like the OU game by doing likewise.

When the schedules for the last few years were made, the Big Ten was regarded as a tough ass conference.
 
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SC deserves much praise for their OOC scheduling. However, I think we'd hear more derision of UVA if they were humiliated by OSU instead.

The biggest reason SC is praised across the board is their bowl performance. If they were getting pummeled by SEC teams, you'd hear tons of Pac-10 bashing, etc. Instead, they take care of business and no one cares about the conference.
 
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osugrad21;1252068; said:
Ok, maybe there is a little extra emphasis on that...but are you suggesting that was a full-blown gameplan? The route combos were basic, the running game was 100% basic and the defense was just playing football.

Sorry, but I'm not buying it. I'm not saying there will be a brand new offensive scheme next week....but I can guarantee you there will be much more planning and exploitation.

JT fought with one arm behind his back yesterday.


I will defer to your insight but its hard for me to grasp how they can't make some of these adjustments and do some exploiting in game against a very average team when they absolutely would have benefitted from it.

I guess I'm saying you may go in with the intention of fighting with only one arm but once you start getting your ass kicked you are going to pull that second arm into it, if you can. I would like to think survival is too strong an instinct to supress in the heat of battle.
 
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Jaxbuck;1252125; said:
I guess I'm saying you may go in with the intention of fighting with only one arm but once you start getting your ass kicked you are going to pull that second arm into it, if you can. I would like to think survival is too strong an instinct to supress in the heat of battle.

I thought he did pull out the second arm in the second half...at least for a few jabs. Dunno. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I was never worried at all during the game...

Add to a vanilla plan the fact that many guys had horrible days...Hartline & Robiskie cost the offense arguably 17 points, Pretorius usually makes that FG and XP in his sleep, half of the OL was plain not interested in the first half, the playcalling for Pryor's snaps was awful, and the screen game into cover 2 and cover 1 looks was like pissing in the wind.

I just don't and can't believe this was a 100% effort from the staff.
 
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JCOSU86;1252221; said:
As I have said since 2001: Tressel coached teams will beat the Ohios of the world 14-3. They will beat Michigan 14-3.

Can you live with that?

Word.

I've said it since I was old enough to talk: I would like to beat every team we play, but I NEED to beat Michigan. I've also said "Fuck Michigan". I was a potty mouthed child. Some things never change.
 
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Maybe this whole discussion / speculation about the length of JT's sleeves and the depth of his playbook should get split off the OU game thread...

I've never coached a down of football, but it seems to me that a plan is only as good as a team's ability to successfully execute it when it matters - in a real game, against a quality opponent, in a competitive atmosphere.

And that is a concern to me because even if the playbook is as deep and varied as we keep hearing it is, apparently huge sections of it aren't seeing the light of day in game situations. And if the squad's ability to translate at least SOME of the things they've been experimenting with in practice to game situations, then I'd wonder why. I'd rather have some measure of confidence that my team can execute than count on my opponent making a mistake because I've been able to use the element of surprise. In other words, I'd rather have a group that can execute difficult plays consistently when it matters, than try and catch the other guy off guard.

For example, we heard last year that we were saving things up for TSUN, but when we didn't see many different looks in the game, we rationalized it away by saying that the gameday conditions made opening up the playbook unecessarily risky. And the same thing for LSU. We went into saying that it's a good thing that we were able to get past TSUN without showing much because now LSU won't know what to expect when we really open up our playbook. So what did they do? They sold out to stop the run and challenged us to beat them through the air. Same thing Illinois did last year. Same thing OU did yesterday (obviously with only limited success).

So now I'm wondering if we're basically saying the same thing: "We'll be good against SC because PfC won't have any film on us that will be worth anything because we're going to use parts of our playbook that nobody's seen yet."

Do I think JT has plays up his sleeves that nobody has seen yet? YES.

Do I think JT is going to try and use those play against SC? YES.

How confident am I that the team will be able to execute those plays successfully? I guess as confident as I was going into any other game over the last few years... all of the ones that we've won, and those few that we've lost.

Do I think the element of surprise gives us an advantage? YES.

Would I trade away real time / live game experience to have the element of surprise? NO.

Stack all of those responses up and, ultimately, the question on my mind is this: Exactly how much confidence does JT have in his squad if he's not willing to let them pull the trigger on some of these non-vanilla plays?

We could say it's very high because he trusts them enough to be able to execute successfully when it really matters... against worthy opponents in the big games. But, to me, that seems like a risky strategy... and not certainly not a winning one when it came to taking all the marbles that last few years.

I wouldn't trade JT away for anything or anyone. I think what matters, at the end of the day is JT's win-loss record and the way he is teaching and developing the young men that come to learn from him; and there's nobody who can shake a stick at those qualities. And I'm not trying to criticize him or pick on his thinking or playcalling because he's shown himself to be a master strategist and a seasoned playcaller.

All I'm trying to do is to get my own head straight when it comes to my own expectations (albeit completely irrelevant ones) about our gameplans and how they are (or aren't) expanded and adapted as the season progresses.
 
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osugrad21;1252132; said:
I thought he did pull out the second arm in the second half...at least for a few jabs. Dunno. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I was never worried at all during the game...

