That School Up North Game Review

It's taken a week for some of the pain of that loss to wear off, but I guess now is as good of a time as ever to write this thing.  Urban Meyer's hiring has certainly helped to off-set the loss, that's for sure.  That said, it's the end of the season, and we sit at 6-6.  However, it helps to put things in perspective.  We had the youngest team in the conference, were decimated by multiple suspensions, the resignation of a national championship winning coach 3 months before the season started, injuries to multiple key players, and yet, we had a chance to be 11-1 this year.  In every Big Ten loss, we had a chance to win it in the end.  his group of young men fought and clawed for everything they got this year, and in a couple of years it will all be worth it.

Before I get into the offense and defense, I just want to take a moment to thank Coach Luke Fickell for everything he's done this year.  He will never truly receive the thanks and graciousness from Buckeye nation that he deserves, but he took on an impossible situation of leading this team, with no promises of having a permanent job, and held them together through it all - Suspensions, injuries, tough losses - to make a bowl game.  He's a damn good coach, an outstanding recruiter, and embodies what it means to be a Buckeye.  I am overjoyed at the fact that he will be returning as part of Coach Meyer's staff next year.

Offense

- Obviously, we're going to start off by talking about how amazing Braxton Miller played.  He accounted for 90% of our offense in the game, and played absolutely brilliant.  I loved when he saw how they were aligned defensively, and checked to a QB dive in the second quarter, and busted it for 21 yards.  I loved how he found the open man and got the ball out to him.  He certainly had some throws that needed more polish (Missed about 3 touchdowns, including what could've been a game winner to DeVier Posey with 1:48 to go), but he's a gamer.  He's going to be a great one.

- Braxton had 335 yards of total offense on the day.  For the record, that's more than Troy Smith had in his Heisman Trophy sealing performance against Michigan in 2006 (328).  And before the final drive, he had a great completion % going for him as well.

- For the 3rd straight week, the running game outside of Braxton was non-existant.  I'm just not sure what happened to the dominant offensive line that we used to have, they failed to open holes and overall just haven't been very good in the past couple of weeks.

- It would've been great to have Posey all season long.  He dominated the Michigan secondary, and could've had as many as three touchdowns on the day if Braxton had been able to connect with him.  His big-play ability and ability to get seperation is just incredible, and will be sorely missed.

- Philly Brown had a big day as well.  He's always been our best WR in terms of getting seperation, but he actually caught the ball this week!  No lie, part of me was thinking he would drop the first touchdown pass.  But he had a pretty good day and it could be a big stepping stone in his development.

- Jake Stoneburner suffered an injury on his lone catch of the day.  According to Bill Greene at Scout.com, word is he may be out for the bowl game.

- Jim Bollman, a tip of the cap to you good sir.  You called the best game I've seen from you in your decade on the job.  You broke tendencies, designed beautiful plays, and had great rhythm in your play-calling.  The drive to make it 37-34 was perhaps the best drive play-calling wise I've seen from a Buckeye team in all my years as a fan.  You certainly saved your best for last.

Grade: A-.  Would've been even higher, but the lack of a running game outside of Braxton brings it down.  Fantastic performance, and for some of our younger guys it really sets the stage for the possibilities of what next season could bring for them.

Defense

- Ryan Shazier is an absolute warrior.  He played the majority of the game with a torn MCL, on a pain that he rated as '7 out of 10', and he pretty much played on one leg.  He's going to miss the bowl game, but he'll be back for spring ball.  Can't get over his grit, and his big strip of Denard Robinson to set the Bucks up with great field position, which they capitalized on.

- Besides that, there really weren't any positives to take out of the game defensively.

- The defensive line didn't really do much of note.  They occupied blockers for the most part, but weren't real disruptive and didn't get the penetration we needed.

- The linebackers were very poor.  The fact that we had a freshman out there on one leg should tell you all you need to know about how this group played.  Etienne Sabino completely blew it on Denard's first touchdown run, and he was out of position, taking bad angles, and missing tackles all day long.  I just wonder why he continues to be on the field, and why superfrosh Curtis Grant hasn't gotten any game reps of note?

- Safety play was again abysmal, and the corners and other members of the secondary did nothing to impact that characterization either.  Bradley Roby was once again the lone bright spot, this time though for coming in run support.

- This was likely Jim Heacock's last game as a coach... and if it turns out to be, what a way to go out.  The defense seemed unprepared, unmotivated, and just plain bad.  The defensive line (the position he coaches) didn't do much of note either.

Grade: F-.  The worst defensive performance I've seen from an Ohio State football team.  If I gave any other defensive performance an F this year, bump it up to a D-, because this game deserves a category all in its own.

Special Teams

- Ben Buchanon had a very good day.  He dropped two punts inside the 20 yard line, including a booming 58 yarder that was just what we needed to flip field position.

- Drew Basil was clutch, with the big FG to cut into that place north of Toledo's leads twice on the day.

- Great job by Tyler Moeller to cut Will Hagerup down on the, uh, mishandled punt snap.  

Grade: A.  When called upon, Basil and Buchanan did their jobs very well, and the punt coverage unit reacted brilliantly on the botched punt by the other team.

Overall, I can't be too angry about how this game went.  Yes, to point out the obvious, I'm livid about the fact that we lost to those rotten little weasles.  But Braxton's play, along with the news of Saint Urban's hiring, have me thinking about just how special the future can be because of what happened today.  So, to sum things up, Brady Hoke and the rest of your cohorts in that state with a northern peninsula, I hope you enjoy this one.  Because the stakes are getting turned up to levels you haven't even dreamed of.  

Also, note how I avoided using the actual name of our opponent from last Saturday throughout the entire article, including the title.

Penn State Game Review

I don’t think I can recall a year with so many disappointments in my lifetime.  With all of the off-the-field problems, with all of the uncertainty, this was a season where just two weeks ago we were poised to play for a conference championship.  But, by all indications it appears as though the upperclassmen, the leaders on this team, have checked out.  This was senior day, their last game in the Horseshoe, in a rivalry game against Penn State, and they came out flat.  How in God’s name does that happen?  And they underperformed.  The freshman had to carry the load today, as has been par for the course for the past couple of weeks.  Flat out, embarrassing.

Offense

The offensive line play flat out sucked.  Michael Brewster struggled with his snaps, J.B. Shugarts false started on 4^th and 5 with the game on the line (And we ended up about a half yard shy of the first down on 4^th and 10), and the offensive line as a whole generally just played atrocious.  For a senior laden group who have at times been absolutely dominant, they have thoroughly disappointed this year.  They failed to protect Braxton Miller, as he was running for his life seemingly all game, and failed to give the running game room to get going.

DeVier Posey… WOW!  Amazing the kind of impact a player like him could have on the game.  You could just sense how much more confident Braxton is having him out there to throw to, and he made several big time plays, starting with his first catch when he made a brilliant play when Braxton was running for his life, and then the one-handed beautiful catch that earned him #1 play honors on Sportscenter.  I wonder how good our passing game could’ve been if we had him all season.

Braxton, once again, is a stud.  He just makes it all look so easy at times when he’s running the ball.  Effortlessly changing directions and making defenders look silly.  And he made some nice throws, including a beautiful deep ball to Corey Brown that was dropped as well as a drop by Evan Spencer on the second to last play of the game on a deep ball.  Kid is getting better, he just needs better coaching and a better scheme/playcaller.

