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Game Thread tOSU vs. Virginia Tech, Sept 6th @ 8pm ET, ESPN & ESPN3 Skycam

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The more I think about it the more I begin to think that we didn't utilize the short pass game at all last night. I know that big plays have been a major part of our offense for years now, but you can't continue to rely on them when your quarterback is getting killed every snap. By the 4th quarter I started counting seconds that JT had between snapping the ball and either being pressured or winding up on his back, and it was usually between 2 and 3 seconds. The wide receivers have little to no chance to get open in that time frame, especially with how well VT's corners played last night, and the fact that we ran go routes all night.

Slants, screens, bubble screens, 5 yard out routes... Where were they? I fucking hate bubble screens, but I would've paid to watch them line up Wilson and a decent blocking WR outside. Wilson beats his man and suddenly VT is playing a more conservative pass defense.
 
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Just a few thoughts....

A. After starting out 24-0, Urban Meyer is now 1-3 in his last four games at Ohio State.

B. The defense was schizophrenic, forcing 10 TFL's and 3 turnovers, but allowing Va Tech to convert 10 of 18 third downs, including seven of at least five yards.

C. Despite having three plays of 40 or more yards and scoring three touchdowns, the offense looked awful - the worst since Miami in 2011.

D. The special teams? Two missed FG's, a shanked punt, a kick-off out of bounds, a late hit, no quality returns. Hardly special.

E. Quite frankly, Ohio State looked intimidated by Va Tech - not just the players, but also the coaching staff.

F. The playoff run is over in week 2, so the coaching staff should have two goals from here on out:

(1) find out which of the youngsters can play, and get them playing time; and

(2) BEAT MICHIGAN!!!​
 
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LordJeffBuck said:
Just a few thoughts....

A. After starting out 24-0, Urban Meyer is now 1-3 in his last four games at Ohio State.

B. The defense was schizophrenic, forcing 10 TFL's and 3 turnovers, but allowing Va Tech to convert 10 of 18 third downs, including seven of at least five yards.

C. Despite having three plays of 40 or more yards and scoring three touchdowns, the offense looked awful - the worst since Miami in 2011.

D. The special teams? Two missed FG's, a shanked punt, a kick-off out of bounds, a late hit, no quality returns. Hardly special.

E. Quite frankly, Ohio State looked intimidated by Va Tech - not just the players, but also the coaching staff.

F. The playoff run is over in week 2, so the coaching staff should have two goals from here on out:

(1) find out which of the youngsters can play, and get them playing time; and

(2) BEAT MICHIGAN!!!​
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Agree with basically everything here. Although the Nebraska game in '11 (once Miller went down) was a slightly more recent awful offensive performance. :sad2:

A couple things I saw:

- Barrett did a lot of things well, but someone really needs to stress to him the importance of not taking a sack. Va Tech must've sacked him 5-6 times in those last three drives of the game. There is a world of difference between 3rd and 10 and 3rd and 19. Obviously, the line wasn't doing Barrett any favors for most of the night, but when a line breaks down--and they all do from time to time--the QB has to limit the team's losses.

- The kickoff out of bounds really hurt given the timing--OSU had just tied the game in the 4th quarter and had all the momentum. Instead of the opponent starting somewhere between the 15 and 25, Va Tech started at the 35. Second game in a row our kicker has landed a kickoff out of bounds too.

- There were two late hits (although you correctly point out only one of them was on special teams--Tanner tackling the kickoff returner about 8 yards out of bounds). The other was Lee hitting the QB late.

- I haven't gone back to look, but I'm sure Corey Smith's drop of the TD pass (great throw by Barrett, BTW) has been discussed at length. The missed chip-shot field goal two plays later was the icing on the cake...for Va Tech fans.

A lot of the above just seem like mental mistakes to me.
 
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Honestly one bright side is the defense overall played ok. If we could've just got off the field we would've been lights out. Look we gave up just over 300 total yards and held them under 200 passing that's great improvement. We have to get off the field though or at least force field goals which we couldn't do
 
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bukIpower said:
Honestly one bright side is the defense overall played ok. If we could've just got off the field we would've been lights out. Look we gave up just over 300 total yards and held them under 200 passing that's great improvement. We have to get off the field though or at least force field goals which we couldn't do
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The run defense was really good. Only that late drive with the end-around followed by the halfback pass which the halfback just kept and ran, do I recall them running the ball with any success. For the most part, their run game was shut down. Problem is what you identify--OSU had them in third and long so many times, and they would convert. The pass defense still has a way to go...
 
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LordJeffBuck said:
Just a few thoughts....

A. After starting out 24-0, Urban Meyer is now 1-3 in his last four games at Ohio State.

B. The defense was schizophrenic, forcing 10 TFL's and 3 turnovers, but allowing Va Tech to convert 10 of 18 third downs, including seven of at least five yards.

C. Despite having three plays of 40 or more yards and scoring three touchdowns, the offense looked awful - the worst since Miami in 2011.

D. The special teams? Two missed FG's, a shanked punt, a kick-off out of bounds, a late hit, no quality returns. Hardly special.

E. Quite frankly, Ohio State looked intimidated by Va Tech - not just the players, but also the coaching staff.

F. The playoff run is over in week 2, so the coaching staff should have two goals from here on out:

(1) find out which of the youngsters can play, and get them playing time; and

(2) BEAT MICHIGAN!!!​
Click to expand...
I agree entirely. When Braxton Miller went down, the NC hopes were over. I actually thought that there was a chance that Ohio State could be dominant against Virginia Tech if Barrett really was being held back against Navy. I bought into the meme that he had played with the 1's while Braxton recovered and was ready. He shows signs of future brilliance, but he is after all a freshman with no real playing time.

But lets' be clear that this was not really about a freshman quarterback or even the offense. It was a terrible game across the board. Virginia Tech fans must have loved that field position in the 1st quarter. A 24 yard punt? I could have hit one of those field goals 10 out of 10. The greatest concern for me remains consistent defense. A team that was criticized for over-reliance on defense to win games, has not been able to consistently put together four downs of Silver Bullet defense for two years now. They put on pressure and deliver the "wow" and then allow easy 3rd down conversions.

At the end of the day, this was as much a failure of coaching as it was implementation of a strategy. Herman admitted that we did not prepare for their defense and found ourselves unable to adjust early on. The team's youth is a contributing factor to that.

Meyer had difficulty hiding his disappointment, especially in the special teams, but I agree with his take. This is not a time to carry on with NC expectations. It can still be one helluva year, and Ohio State can not only get by other teams but also put the pieces in place for a real run next year.

I'm optimistic about the future but I would not be surprised if we see a few dark days this year along the way.
 
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Mike80 said:
That's not true - the offense DID click against Sparty last year. Look at the yards they put up. In the end of the game, an offensive play didn't work out, but the Big Ten CCG last year was clearly a defensive issue.

Now if you wanted to say the defense hasn't stopped anyone of note since Tressel left, I think you wouldn't find a single person that would disagree with you.
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Honestly, over a single game spread sure. Look, we got some big plays every now and then and Braxton had some nice jukes and long runs, but I can't recall us consistently clicking on the short to intermediate passing game, distributing the ball and consistently picking up yards over multiple series in a row. When you play the really good defenses, that's the only way to sustain success - just look at the pros.
We were often just one dimensional the last few years -

Braxton (or Carlos) do something!!! isn't going to cut it against Bama.


Then again, my memories from last years B1G CG are... fuzzy. At best.
 
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