• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Game Thread tOSU vs. Sparty, B1G Championship Game, Sat 8 ET on FOX

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
OSUK said:
My omen I look at is how MSU defended Nebraska: they gave up 186 on the ground to an offense with a comparable RB, but not a comparable QB as OSU. I'm sure Sparty is going to focus on taking away Hyde between the tackles first and then try to manage Brax and hope he isn't passing the ball well. That's a lot of ifs, buts, candy, and nuts.

The most interesting thing about this game is that Ohio State is going to be facing an offense and defense that is the best expression of Tresselball that exists in CFB. The gameplan is simple for the Bucks: 1) stop Dave 2) win 3rd and long more than half the time 3) get a 2-3 score lead in the second half 4) watch an opponent who can't come from behind do things they don't want to do. The path to defeat: 1) turn the ball over 2) give up non-offensive scores 3) allow MSU to have a lead in the 2nd half, run the ball and control the clock.

It always comes down to players making plays, but Sparty's path to victory is much narrower than Ohio State's. If we lose this game, it will be because we turned the ball over and our defense finally bit us in the butt. If Jim Bollman beats us, then we have no business having national championship fairies dancing around in our heads anyway.
Click to expand...

I agree with most of your points. I can see getting that 2-3 score lead like you pointed out and making Sparty do something they do not want to do, however in that scenario our defense they way it has played might just allow them to do something they don't want to do.

The defense in the UM was alarming but I think it might be a blessing in disguise. If The Game had been a blowout the defense might have come off that win slightly over confident, but with the shaky defense for The Game, the coaches may use the practice time between then and Saturday to re-focus the group for the task at hand and come out trying to prove something.
 
Upvote 0
Fremont Buckeye said:
I agree with most of your points. I can see getting that 2-3 score lead like you pointed out and making Sparty do something they do not want to do, however in that scenario our defense they way it has played might just allow them to do something they don't want to do.

The defense in the UM was alarming but I think it might be a blessing in disguise. If The Game had been a blowout the defense might have come off that win slightly over confident, but with the shaky defense for The Game, the coaches may use the practice time between then and Saturday to re-focus the group for the task at hand and come out trying to prove something.
Click to expand...

When you go back and watch The Game the only thing alarming was that the DL got whipped by and large all day long. The rest of the defensive issues were to be expected (the LB's can't cover anyone). The lack of coverage was exacerbated by Gardner getting out of at least a half dozen sacks. I don't think Sparty's QB can do that but I do think they can move the pocket and let him just hit quick throws a lot (much like Iowa).

As someone pointed out above, it's going to be a style match up. Up tempo offense vs Tresselball. Tresselball doesn't do well from behind, up tempo doesn't do well in close games where Tresselball team can keep the offense off the field.

The two key match ups I am looking at will be OSU DL vs MSU OL and OSU slot receivers vs MSU LB's. Whoever wins those battles will win the game imo.
 
Upvote 0
I heard somewhere that MSU really hasn't played anyone and didn't think much of it. But recently saw a tweet somewhere that they have only played 2 top-50 offenses and gave up 28 to both (IN and NE). Technically UM is top 50 now, but you know who they have to thank for that...

So they gave up 28 to IN at home (IN is #20) and 28 to NE on the road (#48). My original prediction was 27-17. Now I think we get at a minimum 31 points. Narduzzi has said he's planning on loading the box and we'll get a lot of single coverage. If Braxton is having a good day throwing, it will be closer to 40.

Conversely, we have played 3 top 50 defenses (3 top 30 defenses really). Yes, 1 was in the MAC (Buffalo), so we can ignore them (40 points). But we also put up 31 on #6 Wisconsin (and it could have been more if we were in a closer game) and 34 on #11 Iowa (and it would have been more if our D could do anything in the first half since they couldn't stop us whatsoever).
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
I'm an idiot for not jumping on tickets to this before the year. Stadium is 10 minute walk from sister's apartment and 10 minute drive from my house. Bit out of my price range now. :smash:

Time to work some connections in this city...
 
Upvote 0
ted-ginn-murders-msu-part-iii-o.gif
 
Upvote 0
I think Urban should do some miraculous fix to the defense, tell Herman to pour it on, win the game in a rout, cause a Sparty recruit to flip to Ohio State, steal their women, and adopt their children. They hate us. Let's give them some actual good reasons to hate us. :grr:
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top