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OSU-Northwestern 2004

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TheStoicPaisano said:
The inexperience most certainly is a factor is the play of the defense. Remember 2001? Rookie (to 1a) defensive coordinator, like 2004. Talented, but young players. The result? 7-5. Including losses to a 5-7 Wisconsin team and a 5-6 Penn State team.

The next year, names like Wilhelm, Grant, Reynolds, Doss, Nickey, Fox, Smith, Scott, Anderson, and Peterson become household. Why? Because of the experience they and their defensive coordinator gained.

I expect to see the same type of improvement next year with OSUs younger players and a more experienced Mark Snyder. And we don't even know if this team is on their way to 5 losses ala 2001, 2 ala 2003, or somewhere in between.
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Holy shit! A post from a newb that wasn't completely negative, or stupid.

Welcome to the Planet, Paisano. Very nice outlook on what's going on right now. Hopefully we won't have to endure a four or five loss season, for our players to gain experience.
 
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This week we play the bruiser of the conference Wisconsin. They are very strong on Defense and have a great running attack with AD. They are sound in the kicking game and ST. They always seem to play great against us. This may be the best team in the B10. They actually remind me of the Buckeyes in 2002.

If we don't change the offense and spread it out we are gonna get sand pounded in out asses. If Tressel think NW was physical he better watch the fucking rest of the schedule because some teamns are improving. We are not gonna be able to run the ball on Wisconsin. I hope the coaches realize this and try to incorporate a short passing game and the TE's.

Wisconsin is gonna run, run, run and when in doubt they are gonna run straight down our throats. They are gonna have long methodical drives that take 7-9 minutes off the clock. Barry Alvarez is one of the few coaches that uses Tressels philosophy against him. Barry Alverez is not gonna let his team do something stupid to lose the game.

Alvarez knows we cannot run the ball. He knows that we cannot stop the run. Why would he do anything but run the ball? The answer is he is not going too!!!

We have got to open the offense and forget this conservative shit. We don't have the D-line and we don't have a great running back and O-line to do it. We better stack the line of sacrimmage and hope our db's don't get burned. For the love of god we need to run 4-5 WR sets. Get your best athletes on the field because they aren't doing you shit on the bench!!!

I'm very optimistic we will win. I hope their pride was hurt and I hope they feel challenged. This weeks game will tell you all you need to know about our players. Are they gonna circle the wagons or are they gonna fold the tents. This game is a make or break game for our season. Hopefully the NW game was a wake-up call to the coaches and players.
 
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I'm back...sorry I didn't bring back a win...although I did bring back more money than when I left...barely...I would have much rather brought back a victory. Heck of a game though...JZ really looked good leading the team back...we just were flat and got outplayed for 3 quarters. The overtime was really disappointing. It was sad to see Nugent miss the fieldgoal. Everyone was sure it was good...it looked good from our seats, until the refs made the signal. I'd say about 60% of that stadium left unhappy after the game. The whole stadium doing the O-H-I-O cheer before the overtime was something special...and I felt that we may be able to will our team to a win in OT...and I wonder if they would have won...how "lucky" everyone would have said the Buckeyes were. Next week's game is huge. We win...and we may get back on track...we lose...well...the whole season may fall apart. This team needs to get pumped up for Wisconsin. Tressel did good not to let the team fall apart after a loss at Wisconsin last year...hopefully he can do the same this year. It sucks that it came to Northwestern...but now the Wisconsin game really looks like the biggest game of the season. GO BUCKS!!!
 
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Don't blame this on the players. I'm sure Zwick didn't call for the 5 wide shotgun set on the goal line. Did we forget who Branden Joe was? I'm sure Simon Fraser wasn't sticking to deep zone coverage throughout four quarters and overtime while Northwestern eats us alive underneath. This wasn't a 1998 looking past Michigan State. A Bollman team needs to put some numbers up. If not for security, for my health. My blood pressure rises during every Buckeye game.
 
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I'm late on this one and don't mean to be redundant, but...

Growing pains. That's what we saw last night. I know we can't use "young and inexperienced" as an excuse at OSU, but sometimes you really do have young, inexperienced guys out there who make mistakes- it's bound to happen sometimes.

I think in the first three games you could really see Zwick settling down, getting used to playing on a big stage, and making improvements. The NCSt. game was huge for him- big game on the road, and he really did pretty well. Last night he had a little relapse and made some mistakes. He'll get better, you can bet on it.

The running game is obviously a problem. I agree with Rob, I don't understand why Ross is getting more playing time than Pittman. However, I think it was a positive that Pittman was in the game at crunch time- I think Tressel is starting to warm up to him and trust him to handle himself in big situations. I think (and really hope) that we'll see more of him as the year goes on.

