QB/WR Braxton Miller (B1G POY, National Champion, OSU HOF)

[jwinslow]

Finally someone else is able to at least admit that Braxton isnt going to be a world beater this year, and that all he sitting on is strictly potential and possibilities of his future.

not only have many said it, bucklion has said it repeatedly

Urban Meyer isn't some demiGod savior.

No one other than maybe Terrelle Pryor could have turned that dreck around last night. A true freshman QB and a 5th year senior with less than 20 passes in his career coming into the season isn't a situation where a coach can fix things immediately.

I'd love to see a comment from someone who was at the game regarding the receivers. Were they so blanketed the entire game that we couldn't throw any passes in rhythm?

As to drops. There were a couple but there were far more passes that were thrown too high, behind receivers, out of bounds, etc. It's pretty difficult to catch a pass when you have no idea if it will be in your zip code.

Ohio State's future at quarterback is not a 5th year senior who played baseball for 3 years. It's the young 5 star. Let's develop him for the future and if we have to take some lumps along the way then so be it.

I really feel for the seniors on this team that did things the right way during their stay at Ohio State and got stuck with this mess for their last year.

You are right; he has to learn....which is my point exactly. I didn't expect him to come in and play a flawless game. I don't think anyone with common sense did. Two of the most predicatable mistakes a young QB can make is to stare down his receivers and deliver the ball late. Braxton did both on that interception; thus, it was his fault. College football, on a level such as this, moves at a speed so much faster than high school and again, you are right, he will be fine. The question is, how fast will he develop/adjust? Is splitting time with JoeB hindering his development?

UGLY. I'm on the Miller bandwagon. We'll have to take our lumps like in '04 and '01 and hope it pays off next year.

Michael Bennett was disruptive out there. Would like to see his role increase.

Both played poorly. For me, Braxton has promise and I can live with mistakes when growth potential is available. Joe's not going to change, improve, or be a remote threat especially in the B1G slate we have this year. All things being equal, go with the burnt red shirt option and develop him. At least when the pressure's on, he can run it instead of taking at 10 yard deep sack.

Oh I agree whole-heartedly. It's Miller time, for better or worse, because this team is going nowhere this year in ters of NCs and Big Ten titles. Let the kid play and make a run next year.

I think I saved myself a shitload of grief tonight. I DVR'd the game and had a great day with the family. Considering the fact that I sped through the game on the DVR from the time it was 14-3 and the rest of the second half, my disappointment remains the same but my anger is gone. So many thoughts have come through my mind that have been echoed by others. My sole hope for the remainder of the season is that Braxton is given the go-ahead and we just work on improving this season with someone that can make an impact for the future. I don't have much faith in a successful B1G season right now, so let's get some confidence instilled in one who is going to be here for four years.

To a point...I mean Braxton really couldn't complete a pass either. He was moving and running, but there's only so long that you can go without actually being able to complete a single pass. I'm sure the coaches thought Bauserman was the more likely to be able to throw to the WRs...obviously, it didn't work, but I imagine that's what they were thinking. We ran the ball well, but against a 9 or 10 man front, it never would have worked for long.

Braxton was struggling too shark, a bit overwhelmed by the moment, partially a consequence of resting him last week, though he was going to have that major challenge regardless.

He was definitely not healthy today. His normal darting legs lumbered in the pocket. he still made plays but his calling card, darting in and back out of tacklers wasn't there.

There wasn't a good option today.

we are sitting in the middle of a conflict of interest.....

best thing for OSU in the long term is for braxton to take every snap the remainder of the season and maybe lose 5 games.


If we lose 5 games, Fick gets fired.

1. JB was not very good tonight. I think he could have used some more help from his receivers and he might have muddled through it. But, that's that. 1 good game against a bad team, 1 bad game against a good team, and 1 shitty game against a shitty team, and perhaps he is done. I say draw up a plan next week with Miller starting and see where it goes. I am not 100% ready to relegate him to the bench, but, he certainly has not gotten any better.