Playcalling has held this program back for a decade now, and it reared its ugly head time and time again on Saturday.  Jim Bollman continually insists on running dive plays over and over again into rugby scrums with little to no success.  He tried to run draw plays when the defense wasn’t getting upfield or attacking hard while not maintaining gap integrity, and overall once again proved to be a severe handicap.  Hopefully this weekend will be the last time we have to watch a game called by him.

Devin Smith needs to start over Philly Brown.  Philly dropped a HUGE deep ball late in the game that would’ve completely changed the complexion of it on a beautiful pass from Braxton.  Par for the course for him.  Seems like he can’t ever hold on to deep passes.  Smith has been a playmaker all year long and always makes plays, I just don’t know why the coaching staff doesn’t make the change.

We have one of the best tight ends in the country, and we don’t even use him.  Jake Stoneburner actually has less receptions (But more TD’s) than he did all of last year.  That’s idiotic gameplanning and play-calling.

I think that ankle injury is hurting Boom Herron a lot more than he lets on.  He hasn’t been the same back since he tweaked it against Indiana.

Grade: D-.  Braxton’s play is the only thing that saves this from being an F.

Defense

Ryan Shazier.  What have I been saying all year long?  The kid is a baller, and he needed to see the field much earlier.  15 tackles?  That’s more than Storm Klein and Etienne Sabino combined.  He even almost had another forced fumble but instant replay reversed it.  He’s going to be a great one.

On that note, outside of Shazier, our linebackers continue to be mediocre.  Klein and Sabino can’t get off a block to save their lives, and both are insistent upon arm tackling every time.  I haven’t seen a linebacking core this mediocre in Columbus since before the Tressel era.

Continuing with the theme of things I’ve been mentioning all year long, how the hell is Travis Howard still starting?  He shows no effort to come up in run support (As demonstrated this year against Purdue when he shouldered Robert Marve past the first down marker against Purdue, and in the Penn State game), and constantly allows catches in coverage.  Dominick Clarke played great when Howard was suspended, I just don’t get how the coaches haven’t let him see the field much since then?

Tyler Moeller had an awful game.  He probably missed 10 or more tackles on the day.  He’s a great kid with a great story, and a true Buckeye, but all of the injuries and time away from the game has taken its toll and he’s a shadow of the player he used to be.

Christian Bryant can lay the wood to people.  He got a few nice licks in there today, but a couple of them came after the player had already gained a good amount of yardage, and once again he tried to arm tackle and failed.  Seems to be a theme for this defense.

Jonathan Hankins battling his knee injury really hurt us up front.  Big Hank is a monster and usually requires a double team on a constant basis, but this limited his effectiveness and really hurt our flexibility and overall effectiveness up front, as evidenced by the constant lack of a pass rush on Matt McGloin.

I’m not sure if its offenses gameplanning around him, an injury, or just things not unfolding the right way on the field, but John Simon has disappeared for the past two weeks.  He’s still the emotional leader of the defense, and really of the team, but we need him out there dominating the line of scrimmage in order for our defense to be successful.

I’m not sure what Jim Heacock was thinking defensively.  Penn State’s passing game was a virtual copy of last year’s first half, when they cruised up and down the field running slants en route to a 14-3 lead, and their running game this year was just unstoppable.  When they went into the wildcat it was almost like we had no idea what to do and they burned us not only with that, but Silas Redd ran all over us as well.  It’s the 3^rd time this year we’ve given up 200 yards rushing or more in a game, that’s embarrassing and should not happen at Ohio State.

Grade: D.  Uninspired (Outside of Ryan Shazier), poor play.  Missed tackles seem to be the theme of the season, and giving up 200+ yards on the ground does not a good defensive day make.

Special Teams

Buchanan did what he was supposed to do, but turning a couple of those touchbacks into punts downed inside the 20 would’ve been critical, as opposed to a 15 yard net punt.

The return game was pretty average, but at least Jordan Hall apparently learned how to fair catch

Grade: C.  Very average, didn't really do anything noteworthy.

When I took a look at this season back in August, I laughed at people predicting 5 or more losses.  Now, I didn’t think we were going to go undefeated by any means, but a 9-3 season seemed very likely to me.  And, two weeks ago, it was a very real possibility, and a spot in the Big Ten Championship game was ours for the taking if we won out.  But, we blew the season against Purdue, and then the game against Penn State.

So, there’s one game left in the season.  We don’t mention that school’s name in these here parts, for a good reason.  It’s a swear word.  And we don’t like using swear words.

As big of a disappointment as this season has become, it can be salvaged simply with a win on Saturday over That School Up North (TSUN).  This is the chance for this team, for these seniors, and these coaches, to decide how they want to be remembered.  They are in the enviable position of being able to dictate their own legacies, and being able to become legends.

With all of the cryptic talk of leaders and legends in Big Ten expansion, this is the opportunity for this program to show it has cultivated both.  This is the chance for these young men to show what leaders they have become, and for them to show what legends are made of.

It’s been a rough year.  We’re hurting in the court of public opinion due to NCAA investigations, we’re hurting in the locker room because of rumors and speculation, and we’re hurting on the field because of poor play and losses.

However, to quote the late, great, Wayne Woodrow Hayes, “There is nothing that cleanses your sell better than getting the hell kicked out of you.”

This is the chance to prove that quote right.  This is the chance to be remembered forever, as the team that went up to Ann Arbor under a cloud of uncertainty, starting a 3 game losing streak in the face and the possibility of not being allowed to play in a bowl game, and despite all of that, won The Game.

In less than 6 days, the most beautiful and passionate 60 minutes of football in the world will kick off.  This is our National Championship.  This is, EVERYTHING.

The late, great Herbert Brooks, coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team that won the Gold Medal in stunning fashion against the Soviets once said, “Great moments are born from great opportunities.”

This is a great opportunity.  We come into the game as a touchdown underdog, Michigan fans are expecting to end the decade of dominance, and many, even in our own fanbase are counting us out.

I just hope this team grabs the opportunity by the horns, and takes full advantage of it, because when the clock strikes zero, the legacy of this team will be forever cemented.  

Double Feature: Indiana and Purdue Game Reviews

Sorry about the huge delay folks.  Thanks to my hard drive crapping out I've been laptop-less for the past 2 weeks, and I've pretty much had to go to the library anytime I wanted to use a computer (Outside of bugging my brothers to use theirs - sidenote: shoutout to Corey Spindler for letting me use his laptop to write the Wisconsin post) so the blog kinda got put on the back burner until I got  it back, which I thankfully did a couple days ago.  So, I'm going to combine the Indiana and Purdue (ugh) games into one column this week, and then look for an article on the continued offensive struggles in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, let me introduce you to an awesome gif that sums up Ohio State offensive coordinator Jim Bollman's play sheet.

Indiana

- The running game was dominant.  346 total yards and 3 different 100 yard rushers?  Outstanding.  Granted, Indiana's defense isn't exactly the best, but that's absolutely incredible.  Boom looked like his old self out there, and Hyde ran the ball extremely hard and well.  Neither really has breakaway speed, but when the offense is moving the ball as well as it was that really didn't matter.

- Braxton's running ability is deadly.  My goodness, this kid is something else.  He is electric with the ball in his hands.  He showed some real wheels on the 81 yard run and on every other run of the day showed the quicks that make him special.  He could legitimately be a major college running back with his skill set.

- John Simon.  The man just continues to dominate everyone that lines up across from him.  An All-American in the making folks.

- Saw a lot of concerns with the passing game.  Braxton missed on a couple of make-able passes and we also had a couple of drops that were killer as well.

