OSU-Northwestern 2004

[Saw31]

I too believe that the stats don't tell the story between the two backs. The two plays that I specifically point to: Lydell has the corner, but a one arm takle brings him down before he turns up field. And the 3rd down where Pittman gets hit a yard deep in the backfield, but still manages to scrape out a first down, although I think we got a pretty generous spot on that play. I believe Pittman gets 10 yards on the first play mentioned and Ross gets -1 on the second play mentioned. Obviously there's no way to prove this, it's just my opinion.

I think that Pittman looks more explosive, more decisive, and has better instincts. I don't blame Lydell Ross for this loss however.

 

[OSU Rob]

Since we've finally lost to a team we had no business losing to, hopefully some of the blind Tressel supporters who keep making excuses for our shitty offense will shut the hell up. Just b/c the defense only gives up 14 pts/game doesn't freaking mean that our offense should only be scoring 17 pts. This "lets play every team close" strategy sucks, especially against large underdogs. I can live with playing michigan or wisconsin to a 20-17 close game, but I'm fuckin tired of playing the san diego states, bowling greens, marshalls, and northwesterns of the world to close ballgames. I agree that turnovers on offense should be minimized, but if you're going to play pussy ball and just hope to punt back and forth, then you deserve to lose these types of games. Where the hell is our offense? No, the defense isn't going to cover our asses every single game, and its about time the offense puts up 40+ against someone. You see teams like USC and OU giving up a few points here and there, but their offenses put up a lot of points too. That way, they can win both types of close games: the low scoring 17-14 defensive battles AND the high scoring 42-35 type games. Our team only limits us to winning the former type, b/c if somehow the other team puts up 3-4 TD's on us, you can kiss us goodbye. Sure most teams won't hit our defense for 30 pts, but if they do, its almost like a guaranteed victory for our opposition b/c no way in hell does our shit ass offense put up over 30. Why is our offense so horrible?

1. Playcalling is horrendous- toss sweeps to the short side of the field, screen passes to Ross (who my grandma could outrun in the 40), not sticking with the shotgun formations when Zwick actually gets in rhythm, that one 3rd down play where we had trips to one side and all 3 fuckin receivers ran the same 5 yd. hitch route !! (the one where the NW corner dropped the easy pick six- there were like 5 players from both sdies in the same area). Also, why the hell were we playing zone when NW had the ball inside the 10 yd. line?? We basically just gave up easy 5 yd. outs to their WR's. Would it hurt to play man once in a while, or are our D-coaches so stubborn that they refuse to deviate from their zone schemes?

2. ROSS SUCKS- get over yourselves. I don't give a flip if he's a senior captain or whatever, sit his ass on the bench. No Lydell, its NOT your position if all you do is run for an amazing 3 yd/carry average with the occasional fumbles. Also, if Ross is the best, why in the hell was Pittman in the game at crunch time?? This pisses me off even more b/c if Tressel knows as we do that Pittman is much better, why didn't he start Pittman?? This is similar to Tressel's bullshit senior loyalty that really hurts us sometimes- I understand being loyal but the bottom line is that you play the BEST player, not the OLDEST one. Remember last year's michigan game where for some reason Tressel put in Krenzel after the concussion despite McMullen doing well for apparently no reason? McMullen was clearly feeling more comfortable and Krenzel wasn't even 100%. Guess what, we didn't score any more points after putting Krenzel back in, and Tressel says after the game that he did it out of loyalty to Krenzel. WTF? Are you trying to win the damn game or trying to just please certian seniors?

3. Adapt- Tressel is a great head coach, but whoever is calling the plays offensively needs to go. I don't remember if its Tressel or Bollman, but whichever one it is needs to step down. On defense, Snyder needs to haul his ass upstairs so he can actually see whats going on. MEMO TO SNYDER: you are the DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, not the freakin LB's coach.

4. Defense- besides the unwillingness to occassionally play man inside the red zone that I alluded to, how about we learn to tackle? I think that could help.

Anyways, remember folks that winning covers up a lot of faults. Fans aren't coming out in droves just b/c of this one bad performance. Our offensive ineptitude has been going on way too damn long, but people that did complain were portrayed by the blind Tressel supporters as being spoiled/too picky..blah blah. Well, I'm sick of having a crappy offense, and being sound defensive and on special teams does NOT make up for it. Teams we should beat handily play us close till the end, and some even end up beating us. And one last thing, stop with the "he's 28-3 over the last...". ENOUGH!! Why don't you freaking add the 1st year if you want to talk about the entire career here, or just stop, b/c its getting ridiculous. How many losses will it take for the "record over the past three years" stat line to be dropped? Just worry about this year and stop living off the recent past.

