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tOSU at Navy (M&T Bank Stadium), Aug 30th @ 12pm ET, CBS Sports Network

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Well Here is Keenan's Stats as a Junior- 68 of 128 (53%), 8TD's with 2 INT and 15 sacks with 1346 rushing yards (4.5 per).

Here is Dobbs as a Junior- 56 of 105 (53%), 6 TD's with 3 INT's and 19 Sacks with 1192 rushing yards (3.8).

Similar passing abilities with the edge going to Keenan with better decision making as evident by his INT to TD ratio and his higher rushing yards as well as average. Overall I would say Keenan may be slightly better in regards to their Junior Season. What I am most interested in is their surrounding casts though, how much does Navy return on offense (particularly their lines).

Also to note while the 2009 defensive line of our bucks was good I think we all know they are not as complete as the 2014 defensive line, especially in regards to depth. We had Heyward but outside of that we didn't have as many stars as this 2014 team will have. The question mark is the line backers and the secondary. I like our corners better than 2009 (Torrence vs Grant) but the 2009 linebackers were quite a bit more proven.

All in all I don't think it will matter as Navy will have no answer for our offense but I would not be surprised with a final score of 63-35 or 63-24 or something like that. I would love to see a starting defensive line of Washington-Bennett-Schutt-Bosa to get our longest and biggest defensive line combo out there.
 
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With regards to the 2009 Dline. "Stars" don't mean a damn thing. Executing your assignments, hitting your gap, maintaining leverage and putting in the effort as a team absolutely outweighs how many star players are on a Dline.

Outside of Will Smith who would go on to the NFL as Pro-Bowl player, the 2002 and 2003 defensive lines were not a big name group. Sure, you had some very good players like Anderson, Scott, Fraser, Peterson etc etc. Again, no firepower
kind of names. Likewise for 2005. Kudla, Pitcock, Patterson, Richardson - a very good dline, yet nothing on big names.

Don't be so quick to assign this 2014 squad as complete. I'm still curious to see how Washington and the interior hold up against the run game. As I can remember Clemson and Boyd being successful inside quite a few times.

That said, you clearly undervalued how good that 2009 unit was. Heyward aside, Denlinger emerged as a bonafide nose, Washington finally hit his stride, Rose became a quality backup and contributor, Thaddeus a solid pass rusher
and obviously the early beginnings of the terror that was John Simon.
 
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I wasn't talking about stars with recruiting I was talking about their on field performance. I remember 2009 perfectly and while I may be more optimistic for the 2014 d-line than you I carefully looked at the 2009 line before making that comment. I fully appreciate what that 2009 line did for us but the line in 2014 has proven they are just as good and most likely a bit deeper with more versatile players.

Very similar lines IMO but I do feel overall 2014 will prove to be a better unit. Thats NOT a knock on the 2009 line though because they too were talented.

As far as Clemson running up the middle. That had just as much to do with the LB play which is where 2009 has the edge until proven otherwise
 
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bukIpower said:
I wasn't talking about stars in recruiting I was talking about their on field performance. I remember 2009 perfectly and while I may be more optimistic for the 2014 d-line than you I carefully looked at the 2009 line before making that comment. I fully appreciate what that 2009 line did for us but the line in 2014 has proven they are just as good and most likely a bit deeper with more versatile players.

Very similar lines IMO but I do feel overall 2014 will prove to be a better unit. Thats NOT a knock on the 2009 line though because they too were talented.
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The 2014 line hasn't proved they can recognize a screen pass so far (though hopefully that changes with LJ Sr), let alone the discipline and approach needed to combat Navy. OSU is overloaded with elite talent but how consistent it is, especially against the run, remains to be seen.
 
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I hear ya jwins however I'm interested to see how consistent LB and secondary play contribute to our defense. Yes the defensive line shouldn't be crowned as elite just yet but they were our most consistent unit on defense last year I feel.
 
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The more I look at this game, the more I think it will be a bloodbath. We have all summer to prepare for the option, an elite DL, and Navy loses 3 of their starting 5 OL (their LT, C, and RG). I watched a rerun of Navy-San Jose State the other day and there is no doubt Reynolds is a hell of a talent and I really, really mean that...he tied the NCAA record for rushing TDs by a QB in a game (7) and though it was against a very bad defense, you could see his talent.

However, we have a veteran and talented DL that could make it tough for Reynolds to even get to the perimeter and he is not a gifted passer whatsoever. I think for the purposes of stopping Navy, we see a starting DL of Bosa, Washington, Bennett, and S. Miller, with some rotation of Schutt, Carter, Hill, and Lewis. Their OL is undersized and I think we can overwhelm them and blow up their reads before they can sniff the 2nd level.

Also, even if they put up some points on us (I think they get in the 20 point range), no way they come close to stopping our offense and they will not win a shootout. Their defense is BAD. They might give us a little trouble with their veteran DL and our young OL (hoping Decker, Lindsay, and Elflein mitigate the youth somewhat), but I think we get the ball out quick to our weapons and they just don't have the athletes to chase Dontre, EzE, Braxton, C. Smith, D. Smith, etc. Mix a little read-zone in with some quick screens, slants, bubbles, and take the occasional deep shot to the Smiths and we will put up some points. Only way I see us struggling is if (Lord forbid) Braxton gets hurt for more than a few possessions. In either even, that is my official prediction for now.
 
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The only problem is that an elite d-line is going to be meaningless against a team that is going to chop block them all day.

Stopping the option will be an intense first test for the back seven- if they pass it will be a great sign of things to come and a testament to Ash's coaching ability.
 
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