Game Thread tOSU vs. Sparty, Sat 11/21, 3:30pm ET, ABC

[Jaxbuck]

And once they saw MSU was not playing Cook how do you not stack the box and dare MSU to beat you with the pass?

Honestly, it was some of the worst coaching and adjustments or lack of that I have witness in a long time by a coaching staff that I would say from a distance looked very very good.

This

Congrats to Sparty though. They clearly wanted it more on the field. Yards after contact was way in favor of Sparty and that just comes down to individual will.

Hopefully all of our bitching about playcalling internally doesn't come across as sour grapes to MSU fans but I'm sure it will. Nothing should take away from the balls it took from players to go into AA and Columbus and come out with wins this year.

 

[Greyshirt]

LOL

Listen if I was a Buck fan I would be fuming pissed right now. Hell after watching MSU give the game away to Nebraska by not going for a 1st down, I was ready to fire Coach D. and the whole staff. How you put the game in the hands of your pathetic pass defense and not have your 1st round QB throw for the first down is beyond me. But regardless, this is not the place.

I know all of my buddies are mystified by the OSU game plan. We are all baffled by the play calling and thankful to be honest. And yes we all agree that Coach D gets the boys to play their butts off and runs a great program. But when your squad loses and plays so uninspired and to be honest the game plans seemed more in line with how not to lose rather than how to win. It is a very tough pill to swallow. Been there all year.

I was actually relieved to see you guys still are seeing right. The coaching and preparation of the OSU squad was sub par. No way anyone can convince me of that otherwise. As I have stated. The only way MSU could win once Cook was out, was to pound the rock and play ball control.

I am now concerned your team is so twisted that they will lose focus of the real enemy. Which is of course the game this weekend. So talk the boys up and get them focused there is real work at hand. Time to take out the angst of losing this past weekend and go annihilate them skunk bears. I mean a real old school beating. Do a Woody and go for 2 with a minute left to win 50-0. That is the goal this week.

 

[Abenaki]

I was actually relieved to see you guys still are seeing right. The coaching and preparation of the OSU squad was sub par. No way anyone can convince me of that otherwise. As I have stated. The only way MSU could win once Cook was out, was to pound the rock and play ball control.

Urban said it all week, the better prepared team would win the game. And they did.

 

[grnvllbuck]

I thought I was watching the B1G Championship game from a couple years ago where tOSU didn't give the ball to their bellcow RB Carlos Hyde. There is something about this coaching staff that when up against Sparty, they decide it's best NOT to give it to the stud RB.

Changes need to be made in this coaching staff beginning with O-Line...beyond dysfunctional.
Why a premiere program like tOSU can't have the typical silver bullet D paired up with a high octane offense like a Baylor for example is beyond me.

 

[bukIpower]

I thought I was watching the B1G Championship game from a couple years ago where tOSU didn't give the ball to their bellcow RB Carlos Hyde. There is something about this coaching staff that when up against Sparty, they decide it's best NOT to give it to the stud RB.

Changes need to be made in this coaching staff beginning with O-Line...beyond dysfunctional.
Why a premiere program like tOSU can't have the typical silver bullet D paired up with a high octane offense like a Baylor for example is beyond me.

Because they go into it believing they can't pound on them. They purposely avoided it this game and that championship game because theyes were worried it was going to fail. With that mindset you've already lost

 

[Jaxbuck]

LOL

Listen if I was a Buck fan I would be fuming pissed right now. Hell after watching MSU give the game away to Nebraska by not going for a 1st down, I was ready to fire Coach D. and the whole staff. How you put the game in the hands of your pathetic pass defense and not have your 1st round QB throw for the first down is beyond me. But regardless, this is not the place.

I know all of my buddies are mystified by the OSU game plan. We are all baffled by the play calling and thankful to be honest. And yes we all agree that Coach D gets the boys to play their butts off and runs a great program. But when your squad loses and plays so uninspired and to be honest the game plans seemed more in line with how not to lose rather than how to win. It is a very tough pill to swallow. Been there all year.

I was actually relieved to see you guys still are seeing right. The coaching and preparation of the OSU squad was sub par. No way anyone can convince me of that otherwise. As I have stated. The only way MSU could win once Cook was out, was to pound the rock and play ball control.

I am now concerned your team is so twisted that they will lose focus of the real enemy. Which is of course the game this weekend. So talk the boys up and get them focused there is real work at hand. Time to take out the angst of losing this past weekend and go annihilate them skunk bears. I mean a real old school beating. Do a Woody and go for 2 with a minute left to win 50-0. That is the goal this week.

 

[buckeyemania11]

Empty backfield/obvious QB draw play is Beck's Dave

and has the same effect on me when I (and the other teams DC) see it coming

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

 

[Mac]

Empty backfield/obvious QB draw play is Beck's Dave

and has the same effect on me when I (and the other teams DC) see it coming

I would have paid to see Bollmans Dave Saturday. Ugh

 

[Greyshirt]

Not to pour salt into the wound. But I will even go back to the MSU win in the B210 Champ game a couple years ago. Everyone in the park knew they were going to have Braxton run a keeper on that big play. I mean come on guys. OSU play calling has been bad for quite some time. I like many I am sure are waiting for MR. Wide Open Urban to show up. And bring the O he ran at Florida or even Utah. I keep waiting and waiting and waiting. I agree that the pro set is the way to go if you have the horses. And OSU has the horses. But the play calling is so bizarre. And what is even weirder is Urban saying post game that basically the game plan sucked......rrrrr Urban you are the one who signs off on the game plan......or if not then what do you do?

