Matt Tamanini
Guest
What are you most hoping to see from Ohio State against Tennessee this weekend?
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.
Throughout the Ohio State football season, we will be asking and answering questions about the team, college football, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.
Friends, we are here, it is game week. The No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes have the chance to finally erase the sting of their humiliating loss in the regular season by going on an epic run in the College Football Playoff. The next month might be instrumental to head coach Ryan Day keeping his job as the man in charge in Columbus, but to do that, they will need to make some substantial changes and beat the No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers this weekend.
The SEC’s Vols will descend from Rocky Top to come to Columbus on Saturday, Dec. 21 in a game to be played at 8 p.m. ET and aired on ABC and ESPN. So, ahead of that contest, we wanted to check in with Buckeye Nation and see where their heads were at about what Day and his team needed to do on Saturday and then, what the OSU fanbase thinks is going to happen in the game.
Take a look at the two questions below, and vote in the survey at the bottom of the article. Then, if you want to add your extra two cents, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of the page.
I tried to make these options as specific as possible. I think if I had put something along the lines of “Stop calling stupid-ass plays on offense,” that would have won in a landslide, so I tried to diversify the options a little bit more to make it a competitive and compelling survey.
I don’t want to influence the voting on this one too much, because I am incredibly curious to see what the OSU masses think here, but I believe that I could make a compelling case for all of these options. Ryan Day seems to be telegraphing changes along the offensive line, and brief glimpses of practice this week indicated that Luke Montgomery had worked his way into the starting rotation, but who knows if that will actually be the case on Saturday.
The Volunteers play incredibly fast, so Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun can’t allow their worst habits to creep up in high-leverage situations, and of course, getting a bit more from the defensive line will help that.
While I didn’t include the aforementioned “Stop calling stupid-ass plays on offense” option, I do have two offensive play-calling possibilities. Obviously (at least to anyone not named Ryan Day or Chip Kelly), Ohio State’s strength is in the passing game, but I don’t think that the ground attack is completely without merit; it is just not built to be a three-yard-in-a-cloud-of-dust type of thing.
Use the athleticism of your running backs, take some pressure off of the interior of your beat-up line, and get guys into space. But, also, throw the ball to Jeremiah Smith or Emeka Egbuka at least every other play!
When the FanDuel SportsBook opened betting for this first-round College Football Playoff game matchup, it installed the home-team Buckeyes as 7.5-point favorites, and that line has stayed consistent in the week and a half following that announcement. The gold standard college football analytics model SP+ has Ohio State as a six-point favorite, but we want to know what you think.
Personally, I am of the opinion that if Ryan Day gets his head out of his ass and stops trying to prove that he’s tough, the Buckeyes will likely cover. However, if he continues to let his personal obsession with proving Josh Gattis’ three-year-old comments about toughness ruin his coaching legacy, then I don’t see OSU having much of a shot in this one.
Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.
Throughout the Ohio State football season, we will be asking and answering questions about the team, college football, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.
Friends, we are here, it is game week. The No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes have the chance to finally erase the sting of their humiliating loss in the regular season by going on an epic run in the College Football Playoff. The next month might be instrumental to head coach Ryan Day keeping his job as the man in charge in Columbus, but to do that, they will need to make some substantial changes and beat the No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers this weekend.
The SEC’s Vols will descend from Rocky Top to come to Columbus on Saturday, Dec. 21 in a game to be played at 8 p.m. ET and aired on ABC and ESPN. So, ahead of that contest, we wanted to check in with Buckeye Nation and see where their heads were at about what Day and his team needed to do on Saturday and then, what the OSU fanbase thinks is going to happen in the game.
Take a look at the two questions below, and vote in the survey at the bottom of the article. Then, if you want to add your extra two cents, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of the page.
Question 1: Which of these options do you most hope to see out of Ohio State against Tennessee?
I tried to make these options as specific as possible. I think if I had put something along the lines of “Stop calling stupid-ass plays on offense,” that would have won in a landslide, so I tried to diversify the options a little bit more to make it a competitive and compelling survey.
I don’t want to influence the voting on this one too much, because I am incredibly curious to see what the OSU masses think here, but I believe that I could make a compelling case for all of these options. Ryan Day seems to be telegraphing changes along the offensive line, and brief glimpses of practice this week indicated that Luke Montgomery had worked his way into the starting rotation, but who knows if that will actually be the case on Saturday.
The Volunteers play incredibly fast, so Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun can’t allow their worst habits to creep up in high-leverage situations, and of course, getting a bit more from the defensive line will help that.
While I didn’t include the aforementioned “Stop calling stupid-ass plays on offense” option, I do have two offensive play-calling possibilities. Obviously (at least to anyone not named Ryan Day or Chip Kelly), Ohio State’s strength is in the passing game, but I don’t think that the ground attack is completely without merit; it is just not built to be a three-yard-in-a-cloud-of-dust type of thing.
Use the athleticism of your running backs, take some pressure off of the interior of your beat-up line, and get guys into space. But, also, throw the ball to Jeremiah Smith or Emeka Egbuka at least every other play!
Question 2: What will the margin of victory be in Saturday’s game against Tennessee?
When the FanDuel SportsBook opened betting for this first-round College Football Playoff game matchup, it installed the home-team Buckeyes as 7.5-point favorites, and that line has stayed consistent in the week and a half following that announcement. The gold standard college football analytics model SP+ has Ohio State as a six-point favorite, but we want to know what you think.
Personally, I am of the opinion that if Ryan Day gets his head out of his ass and stops trying to prove that he’s tough, the Buckeyes will likely cover. However, if he continues to let his personal obsession with proving Josh Gattis’ three-year-old comments about toughness ruin his coaching legacy, then I don’t see OSU having much of a shot in this one.
Share your thoughts here:
Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Continue reading...