Random Thoughts from Section 28A

[MaxBuck]

1. Regardless of different schemes, lots of Penguins in the box, etc. - our running game was inadequate at best. Beanie Wells should no way be held to less than 3 ypc against a 1-AA opponent. Don't know whether this should be laid at the feet of the O-line or Beanie, but there are some "teaching opportunities" available for certain. It was good to see Mo Wells pop a big one, though, and Brandon Saine will be an exciting back for us.

2. Any concerns that our passing game would be disabled by Troy Smith's graduation should be put to rest. Boeckman was very impressive, as were the freshman receivers Sanzenbacher, Washington and Torrence. Robiskie looked exceptional - great routes, great hands. Hartline remains steady.

3. Our D-line has much better speed this year. The lack of experience may bite us down the path, but Doug Worthington, Robert Rose and Cam Heyward are three VERY fast defensive linemen. Very sad news about Lawrence Wilson, though. He looked very good until his injury.

4. Defensive backfield has some real athletes. Coleman and Jenkins are obviously the stars, but I think Chekwa will be just fine. Great to see Anderson Russell back in the mix, and I saw no aftereffects of his injuries.

5. Linebacker play was pretty good. Larry Grant will be our best LB this year IMO. Great speed, good tackler. Laurinaitis is a terrific backer also, and Homan et al provide more than adequate support.

I predict about a 9-3 or 10-2 finish for the Buckeyes. The Wolverines got some additional motivation yesterday; if Llllloyd plays it right he can get better performance from his team the remainder of the year. Or, alternatively, they can collapse like a house of cards.

 

[ShakerBuck]

3. Our D-line has much better speed this year. The lack of experience may bite us down the path, but Doug Worthington, Robert Rose and Cam Heyward are three VERY fast defensive linemen. Very sad news about Lawrence Wilson, though. He looked very good until his injury.

where was Gholstin all day?

 

[MaxBuck]

Well, another underwhelming day (offensively) in the Horseshoe.

1. Buckeyes came out looking flat for the second week in a row. No surge on the O-line, which led directly to the safety when Beanie was tackled in the end zone.

2. Early in the game, Boeckman and his receivers were not on the same page. It looked like he was expecting something different from his receivers than what he was getting - like expecting Sanzenbacher to do an out move when Dane actually broke inside. Things improved later.

3. Antonio Henton must have really pissed off the coaching staff, because I see no other reason why Schoenhoft should be playing. He looks uncomfortable, makes questionable decisions, and takes off running whenever there is even moderate pressure. His receivers were visibly frustrated when a rolling-out Schoenhoft failed to find wide-open receivers downfield.

OK, now for the positives. All but one of which relate to the D.

4. After some poor tackling early, the Bucks remembered how to wrap, and the results were stunning.

5. Cam Heyward will be the next dominating Buckeye defensive player. His combination of speed, size and strength is awesome, and he clearly has great football sense. "Young Ironhead" will be a great Buckeye.

6. Our rotation of linebackers showed very little drop-off when the second team was in. Thad Gibson, Ross Homan, and Austin Spitler did fine work today.

7. Our young d-backs all showed well today, too. I was particularly impressed with Chimdi Chekwa.

8. Brian Robiskie: how to describe his excellence? He's not all that fast, sort of tall but not impressively so, and pretty darn skinny. All he does is run great routes, make incredible catches, and support the running game with terrific downfield blocking. Just a fundamentally sound football player, and we're damn lucky to have him in scarlet & gray.

We'll have our hands full with Washington next week; I predict a loss.

 

[TooTall]

Well, another underwhelming day (offensively) in the Horseshoe.

1. Buckeyes came out looking flat for the second week in a row. No surge on the O-line, which led directly to the safety when Beanie was tackled in the end zone.

2. Early in the game, Boeckman and his receivers were not on the same page. It looked like he was expecting something different from his receivers than what he was getting - like expecting Sanzenbacher to do an out move when Dane actually broke inside. Things improved later.

3. Antonio Henton must have really pissed off the coaching staff, because I see no other reason why Schoenhoft should be playing. He looks uncomfortable, makes questionable decisions, and takes off running whenever there is even moderate pressure. His receivers were visibly frustrated when a rolling-out Schoenhoft failed to find wide-open receivers downfield.

OK, now for the positives. All but one of which relate to the D.

4. After some poor tackling early, the Bucks remembered how to wrap, and the results were stunning.

5. Cam Heyward will be the next dominating Buckeye defensive player. His combination of speed, size and strength is awesome, and he clearly has great football sense. "Young Ironhead" will be a great Buckeye.

6. Our rotation of linebackers showed very little drop-off when the second team was in. Thad Gibson, Ross Homan, and Austin Spitler did fine work today.