- The offensive line play was VERY concerning.  9 sacks, against Indiana, a team ranked 74th in the country in sacks prior to the game?  They had 8 sacks on the year coming into the game, and we gave up 9.  Now, some of that is due to Braxton scrambling into sacks, but that's ridiculous and should not happen.

- While our size on the defensive line is great against the power attacks of Michigan State and Wisconsin, we struggle against spread offenses because we don't athleticism on the edge.  Nathan Williams is sorely missed at the LEO spot, as he allowed us to do so many things schematically and match-up wise.  Without him we're basically pidgeon holed into playing with a nose, two strong side ends and a 3-technique on the line instead of a nose, 3-technique, strong side end, and a weak side end.  Last year we dominated against spread attacks because we had athleticism and could vary our looks up front, this year we can't really do that because of all of the youth and inexperience, so while we play well against power running attacks we struggle against spread offenses.

- We came out flat for this game.  Say what you will about this team and noon starts, but this was a game where we should've broken our foot off in Indiana's ass.  Beginning to grow more concerned about the coaching game by game.

Purdue


Wow.  We lost to Purdue.  For the 2nd time in 3 years.  We missed what would have been a game winning extra point.  And we gave up two big time third down conversions in overtime.  I honestly don't know what to say.  It was an abysmal game to watch.

- Bollman needs to be fired now.  Immediately.  That was the worst offensive coaching I've ever seen.  Whether it was his personnel choice to toss out a true freshman at right tackle against one of the best pass rushers in the conference, or his blatantly obvious vanilla play-calling and route design, it was flawed and retarded.

- Braxton has ice in his veins.  He struggled throwing the ball.  He struggled scrambling at times.  But the kid flat out makes plays.  He converted so many 3rd downs.  He nearly converted 3rd and 15 in overtime, coming up just a yard short.  And the game-tying 4th down touchdown pass to Jordan Hall?  Cold-blooded.  With better coaching in the future, he will have his own tree in the Buckeye Grove.  Bank on it.

- Antonio Underwood was out of his league.  Starting your first game, filling in for a 3 year starter on the road against one of the conference's best pass rushers?  Retarded logic in the first place.  But he got beat like he stole something.  He was always there to help Braxton off the ground though, I guess there is that.

- Bradley Roby is a certifiable stud.  He's going to be a big-time player on Sundays.  He loves to get physical and blow up screens or plant running backs into the turf, and he showed off his coverage skills as well.  Latest in a long line of unheralded defensive back recruits that turned out to be superstars.

- Safety play was atrocious.  Neither of them could catch a cold, and while Christian Bryant's aggressiveness pays off sometimes, he doesn't seem to know what to do back there.  Barnett struggled as well, and even said people didn't know what they were doing on the crucial 3rd down conversion by Purdue in overtime.  I would like to see Bryant slide to the STAR spot, where he can roam more free, and let Tyler Moeller play as a pass rusher (his natural slot) in a 33 alignment, with Orhian Johnson manning Bryant's vacated safety slot.

- Ryan Shazier is the future of the defense.  He had a better game than any LB has had all season.  He was second on the team in tackles and always around the ball.  Forced one fumble, had another overturned by review, and very nearly had an interception.  How was he not starting before this game?  He needs to be in the starting lineup.

- Offensive line play, was once again awful.  Couldn't protect Braxton and he had to scramble for his life.  Couldn't block at all for the backs.  Just an awful game, right up there with the Michigan State one.

- Jordan Hall needs to see more time at receiver.  He's a difference maker out there, although that's not saying he isn't one at running back considering he was our best back on the day.

- Let me see how to explain this.  Ohio State runs a package oriented defense.  When teams spread us out, we sub out a lineman or a linebacker and put in a defensive back.  When they try and play power ball, we sub in bigger, more physical players.  Purdue negated that with their nitro-spread offense.  They didn't allow us to sub, and because we lack the flexibility up front with the loss of Nathan Williams, and no one to really take his place, John Simon and others had to deal with playing out of position, and Purdue spreaded the field well and got the ball to their playmakers in space.  Made it really tough and got us winded, and exploited matchup problems.

- Tackling was atrocious.  There was probably more missed tackles yesterday than in the Miami game, and that's ridiculous considering there was 28 in that one.

Unfortunately, with the Purdue loss, any chance of Luke Fickell getting the job on a permanent basis went out the window.  Fortunately though, Urban Meyer is still very open to the possibility of coaching here and the tOSU administration are working through back-channel contacts to hammer things out.

We've got two games left, against a reeling Penn State squad in the 'Shoe, and Michigan up in Ann Arbor.  I urge all of you to be respectful to the Penn State team, to show that we are truly the best damn fans in the land.  I urge you to clap for them as they come out of the tunnel.  And I urge you not to make insensitive comments.  We preach about how we are the best and the brightest, the best fans, the best band, best team, well now's our chance to show it.

Keep your heads up Buckeye Nation.  The National Championship game is in 13 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Wisconsin Game Review

I was in the 'Shoe in 2003 when we beat NC State 44-38 in triple overtime, on a stop at the one yard line.  I was in the 'Shoe last year when we pulled off the biggest comeback in the Tressel era to beat Penn State 38-14.  But the game against Wisconsin, topped every football game I've ever been to, and the second greatest Ohio State game I've ever watched (Next to the 2003 Fiesta Bowl against Miami,  of course).  Braxton Miller to Devin Smith will forever live in Buckeye lore, and it stands as quite possibly a defining moment in both of their careers, and in the career of Coach Luke Fickell.'

The atmosphere was incredible.  Just electric from start to finish, and I think when Smith caught that ball it might've been the loudest the 'Shoe has ever been.  Had to have a huge impact on recruits, no doubt, of which there were a lot of highly regarded ones in attendance.

Offense

- This was Braxton's coming out party.  He finished just shy of 100 yards on the ground, but had two touchdowns, one where he faked Wisconsin end Brendan Kelly out of his shorts and walked in, and a huge 44 yarder off an option keeper to make it a two score game.  But the best thing I saw was his development as a passer.  He hit Corey Brown several times in tight coverage, and threw a beautiful ball to Brown along the sidelines on a deep out, aka an NFL quality pass.  If not for drops by Brown on the first series on a deep ball and by Stoneburner on a medium pass for a first down then his stats look even better.  And of course, the amazing pass at the end of the game.  Loved how he kept his eyes downfield this week as he scrambled, and considering he was throwing back across his body on the run, I don't care how bad the ball fluttered on that one.  Like I said before, kid is going to be special.  He will own all of the passing records here by the time he walks out of the Horseshoe for the last time.

- Corey Brown really played well.  The early drop on a deep ball that hit him in the hands was bad, but he made up for it with an oustanding catch along the sidelines where he just barely got his feet down.  Like I said before, he is a difference maker in the passing game.

- Is there a player that means more to this team than Boom Herron?  He ran for 160 yards on the day, and just kept finding a way to get it done when we needed it most.  The best part is, he missed a lot of holes and left a lot of yards on the field, by his own admission, but it was only his second game back, so he's still just getting back into the swing of things.

- This offensive line is good.  Very good.  They blew Wisconsin off the ball and paved the way for 268 yards on the ground and allowed the Buckeyes to control the pace of the game.

- The crazy part about the last play is that apparently they weren't even running a play.  The WR's switched sides prior to the play, which created confusion, and according to Corey Brown, only Devin Smith ran the correct play, while the rest of them just ran 'playground routes'.  Incredible that it all worked out.