 

[Greyshirt]

OK I am done in this thread.

Time to move forward and plan the demise of the skunks. No point in crying over the milk at the moment. This can be discussed post season. There is a rather important event this weekend that needs our complete focus.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Not to pour salt into the wound. But I will even go back to the MSU win in the B210 Champ game a couple years ago. Everyone in the park knew they were going to have Braxton run a keeper on that big play. I mean come on guys. OSU play calling has been bad for quite some time. I like many I am sure are waiting for MR. Wide Open Urban to show up. And bring the O he ran at Florida or even Utah. I keep waiting and waiting and waiting. I agree that the pro set is the way to go if you have the horses. And OSU has the horses. But the play calling is so bizarre. And what is even weirder is Urban saying post game that basically the game plan sucked......rrrrr Urban you are the one who signs off on the game plan......or if not then what do you do?

I don't agree at all with it being a systemic issue. The guys has lost 4 games in 4 years.

Does seem to be these rather large outliers every once in a while however that are just fucking mystifying.

 

[shiloh]

Don't get me wrong MSU is a great team and I love my team. But we had played uninspired all year.

Indeed, so welcome to the club of rooting for a team that has played uninspired all year. "We" feel your pain! But damn Michigan State for picking the Buckeyes to start playing inspired football. ok, ok, OSU tends to bring out every opponents A game.

Congrats on your team's win. If not for a fumble and botched punt return it would have been 17-0.

>

Hopefully this Saturday is the game Ohio State starts playing inspired/intelligent football ...

 

[ScriptOhio]

VIDEOS: OHIO STATE'S JOEY BOSA, JOSHUA PERRY, TAYLOR DECKER, JACOBY BOREN, TOMMY SCHUTT AND RAEKWON MCMILLAN TALK LOSS TO MICHIGAN STATE, PREVIEW MICHIGAN













Entire article: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-...y-taylor-decker-jacoby-boren-tommy-schutt-and

 

[ScriptOhio]

FILM STUDY: EXAMINING OHIO STATE'S OFFENSIVE STRUGGLES AGAINST MICHIGAN STATE

As soon as Michael Geiger's game-winning field goal split the uprights in the north end of Ohio Stadium, blame for the Buckeyes' first loss in 23 contests was assigned to any and everyone in sight.

The weather had been horrible. There had been too many mental errors. The team wasn't focused. The play-calling was awful. Not only did the internet declare that every OSU coordinator deserve to be fired, some flame-throwing fans felt this performance meant Urban Meyer's time in Columbus was up as well.

But when taking a step back and reassessing the Buckeyes' performance, it's hard to place much blame for the loss on the shoulders of the OSU defense. Though they were facing a pair of backup quarterbacks, they still only allowed 17 points and 294 yards to a top-ten team with only one play, a 36-yard completion to the big ten's top receiver, Aaron Burbridge, tallying over 20 yards.

The Silver Bullets truly suffered 'death by a thousand cuts' on that cold and rainy afternoon, spending 20 of the game's final 30 minutes on the field. The unit was worn down and frustrated after largely holding the Spartan offense at bay while their teammates on the offensive side of the ball only registered two first downs in the second half.

To understand why the Buckeye offense failed so mightily on this day, we can't just look in one direction, as countless factors played into this performance. The play-calling seems to be the most topic amongst fans and even certain players, and yes, there were certainly some questionable decisions made in this department.

The Spartans didn't do much differently with their scheme on this day, showing many of the same aggressive tendencies that they have for years under head coach Mark Dantonio. When faced with a critical 3rd-and-3 on their second possession, the Spartans lined up with four down-linemen and two linebackers, giving the Buckeyes enough blockers with tight end Nick Vannett to match up.

As the Buckeyes called for a 'split-zone' run with quarterback J.T. Barrett acting as the ball-carrier behind tight end Nick Vannett, the OSU front was able to get their hands on every defender in the box. However, safety Montae Nicholson flew up almost immediately to make a big tackle, a tendency of MSU defenders for years, and one that greatly slowed the OSU running game in the 2013 Big Ten championship game.

Entire article: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-...es-offensive-struggles-against-michigan-state

 

[cincibuck]

Then why was there such a huge offensive drop-off when Tom Herman left? We're scoring 34 ppg now when we scored 45 ppg last year. While "Meyer sits at the top of the offensive brain trust at Ohio State", it's Beck that makes the play calls during the game. Is Meyer going to override every other call? Tell me, how many big time college football head coaches call the offensive plays themselves?

I find it hard to believe that the performance of the offense and the play calling wasn't topic numero uno on several Sunday morning brain trust meetings. As HC you set parameters for what you want the OC and the DC to work on. By week 8 you take the responsibility away if you don't like the way the team is playing. That's why, unlike Hoke, you wear a headset.

That said, repeating last year was going to be a very steep mountain to climb. Every one of your opponents had three extra games to watch and analyze. The trap play that worked so well in the final three games was undoubtedly broken down in film and defenses planned around it.

And while I'm at it. Remember when you and I bitched up a storm about the Buckeye O-Line under Bollman? Remember how we cheered when Urban let him go? And who was the coach of the O-line that wore out the Buckeye front seven? Bingo!

Moral: Careful what you wish for.

So beat Michigan, win a major bowl game, hit the recruiting trail and start all over again.