All of that said, the bottom line is that NW got pumped up higher than a freakin' kite for this game and they played very well. We may have been a little flat (I think bye weeks are bad for us....) or may have been looking ahead to Wisconsin, but whatever it was, we did not play well.

We'll be fine. I don't think anyone really believed that we'd go undefeated this year- we were bound to lose 2 or 3. Maybe a loss like this to someone we should have beaten will be a kick in the ass to get the guys up for the next one.
 
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Lydell is from Florida. If you have "Florida speed", you don't have to keep your legs moving, just wait to bust the big one. Herron is from Ohio, and therefore must actually work for his yardage. Hence, all the driving of the legs that was going on.
 
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Not sure how much I agree. We're normally pretty solid on D, certainly against the run. Provide an answer to the misdirection bubble screens we constantly see, and I bet not one RB gains over 80 yards on us this year.

As far as Wisconsin, I don't think they're up to NCSU's level of talent. Perhaps they're better coached, but even that's in question. We beat NCSU, one horrific game against Northwestern (hopefully) doesn't define who this team is.

I agree, get over Northwestern. But I also feel people are reading way too much into it. We came out flat and ineffective. No one was standing out in terms of flying to the ball and going above and beyond. We let INTs slip through our hands. We got to see a little more use of Joe and Pittman, but we need to see more. There are a lot of things to talk about with this last game, and the one coming, but OSU as a football team can't be defined by last night any more than it can be by performances from previous seasons.

Wisconsin will be a telling game. Have to figure the coaches know *exactly* what to focus on this week, and I hope the loss lights a fire under Snyder, Bollman and Tressel amongst others. One of the QBs needs to step up, we need to find an offensive identity.

If I was going to apply one single "if we don't X, then we'll lose", it would be regarding 3rd downs. On both sides of the ball. We are AWFUL in converting 3rd downs on offense, and preventing conversions on defense. I can't even begin to figure out why, but that has to change. Everything else just about (IMO) is about this team maturing. A loss is good experience. A loss to one of the lesser teams in the conference is great experience. I hope all the players (most of all the young ones) are really feeling like shit warmed over right now. I want them to remember how unhappy a performance and result like last night's was, so that they make sure they don't feel it again in their time in the program. We've been just getting by for a while, I'm *hoping* this is what we needed to get back some of the fire and hunger we had in 2002.

This can still be a great season. We lost to Wiscy last year, and *still* were beating Michigan away from playing for the national title again. Instead, we lost two conference games and still made a BCS bowl. All of the above hasn't seemed as unlikely a goal as it does right now today, following last night's debacle, but don't ever count this team out.



brutus2002 said:
This week we play the bruiser of the conference Wisconsin. They are very strong on Defense and have a great running attack with AD. They are sound in the kicking game and ST. They always seem to play great against us. This may be the best team in the B10. They actually remind me of the Buckeyes in 2002.

If we don't change the offense and spread it out we are gonna get sand pounded in out asses. If Tressel think NW was physical he better watch the fucking rest of the schedule because some teamns are improving. We are not gonna be able to run the ball on Wisconsin. I hope the coaches realize this and try to incorporate a short passing game and the TE's.

Wisconsin is gonna run, run, run and when in doubt they are gonna run straight down our throats. They are gonna have long methodical drives that take 7-9 minutes off the clock. Barry Alvarez is one of the few coaches that uses Tressels philosophy against him. Barry Alverez is not gonna let his team do something stupid to lose the game.

Alvarez knows we cannot run the ball. He knows that we cannot stop the run. Why would he do anything but run the ball? The answer is he is not going too!!!

We have got to open the offense and forget this conservative shit. We don't have the D-line and we don't have a great running back and O-line to do it. We better stack the line of sacrimmage and hope our db's don't get burned. For the love of god we need to run 4-5 WR sets. Get your best athletes on the field because they aren't doing you shit on the bench!!!

I'm very optimistic we will win. I hope their pride was hurt and I hope they feel challenged. This weeks game will tell you all you need to know about our players. Are they gonna circle the wagons or are they gonna fold the tents. This game is a make or break game for our season. Hopefully the NW game was a wake-up call to the coaches and players.
Click to expand...
 
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Funny thing my friend in Chicago emailed me...

he's not much of a college football fan (grew up in NYC), but here is what he said. Odd that he called them "bucknuts"

"holy crap, the streets of chicago sat. night was filled with bucknuts. every other fucker walking down the street was wearing red osu garb. I noticed this when i was in scottsdale when osu was in the fiesta bowl. its like an infestation."
 
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We'll have answers to most of our questions next Saturday. I don't expect them to reinvent the wheel, but certainly we should see some adjustments. I will absolutely be looking forward to how we respond to the first misdirection play.
 
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