 

[Clarity]

Is it that they're blind supporters? Or is it that they accept the fact that the man has a system, that he's going to be our coach for a long time, that the system was in place when we won the national championship, and like it or not, it's one that's going to have us losing to a team we shouldn't now and again?

I guess I just miss the point of your post. "See, we lost our 3rd game in 3 seasons, I told you JT's approach is flawed?"

Obviously the offense is lacking. I challenge you to find one person who claims it's all it should be. So again, what's your point?

 

[horseshoe1]

You go OSUrob.

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

You made some valid points within a post that I take to be your day-after-still-pissed-off ranting. But let's be honest. I'll give you 4 reasons that a game like last night happened:

1. Kenny Petersen
2. Darrion Scott
3. Will Smith
4. Tim Anderson

We don't have them anymore. Those guys were special. If we still had them, we wouldn't have lost for the last three years. We're young on the defensive line, and from my perspective, that is THE staple of a successful Tressel-coached team. We'll get better. Tressel's a better coach than you're giving him credit for.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

but I'm fuckin tired of playing the san diego states, bowling greens, marshalls, and northwesterns of the world to close ballgames. I agree that turnovers on offense should be minimized, but if you're going to play pussy ball and just hope to punt back and forth, then you deserve to lose these types of games.

The guy loses one game we should have won and you think everyone is going to jump ship, its obvious they have some problems but I think this part of your post is ignorant to be honest. I didnt see him handcuffing the offense last night, I saw no execution until the final quarter.

damn your pretty harsh on the coaching staff for what really comes down to execution on the field, Coach T cant block up front to open the holes or help Zwick not fumble or the secondary tackle better, nobody is going to step down because they have a new o line and a new qb, a new group of wide receivers and almost a whole new d line, I think you need to wake up and realize that your not as smart as you think.

This pisses me off even more b/c if Tressel knows as we do that Pittman is much better, why didn't he start Pittman??

Pittman played alot last night and was average, so look elsewhere for the running game not working, like the young o line.

4. Defense- besides the unwillingness to occassionally play man inside the red zone that I alluded to, how about we learn to tackle? I think that could help.

I wont defend their tackling last night but, they have been solid most of the year.

but people that did complain were portrayed by the blind Tressel supporters as being spoiled/too picky..blah blah. Well, I'm sick of having a crappy offense, and being sound defensive and on special teams does NOT make up for it.

I dont think alot of people thought this OSU team was perfect, but do me a favor and dont post out of anger, post constructively, this post is ignorrant in my opinion and do me a favor and crawl back under the rock you came from.

 

[Holy Buckeye!]

We sucked last night period. If you can point at one thing only(that we did wrong) I would be impressed.


Plain and simple Team loss.

OSU Rob I do agree with most of your rant, however I want to add a couple of truly important things. I think JT is the best coach for our beloved Bucks. So hang tough, remember how you felt when we smash mouthed the Canes?


The only element that these close games with weak teams, that has me concerned is that it gives other teams faith that they can beat us.

 

[KillerNut]

I for one didn't think that the offense was the biggest part of the problem. I really think the defensive line and coaches need to look themselves in the miror and ask themselves how the hell this happened.

The offense we faced was the same one Marshall ran well against us and almost pulled the upset. In years past we made adjustments which shut it down, it's not like we haven't faced teams that throw a lot of bubble screens slants and rub plays. We just always found a way to stop it, and once we saw something in one game and stopped it, if it ever happened again the adjustment was much quicker and better. Ipersonally think that Snyder may be in over his head. Northwestern took advantage of our aggressive blitzing packages all night. We didn't get to the quarterback and they stopped us. The Defensive line didn't stop the run, didn't read the screens, they played like they were lost all night. There offensive line is not that good, that running back shouldn't have broken the tackles he got by. The Defensive line was horrible. The coaching at the very least was questionable.

The truth is that our offense putting up 27 points without a running game should have been enough in this game. The offensive line did some more drive blocking but they were stacking the box so it was difficult to run. I do think that Pittman, although only marginally better than Ross, was clearly better and the coaches seemed to figure it out in the second half when we were no longer able to pound the ball because of the circumstances of trying to win the game.

