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.