7. Our young d-backs all showed well today, too. I was particularly impressed with Chimdi Chekwa.

8. Brian Robiskie: how to describe his excellence? He's not all that fast, sort of tall but not impressively so, and pretty darn skinny. All he does is run great routes, make incredible catches, and support the running game with terrific downfield blocking. Just a fundamentally sound football player, and we're damn lucky to have him in scarlet & gray.

We'll have our hands full with Washington next week; I predict a loss.

Nice post, however I feel the offense will sure up a bit and win a nail-biter!

 

[BuckeyeTillIDie]

I agree on the Schoenhoft point. He looks to run every time. Move Henton to second and give him a chance!

 

[stxbuck]

Good points. Now my take on the game

1-The OL has a cranial-rectal inversion as the DT coach at our HS says.
They need to get low and get mean.

2-Right now Beanie is still an amazing athlete learning how to read blocks (what there are of them this year) and become a complete RB. Saine is showing very well.

3-Boeckman needs to refocus for the Washington game-it will be MUCH tougher than what I would have expected 3 weeks ago.

4-I don't blame Tressel for giving Schoenhoft a shot when he did in the 3rd quarter. That said, Schoenhoft pissed it away-he looked like a gigantic Cooper coached Bellisari out there...

5-"Predator" Gibson will be a monster

6-Sanzenbacher has skills, be he still has plenty of rough edges to be smoothed-I really want to see what Small has to offer when he is healthy

7-Tressel seems committed to still trying to let Mo Wells be an every down back-I was shocked to see him in there after
Beanie's big run.

 

[brutus2002]

A positive I would like to bring up is Brian Rolle on special teams!!! The kid is gonna be a stud.

 

[Mike80]

1. Schoenhoft running on almost every play shows me that he hasn't quite adjusted to the speed of College Football. Since this is his 3rd year, it makes me wonder if he ever will....

2. Sometimes I think this year's team is missing that one big downfield threat (ala Ginn) from last year. They have a ton of guys who can move, but sometimes they don't seem to get open...

3. Boeckman needs to throw the ball when the guys are open. The 2nd INT (or maybe the first, the one that was tipped not the In/out cut one) was wide open but he attempted to baby the ball in there. Throw it Hard!!!

4. I know this game was basically over when it was 13-2, but dammit, leave the starters in there and squeeze the life out of them. Putting in Robbie didn't do anything for the team's momentum.


I predict a 19-7 win next week. Boise State isn't great on defense and Washington scored 24 and stopped. Ohio State's defense is on an entirely different level than Boise State's defense (or Syracuse for that matter). Jack Locker is only a Freshman and the learning curve will commence next week.

 

[utgrad73]

2. Sometimes I think this year's team is missing that one big downfield threat (ala Ginn) from last year. They have a ton of guys who can move, but sometimes they don't seem to get open...

I just wan't to say that on numerous occassions I saw the receivers open but the ball was throw to a "play action" target. That can only be attributed to the game pace and field vision. Troy Smith had that field vision, RS needs to see more playing time before we say he doesn't have it. He'll find the open receivers in time.

I personally liked the way Henton threw in the last game. He seems more accurate and better in the pocket. I thought he threw the ball too hard at times when a softer touch would get the job done.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

... Troy Smith had that field vision,...

Troy Smith developed that field vision. He most certainly did not have it from the beginning. But it was this coaching staff that helped him to develop it.

Everyone should take a deep breath and remember that; especially this next week when our new QB starts his first road game on the West Coast, a place where Buckeye teams past have typically played poorly.

 

[MaxBuck]

Troy Smith developed that field vision. He most certainly did not have it from the beginning. But it was this coaching staff that helped him to develop it.

Everyone should take a deep breath and remember that; especially this next week when our new QB starts his first road game on the West Coast, a place where Buckeye teams past have typically played poorly.

You make an excellent point here, DBB. I predict a loss next week not because I think UW is a superior team, but because traveling three time zones is a tough handicap to overcome, and our team (especially on O) is so inexperienced. I'll be thrilled if we win, but I sure don't expect us to.

 

[23Skidoo]

I always hate predicting a loss, so I won't. If we were playing USC or Texas this year I might be forced to.
I think our D will keep this game tight... the question, to me, is if the offense is going to step up or not. Specifically the line. I expected there to be some kinks in the passing game this early with a new QB and new WRs. But I think we all expected our Oline and running game to just dominate YSU and Akron (and thereby UW). Instead it seems our offense has relied more on the passing game to get things moving.

 

[utgrad73]

Troy Smith developed that field vision. He most certainly did not have it from the beginning. But it was this coaching staff that helped him to develop it.

