Game Thread tOSU at Illinois, Sat Oct 2, Noon ET, BTN

[osugrad21]

I'm willing to give the playcalling a pass today...

The wind dictated possibilities for each offense for one half of the game. That makes a defense much easier to call and also allows a defense to be be much more aggressive.

I've enjoyed the majority of the playcalling this season. I'll chalk today up to the weather.

1-0 in Big 10 play.

 

[Steve19]

Guys, I didn't see the game but I've seen these comments about Tressel before.

There is a gusting, swirling wind. Your star QB and leading rusher is hurt. The back-up QB is not effective. You have had possession 16:58 to the Illini's 23:04. Your star QB can go into the game and hand it off, but not much more. You have your Buckeyes put it on the ground and hold the ball 14:18 to 5:40 to end the game, outscoring Illinois 10-3.

With all due respect, I think Tressel called it right.

 

[robbothehut]

Illinois almost always plays us tough...those kids are fighting for Zook's job....we spotted them 7 points to fire them up...and for some reason it felt like we were one play away from disaster all day...

I'll take the conservative play calling and the win any day over a real exciting loss.....don't get me wrong it makes me crazy while watching it, but I hope JT keeps making me crazy for years to come.

Plus it was good to see the boys can grind some meat when they have to. Nice work guys

 

[3074326]

I have a question to ask, in general.

I still hear people saying how TP sucks so badly. What the fuck is wrong with you? He has one bad game and suddenly you want to see the backups? I heard someone today who was happy Bauserman was in. WHAT THE FUCK?

That's all.

 

[WyoBuck]

Not so much the playcalling I question, but he personnel. I mean, I get that Saine and Bauserman have more experience in the scheme, but seriously, Bauserman looks "generic" for lack of a better term. Potentially just, bad. And it doesn't mesh well with what the rest of the offense is prepared to do. As far as Saine goes, his touches need to be designed to use him most effectively, which,obviously, does not mean take him out of the scheme as he is great catching the ball. Not so sure about after the catch yet, but still. Much like Mo Wells, though, he will NEVER be your "primary" back. He is incapable of creating something on his own. I Truly wonder why we are not seeing a heavy dose of Herron, who is much better running into the line, or even Hall. Berry seems to be an unproven commodity as of yet, but shows tons of promise. I don't claim to know much about game planning, but after 5 games, I think it's pretty obvious what we have as far as strengths and weaknesses. If Bauserman and Saine is what we have to rely on if things get bad, then, we are not nearly as deep as I thought. Sobering thought.

 

[Coqui]

Guys, I didn't see the game but I've seen these comments about Tressel before.

There is a gusting, swirling wind. Your star QB and leading rusher is hurt. The back-up QB is not effective. You have had possession 16:58 to the Illini's 23:04. Your star QB can go into the game and hand it off, but not much more. You have your Buckeyes put it on the ground and hold the ball 14:18 to 5:40 to end the game, outscoring Illinois 10-3.

With all due respect, I think Tressel called it right.

My issue wasn't sticking to the running game. My issue was sticking to the same running play each time. We didn't mix it up at all. As I said, it obviously eventually worked, but we lost a couple of drives due to it too.

 

[Coqui]

I have a question to ask, in general.

I still hear people saying how TP sucks so badly. What the [censored] is wrong with you? He has one bad game and suddenly you want to see the backups? I heard someone today who was happy Bauserman was in. WHAT THE [censored]?

That's all.

People still buy in to the arm punt mentality other teams fans and ESPN commentaries say.

 

[craigblitz]

I've enjoyed the majority of the playcalling this season. I'll chalk today up to the weather.

That was my impression to, and coach does manage the game in bad weather better then almost anyone in the country. Having said that re-watching some of the game now and I do wonder if we are becoming predictable in our play calling. Having said that.. Down early, Illinois played great special teams pinning us back, qb goes down, missed a couple plays to keep the chains moving....