- Jim Bollman watch: meh.  Very predictable play-calling in the ground game, but I liked the routes we ran in the passing game outside of the fact that once again we still don't know what a screen pass is.  Putting up 33 points against the #6 scoring defense in the country deserves some props, although it was largely due to the players.

Grade: B+.  I am grading this harder this week, but for good reason.  As the season progresses, I expect more and more out of the passing game.  The ground game was dominant, and the passing game was servicable, but it needs to take the next step before I start talking about dishing out A's,

Defense

- John Simon has had two outstanding weeks, and is quietly developing int oone of the best defensive lineman in the country.  He dominated Wisconsin's OL that they tried against them, and he just would not quit.  He's going to continue to get better and considering he'll be back next year, that's outstanding news.

- The safeties did not play well this week.  Christian Bryant made an inexcusable mistake on the Wisconsin touchdown to take the lead, as in Cover 2 his responsibility is to take the man running deep into his half of the field, and he instead bit on the pump fake across the middle, leaving a man wide open for the go ahead touchdown.  He also made was overagressive on Montee Ball's early touchdown, as his miss allowed ball to get into the endzone, although it can be argued it took a great play by Ball to stop Bryant from picking the ball off.  Barnett also struggled and gave up a couple of big plays, and the two nearly allowed Wisconsin to get down inside the 15 yard line if not for Nick Toon's drop.

- The defense played outstanding against the ground.  Before Montee Ball had a 40 yard run late in the game, they had been held to 48 total yards on the ground.  To hold Wisconsin to that is incredible and unbelievable.  But then again, I can't say I ddin't see it coming.  Our defensive line is rather large and built for stopping a power attack, and they more than did their job out there.

- LB Andrew Sweat played outstanding and had by far his best game of the year.  He had a key stop on 4th down, and led Ohio State in tackles, and was seemingly involved all over the field.  Etienne Sabino also had a key part in the 4th down stop by sealing the edge to allow Sweat to make his tackle.

- Bradley Roby continues to prove to be a future star.  He had a big time pass break up on Nick Toon on a deep pass at about the 5 yard line, and overall just played outstanding once again.  He's blossoming into an outstanding shut-down corner.

- Once again though, just like the Nebraska game, the defense played bad down the stretch.  They had shut Wisconsin down all game, but allowed them to march all the way down the field and score twice in the final 5 minutes.  It's either youth, fatigue, or poor coaching.  Very puzzled by the decision to go cover 2 on the Wisconsin go-ahead TD pass as well.

Grade: A-.  They overall played an oustanding game, but the safety struggles and the breakdown down the stretch pull this down from where it would've been.  To make Russell Wilson once again look human (Although the stats do beg to differ, but that's why we watch the games), and shut down the vaunted Wisconsin rushing attack that came into the game ranked 8th in the country and hold them more than 160 yards below their season average is incredible.

Special Teams

- Ryan Shazier made one of the plays of the year with his punt block.  That was such a huge play, and fellow freshman 'backer Curtis Grant came through with the recovery at the 1 (I thought it was debatable over whether he had possession in the endzone).  This is where the freshman need to make plays, on special teams, and they will see increased opportunities over time.  Shazier also had a big time block on one of Jordan Hall's punt returns as well.

- Around the second quarter, I was just saying to my girlfriend how awesome it is having a dependable guy like Jordan Hall back returning punts because he hasn't dropped one yet.  Then, he proceeds to make several poor decisions on fair catches and get blown up, and also muffs one punt that would've been disasterous, and then muffed another that was disasterous.  Hopefully it was a one-time issue, but that could be quite concerning.  That said though, he did have a huge play on the kick return to set up the game-winning touchdown.

- Ben Buchanon once again had a great game.  He had one less punt than Wisconsin's punter and still had more yardage.  Had a couple inside the 20 and allowed OSU to really flip field position.  Although at the same time, he had a couple of punts where he outkicked the coverage, but they came through with key tackles.

- Drew Basil was solid.  He got very lucky on the FG he made where it bounced in, but I would rather be lucky than good.

Grade: B+.  The punt block was outstanding, Jordan Hall's kick return set up the game winning touchdown with excellent field position, and Buchanon and Basil were both solid.  The two muffed punts brings it down though. 

This was a huge win for this team, and for Luke Fickell.  Prior to the game, most had assumed he was done, but according to inside sources, he put his name back in the hat.  He's not the #1 choice by any means (That would be Urban Meyer, whom it's rumored will be targeted with around 5.5-6.5 million dollars in annual salary), but he really helped his chances.  If we win out, win the Big Ten Title, and go to a BCS game, I really wonder what happens.  I would love Urban Meyer, and anytime you can get a coach of his quality you go for it, but I would love to see Fickell earn the job on a permanent basis.  The same inside source also indicated that if he is not chosen as the new head coach, he will stay on the staff if given the opportunity by the new head coach.  He loves Ohio State, this is where he wants to be, and his wife has an excellent job in Columbus.  The man is just a true Buckeye.

We've got Indiana next week, who may be the worst FBS team in the nation.  We'll have to keep our eye on Penn State and hope they drop at least one game against Wisconsin and Nebraska (and to us of course), and also Michigan with a road date against Purdue sandwiched between Indiana and Penn State.

It will be a very interesting finish for the Buckeyes, not only because of the B1G Ten Championship race, but also because it very well may decide who will be coaching here next.

Illinois Game Review (1 Week Later)

I’ve been really late on getting around to this thing, mainly because I’ve been dealing with midterms for the past week and a half (And I should probably be studying right now, but where’s the fun in that?).  Since I am posting a full week after the game, this will be a much more trimmed down review, and I’m putting it into a different format.

The Good

- Jonathan Hankins and John Simon.  If you are looking for a reason as to why Ohio State won on Saturday, look no further than the two big boys on the defensive line.  Simon was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the week (And rightfully so), and Big Hank was right there behind him.  They dominated the game and harassed Nathan Scheelhasse and the Illini backfield all game.

- The best player on the Ohio State defense?  It’s got to be Bradley Roby.  Week after week he just continues to show he’s a baller.  He backed up his talk with great coverage on A.J. Jenkins and had a key interception to set up a Boom Herron touchdown run.

- Boom Herron.  The most important player to this offense by far, his vision is just irreplaceable and he balled out.  His ability to weave through traffic, run with power at his size, and hit open holes hard and fast is just amazing.

- Being able to run the ball for 5-6 yards a play when the other team knows it’s coming is quite impressive.  Seriously folks, big ups to the offensive line for their work o\in the ground game, it was very good.

- Jim Bollman’s running game design.  Utilizing the sprint draw to make the uber-aggressive Illini pay for getting upfield to quickly was a great decision.  Having a great back and a dominant offensive line also helps matters as well.

The Bad

- Braxton Miller’s pocket presence.  He struggled trying to find the open man on the few pass plays we ran and when the play broke down it seemed like he always tried to dart around and ran right into a defender.

- The offensive line’s pass protection.  Mericulus had 2 sacks in the first quarter if I recall correctly, although it didn’t really matter much seeing as how we only threw it 4 times.

The Ugly

- The offensive gameplan.  Regardless of the weather, the quarterback, or whatever excuse of the day is up there, not setting up your passing game for success is retarded.  No screens, no quick passes, nothing to get your QB some confidence and get him in rhythm.

- Ron Zook’s decision making.  Someone remind me, why does this guy still have a job?  He goes from 2-10 to the Rose Bowl, to back to mediocrity.  And now he lost to Purdue this week.

