Penn State Aftermath

[Zander42]

9. 9...nine undefeated seasons since we started playing football. Four of which included a tie, before that would've been played out to an eventual win or loss. Over a hundred years of football, and NINE seasons without at least one loss.

It happens. Damn near every year.

We got beat by the better TEAM last night.

I don't think we got beat by a better team. If the whole outcome of the game is determined by a 4th quarter fumble, the teams are at worst, even.

We shut them down, they shut us down, we made a mistake, they didn't. Could have easily gone the other way. With the old question, "if they played each other 10 times on a neutral field", I think this goes 5-5.

 

[DaytonBuck]

To me, the point is that this coaching staff and team had us back in a place to be considered seriously for the NC game. After that terrible loss at USC. Not one press article is talking about Ohio State choking against Penn State. What they are talking about is that Ohio State and Penn State played smashmouth football.

We thought we would have a good chance to play for the NC before the season began but after two games it was clear that USC would be a severe test.

Before we start talking down the coaches and team, and I accept that many of the criticisms made have at least some validity, we need to realize that few teams have the chance year in and year out to be considered as NC game contenders. It's not like we have sunk to embarrassing depths. We have played a schedule that ranks among the top 16 in the Sagarin SOS rankings, in the conference that ranks only behind the Big 12 in power rankings (ahead of the SEC).

Tressel and his coaches have not won a big game since Notre Dame and I am one of those who is concerned. But the future is bright. We will be back.

Michigan 06 isn't a big game?

 

[BUCKYLE]

My greatuncle told me when I was a little kid, "Don't root for Ohio State, they'll always break your heart."
However he also told me, "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life son." So take it for what it's worth

Since JT arrived, my heart's been broken twice. TSUN '03, and NC vs. Fla.

Anyone that says drunk isn't a way to go through life isn't someone I'd agree with too often.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

We got beat by the better TEAM last night.

And there's no reason they should be the better team. We've underachieved big time. 7-2 with losses to the #1 and #3 teams looks alright on paper but this isn't like '05.

 

[Steve19]

Michigan 06 isn't a big game?

Fair comment. They did disappoint in their bowl as much as we did.

 

[BearBuck27]

Texas '06 was a pretty big win too. If McCoy doesn't get hurt in that K-State game, we probably play them in a rematch for the NC.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

However, having the balls to call out the DEFENSE for last nights game is just...stupid?

The defense had two chances to save the day in the fourth quarter, and they gave up ten points and played soft against the running plays that they knew were coming at them (see Illinois 2007). Does the defense's 4th-quarter mini-meltdown negate their excellent first three quarters of play? No, not entirely ... but when the team needed the defense to rise above and exceed expectations, they played average, gave up yardage, and lost the lead.

Believe me, I am in no way exonerating the offense, but we've seen Buckeye defenses go out and win games when the offense was "struggling" (see Penn State 2002) ... and last night they just didn't do it ... even though they certainly could have ... and a truly great defense would have.

They shut down a team averaging 50ppg.

And so did Purdue....

Go watch a [censored]ing B12 defense play and then come talk to me.

It's really not fair to compare the two. Oklahoma doesn't ask their defense to play near-perfect games, because they ask the offense to score 50+ every time out. However, at Ohio State, Jim Tressel really thinks that he can regularly win games by a score of 9 to 3, so he asks for perfection from his defense and special teams, and ball control from his offense. Is Tresselball a sound philosophy? Well, that's a different (and very good) question for another day ... but Tresselball is reality in Columbus for the forseeable future.

Did the offense do its job by controlling the ball in the fourth quarter? No ... but the defense didn't play perfectly, either ... and far from it, as a matter of fact, as they allowed 52 yards (all rushing), committed two 15-yard penalties, and gave up ten points after the Pryor fumble. Tresselball failed in all three phases of the game in the fourth quarter (the Mo Wells fumble on the kick-off cost the team valuable field position) ... and the defense must share in the blame.

I'll stand by my previous statement that the Pryor fumble "lost the game" because it was the turning point from which the team was never able to recover ... but the defense could have turned the game back around in the Buckeyes' favor with a stop or a turnover and they failed to do so. Is that asking a lot from a defense? Yes, of course it is ... but that is precisely what Tresselball requires from its defenses.

Critisize Pryor for his fumble. He deserves it. Though if he doesn't bounce that outside he's not picking it up anyways.