The offensive line did not win the battle at the line of scrimage, again. This is getting old, and we do need to see changes happen. I don't know if it is recruiting, scheme, coaching, technique, but it must change soon. This the the school of Parker, Lachey, Pace, Stringer, and numerous more great offensive linemen. Right now we suck on the offensive line at making holes for our backs and it makes me sick.

It is hard to say Zwick lost the game for us, because of the ineffectiveness of our defense, but he didn't help things taking some really bad sacks and trying to force another throw. Zwick needs to have a sign on his locker that reads "Throw the ball away". Some of the sacks he took couldn't have been a surprise since the defender came straight at him in front of his face. Zwick made some good plays with his legs and his arm which helped us stay in the game, but he mad some bad ones too. What is frustrating is who knows if things might be better if T. Smith was playing? No this is not a cry for Troy Smith, but I am frustrated he didn't get a better chance to win the job and I worry about Tressel, being a loyal guy, is in some ways hurting this team by not playing pittman, or maybe even Haw, by not playing T. Smith ect. I don't know if T. Smith is better or worse, but because of how he has handled other situations including the RB position, but not limited to that, he opens himself to how he picks the players that play in the game.

Bottom line the player we miss this year more than any other we lost to the NFL is Tim Anderson. The Defensive tackles are not making plays, which was not something I anticipated coming into the season. Kudla isn't anywhere near where W. Smith was, which isn't shocking, but Simon Fraiser not improving and being an inpact player this season is. Part of it is scheme, part of it I'm sure is exprerience, part of it is talent. It needs to be fixed however.

Although it is not scUM's game, do you think it would take much for them to put in the 3 plays that killed us in that game? With better athletes a wideout, a better RB, and a much better O-line, they would kill us.

It is time for this team to grow up. I truly wonder if it is a leadership issue. Ross isn't a leader, Fox is probably the closest thing we have to a leader is hurt, Nugent is a kicker, and Fraiser is a good guy but not a strong get in your face, let's get it done now type leader. There is not Heart on this defense, on this team. That is what I see and that is why I am frustrated.

A little bit of a rant but I needed to blow some steam off.

 

[Oh8ch]

I stongly agree with both sides on this one.

Sure OSU lost some great players last year. But NU still doesn't have the claiber of players we have. Backes was a big part of their win last night and we rightly passed on him (as a RB). He would have struggled to play for us at any position - and certainly wouldn't have beaten any of our current corners. Those guys were fired up, prepared and well coached. They had a good scheme and made great adjustments. They wanted it more and had just enough talent that those other factors were enough to get it done.

Nor is this your father's Northwestern. Woody would have recruited both Backes and Philmore and sat them on the bench for 4-5 years. But not with 85 ships. There is a difference in talent, but not what it once was. Coaching, preparation, motivation - those are all more important with each ship we lose.

What disappeared last night (and it may be a good thing) was the mystique that Jim Tressel somehow controls the outcome of close games with 'Tresselball' - his philosophy of conservative offense and aggressive D. You win 5 straight OT games - five games where you weren't good enough to put somebody away in 60 minutes - and there is an element of luck involved.

And what is it that makes the Marshall game OK and this one a disaster? One play different in each game would have reversed the outcomes. Beat NU in OT last night and we are singing the praises of Tresselball for another week.

So should we have lost? No. We have better talent and our coaches are paid more so they damn well ought to be earning it.

But shit happens. We are young. Northwestern is no longer a joke. We sent 14 players to the NFL - they returned 17 starters. Our QB was starting his 4th game - their's his 26th (anybody think they beat Zwick when he leans the position?). They played at home - which is where their minds were. Our minds were on Wisconsin - which is who we spent part of the past two weeks preparing for if I had to take a guess.

You lose as much experience as we did and play behind a young QB on the road and you are going to struggle at times.

Let's see what they are made of next Saturday.

 

[VprHis]

It seems the teams the mix the plays up well and use our pursuit against us (misdirection, etc.) seem to pile up the yards.

I think you've hit 'er on the head with that one. . . Someone else mentioned that Snyder had us in a 'read and react' type defense. Well, I'm no expert, but it was definitely too freaking soft. anytime you can drop 8 men to cover 5 (or 4) receivers, yet basanez hits a WR with 10 FUCKING YARDS of green grass on all sides of him--for a gain of 20-some yards on 3rd and long... repeatedly... something's wrong.

How did we handle these teams the last two years?

#1. Sure Tackling. How many times did I see Underwood try to make a statement hit, only to whiff completely? That's not fair. To be honest, I think I only caught E.J. doing it twice. But it's something I've seen at all positions all year.

