It’s amazing what a top ten match-up, in the Shoe, under the lights can mean to a team struggling to find it’s identity. Even though Urban Meyer denied being any more involved in the offense than he normally is, it sure looked a lot like what he would do had he been calling the plays all along. I have always said that after the B1G fiasco with Tom Herman on fourth and short, Urban Meyer was heavily involved. Especially after his two star QB’s went down. That may be the case now, let’s get rolling with the very, very good!
Rumblin’
For more than a couple weeks, most fans have said it was the play-calling that has been suspect. I have been in the very minority in believing it’s all been about execution. In all honesty, we probably didn’t see too much different on Saturday night other than the exploitation of their secondary when they switched coverage’s.
The main difference is we saw Curtis Samuel run a long cross between the zone and take it to the house. That single play sent a message to the rest of the Buckeyes opponents, if you are in thirds or quarters, number four will be finding the long gap and number sixteen will hit him in stride.
I have been saying all along that this young team has to learn how to execute against the many different coverage’s and blitzes to be able to survive for the next play. Football is almost always about tendencies and whether or not your opponent can stop you. Nebraska didn’t have a chance once JT started getting in a rhythm and hitting the underneath stuff. Eventually he was going to make them pay more than they already were.
The offense was at it’s best Saturday night, let’s hope that continues!
Let’s see what the staff has to say about the Rumblin’
Scott – The offense. Finally got going in all facets. If this team continues to show up like this it’s gonna be a long game for our opponents.
Mike Meals – FINALLY, THE OFFENSE HAS COME BACK TO COLUMBUS. It’s about time this super talented offense returns and plays to their and our expectations. Throwing the ball deep and getting Samuel smart touches do a lot of things to cure the ills.
Ryan – The entire offense came to play, and play they did. JT’s confidence, Weber’s power, Samuel’s shiftiness, ALL on display, and all striking fear in the hearts of every other team we yet to play.
Stumblin’
In most sports circles, coaches and fans believe that you have to continue to ride the horse that brought you this far. Unfortunately in some cases, even the coaches cannot see the Forrest for the trees. What I mean by that is they will always have their favorite players that they want to do whatever the can to see them succeed.
Dontre Wilson is finally healthy and is performing at a pretty high level in the offense right now but has sometimes left a little to be desired when returning punts. He is a risk taker and a lot of the times that isn’t that big of a deal to the momentum of a game but it could have been on Saturday and that’s probably why Urban Meyer is finally looking elsewhere to do this chore.
At the end of the day it doesn’t mean that Dontre is done as a punt returner, it just means he is being taught a valuable lesson about ball security and I for one hope that it works. He is a special talent and very fast, someone who I thought would be the Buckeyes deep threat this season. Time will tell if he learns from this and becomes the weapon everybody has expected.
Let’s see what the staff has to say about the Stumblin’
Scott – Dontre Wilson for the fumble.
Mike Meals – Damon Webb. I know he had the B1G Pick 6. But he’s prone to get beat by wide outs ways too much. And maybe part of it is the coaches not getting him coverage help like they should…but he is a liability to this D.
Ryan – I don’t know if it was part of the game plan going in, or due to the game being seemingly won early in the first half, but I did not see Nick Bosa hardly at all. He was called for a penalty on a special teams play once, and I saw him a handful of times on the defensive line early in the game, but he had zero tackles for the game. That’s not a stat I like to see.
Bumblin’
I am going to side with Mike this week on this topic. I was working my OHSAA playoff game Saturday night and missed much of the game. When I got in my car and was waiting for traffic to fan out I found a station with the game and all I could hear was “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy” and then the play by play guy was talking.
I didn’t really have a clue what was going on and then heard the story that he was okay being carted off and gave a thumbs up to a cheering crowd. That in itself did not sound to me like the fans or anyone in the stadium thought anything but hope that To,,y Armstrong would be okay.
Shame on the media typed who tried to chastise the player who hit him for being dirty. It is ridiculous to me that anyone that every played the game before would even think this. Maybe, those types are what has started to wussify football. I understand there are those who think the hit on McGahee back in 2003 was dirty but it is football.
I feel bad for those who do not truly understand that it is a violent sport at it’s core. If they are successful at taking away the parts they are attempting too? We will lose the sport altogether, there will be too many lawsuits for teams to survive.
Let’s see what the staff has to say about the Bumblin’
Scott – Urban Meyer for throwing Wilson out there on punt returns.
Mike Meals – all the media/fans of Nebraska who called OSU out for Armstrong getting hurt. Sorry, he was in bounds and a live ball carrier. I hate seeing him hurt, but he didn’t “give himself up” going out of bounds. He was on the field of play, and therefore able to be hit. If he wants protection for giving himself up, slide! I’m glad he’s ok too.
Ryan – The Dontre Wilson Experiment on punt returns. Seriously, he has to be pulled from that duty. Samuel and McCall each returned a punt after Wilson’s lost fumble, neither of whom seemed to come close to losing control of the ball.
Weekly Funny
https://youtu.be/AbeY9Psbjao
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