Maybe should be happy to be 1-0

 

[NFBuck]

Bottom line is Jim Tressel is Jim Tressel. When he sees he can win a game on the wings of his defense, he's going to pack up the tents and do it. When they started with the gimmick plays on the opening drive, I knew they had nothing and I'm sure JT saw the same thing. After that opening drive, they got very little. He's not going to take unnecessary risks just for style points. Especially with the wind and an early turnover. Today, that was definitely the right call. Just like 2006, the score was close, but I don't think the outcome was ever really in doubt.

 

[Bucknut24]

this game reminded me of why I came to this board and stay way from the scout board, holy crap, they act like we just lost to a 1-AA team, so many more reasonable fans over here

 

[BrutusBobcat]

Guys, I didn't see the game but I've seen these comments about Tressel before.

There is a gusting, swirling wind. Your star QB and leading rusher is hurt. The back-up QB is not effective. You have had possession 16:58 to the Illini's 23:04. Your star QB can go into the game and hand it off, but not much more. You have your Buckeyes put it on the ground and hold the ball 14:18 to 5:40 to end the game, outscoring Illinois 10-3.

With all due respect, I think Tressel called it right.

This.

Also, the defense was playing lights out after Illinois' TD. Without a horrible turnover or special teams breakdown, the Illini weren't going to see the end zone again. If there were a time burn the clock, take care of the football and play classic Tresselball, this was it.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Did Illinois get 4 time outs?

 

[t_BuckeyeScott]

Pryor had 5 pass attempts in the 2nd half. Bauserman had 2. They ran the ball 27 times. They were clearly not worried about Illinois' offense. Is there any defense for Saine getting carries over the other 3 tailbacks? Give me Jordan Hall. I've actually seen him make a defender miss in the hole. Eh....

 

[SEREbuckeye]

My final thought on this game is quite simple. Our struggles is a product of the entire OOC lineup. Its not the talent we destroyed but how we destroyed it.

Maybe leaving Pryor in against EMU to pad his stats a bit wasn't the best idea. He should have been sat at the halftime, period. If Bauserman and/or Guiton struggled - oh well keep them in and let them learn how to over come adversary. We saw today what we saw then, Bauserman plays poor, we bench him and put our star back in. That just reinforces the idea of playing bad is okay for backups because you find yourself on the bench. We would had been screwed if Pryor was down for the game and more. Maybe next week if we handle Indiana the coaches need to prep the backups for more than a few series. We know our 3rd AND 4th string running backs are ready to go, but for some reason our QBs aren't. Again, this can be attributed to Pryor being left in blowout games for too long.

Injuries have plagued the defense so far this early part of the season. Not sure how to solve that but I will say that our Luke Fickell has done a hell of a job making sure his entire D, to include back ups, are ready to go at any moment. Im not just impressed by the plays but more so the depth of the Silver Bullets.

Not a good game today but there is always next week. A win is a win. Go Bucls.

 

[Bob Ross]

Coupla observation...

- With the wind and an aggressive Illini defense, Tressel-ball was in full effect today.
- After TP came back from the injury, it was even moreso...
- Illinois is pretty much always up for tOSU. The fact that the Bucks played their worst game since Purdue last year and still won by two scores on the road can only be seen as a positive.
- The difference between this game and Purdue last year was Tressel-ball.
- TP is so deceptively fast...watching him glide down the field is like watching Bob Ross paint a happy little tree...
- Illinois is much better than last year. They found two good coordinators to help offset Zooks "Zookiness".
- Scheelhasse is gonna be a good one for the and will help beat a couple teams they shouldn't this year.
- Brandon Saine is a great Buckeye and captain, he's a helluva threat as a receiver, but he's not a good running back. I watch him carry the ball and I see Lydell Ross all over again. I wish Jordan Hall could get some of his reps.
- I love our return game.
- Special Teams looked better today aside from the nullified blocked PAT.
- Christian Bryant is gonna be really good. Still takes some bad angles, but he's young. He loves to hit and has a nose for the ball.
- Hope to God TP doesn't ever have to miss significant action in a close game.
- 5 down, 8 to go...

I've thought the same! I really like how he can create something out of what was really nothing... just like me.

He's great.