2. Miller is what he is, a freshman. If you were to put him out there and say, "he will make mistakes and lose us the game, but he will learn from it", how the hell can anyone want that? We all want to win. JB was given the opportunity and didn't come through. So next week flip it and Miller can have a shot to start with JB coming in if things look bad. If that fails... we can always go to a 4 QB rotation

3. The D gets props. They got gashed a few times and let an easy TD happen, but they played well most of the night to keep it close. Too bad the O couldn't come through.

4. My player of the game is Hall. He WAS the offense (and Ben B. on Punting as best supporting player).

5. Coaching was mostly horrible. I think as a new coach he has stuck to his game plan too long or left it too early and that is something that has to be figured out. So this is Luke's wake up call. You are on the big stage now and have lost your first game. Losing more probably won't cost you your job. Losing more like this will.

6. I had this game down as a L before it started because of many factors, but mainly from what I saw last week against Toledo. What annoys me is that it could have been W based on what I saw of Miami. They are somewhere in between Akron and Toledo, but tOSU is right there with them at this point. Time to get a better game plan and learn how to learn from your mistakes and make adjustments.

Revisiting that thread was a great reminder of how many different takes, responses and changes can surface from thousands of BPers. There were some absolute gems in there that I plan to single out now that I've introduced sere to the rest of the board's posts.

 

[muffler dragon]

For some reason, I feel dirty. Like I've recently been used for ill purposes....



:p

 

[Pheasant]

For some reason, I feel dirty. Like I've recently been used for ill purposes....



:p

I wasn't there...I don't have any chloroform.

Wait, what?

 

[Buckin Crazy]

Im going to be honest, I don't Think Miller is mentally ready to start. I don't think Pryor was mentally ready to start his freshmen year either. The thing is although while he may not be ready to start, he is still our best option for this team this year, just as Pryor was.
In a perfect world the best option for our future would have been to redshirt him or just sit and learn and get a few reps here and there so he could learn easier and not under fire, but thats just not possible right now. Andrew Luck, Sam Bradford ect were not ready to play there freshmen year, thats not a slight against them obviously because they turned out to be great QB's. Who knows playing them when they weren't ready could have turned them into differnt QB's.

Make no mistake about it, it is going to be hard for Braxton to succeed this year, he is going to make mistakes. But look towards the Future, the kid has all the potential in the world to be the best QB to come out of this school, but it's not going to look like that this year IMO.

 

[Taosman]

He's not going to mature sitting on the bench. And there is still a lot of football to play and time for his growth. The play book can be simplified and OSU can still make a Bowl game this year. Turn him loose! He doesn't have to carry this team by himself. We have more talent than anyone in the BIG.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

He's not going to mature sitting on the bench.

Stop the presses! Taos makes a solid point!

 

[buckeye4ever21]

He's not going to mature sitting on the bench. And there is still a lot of football to play and time for his growth. The play book can be simplified and OSU can still make a Bowl game this year. Turn him loose! He doesn't have to carry this team by himself. We have more talent than anyone in the BIG.

Bollman needs to turn to the pages in the playbook where we dont handcuff Braxton. Braxton has the arm strength and ability to make every throw but if we dont use him in the read option or roll him out to help eliminate some of the reads that he has to make, then we aren't using him efficiently. Let him make some plays with his feet while he's not as efficient in the passing game. Just remind him to secure the ball while he's out there running around. Miller Time has begun!

 

[southcampus]

Guarantee he breaks a big play with his feet. The biggest change we'll see out of Braxton is his comfort level. He's not going to be a 4th year veteran out there tomorrow but he'll still be very exciting to watch.

With our offense fully committed to him as our guy, we can finally start specializing in a certain brand of offense. I really feel like we have excellent personel to attack the edges with short passes and outside runs. Keep the defenses off balance for when we run it up the gut. The middle third of the field will be pretty much off limits for anything over 10 yards and less than 35 yards down field for interception purposes. I think we can look a lot like 2008.

 

[Tlangs]

Shorten the read and then take off if it isn't there...

Hell, this type of playcalling won Cam Newton the heisman.

 

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State QB Braxton Miller a different player, but takes starting job at same time as Terrelle Pryor three years ago
Published: Friday, September 23, 2011
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Though the coach, the players and the talents of the quarterbacks are different, the switch is the same. Freshman quarterback Braxton Miller will make his first start in the Buckeyes' fourth game of the season, against Colorado on Saturday, just as freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor made his first career start in the fourth game of 2008.

