I for one, don't think the sky is falling.
I had a chance to rewatch the first half earlier today (will get to the second hopefully in the next day or two). Obviously the second half is where things went a little haywire. That said, this is a young team, and my impressions from the orginal airing of the game were that we let up and that the offensive line didn't play very well.
Impression #1
We
did let up. The fact that Tress decided to go for it on 4th and 2 tells me as much. If he thinks that the Middies have any chance at that point, he kicks the FG. If Tress thought it was over, I guarantee that our freshman and sophomores did too. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. The close battle has certainly helped the buckeyes before (02). And no, I wouldn't compare it to Ohio from last year for a couple of reasons. First of all, we played very well for a while in this game. After the 1st navy drive they had only 15 yards and a couple of turnovers the rest of the first half. Secondly, the offensive line didn't play as poorly as they did against Ohio last year.
Impression #2
This one was totally false. I thought the O line got pushed around all day. After rewatching in slow motion (I love DVR), what happened was clear to me.
A little of it was blown assignments. Cordle and Brewster both got blown up at least once in the first half and the left half of the line played very well. On the first drive, boom gets stuffed going off left tackle, but it was brewsters man that disrupted the play. Miller had turned his guy, and Boren had already gotten a chip and moved downfield to snag a backer. The hole was HUGE! (except the DT that brewster blew up).
Obviously this doesn't mean everything's ok. It seems to me that it speaks more to consistency not talent or drive though. The line actually played pretty well as most of the pressure was caused by...
Our RB's seemed to have no idea what they were doing in pass protection. The overwhelming source of pressure was not from down lineman but from backers who should've been picked up by one of our FR fullbacks or boom and saine. It will be nice to have Jermil Martin back!
In the run game, it's not too different of a story, IMO. Many of stuffs, or 2 yd gains I saw (again, only from the first half) were on the RB. I love boom and saine, as they are both running really hard and plowing over and through guys much bigger than they are. What I saw was an occasional lack of vision, a little hesitation in the hole at times and failure to read blocks properly in a couple of instances.
No we didn't impose our will, but to get my jab in at Mark May---they didn't have anyone on their "heels" all day except the ladies in the shoe trying to look demure for all of the men in uniform!
The fourth and two is a blackeye, but it was the exact play we had just run (i think so anyway) and that kind of playcalling speaks to the fact we (Tress included) were a little cocky. That kind of failure can serve as a lesson, and a hard fought game against a disciplined team that demonstrated for the buckeyes what it means to NEVER QUIT can only help us in the long run.
Do we beat USC--I don't know, but I like our chances, and not because of barkley, night game, home crowd, etc. I think we have the
talent and the will to compete. People shouldn't mistake youth and bravado that allows a lesser but more disciplined opponent to hang around for a lack of talent.
Is USC gonna come in the 'Shoe and embarass us? Heeeeeellllllll no! We are not San Jose State. We are The Ohio State University Buckeyes and will not just roll over and accept the loss that so many suddenly seem so willing to take for granted.
Our D line will get pressure (SJST sacked barkley twice i think?) pryor sacked O times. we played a quality opponent, check. Barkley video highlights watched where he made easy one read throws to a tight end or tailback five yards down the field over and over and let his athletes break tackles to pad his stats...check. Many of those throws were also behind, or high, etc. He certainly isn't as accurate as Pryor, or at least not any more accurate.
Anderson Russel does make me a little nervous, but only because of the mental aspect. The kid can play, he just needs to remember it.
Brian Rolle is a Human Missile that is going to wreak serious havoc this week.
Our DT's need to do a better job of getting low and holding the line *(we did a pretty good job of this for the most part--except the two long td drives).
Our DE's and outside linebackers need to not get sucked in and whoever has outside contain needs to be committed to that first and foremost.
The gimmick offense certainly kept us confused, and I think our D line is achin to pin their ears back and play a traditional style offense with a true FR quarterback behind center. Not saying we annihilate them, just that if I'm Thad (DEM), i'm drooling over the licks I know I'm gonna get in one way or the other.
Everyone just relax.
We will be fine. Win or lose, I refuse to pull the stunt that the CPD has done in their give up and roll over article. This crap is unconscionable, and I can't wait to see that guy eat every left over copy of this article.
Even if we don't win, we ARE an elite program and capable of competing.
I think we do win, especially after being reassured by actually watching the game in slow motion and seeing what actually happened with the O line...our favorite scapegoats.
Now as long as I don't watch the second half :)
GO BUCKS
BEAT USC
LEAVE IT ALL ON THE FIELD