Thanks to Michigan State’s amazing hail mary touchdown pass to beat Wisconsin on Saturday, Ohio State is back in the race for the Leaders division.  It’s very simple actually.  Win out, and have Penn State lose another game (They play Illinois, Nebraska, then @Ohio State and @Wisconsin to close the year out), and Ohio State improbably plays for a 7^th straight conference title.

All I know is, I can’t wait to welcome the Badgers to the ‘Shoe this weekend for a little payback.  I know the team, and us fans, are still steaming after last year’s loss ended our national championship aspirations, as well as because of the, um, ‘stupidity’, of their fans in both football and basketball, so it should be an amazing atmosphere, with lots of big name recruits on board. 

Nebraska Game Review

It was as perfect of a start as Buckeye fans could possibly imagine, up 27-6 on the #14 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 3^rd quarter, in Lincoln, with a true freshman manning the controls at quarterback.  Then, in one moment, it was like the whole world got turned upside down.  Star Nebraska linebacker Lavonte David ripped the ball away from Braxton Miller deep in Cornhusker territory, leading to a Nebraska touchdown.  Then, on the very next drive, Braxton Miller got hurt, and would not return.  The tide was shifted for good, and Nebraska pulled off the largest comeback in school history (Also tied for the largest collapse in Ohio State history) and ended up winning 34-27.

3-3 isn’t where I expected to be right now in the year, but considering we were about 20 yards away from losing to Toledo I guess it’s not the worst thing that could happen.  Welp, here goes.

Offense

Braxton's coming out party
got ended a little early

- We’ve found our quarterback.  For 3 and a half quarters, outside of an untimely ball being ripped away from him, Braxton Miller looked as good as advertised.  He was throwing the ball well, and his dangerous running ability was keeping the offense moving, and he finished with 10 carries for 91 yards, and also went 5/8 for 95 yards and a TD as well.  The way the team performed offensively when he went down just shows how valuable he is.  He’s still got a ways to go, but overall I came away very impressed.

- Carlos Hyde is a baller.  13 carries for 104 yards and 2 TD’s?  Awesome stats.  Awesome play as well.  He showed some speed I don’t think anyone knew he had during his 63 yard touchdown run that was reminiscent of Beanie Wells against LSU in the NCG.  He pounded the ball old-school style and picked up first downs with the box stacked.  Overall great performance, I came away very impressed.  He deserves to get the ball even with Boom coming back.  His last 3 games combined, he has 24 carries for 177 (7.3 YPC) yards and 3 TD’s.

- Philly Brown is a difference maker at receiver.  He was able to separate from DB’s, and made some plays when he got the ball in his hands.  His big catch and run at the start of the game was crucial to Braxton’s confidence, and he also had his man beat deep late in the game when Joe Bauserman underthrew him.

- Stoneburner showed some great speed on the throwback TE screen.  Sure doesn’t move like a TE.

- Mike Adams had, perhaps the best offensive line performance I’ve ever seen at Ohio State.  He played like a man possessed.  His return also allowed us to get our best 5 OL out there, with Andrew Norwell sliding to LG and Jack Mewhort moving to RG.  If there’s a better offensive lineman in the country, I haven’t them.

- False starts continue to be a problem.  Shugarts had his usual one, but Mewhort picked up another one as well.  Don’t see what’s so hard about not moving until the ball is snapped.

- Chris Fields did a great job getting open.  If Braxton could’ve put one of his passes about 6 inches lower, then Chris is in the endzone celebrating a TD.

- Was not impressed with Jordan Hall today.  Didn’t do much in the return game, and struggled on the ground.  Everybody has down games, and Hyde did play great to off-set this, but we needed a big game from Hall.

Carlos Hyde ran for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns on 13
carries

- Bauserman… just wow.  1/10.  13 yards.  1 INT.  One of the worst performances I’ve ever seen.  I’m sure you’ve already seen the Joe Bauserman passing chart by now, and the sad part is that it actually gives him credit for more passes completed than he has on the road all year (He is 3/24 on the road).  I understand he’s worked hard, he’s a true Buckeye, yada yada yada, but the point is with his play he should not be playing quarterback at Ohio State, ever again.

- Kenny Guiton was warming up at the end of the game, before the defense let Nebraska run the last 4 minutes of clock off, but he should’ve been in earlier.  Joe couldn’t do anything, you gotta at least put in Kenny and let him do something with his legs because Nebraska was just pinning their ears back without a running threat at QB to account for.

- I have regularly railed against Jim Bollman, but I am here to give the man props.  His gameplan and play-calling for 3 and a half quarters was nothing short of incredible.  The throwback TE screen was brilliantly run, called, and executed.  He put Braxton in situations where he could succeed, and running to the weakside of formations away from the safety support for the entirety of the game was a very good call as well.

- At the same time though, he did an awful job once Braxton went out.  When Braxton was in (3.5 quarters), we ran the ball 33 times, passed 8 of them.  When Bauserman was in (1.5 quarters), we passed 10 times, and ran 8.  Given how ineffective Bauserman was through the air, that’s just inexcusable.

- Hated the decision to punt from the 32 yard line.  See, that was the situation where Jim Tressel wins us this game.  On 3^rd and 13 from the 32, rather than dropping Joe back to pass again, Tress would’ve ran the ball, picked up a couple of yards and centered it, kicked the FG, and gone up 30-20 and put all of the pressure back on Nebraska.  Instead, Fickell passes it, doesn’t get it, takes a delay of game to give Buchanon some room, and punts the ball away.  It would be the closest we got to anything the rest of the game.

Grade: C+.  If Braxton had been able to keep playing, this probably ends up as an A.  But I just can’t let the final quarter and a half and the blown FG opportunity out of my head.  Bauserman’s poor performance also drags it down.  Gave it a + just because of the first 3 and a half quarters.

Defense

- Bradley Roby, once again, continues to play great.  He made a lot of plays, and I feel very confident in saying he’s going to be the next NFL corner to come out of Ohio State.

- Travis Howard, once again, continues to struggle.  Dominic Clarke has got to be given an opportunity… I sat there blatantly pointing out all of the times Howard  messed up because they were so obvious.

- Etienne Sabino is probably the most physically gifted LB in the Big Ten, but mentally he’s nowhere near as strong.  He takes poor angles, is slow to react, and struggles in coverage.  He does make some pretty good hits when he gets there (Just ask Taylor Martinez), but his deficiencies more than outway his good play.  I would like to see Ryan Shazier get a shot at the WLB.

Bradley Roby continued to impress

- Christian Bryant had his worst game as a Buckeye.  He had the blown coverage that led to the TD off of the option stepback pass, and he also missed a tackle in the open field that sprung Rex Burkhead for 6.  He’s still young, hopefully he can learn from this, but he did not play well.  On the bright side though, he did destroy Taylor Martinez’ soul.

- Flat out, our LB’s just aren’t very good this year.  Sweat is a hard worker, but he’s too slow and misses too many tackles, Sabino is an amazing physical specimen but can’t put it all together, and Klein is probably our best of the bunch, but he just hasn’t been that great either.  Shazier and Curtis Grant both look good, would love to see them get some time down the stretch since both of their redshirts have been burned.  I’m wondering if it’s because of the players, or if Mike Vrabel simply isn’t cut out to coach yet.

- The defensive line was pretty average.  For most of the first half, they clogged up running lanes, but once again the lack of a pass rush was killer.  With the news that Nathan Williams won’t be back this year, they had better find a pass rusher soon or Wisconsin could indeed get quite ugly.  Broke down in the second half and just got mauled.

