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Game Thread Ohio State 6, Penn State 13 (Oct. 25)

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I was pleased with the pressure the D-line was able to get last night. Thaddeus Gibson is especially coming along.

I was not pleased that we weren't able to run the ball with Chris Wells. I'm no expert on O-line play, so I'll leave it to those people to discuss how they did. I think that the presence of Pryor hurts the ability of Wells to be effective because it is leading to predictable "safe" play calls and giving the opponent almost no reason to respect the threat of the pass. Against lesser teams, Beanie is so good that he can overcome those disadvantages. Against a team like Penn State that's a different story though. It's frustrating at times, but if this arrangement is what the coaches have determined is best for the program into the coming years, then so be it.

Pryor's mistake leading to the fumble was obviously the play of the game and I'm sure there are some idiots out there bashing the kid and bashing the coaches over it. There's no doubting it was a bad mistake, and I'm sure Pryor's getting an earful over it from the appropriate authority. If anybody thought though that they were going to start a true freshman QB at this level and not have it cost them a game or two because of mistakes, then they are fools and have never really paid that much attention to football in the first place. It sucks that that's the way it is, because as fans we want them to win every time out there. It's an opportunity for him to learn and become a little wiser, and hopefully he takes it and it pays dividends for this team down the road.

I too thought it was stupid for anybody to talk about sneaking back into the NC picture. Even before last night there was no way that was going to happen. I did have my sights set on Pasadena, and without looking at the scenarios, it seems like that may be a bit of a longshot and that is a bit disappointing.
 
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Buck Kid 66;1306605; said:
What games are u watching.

Did you watch the Ohio game? Did you watch the USC game? Did you watch the Troy game? Did you watch the Minnesota game? How about the Wisconsin game? The Purdue game? You don't think the DL has not only been a disappointment, overall this season, but likely regressed? I'm not specifically going to name names here, and I realize Vern Gholston is gone, but the DL unit has consistently been pushed around by subpar OL talent this year.

Buck Kid 66;1306605; said:
If u don't think that unit is getting better your crazy. They are young and some guys were learning new positions and getting flop around. From DE to DT and from DT to DE.

Well, certainly over the past two weeks we've seen improvement along the DL. The point, unfortunately, is that they're just now getting back to the level of play we saw from them LAST season. That isn't considered improvement, that, at best, should be considered finally returning to the status quo.

Buck Kid 66;1306605; said:
Get off the cliff. U were living in the preseason hype. Truth is we had problems coming in to this year.

Maybe you're using a bit of hyperbole here, but I'm not "on a cliff." I'm being realistic. And realistically we returned most of a team that played in a NC game last year, including two guys (and maybe three) that would have been first round NFL draft picks, as well as possibly the leading pre-season Heisman contender. Realistically, almost all of us expected a Big Ten championship at the very least. Realistically, we thought we had an OL that could hold it's own against anyone in the country, let alone anyone in the Big Ten (or the MAC, for that matter). Realistically, I hope, given all I've just recounted, we continue to have similar expectations in similar off-seasons, b/c if we don't, we're not really one of the top 5 programs in the country. I don't think those expectations were misplaced, and that is why I feel this team has drastically underperformed this season.

Now, I don't want to be seen as the hopelessly negative guy, so let me offer a few positives I'm seeing right now:

1) Thad Gibson is becoming a star before our eyes. He has been the lone, truly bright spot along the DL this season. He was consistently in the backfield causing problems last night. Despite the loss, from here on out, I think we'll all be able to point to this game as the game in which the tides of improvement and potential we've seen in Thad this year finally broke the flood walls.

2) This season has been a GREAT experience for our young talent, particularly our freshman class. I remember watching the post-game coverage of the 1997 loss to Penn State, during which an announcer recounted a conversation he'd had with Curtis Enis. Enis told him that during the previous year's blowout loss to OSU, OSU players had been telling him he should have gone to OSU, and that it was a mistake to have signed on with a Big Ten rival. I hope that TP has a similar experience, and uses this loss as motivation for the next 2-3 years. But the experience this freshman class has gained from this season does not stop with TP; Posey, Thomas, Williams, Brewster, Shuggarts, Adams, and others have all gotten real time experience that will likely serve them--and the program--well in the future.

3) Cam Heyward is beginning to look like what we'd expected of him after his great freshman campaign last season. That is very uplifting, because I was starting to have my doubts a few weeks ago.

4) Thomas looks like he's going to be the the solution to our kick and punt returning woes. Thank god.

5) Ross Homan is going to be a stud in a year's time. I'm feeling confident about this.
 