Maybe. But a quarterback sneak is hardly the time to free lance. If the play gets stuffed, then go back to sideline and tell the coach that the blocking just wasn't there. (Believe me, he watched the game and he'll understand). He'll punt, and Penn State will get the ball back at their own five-yard line ... and not your 38-yard line ... and maybe you end up eking out a 6-3 ball game.

I will tell you this though, Pryor is beating himself up far worse than any of us are.

Undoubtedly true.

Do changes need to be made? Sure I can probably see a couple after this season. Is the sky falling? absolutely not. We're still a premier CFB team year in and year out and very few programs can say that. If you want problems...go look at Auburn, West Virginia, Michigan, Nebraska, Florida State, Miami, Washington, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Clemson,etc. All historically good/great programs that are/have been laughing stocks of CFB this year or the last few(due to where they normally are).

And all of those programs thought that they were still "premier CFB teams" just a few years ago. Will the same thing happen at Ohio State? I really doubt it, but in college football, teams can go from national powers to laughing stocks in a few short years ... so a coaching staff always has to be improving every aspect of the team.

The 2009 season will be an interesting year for Ohio State - will the team be "back" with upwards of 40 young stars from the last two recruiting classes? Or will they be a bunch of kids trying to find their way? Teams can only "re-load" for so long before they have to "re-build"....

Lets all just chill out and accept the fact that we played hard and lost to a very good penn state team. There's a reason JoePa has 381 wins at PSU, accept it.

And there's a reason that Ohio State has 380 wins during Joe Pa's tenure at Penn State (in six fewer games played, I might add). Last night should have been Paterno's 126th loss, not his 381st win....

 

[cincibuck]

1. Blah, blah, blah, defense was great blah, blah, blah. All season long these guys have missed tackles. Last night was no exception.

2. Watch 75 next time you go to a game. He's the last guy out of the locker room, he's scanning the seats while the rest huddle up, he's not back slapping, high fiving, getting in your face, getting psyched, or doing any of the things you think a senior sould do. Pissed at not being a captain? Pissed at the coaching he's not received in his years as a fixutre on the line? Playing to stay healthy for the draft? Who knows?

3. Todd Boeckman would have gotten killed out there last night. Or maybe not. Penn State threw out the challenge: beat us with your passing game, 'cause we're not going to let you beat us with the run. Was it because Pryor can't do the 3 step, boom! game? Was it because 75 was still sulking? Was it an all too predictable offense?


4. Jim Tressel is a lot of great things, but clock manager he's not. He wastes his time outs and he wastes a terrific amount of time in his 2 minute drill game... assuming the bucks have one.

5. Trepasso did not have his usual game, the last wheel to fall of the wagon in the final 5 minutes of the game.

6. When you personally put down your head coaching clipboard and take over the offensive line are n't you telling yourself something about your relationship with that coach and his value to the program?

7. I am not looking forward to the final two games of the season or the Music City Bowl game and I sure as hell am not looking forward to the USC visit that will follow, unless I read that there's a job opening for an offensive coordinator and a line coach.

I was half listening to 610 on the way home this morning and a woman named Linda called in and talked about a meeting in which Gene Smith evidently took some heat regarding the future of the program. Grumblings within the Athletic Department about line play and the way the Bucks have looked flat in all the big games since the 06 Michigan game. Sounded like she really knew something. Anybody know who she is, exactly what she said and why she sounded so well informed?

 

[LordJeffBuck]

I was half listening to 610 on the way home this morning and a woman named Linda called in and talked about a meeting in which Gene Smith evidently took some heat regarding the future of the program. Grumblings within the Athletic Department about line play and the way the Bucks have looked flat in all the big games since the 06 Michigan game. Sounded like she really knew something. Anybody know who she is, exactly what she said and why she sounded so well informed?

Was her name Susan by any chance...?

 

[morbitzerker]

I was half listening to 610 on the way home this morning and a woman named Linda called in and talked about a meeting in which Gene Smith evidently took some heat regarding the future of the program. Grumblings within the Athletic Department about line play and the way the Bucks have looked flat in all the big games since the 06 Michigan game. Sounded like she really knew something. Anybody know who she is, exactly what she said and why she sounded so well informed?

Was her name Susan by any chance...?

Maybe it was Daisy?