- Heacock and Fickell did a good job in the first half shutting Nebraska down on the ground and holding them to 6 points, but the 2^nd half was just atrocious.  Looked like our defense had never seen a zone read before.  The touchdown drives were long yardage wise but short time wise, we missed tackles and blew assignments, and overall played one of the worst halves of defense I’ve seen in a decade.

Grade: F.  Completely and thoroughly dominated in the second half, gave up 100 yards to 2 different guys, and also let Taylor Martinez throw for 191 yards and 2 TD’s.  Poor tackling, poor pursuit, blown assignments, and physical domination.  All add up, to one of the most historic collapses in Buckeye history.

Special Teams

- Ben Buchanon was good once again.  Had two key punts drop inside the 20 yard line, and helped out enormously.

- Drew Basil did what he was asked, just like last week.  Hit 2 FG’s, and perfect on extra points.  Damn shame he didn’t get the chance to try for a 3^rd FG, like I mentioned before.

- Jordan Hall was adequate in the return game.  He has solid numbers, but we didn’t have that great of a starting field position for most of the game

- Kick coverage did a pretty good job overall, outside of one return against one of the nation’s best returnmen.

Grade: B.  Did what they were asked to do.  Not spectacular, but not bad either.

So, the Buckeyes sit at 0-2 during this crucial 4 game stretch, and 3-3 overall.  The Big Ten title streak is over.  The BCS bowl streak is over.  We’ve got a young team, who went through an emotional roller coaster en route to the biggest collapse in Ohio State football history.  We’ve still got to travel to Illinois to take on the #16, undefeated Illini.  We’ve still got the superpower-like Wisconsin Badgers coming to Columbus in 2 weeks.

All is not lost though, my friends.

Could Urban Meyer be the next coach at Ohio
State?

We can still turn this season around and finish strongly.  There’s a very real chance that we go 5-1 to cap off the year and have a possibility of 9 wins including the bowl game.  I think Fickell has zero chance of being retained as HC right now, and expect the Urban Meyer-for-head-coach train to be kicked into high gear.

We’ve got to build around Braxton Miller, and improve every week.  We’ve got a very young roster, and a lot of those guys are seeing the field right now.  It’s crucial to the future success of this program that they continue to get better and get reps.

Also, think about this, how many times in the past decade has Ohio State had the chance to be a spoiler?  I count twice, 2001, and 2004.  We’re used to being the big dog on the block, fending off upset attempts, but now we get to attempt to upset people, with more talent than a typical 3-3 team.  We get to play spoiler.  Last time we sat at 3-3, 2004, we finished 4-1 and beat a Rose Bowl bound Michigan team by 2 touchdowns thanks to the development of Troy Smith, and his development along with other young guys helped to set the stage for back-to-back BCS bowls and a run at a National Championship in 2006 and 2007.

I’m not sure who will be coaching Ohio State next year, but I can tell you this, how we perform next year will be determined in large part by how our young guys play over the next 6 games.

We’re 3-3, .500 right now.  Let’s see if this season pans out like 2004, where we finished 4-1 with a bowl win and a big-time win over Michigan, or if the team crumbles and falls apart like in 1999 and 2000, resulting in John Cooper’s firing.  Regardless, I’ll be supporting this team, and watching every damn minute of every damn game.  Hopefully, you’ll be doing the same.

Coaches and Coordinators

At this point in the year, with a 3-2 record and losses to Miami (Who got beat by Kansas State and struggled with Bethune-Cookman) and Michigan State (In one of the most anemic offensive performances in decades), it's not looking very likely that Luke Fickell will be retained as head coach at the end of this season.  That being said though, Coach Fickell did not inherit the job under the best circumstances.

I think we can all remember the day that Jim Tressel resigned, May 30th, 2011, and Fickell was tabbed as the interim head coach for the 2011 season.  Now, that date is pretty key when it comes to assessing the job that he has done this year.  You see, per NCAA rules, programs have 15 practices in the spring, 15 practices in the fall, and 15 practices in preparation for a bowl game.  Obviously by that point, Sugar Bowl practices were long gone (What Sugar Bowl?), and spring ball had ended more than a month prior to that.  The defense was no worry, as Tressel was not as involved on that side of the ball, and Jim Heacock had been running the show since 2005, with Fickell being right along side him since then (especially since the blowout loss against USC in 2008).

Jim Bollman, the bane of Buckeye
fans existance since 2001

The offense though, is another story, and in order to properly tell it, I'm going to give some background information.  When Jim Tressel was hired as head coach at Ohio State way back in 2001, he named Jim Bollman his offensive line coach and his offensive coordinator.  Now, Bollman had been an offensive line coach at NC State (1983-84), Virginia (1991-94), and Michigan State (1995-97), so there's not much to debate there, although the offensive line play has been lacking throughout most of his tenure.  But, his only prior experience as offensive coordinator was two years back in 1989 and 1990 under Tressel at Youngstown State.  He knew what Tressel wanted to do, and was an expert at designing the right offense in order to do it.

Tressel worked closely with the quarterbacks and the offense as a whole, and despite winning the national championship in 2002, halfway through the 2004 season the Buckeyes sat at a crossroads.  They were 3-3, with disappointing quarterback play and unimaginative play-calling.  Here is where Darrell Hazell comes in.  Hazell was in his first year as Wide Receivers coach, coming from Rutgers.  It was then that his opinions started to take root in the offense, and the changes were noticable immediately as they offense boomed into an explosive one that culminated in Troy Smith's Heisman Trophy season of 2006.

Now, lets fast-forward to 2011.  The offensive brain trust, made up of Tressel, Hazell, and Bollman, has disintegrated.  Tressel resigned under pressure, Hazell took the head coaching job at Kent State in December, but Bollman is still here.  And now, we're seeing Bollman for what he really is.  Without Tressel and Hazell, without players like Troy Smith, Terrelle Pryor, or Beanie Wells to cover up his deficiencies, we're seeing him for what he is as an offensive coordinator: mediocre, resistant to adjustment or change, and in way over his head.

Troy Smith isn't walking through the door anytime soon

It's remarkable how similar it is to former Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis.  Davis, like Bollman, went back a long time with his head coach (Davis had coached under Mack Brown for 20+ years), and thanks to talents like Colt McCoy, Vince Young, Ricky Williams, and others, his deficiences went unnoticed for a while.  But in 2010, without such talent to work with, the offense imploded.  They finished 88th in scoring offense with around 23.5 points per game, and 58th in total offense with 382 yards per game, and 116th in turnover margin thanks to his offense.  And, after the year, Davis 'retired', and Mack Brown brought in Bryan Harsin from Boise State to fix things offensively.  So far through 5 games, they are averaging 34 points (37th in the nation) and 420 yards (46th in the nation) per game, and are tied for 7th in the nation in turnover margin.

Through 5 games, we currently rank 91st in scoring offense (23.8 PPG) and 108th in total offense (308 yards per game), I think you can see where I'm going with this.  It's been painfully obvious since Tressel's resignation that Bollman will not be around after this season, but there's also the question of whether Fickell will be around with the opportunity to replace him.  Knowing that his time may be limited, I think the time for Fickell to act is now.  Change the hierarchy.  Give more power to Stan Drayton, Dick Tressel, or someone. Shake things up and see what happens.  It's obvious things are working out with Bollman right now, so, knowing that you've really got nothing to lose at this point, make a change.  Be a man of action.