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sepia5;1306641; said:
Did you watch the Ohio game? Did you watch the USC game? Did you watch the Troy game? Did you watch the Minnesota game? How about the Wisconsin game? The Purdue game? You don't think the DL has not only been a disappointment, overall this season, but likely regressed? I'm not specifically going to name names here, and I realize Vern Gholston is gone, but the DL unit has consistently been pushed around by subpar OL talent this year.



Well, certainly over the past two weeks we've seen improvement along the DL. The point, unfortunately, is that they're just now getting back to the level of play we saw from them LAST season. That isn't considered improvement, that, at best, should be considered finally returning to the status quo.



Maybe you're using a bit of hyperbole here, but I'm not "on a cliff." I'm being realistic. And realistically we returned most of a team that played for a NC game last year, including two guys (and maybe three) that would have been first round NFL draft picks, as well as possibly the leading pre-season Heisman contender. Realistically, almost all of us expected a Big Ten championship at the very least. Realistically, we thought we had an OL that could hold it's own against anyone in the country, let alone anyone in the Big Ten (or the MAC, for that matter). Realistically, I hope, given all I've just recounted, we continue to have similar expectations in similar off-seasons, b/c if we don't, we're not really one of the top 5 programs in the country. I don't think those expectations were misplaced, and that is why I feel this team has drastically underperformed this season.

Now, I don't want to be seen as the hopelessly negative guy, so let me offer a few positives I'm seeing right now:

1) Thad Gibson is becoming a star before our eyes. He has been the lone, truly bright spot along the DL this season. He was consistently in the backfield causing problems last night. Despite the loss, from here on out, I think we'll all be able to point to this game as the game in which the tides of improvement and potential we've seen in Thad this year finally broke the flood walls.

2) This season has been a GREAT experience for our young talent, particularly our freshman class. I remember watching the post-game coverage of the 1997 loss to Penn State, during which an announcer recounted a conversation he'd had with Curtis Enis. Enis told him that during the previous year's blowout loss to OSU, OSU players had been telling him he should have gone to OSU, and that it was a mistake to have signed on with a Big Ten rival. I hope that TP has a similar experience, and uses this loss as motivation for the next 2-3 years. But the experience this freshman class has gained from this season does not stop with TP; Posey, Thomas, Williams, Brewster, Shuggarts, Adams, and others have all gotten real time experience that will likely serve them--and the program--well in the future.

3) Cam Heyward is beginning to look like what we'd expected of him after his great freshman campaign last season. That is very uplifting, because I was starting to have my doubts a few weeks ago.

4) Thomas looks like he's going to be the the solution to our kick and punt returning woes. Thank god.

5) Ross Homan is going to be a stud in a year's time. I'm feeling confident about this.

great post. I agree with it all and onething that got me thinking during the game was the middle of the D-LINE against the run was a no show. PSU could have run up the middle all day long and I still can't believe that they didn't stick with it and another thing a lot of missed tackles :(
 
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dre22era;1306600; said:
i know its hard to swallow but in my opinion this game will be nothing but a celebration. celebrating the fact that we Owned Michigan this decade and that this is the 1st time in a long time that this will be Michigan's last game of the season. No Bowl Game. More like gala. Michigan don't stand a chance. and lets not even think about losing this game.

You know Michigan owned us during the Cooper era and won 1 NC....I lived in Michigan during those years and let me tell you The Game is The Game.....don't ever think it is meaningless......
 
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dre22era;1306600; said:
i know its hard to swallow but in my opinion this game will be nothing but a celebration. celebrating the fact that we Owned Michigan this decade and that this is the 1st time in a long time that this will be Michigan's last game of the season. No Bowl Game. More like gala. Michigan don't stand a chance. and lets not even think about losing this game.

:shake:
 
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dre22era;1306477; said:
And in response to previous comments of people responding to me.
yes when you return 22 starters and lose again prime time on the national stage The Season is indeed over.

feel free to stop watching at any time.

I also question Tressel's play calling. He is an original old school type coach and I respect that but unfortunately with the flawed BCS system you gotta play to run up the score and not settle and be happy with the lead you have. Look at the scores the past 2 weeks. Florida putting up 50+ USC = nuff said. I dont like the BCS but that what you gotta do today.

name the team that has played in more nc games than tOSU in the last 10 years. the number of nc games and bcs bowl at large picks we have pulled down make these comments a little lacking in substance.