#2. Aggression. Our D seems to lack fire this year. I know they're talented athletes. I know they are very good at what they do. They just seem to be reacting to the defense. To use the military analogy, they've lost the initiative. They are failing to impose their will upon the offense. Look at the flip side of the equation. In the last two games, blitzing D's have reduced our offensive gameplan to "what will they let us do?" rather than "what can we do to them?" That's no way to win a game. This element is at least 50% in the schemes and playcalling.

#3. Execution. Why are we always out of position? Overpursuit. Inability to shed blocks. Mental lapses. These are things that need to be corrected in practice, and I don't see an improvement from week to week. Did JT not say that the team spent the extra week of practice working on FUNDAMENTALS? Did the team play a fundamentally sound game? At times, yes. But they were stuck in a rut all night, and the pretty kitties exploited it mercilessly.


I still think our problems all stem from our youth. We question the playcalling. I know I do at times, but I'm starting to wonder if the simplistic playcalling is an effect of our youth, and difficulty in executing. I worry that this may be self-defeating, as we're just simpifying things for the opposing teams. At some point, you have to just trust in your athletes to execute. We can't keep running (Insert RB name here) into an 8 or 9 man defensive front, and expect positive yardage. We can't sit in a soft zone and let ourselves be picked apart. We can't let fear of what our opponent might do let us lose sight of the fact that we should be instilling that selfsame fear upon them. Play our game, and things will come along.



Sigh. You're right though. Better NW than scUM. Better some embarrassment than another year of listening to those arrogant prigs spouting their drivel. Here's to a return to the shoe. Here's to wiping that supercilious smirk off Alvarez' face. Here's to Carp, Hawk, and D'animal pounding Davis into a wet stain on the grass.

Here's to the Bucks, and taking the next step.

 

[KillerNut]

We are young. Northwestern is no longer a joke.

Excuses like we are young/inexperienced are very hollow at Ohio State. We have been young and inexperienced before, but we are more talented, have better coaches and have leadership, pride that allows us to win games.

If TCU can beat Northwestern, there is absolutely no reason that Ohio State shouldn't be able to. Bottom line.

 

[VprHis]

Soemwhat off-topic, maybe.


I was VERY impressed with JZ's ability to avoid the rush last night. He had some good scrambles early (but DAMN, boy, prtect the ball!!), and he just plain muscled his way out of a couple of sacks. It was good to see that--I don't recall seeing it very much in the first few games. He was definitely looking more physical last night. Maybe I was just making amountain out of a molehill, but it was good to see.

 

[KillerNut]

MililaniBuckeye: The thing I'm just as worried about is how they moved the ball on us with consistency. The only times we seemed to stop them is when they shot themselves in the foot with penalties. Granted, we got the two INTs, but still their offense looked effective. It seems the teams the mix the plays up well and use our pursuit against us (misdirection, etc.) seem to pile up the yards. Plus we didn't get shit for pressure yesterday...I can't recall a single sack on our part. Conversely, they were all over Zwick yesterday, and once he was sacked for the first time, he was rattled the rest of the game.

100% in absolute agreement as I stated on another thread. The offense wasn't great, but the defense was horrible. There is no excuse for what we saw on that side of the ball. I personally wasn't thrilled with the offense, but the defense I was horified with. Maybe I am spoiled but we should not have given up the plays that we did, as you said we didn't stop them but maybe once, otherwise they scored or stopped themselves. Unacceptable.

It could be talent, it is obvious we are not as good up front as we have been in years past, especially at DT. Linemen are getting out on our LBs, and our tackles are getting blown off the ball or bated so a screen could be set up. The tackling has been horrible, not just in the fact that they keep missing them, but the fact that the technique is horrible standing straight up and down trying to tackle shoulder pads, is it any wonder why we get driven back on every stop.

Are there problems on offense? Yes, but I don't think it has much to do with playcalling still. Execution, Talent, Desire, Technique, that is where my questions are on the offense.

27 points however should be enough to beat a team like NW however and it just wasn't last night.

 

[NYbuckeye00]

I agree Killer the Miami's have no problem beating teams they are supposed to and they lose talent too

 

[Clarity]

I mistakenly deleted your post Rob, and don't have the means at present to restore it.

Feel free to repost.

I agree Killer the Miami's have no problem beating teams they are supposed to and they lose talent too

Are you actually suggesting Miami hasn't been upset in the last few years?