All I know is, this is the last season with Jim Bollman as our offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.  I just wonder if Luke Fickell will be around to reap the benefits of a new offensive staff.  We're only 5 games into the season, and we're 3-2.  We could very easily be 5-0 with even an average offense, considering we nearly had a chance to beat Michigan State late despite barely being over 100 yards of total offense for the game, and we settled for 2 FG's and were driving to pull within 3 against Miami when Braxton fumbled the ball away.

There's 7 games left in Fickell's on-going job interview as head coach.  On the road against Nebraska, Illinois, Purdue, and Michigan, and at home against Wisconsin, Indiana, and Penn State.  This is where Fickell is either going to win or lose the job.  Unfortunately though, that also means 7 more games of Jim Bollman calling the shots offensively.

Michigan State Review

On Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes welcomed the #25 ranked (Coaches Poll) Michigan State Spartans to the Horseshoe to kickoff the Big Ten slate. The end result was less than desirable, as the Spartans (4-1) won a good old-fashioned Big Ten slugfest 10-7 over the inept Buckeyes (3-2). The weather for the game was pretty bad, with temperatures in the mid 40s and sleet falling for most of the first half, and didn't make it too great to sit in the stands, but anyways, lets get down to business.

Offense
- Braxton still has a long ways to go. He missed open receivers, seemingly had happy feet in the pocket, and just plain did not look comfortable. The lack of protection from the offensive line took away his running ability, as did the fence the Spartans put around the pocket to prevent him from running.

- The offensive line... just wow. Friday I was ready to declare this the best offensive line Ohio State has had since Orlando Pace was here back in 1996, but then they put up one of the worst offensive line performances in a decade. There were no holes to run through. Brewster struggled trying to call protections with the blitz schemes, Shugarts play was laughable at RT (In additon to his usual false start), both Hall and Linsley struggled at RG, and no one really played well. This group gave up 9 sacks when we were in max protect on a majority of occasions (Aka sending out only 3 WR and keeping a TE and a back in). A lot of work to do upfront with a big game against Nebraska looming next week.

- Building on that, the running game was very poor. But the backs didn't really have much room to run. Shoot, I remember one play where Braxton got tackled before he was even able to hand the ball off. Weren't really helpful in the passing game either though, but I'm not sure they were designed to be.

- Receivers didn't do much either, but they didn't really have much of a chance. Devin Smith has to either come down with that deep pass, or knock it down. Such a crucial play on that one.

- Jim Bollman needs to go. That was the most awfully called game I've seen in my life as a Buckeye fan, the offense was just plain anemic. No bubble screens to make them respect the perimeter. No screens to slow down the blitz or the pass rush. No quick passes to get Braxton some confidence or move the chains. Waits to roll the QB out until he puts in the senior, immobile quarterback. He needed to be gone 5 years ago. It's painfully obvious that he's not cut out to be an offensive coordinator at an FBS school.

- Zach Boren, is pound for pound one of my favorite football players I've had the privledge of watching at Ohio State. He's the best fullback in the country, bar none. But he is also an outstanding leader. Teammates identify him as the leader in the offensive huddle, and at halftime he apparently launched into a fiery speech about emotion and what the game means. Great example of a Buckeye right here, and a fine young man, and considering the family he comes from I expect no less.

Grade: F-. I've been watching Ohio State football for a long time, and this was perhaps the most inept offense I've ever seen. At least against Miami we were able to run the ball, we literally could not do anything. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and the offensive line struggled, and Jim Bollman's incompetence plus the fact that being Tressel's VCR technician does not qualify you to coach quarterbacks at Ohio State (Looking at you Nick Siciliano) are really showing.

Defense

- Bradley Roby has really looked good and I'm very impressed by the kid. He played great in coverage, and had a great play on the ball to tip it back to C.J. Barnett for the interception, and also snagged one of his own later in the game.

- Travis Howard should not be starting at corner anymore. I'm not sure if its rust, coverages, or what, but he has been getting abused and playing poorly since he returned from suspension. All the talk of "Howard Island" and turning pro early can be put to rest, he got burned all day by B.J. Cunningham and his idea of tackling is apparently jumping on a players back and holding on for dear life. Also, he looked very slow in the hips and bit on seemingly every double move. Dominic Clarke's play early in the year definitely warrants an "OR" on the depth chart at the very least.

- Flat out, we are really missing Nathan Williams. John Simon, and Jonathan Hankins are great players, but they aren't the guys with the athleticism to be chasing around the QB, and it showed on Cousins touchdown pass to Cunningham. Steve Miller and J.T. Moore have potential to be a great LEO in this system, but they are so young and lack the necessary game experience. Pass rush isn't very good because we lack athleticism. This defense is excellent against the run, and can be very versatile with the types of guys on the line, but overall they struggle to get pressure on the QB because, for the most part we don't have a Thad Gibson, a Vernon Gholston, or a Nate Williams.

- I was very impressed with the way the defense played against the run. They held the three-headed monster at running back to a combined total of 27 carries for 85 yards (aka a little over 3 yards per carry). The defensive line collapsed well, and the linebackers filled the gaps solidly, with the defensive backs doing their job in run support.

- Very confused as to why Heacock didn't change up the coverage schemes when MSU started attacking with short quick passes. Sitting back in cover 3 against that won't do much, but he seemed content to let Cousins hit Cunningham and pick up 6-7 every time. Maybe it was a lack of confidence in Howard, but a 2 shell with aggressive man to man, or even zone would have been ideal, and would force them to attack further down the field and give the pass rush time to get to Cousins.

- Big ups to the defense for making plays. Barnett and Roby with interceptions, and Hankins with the fumble recovery to give us a chance late in the game. These kids are ballers.

- This defense is very young. With Hankins, Bennett, Roby, Bryant, Barnett, Clarke among others getting reps, these guys are gonna be big time players in the future.

- This game was very close to being 14-7 Ohio State thanks to the defense. Christian Bryant nearly had a pick-6, and on Michigan State's FG drive, Travis Howard dropped a pass that he surely would've taken to the house at their 20 yard line.

Grade: A. Given the circumstances, the defense did the best they could with the hand they were dealt with the offense. They bent but did not break, and kept us in the game with a shot to win it throughout. They made plays (4th down stop, interceptions, fumble recovery), and balled out. Best positives I've seen so far are the young guys progressing on defense, and that can't be understated.

Special Teams

-Not really sure what was up with Ben Buchanan. He has been great all year, but had a truly atrocious game and hurt us in the field position battle. Hopefully he figures it out and gets things together, because we're going to need him next week in Lincoln.

- Not really much to say about Drew Basil. Hit his one extra point, had a kickoff for a touchback and laid a great onside kick that we should have recovered. Good day for the young man without too much work.

- Return game did decent with the opportunities they had. Hall didn't get many chances with the ball, but he did have a nice little punt return and had a 32 yard kickoff return as well.

- The biggest thing that stood out to me was the bad snap on MSU's first punt of the game. That should've been blocked or the punter tackled there, and it would've given OSU the ball inside the 10 yard line or better. Completely changed the complexion of the game at a very early point.

Grade: C+. Did decent overall, but with Buchanan's struggles I just can't give them any higher of a grade.

Overall, that was one of the most disappointing and hard to watch games that I can remember. When Tressel was here, it always felt like a play was made right when we needed it regardless of how surprising it was. I kept waiting for something like that to happen, like an interception for touchdown ala Chris Gamble against Penn State in 2002, but it never did.

From the sounds of the post-game locker room, I think Fickell is losing this team. There's reports that Mike Vrabel and Jim Bollman got into a dust-up in late September. It seems as though this team is coming apart at the seams, and the recent news that Boom Herron and DeVier Posey are out for Nebraska and possibly more may be killer to the morale.