MaxBuck;1306527; said:
The only thing I'm confused about is how the O-line can look so good on pass pro (Pryor really did have lots of time to throw, unlike Clark) and yet so ineffectual in run blocking. :confused:

because penn state sold out against the run. i haven't rewatched the game but i recall on every single play not 3rd and 10+ penn state had 8 and sometimes 9 guys in the box. i would have liked to see us throw a few more times on first down. but i can't fault the play calling and as much as id like to be angry with the oline when looking at the final offensive #'s. i really can't be upset with them. brewster had his toughest test and browning had a rough night against maybin. *shrug* penn state has a really good d people. psu came in and said we won't loose to beanie, that pryor kid is going to have to throw to beat us. even with the fumble, if the last pass of the game is 5 yrds longer its a td and we're in overtime.

Otherwise, I'm disappointed but not embarrassed or upset. We lost to a better team overall.

not certain i fully agree with that statement. i thought the game was about as dead even as it can get. last night the ball bounced their way. just that simple. as many times as we have been on the receiving end of that type of fortune, they were due.

oh and some random thoughts...

1. defense full of seniors with loads of nfl talent though stacked with youth, injuries and inexperience at dline
2. heart breaking soul wrenching ooc loss early in the year
3. an absolute brawl with penn state that was lost because of a single mistake by an extremely talented qb with less than a year under his belt as a starter
4. an offense stacked with talent that was expected to perform much better that is starting to look the part

well, that year ended with a fiesta bowl pounding of nd and troy smith going on to win the heisman the following year and a nc appearance. will be interesting to see what the future holds for the 08 group. personally, im still damned excited to see where this team goes. i could see this being one of the best teams in the nation by years end. imo they have really turned the corner and pryor had the best game of his college career. if he can put this behind him and continue to progress, the next few weeks are going to be fun!
 
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jlb1705;1306632; said:
I was not pleased that we weren't able to run the ball with Chris Wells. I'm no expert on O-line play, so I'll leave it to those people to discuss how they did. I think that the presence of Pryor hurts the ability of Wells to be effective because it is leading to predictable "safe" play calls and giving the opponent almost no reason to respect the threat of the pass. Against lesser teams, Beanie is so good that he can overcome those disadvantages. Against a team like Penn State that's a different story though. It's frustrating at times, but if this arrangement is what the coaches have determined is best for the program into the coming years, then so be it.

I respect your opinion but don't you think it would make more sense if Pryor didn't complete 16 out of 25 passes (64%) for 226 yards? Are we asking Pryor to be the best QB in college football right now? If not, then we got to pin the lack of rushing entirely on the OL.
 
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dre22era;1306477; said:
yes when you return 22 starters and lose again prime time on the national stage The Season is indeed over. I am a big loyal Ohio State fan but you can't be blind to the obvious. Again I look forward to next season. I think we have a great chance to make a run at the NC.

If you're a loyal fan, then the season isn't over by a long shot. We can still finish 7-1 in conference and be Big Ten champs if PSU should spit the bit in one of its last three games. We still have The Game. We still have a Jan 1 bowl game to earn.

While our season hasn't turned out like we hoped, it's far from over.
 
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Just finished getting caught up on all the threads over last night, and the one thing I'll take away is people bitching over every single tiny detail:

1) Jeers for the concept of Scarlet Fever (We're Ohio State, we don't need to do that kind of thing) and rally towels - I thought the Scarlet looked awesome on TV in the aerial shots. The stadium should look like that every single game.

2) Complaints about the opening JoePa montage - I thought it was a poignant tribute to a living legend. They'll be doing the same tributes to Tressel in 15 years.

3) Complaints about 'Big Game Brent' - Brent was in perfect form last night, despite obviously being ill and on the verge of losing his voice.

4) Complaints about Herbie - Look, Herbie isn't going to be a homer like Lou Holtz, because Herbie is the consummate professional when he's in the booth. If you want to see Homer-Herbie, you should have watched GameDay, when all four of his kids came on the set in their Buckeye jerseys.

5) Officiating - This one goes both ways. I think the officials did a fine job letting the players play and getting out of the way. They didn't call holding on either team, which I usually prefer, and OSU was the beneficiary a couple of times as well. The bizarre ball spots went both ways for both teams (long or short), and I saw at least two 'flinches' by the O-Line, one on Boone and one on Browning in the game, and they weren't called either. The only really bad call, IMHO, was the 2nd PI on D-Wash.

I think that covers most of them from this thread. Maybe I'll add a few others later, I don't know. I just don't get it, though. Some people are trying waaay too hard to find disrespect when there is none there.
 
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Dryden;1306707; said:
2) Complaints about the opening JoePa montage - I thought it was a poignant tribute to a living legend. They'll be doing the same tributes to Tressel in 15 years.

He's had his cock sucked enough for the last ten years of his (somewhat) living legendary run. To do that at a night game at The Shoe for the B10 title was bullshit.

That being said, it's a stupid little hype video so you don't turn the channel during the first little commercial break. I'll get over it. :biggrin:
 
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