Add to a vanilla plan the fact that many guys had horrible days...Hartline & Robiskie cost the offense arguably 17 points, Pretorius usually makes that FG and XP in his sleep, half of the OL was plain not interested in the first half, the playcalling for Pryor's snaps was awful, and the screen game into cover 2 and cover 1 looks was like [censored]ing in the wind.

I just don't and can't believe this was a 100% effort from the staff.

Agreed.

For me this was a tale of two halves, the first half was slow, sluggish, and sad. However, tOSU could have had the lead at half, but Pretorius uncharateristically hooks his FG attempt wide left. The second half OU scored ZERO points offensively. If the line of scrimmage on the bad snap was 5 or ten yards up field, it is not a TD for OU and they do not have the lead into the 4th which so many people (the media) want to highlight. The team rolled off 20 unanswered points in the second half. Alot has been made of this game, and people can interpret it however they like.
 
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Jaxbuck;1252125; said:
I will defer to your insight but its hard for me to grasp how they can't make some of these adjustments and do some exploiting in game against a very average team when they absolutely would have benefitted from it.

I guess I'm saying you may go in with the intention of fighting with only one arm but once you start getting your ass kicked you are going to pull that second arm into it, if you can. I would like to think survival is too strong an instinct to supress in the heat of battle.

Jax you make some really good points, but I think I saw this game like Grad21 saw it. Fans panic, good coaches don't. I don't think that Tressel felt the game was getting out of reach. After the fumble in the end zone for a score, he did open up the offense a little more. Suddenly, we were averaging twice as much yardage per down. If you look at the post-game comments, even with the game tight before Small's TD, he was thinking about putting Pryor in so that he could feel some pressure.

This coach coaches the season. Pehaps a more likely explanation was that Tressel was holding back and never felt that yesterday's game was not in doubt. Ever.
 
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Not much to say about the game, except it was a poor showing from top to bottom. It wouldn't surprise me if I heard the water boys were handing out cups of dirt. Give credit to OU, they played their hearts out, and managed to stay fundamentally sound for most of the game. Their contain on D was impressive. They had the benefit of having nothing to lose (well, except the game). If they had pulled out a win, it would have been the biggest in school history, at least for people living today.

The lack of separation by WRs is becoming a glaring weakness. Hopefully, it had more to do with play calling than talent. Both Brians had an off day. TB was not as accurate as he was last week, but they both dropped balls that were extremely catchable.

I'm in agreement with all who questioned the empty backfield look on 3rd and longs. If I'm an opposing DC, I'm going to call dime press coverage, and send a blitzer from the blind side every time. TB needs a RB to pick up a block.

The positives:

I love the passion that Ray Small is showing this season. He's giving maximum effort on every play, and it paid off big time yesterday.

Turnovers in bunches. MJ's INT was a thing of beauty. He recognized the route, put himself in a position to make a play, and kept his eye on the QB. A pro play. Anderson Russell held on to a ball! That had to feel good for him.

The team responded when they needed to. It took way to long, but when they decided to show up, the difference was obvious.

All things considered, there was one factor that had a direct impact on the ugliness of the game: a certain one of my friends was at the 'Shoe. The last time he saw a game in person was SDSU 03, so he is now officially a jinx. I have revoked his Columbus priveleges.

Seriously though, the game now only exists on stat sheets and film. The team knows it's better than that, and got a good reminder that you have to play the game on the field. If we beat USC, no one will ever mention this game again. This should be the best week of practice thus far. They have plenty to work on, you don't improve without making mistakes. If they were, in fact, looking ahead to next week, they are focused on the present now. We will see the real Buckeyes on the field in LA. I'm just glad we don't have to play E. Carolina!
 
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FWBuckeye;1251487; said:
hopefully they will be 1-2 after next week.

Michigan losing to Notre Dame hurts the entire Big Ten, and beating a 4-7 scUM team in November won't do anything for us, either. I want scUM to win a few games, especially OOC, and fill themselves with false hopes coming into THE GAME.

Besides, I hated Charlie Weis before I hated Dickrod. :wink2:
 
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jmorbitz;1252227; said:
Agreed.

For me this was a tale of two halves, the first half was slow, sluggish, and sad. However, tOSU could have had the lead at half, but Pretorius uncharateristically hooks his FG attempt wide left. The second half OU scored ZERO points offensively. If the line of scrimmage on the bad snap was 5 or ten yards up field, it is not a TD for OU and they do not have the lead into the 4th which so many people (the media) want to highlight. The team rolled off 20 unanswered points in the second half. Alot has been made of this game, and people can interpret it however they like.

They shouldn't have attempted that FG. It was well in excess of 50 yards, into the wind too...

He has the leg for it, but in that situation and given the wind, he was going to try to kick the shit out of it, which he did (it would have been good from 65), but he hooked it because he tried to kick it too far.....
 
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CriticalSteve;1252113; said:
Beanie%20Sidelined.jpg
Defense did their part, Offense and Place Kicking?


In what looked like a loss, Ohio State pulled out a win against a weak opponent in Ohio University this weekend with decent defensive play and five take-aways.
Read More..

You know what else I saw?

I saw Beanie going up and down the sideline and he looked to be moving pretty damned well....
 
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