Buckle up Buckeye fans, its about to be a bumpy ride. We'll see who the true fans are when the dust settles at the end of this year. I'm not sure what will happen, who will be coaching, whether or not we'll be in a bowl game, or even how many games we'll win. But what I do know, is that I consider this season a success with a win over Michigan. That's literally all that I care about out of this season right now.

Introduction

I already wrote an article, but I figured it might be a good idea to introduce myself.  My name is Brad Potter, and I'm a 2nd year student at The Ohio State University.  I originally lived in Piqua, OH, but when I was 13 years old I moved to Huntersville, NC, where I currently live and where I graduated from Hopewell High School in 2010.  I'm double majoring in Criminology/Criminal Justice studies and Political Science, and at this current point in time I'm on pace to graduate in 3 years.

You've probably noticed that under the title of this blog, Time and Change (Which is a verse in the Ohio State alma mater), it reads "Ohio State, Pi Kappa Alpha, and The Thin Blue Line."

My favorite Ohio State football player, WR Dane
Sanzenbacher

The first one should be very obvious.  I'm a student at The Ohio State University, and, not to toot my own horn, but I'm probably one of the more passionate and knowledgeable  Buckeye football fans that you will ever meet.  I've been a fan since I was a little kid, I remember the highs, such as the 2002 BCS National Championship, 6 straight Big Ten titles, 9-1 run against Michigan, etc., and I also remember the lows: back-to-back NCG losses to Florida and LSU, the 35-3 debacle against USC, the 1999 and 2000 seasons under Jon Cooper, and the current NCAA investigation.  Ohio State football is my favorite sport, and that will never change.  I am also a big Buckeye basketball fan as well, and I root for the school in every sport that is offered.

Next, I am a brother of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity.  I was initiated on January 16th, 2011, and I currently serve as the Continuing Education Chair, and I help out in various other areas when I'm needed, such as recruitment, community service, and philanthropy.  I love the Fraternity, and the core values that I took an oath to hold myself and my brothers to is one of the things that guides me throughout my days.  It is by far the most incredible experience I've ever been apart of, and I couldn't imagine college without it.

The Thin Blue Line

The Thin Blue Line is a bit less known, however.  The Thin Blue Line is known around the world as a universal symbol for law enforcement.  It is two black lines, with a blue line in the middle separating them.  I come from a law enforcement family, as my father is the Chief of Police in Huntersville, NC, and has been a police officer for over 37 years.  My uncle was also a police officer, in Troy, OH, eventually retiring as a Deputy Chief after 30 years, and he also met my Aunt through his work, who was also a police officer before her retirement.  When I graduate college, I plan on putting my degree to work as a police officer too, as the latest Potter to wear the badge.

Well, that pretty much sums me up well.  I plan on writing this blog about pretty much whatever is on my ind, whether it's Ohio State game previews or reviews, movie reviews, or even random things that I encounter throughout the year, I'll write about anything and everything.

Colorado Game Review

Ohio State, fresh off a demoralizing 24-6 loss to Miami (FL) last week that saw them drop out of the Top 25, faced off yesterday against visiting Colorado in the Horseshoe, and were able to come out on top to the tune of 37-17.  It was actually 37-10, but Colorado got a late score, and OSU let the clock run out on Colorado's 1 yard line instead of punching it in for another score, a classy move by Luke Fickell indeed.

Offense

- Braxton had a pretty good debut.  He showed off his amazing athleticism and agility, and ran for 83 yards on 17 carries.  He also took a bunch of hits in the process, he needs to learn to slide lest he end up like Denard Robinson and spend half the game on the sideline with the trainers.  In the passing game, he looked raw.  You can really tell he has great potential to be an outstanding passer, but he's still just so young and inexperienced.  The fade pass to Devin Smith (More on him later) was beautifully thrown and perfectly placed, something you would expect out of a 4th year starter and not a true freshman making his first start.  He missed some open guys, but a lot of times when he had an open man, the offensive line would break down and he would have to scramble for his life, or it would get batted down by a defensive lineman.  Overall, he has a lot of learning to do, but a very positive debut.

- Jordan Hall.  What more can you say?  He was dynamite on the ground, in addition to his work in the return game (More on that later).  He's the best playmaker on this team right now, and when Boom Herron returns for Nebraska I would not be surprised to see Jordan comprising some sort of Percy Harvin-like role as a slot back.

- Devin Smith is going to be a special player.  He just has a knack for getting open and making the big play, and his TD catch on the fade route was fantastic: high pointed it, got the foot down, and came down in bounds.  Just a special, special player.

- Offensive line was excellent in the interior ground game, but struggled a bit more than usual with pass protection.  Norwell looked overwhelmed at times and I question whether or not he has the feet to play outside at tackle, but Michael Brewster, Jack Mewhort, and Corey Linsley dominated inside and helped pave the way for the 226 yards rushing.  Miller ran behind Brewster all game on several occasions, as did Hall and Hyde.  Great game on the ground by the offensive line.

- Very disappointed with a lot of the drops at WR and TE.  Was also frustrating to see guys just not getting open, and also concerned about Stoneburner's lack of use in the passing game.  Was very frustrating at one point to not see Chris Fields understand the hot read check on a blitzing DB, and Braxton threw it where it it needed to be and Fields wasn't looking.

- Brilliant play-call by Jim Bollman on the 35 yard TD from Braxton to Smith.  Caught the defense in their overpursuit with the roll to the right, and then hit Smith on the deep post behind the cheating safeties.

Defense


- Again, tackling and pursuit struggles were prominent.  I just don't think these linebackers have the speed that we've seen in the past, and that's why Ryan Shazier is getting so much PT as a true freshman because he brings that to the table.

- John Simon is a man-child.  He just bullied whoever tried to block him yesterday.  Dude is a special football player.

- Jonathan Hankins has freakish agility for a man of 330 pounds.  The way he ran down Rodney Stewart and tripped him up on an early screen pass was just amazing.

- Travis Howard has struggled since his return.  He got beat for one TD, and then nearly gave up a second one if the WR would've not dropped it.

- Christian Bryant is flat-out, a baller.  Kid just makes plays and loves to hit people.

- Ohrian Johnson has really regressed this year, he just has not played well as of late.

- Sweat needs to get more depth in his drops.  He was a little too lackadaisical as the game went on, and Colorado's QB dropped the ball in right over him to the TE for a couple of nice gains.

- I was really glad to see that in obvious running situations we did away with running 2 3-tech's on the defensive lines.  Got burned by it against Toledo and Miami, and glad to see Heacock adjust and go with the nose/3tech combo or a 1tech/3tech combo.

Special Teams


- Ben Buchanon has had a fantastic season, and that didn't stop on Saturday.  3 punts inside the 20, and he was a key component of helping OSU dominate the field position battle.

- Drew Basil was excellent as well.  His kickoffs were deep and high, and that enabled the coverage units to pin them inside the 20 several times, and he also converted all 3 FG's including a 47 yarder.  Great progress from where he was at the beginning of the year.

- Jordan Hall.  Wow, just wow.  Nearly had 2 KR's for TD's on the day, should have had at least one but he got brought down inside the 5 yard line.  This kid is just a flat-out playmaker.

Overall, it was a good game from the Bucks and an encouraging one as we head into the tough part of the schedule with Michigan State, Nebraska, Illinois, and Wisconsin comprising our next 4 games.  We'll know how good of a team we have when we finish this stretch.