Did you see what you wanted to see?

Every week, staffers of the BBC will be asked what they want to see from the Buckeyes in order to 1) get the win and 2) progress as a team. Let’s take a look back at what our thoughts were, and whether or not Ohio State accomplished their directives.

Jim

The offensive line needs to move people off the ball – I’d have to put this in the fail category. We weren’t creating holes for Boom Herron and Brandon Saine.  We had our most success running the ball when we went around the line, and that’s not going to bode well for us if we don’t start pulling our weight (pun totally intended)

The defensive ends need to be in the backfield – When we had the opportunity, we were in the backfield.  But Navy’s quick handoffs and fast option gave us little opportunity to shine from the D-line.  The good news was that we quickly learned to adjust on D and (for the most part) shut down the long runs after the first drive.

Pryor needs to go through his progressions and get rid of the ball – Success, IMO.  Pryor went 14-21, and found at least the second or third option numerous times.  Had it not been for two dropped passes by Taurian Washington and an early failure by Duron Carter to get his feet inbounds, Pryor’s numbers would have been huge.

MaliBuckeye

The Ohio State/Navy Game – Success for Mali for the most part.  Although he had to retreat once or twice for orientation, he was able to witness the game from the west coast thanks to ESPN 360.

Nothing Fancy – Outside of the opening kickoff, we stayed within the bounds of our playbook.  We did throw four passes to the tight ends, but that’s nothing fancy.

Solid Running Game – Yeah, not so much.  It was adequate for what we needed to see.  Herron with 72 yards and Saine with 53 was not what we were looking for.

No Third and Long – Not much success on this one either.  The good news was that Pryor came through on 3rd and long more often than he didn’t.  See for yourself.

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To me, 3rd and 8 is a long-yardage situation.  I’m not too thrilled about having seven of those in a game (six if you take away Pryor’s kneeling on the ball three times to end the game).  The 3rd-and-22 was a result of three straight penalties.  Unacceptable.

Eric

At least two wide receivers step up and have a big game – Not even close.  Our two leaders receivers were a RB and a TE.  Carter had three catches, and Sanz only had two.

At least three completed passes to the Tight Ends – 4 catches for 68 yards ought to do it.  Success!

Decent play at left tackle, no matter who is there – I saw countless times that a weak-side rush was bearing down.  Pryor avoided the sack because he felt the pressure and got rid of the ball, but it was only due to his own prowess, not his protection.

Defensive Line control the line of scrimmage – Take away the Middies first drive and you’ve got a solid win in this category.  They made the adjustments and controlled the line for about 75-80 percent of the game.

Jeff at The BBC

Under 250 yards rushing from Navy – I expected the Middies to end up with about 12 yards passing and a load of rushing yards.  We held our own in the end on the run – 186 ground yards.  At least we can say we took the #1 rushing team in the NCAA and made them into #44.

Run the option pass! – We didn’t try this one, but let’s see if we open up the gameplan for USC.

Bauserman! We want Bauserman! – About an hour after I called for Bauserman, Jim Tressel announced that he would see action in the third or fourth series of the game.  So it wasn’t an awesome call on my behalf, but it still happened.