Everyone should take a deep breath and remember that; especially this next week when our new QB starts his first road game on the West Coast, a place where Buckeye teams past have typically played poorly.

Robbie will develop that vision too, just when? Not to beat him or anyone else up over this because the O is still coming together. This will be the best test so far for the offense. The huskies will be starting a freshman QB, so the defense will be wrecking havoc with him. Let's see how well we travel as we take our game to Seattle.

I've traveled (on business) to the left coast many times and that first day is bruttle. The team will have maybe a day to adjust to the 3 hour time difference. Does anyone know when they travel? That's a 4 1/2 hr trip that will a good opportunity for the offense to study the playbook and or stare out the window. Let's hope that do the former.

Go Bucks, :osu2:

 

[crazybuckfan40]

Well, another underwhelming day (offensively) in the Horseshoe.

1. Buckeyes came out looking flat for the second week in a row. No surge on the O-line, which led directly to the safety when Beanie was tackled in the end zone.

I disagree here on the oline comment...You can't run into a front where guys are coming in untouched...We had man on man, they just had their safety 5 yds from the los that came untouched...That was on Todd IMO to not getting to a better play.

2. Early in the game, Boeckman and his receivers were not on the same page. It looked like he was expecting something different from his receivers than what he was getting - like expecting Sanzenbacher to do an out move when Dane actually broke inside. Things improved later.

I agree here, but IMO there could of been better routes run with all the guys in the box, to give Todd and the recievers a better chance to succeed like we saw later in the game with to roll out passes when Todd hit Robo. Every pass and route was under 10 yds and Akron had 9 guys in the box. We are IMO keeping that in the playbook for games to come and letting Todd and the receivers work on the simple plays b4 they stretch it out more...

3. Antonio Henton must have really pissed off the coaching staff, because I see no other reason why Schoenhoft should be playing. He looks uncomfortable, makes questionable decisions, and takes off running whenever there is even moderate pressure. His receivers were visibly frustrated when a rolling-out Schoenhoft failed to find wide-open receivers downfield.

I agree here, I walked away from the game yesterday and after seeing Robbie play in spring games and other games that I just don't think that he has it. He has a great arm, but his mechanics look off to me as his ball always seems to dive straight into the ground...

OK, now for the positives. All but one of which relate to the D.

4. After some poor tackling early, the Bucks remembered how to wrap, and the results were stunning.

Agreed, but even with the missed tackles there were 2 or 3 other guys to make the play...They were flying around and making plays all game...

5. Cam Heyward will be the next dominating Buckeye defensive player. His combination of speed, size and strength is awesome, and he clearly has great football sense. "Young Ironhead" will be a great Buckeye.

I agree, but lets not overlook Worthington, Denlinger, Larimore, Nader and Rose who also played great yesterday. They were in the back field all game long distrubting anything that Akron wanted to do.

6. Our rotation of linebackers showed very little drop-off when the second team was in. Thad Gibson, Ross Homan, and Austin Spitler did fine work today.

Agreed and I like putting them guys in as it keeps the starters fresh, and brings in fresh legs...

7. Our young d-backs all showed well today, too. I was particularly impressed with Chimdi Chekwa.

I agree, but I still think we might struggle here against a team with multiple good recievers and a solid QB...The pressure on the QB also takes a tremendous amount of pressure off them...But they are all improving...

8. Brian Robiskie: how to describe his excellence? He's not all that fast, sort of tall but not impressively so, and pretty darn skinny. All he does is run great routes, make incredible catches, and support the running game with terrific downfield blocking. Just a fundamentally sound football player, and we're damn lucky to have him in scarlet & gray.

I agree here as well, and as for WR's, I would like to see if we could get Hartline over the top a couple times...Also Dane and Todd seem to have a connection as well and with time they will get on the same page. I hope that Small can get back, and I would like to see Dukes a little more...IMO he is one of the best blocking recievers we have, and I think with some time on the field he could be a solid receiver...

We'll have our hands full with Washington next week; I predict a loss.

Overall good post, but I disagree here...We have gotten great film from the past two weeks, we have rotated qb's, and we have treated these games like scrimmages...We have a great defense and between BSU and Syracuse Washington hasnt seen anywhere near the defense we will be bringing out there...

If we keep the turnovers down and take create some we will be just fine...Not saying it will be a blowout, but I can't say I am predicting a loss...

 

[Taosman]

Denlinger looked dominate at times and that is encouraging.
The whole defense looked dominate at times.

The offense is worrying. But, in perspective, I remember a Heisman QB having a bad game playing in the rain and wind.
On a dry field, this offense is not far away from being a force.
Next week they need to play with a fire and purpose that has been lacking against YSU and Akron.
I think we can have a very good performance next week.
If everybody plays with fire! (return of Ray Small would help things, also)