 

[cincibuck]

tongue's in cheeks? Pretty sure it was Linda and sometime around 10:30 - 11. Very authoritive, well spoken, not your usual, "I don't understand why they don't play single wing," bozo call. The guys doing the show seemed extremely impressed.

 

[sandgk]

tongue's in cheeks? Pretty sure it was Linda and sometime around 10:30 - 11. Very authoritive, well spoken, not your usual, "I don't understand why they don't play single wing," bozo call. The guys doing the show seemed extremely impressed.

Not likely she was a staff member is it?

 

[PlanetFrnd]

Count me among the minority out here, but, for a loss, I thought the game was fine. The game was very, very even less one turnover, and the turnover cost us the game. You can pick apart virtually any football game that's not a blowout win and find numerous places for improvement, and this game is no different. But if TP bounces that play outside for 2 yards and hangs on to the ball, we could have won, and we would be celebrating his playmaking ability rather than his mistake. I'm very sad that we lost the game, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Three years ago, we lost to a powerhouse non-conference team and PSU. Since then we have put together a run of scUM victories, B10 championships and two of the best recruiting classes to ever come to tOSU (pending NLOID 2009). We have some of the best character guys in college football as well as many of the most talented, and our young guys are fantastic. Perhaps there will be some meaningful changes in the off-season, but right now we move on with who and what we have.

In the aftermath of the PSU game, let's beat Northwestern, Illinois, scUM and win our bowl game. I'm sure we'll have alot to be very happy about in the future. Go Bucks.

 

[NightmaresDad]

Well, how about from JT himself: "One turnover was the ballgame."

This comment is as true as it can be. That one play was the game.

However, will JT really analyze the situation and ask himself WHY the game comes down to one bad play?

I hear a bunch of people aling about "opening up the playbook".
Does that mean we aren't using enough different plays out of the formations we run, or we don't use enough formations?
"Opening up the playbook" - trying to run everything you have - is not the problem here.
The problem is when (down and distance) we are running those plays.

i.e. if you want to take the pressure off of your true freshman QB, then why are you puting him in 3rd and long every series of downs? Give him some easy, high percentage, (sometimes play-action) passes called on first and second down, for crying out loud.
DO SOMETHING to get the other team from having 8 or 9 guys in the box on 1st and 2nd downs.
Crap, we had open receivers all night long on their secondary. Even on 3rd and long and they knew we were going to throw.

This is big-time football. Elite teams CAN take away a prt of your offense if they want to.
What you have to do as an OC, and as a team execution-wise, is be able to make them pay for overplaying one aspect or another.

What you don't want to ask your true freshamn QB to do is win the game by converting 3rd and longs all night. And that's exactly what JT expected TP to do, and even though the Offense converted way more than they should be expected to, that's the reason why we only scored 6 points.

JT was once again walking the tightrope which requires NO MISTAKES and perfect defense and special teams. but it also puts alot more pressure on your freshamn QB. It doesn't take pressure off of him, as I think JT sees it.

Hopefully, as I think LJB originally stated, we will use the rest of the season to see just what we have under the hood in regards to TP.

Throw the ball on 1st and 2nd down. Mix up the down and distance play calling. Get the defense guessing, back on their heels, whatever euphamism you want to use.

Don't let your games come down to a single mistake costing you the game.

In both the '05 and '06 scUM games, we made tons of mistakes but overcame them because JT was willing to use the firepower he had available, and play to win.

Playing to "not lose" doesn't work very often, and certainly not against equal competition, and certainly not over the long run.

You can rip PC and the Trojans for playing down to their competition sometimes, but they play to freakin' win.

Maybe we don't have the offensive line this year to pile up the points and take chances offensively, but I know sure as heck we don't have the offensive line this year to pound it down anyone's throat when they have stacked the box against us. Even with the best RB in the country.

I just wish JT and Bollman would look at what gives them the best chance to put points on the board and win the game, rather than what gives them the best chance to avoid mistakes and in their mind losing the game.

 

[buckeyebri]

Playing to "not lose" doesn't work very often, and certainly not against equal competition, and certainly not over the long run.

I feel like this is where this team has been in many cases this year as opposed to going out and putting the hurt on a team, like we did to MSU, thanks to some takeaways.

Even in the MSU game we buttoned it up in the second half, by running 18 straight times, instead of taking that opportunity to work on the passing game....