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.