Both times, the 2-1 Buckeyes were coming off humbling nonconference road losses, most recently, 24-6 at Miami, and back then, 35-3 at USC. Both times, the freshmen unseated seniors. Now it's previous career backup Joe Bauserman; then it was former All-Big Ten quarterback Todd Boeckman.

First-year head coach Luke Fickell observed that 2008 transition as a defensive assistant, and, though he didn't address the comparison directly, he understands that making a quarterback switch is serious business. Though he seems to have known what he planned to do and said the coaching staff considered starting Miller earlier, Fickell was noncommittal in his Tuesday news conference before making the announcement Thursday.
miller.jpgMarvin Fong/The Plain DealerBraxton MIller

"You've got to make sure you can handle these things in the locker room, and how you handle them professionally is really important for the team, and that's why we didn't make a big deal of it," Fickell said. "I know it is a big deal."

cont...

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2011/09/ohio_state_to_start_freshman_q.html

 

[buckeyesin07]

Guarantee he breaks a big play with his feet. The biggest change we'll see out of Braxton is his comfort level. He's not going to be a 4th year veteran out there tomorrow but he'll still be very exciting to watch.

With our offense fully committed to him as our guy, we can finally start specializing in a certain brand of offense. I really feel like we have excellent personel to attack the edges with short passes and outside runs. Keep the defenses off balance for when we run it up the gut. The middle third of the field will be pretty much off limits for anything over 10 yards and less than 35 yards down field for interception purposes. I think we can look a lot like 2008.

I wish you were right, but I don't think the bolded above is necessarily true--Fickell said yesterday that there are some things that Joe can do and OSU needs him to do, so they're not focused on just one guy.

 

[southcampus]

I wish you were right, but I don't think the bolded above is necessarily true--Fickell said yesterday that there are some things that Joe can do and OSU needs him to do, so they're not focused on just one guy.

Unless he shits down his leg, I'd be shocked to see him not run away with this thing.

 

[scarletmike]

Unless he shits down his leg, I'd be shocked to see him not run away with this thing.

This. If he can make just one or two mistakes against CU while leading drives to touchdowns and field goals, He runs with the starting spot, and it isn't even close. If he makes three or more mistakes...we may some more Joe.

 

[craigblitz]

Bollman needs to turn to the pages in the playbook where we dont handcuff Braxton. Braxton has the arm strength and ability to make every throw but if we dont use him in the read option or roll him out to help eliminate some of the reads that he has to make, then we aren't using him efficiently.

This baffles me... These coaches see them everyday in practice, conditioning, etc, etc, etc. Do you think Jim and the rest of the offensive staff have not thought of this is? I mean these guys watch hundreds of hours of tape a season but this concept has totally missed them? I assure you when the call sheets get made they don't sit there and say [Mark May] lets make sure we handcuff Braxton this game. Or hey that roll-out might work too well lets not call it.

Bottom line they are going to call plays they think he can execute vs Colorado. Can he complete those passes vs them... I have no idea. I have not watched a lick of film on Colorado. If you have I think that would be an excellent post to read.

The best point in that post you made was how open/closed are the coaches going to be with Braxton. If they absolutely feel they can not afford a TO to win this game he is not going to be set free (I would expect to see an offense based on that).

Lately I feel like I am an apologist for this offense. I truly am not but I respect the challenges they have in front of them, a Sr QB not getting it done. A Frosh for whatever reason they were not comfortable to start. Young WR's who don't know all the plays/reads. Then the huge hit not having Hall the first 2 games..... Any gameplan they had must have been shredded and started new late in the week.

I truly think this team will be fine. I am excited for the change to Miller. With that I fully expect to hitting my head with some very bad plays from him and thinking to myself this is Ohio State how do they not have a better QB in waiting. That is when I will again realize how much the suspended players hurt this team. I as much as anyone wanted to think it was no big deal, but face it was not just losing Pryor, it took a year away of developing Braxton to be ready. It took away a year to have the young WR's get reps and get better for next year.

Go Bucks, Go Miller.... Take your shots young man.

 

[BB73]

Go Bucks, Go Miller.... Take your shots young man.