This was definitely one of those games that you knew before hand was not going to be 59-0 or even a 21 point blow-out. It never seems easy in Madison and I think the B1G Championship is the only time we really crushed them in my memory.
The fellas have some very similar opinions this week and rightfully so, the Buckeyes almost stunk up the place. Let’s get rolling with the very very good and probably the best in the nation.
Rumblin’
It’s amazing to me that 6 games into the season we are saying that this version of the Ohio State defensive front is the best in the country. Let’s not go way off the reservation just yet as they did play a pretty inspired team that has a pretty good coach now and he game-planned the heck out of Urban Meyer.
Truth be told, Paul Cryst is a lot better than most will give him credit for and definitely is the guy that should have replaced Bileima anyway. He won’t ever have a team that gets blasted like the team two seasons ago.
When the chips were down and the Buckeyes needed to step it up, it was obvious the defensive line took the half-time speech personally! The way they played the entire second half and the risks that Fickell and Schiano took with them on obvious passing downs was crucial.
I am not all in yet with this being the best defensive line in the nation but they are the best playing unit on a pretty good defense right now. They proved it on several occasions Saturday night!
Let’s see what the staff has to say about the Rumblin’
Scott – Defensive line. Especially in the second half against whiskey. Quick and aggressive.
JC – Without question the Defensive Line. The whole lot stood up and played “extremely” well in such hostilities. They should be proud.
Mike Meals – I’m going to go a step further than the defensive line and say the entire front seven. As some others here have pointed out, Coach Johnson’s front played lights out, but I want to say the line-backing corp had a huge impact too. Yes, Wisconsin was able to get a lot more rushing yards than OSU had given up this year, but when we needed to get a stop, the entire front seven did it. Our top 3 LBs had something like 23 tackles between them. It wasn’t a pretty win, but when we needed them the most….
Ben – Sure the defensive line got gashed a few times on Saturday night, but for the most part they held up when plays were ran up the middle. Most of Clements and Peavy’s yards were outside and missed tackles by linebackers and safeties made for longer runs than they should have been. When the game was on the line late in overtime, the line rose up to the occasion and made another huge play that will go down in Buckeye history.
Brandon – The Buckeye defensive line. Coach Johnson has them running on all cylinders and they were a disruptive force on Saturday night finishing with 15 tackles, six tackles-for-loss, and four sacks.
Stumblin’
Sometimes in the world of sports the other team just has your number plain and simple. In the big picture you hope that the head man has things under control but at the end of the day everything boils down to teenagers and twenty-somethings executing.
Saturday night was a combination of poor execution and Wisconsin just havong a great game plan. After the fact and in yesterdays press conference, Urban Meyer spoke of four different things that they didn’t see Wisconsin use on offense.
Think about that piece for a second, four new items they couldn’t prepare for. Thats pretty good coaching on Cryst’s part. The longer you can keep Ohio State guessing the better. The other piece was they were able to execute at a pretty high level until the Buckeyes slammed the door shut save for one second half drive.
The Buckeyes offense get’s stuck in their own way at times but patience wins at the end of the day. Play calling and the execution of it has a gray area. If the players receiving the directions don’t have 125% buy in then maybe they too will doubt and no be able to execute.
The Buckeyes righted the ship Saturday night and made a lot of people forget about the lack of execution in the first half. They cam out with a big W and that in itself is all that matters.
Let’s see what the staff has to say about the Stumblin’
Scott – offensive execution. I don’t fault the play calling. The players just were not getting it done.
JC – I somewhat agree with Scott. The players were flat and did not execute as well as they should have many times in this game. But I will continue to “rag” on Warriner & Beck. Their plan was as usual – predictable. These two are NOT (I pray) the future of The Ohio State University Program. I understand we are stuck with them for now … so let us hope that the “O” steps up when they have to … as they finally did at the end with Barrett to Noah. I cannot feel all fuzzy and comfy with Warriner & Beck. Frankly, they scare me.
Mike Meals – I think it’s a tie…the offensive play-calling and game-plan was not the best we’ve seen this year. The overall execution was terrible too. I know Wisconsin is a darn good team, and I know everyone wants to get multiple players involved, but if we are going to get anyone to respect the passing game, the wide-outs need to step up and make a play for the Captain. But this also ties back into the game plan, why do we have 79473905 wide-outs playing? Brown and Campbell are the two that need to see 99% of the snaps, Samuel and Wilson are easily your best #3 options. Let JT build a rhythm with the starters.
Ben – The lack of production from wide receivers is still a problem. If you thought Wisconsin’s defense was tough wait until November 26th when a team from up north comes calling. If we haven’t figured out the passing game before then, chalk up a loss because they will load the box with 8-9 guys and dare us to throw on Lewis and company.
Brandon – The offensive game-plan out of the gates. I get wanting to utilize Curtis Samuel more but I feel like it was entirely too forced to begin the game. What makes Samuel so good is being a mismatch nightmare in the slot and being a change-of-pace running back for Mike Weber. For some reason, the strategy was to line up Samuel and pound him between the tackles. This resulted in him having nine carries for 28 yards while only hauling in two receptions for 24 yards in the first half. Meanwhile, Mike Weber the between the tackles bruising back only had four carries but was averaging 6.2 yards per carry. I’m not sure what the confusion has been the last two weeks. The first four games, they found ways to get both Samuel and Weber involved but it seems like now they are baffled about how to play them both. They each make the other better and will both be needed if the Buckeye want to make a championship run.
Bumblin’
At some point in the next couple days I will be putting out an Officially Speaking with the help of a good friend who is a replay tech at a D-1 school. He spends a lot of his time meeting with the replay crews that come to work the games and has learned the ins-and-outs.
One point of the process that he confirmed to me is that the replay crew is a part of the crew working the field and work the same games as them from week to week. Basically like having a white-hat with a rules book helping. The other piece he confirmed is that typically they have to have video evidence that what they saw on the field was not what they saw.
I am of course talking about the Conley interception on Saturday night(more in Officially Speaking), and the lack of any consistency across the board for instant replay. First and foremost I agree this crew should not be employees of the university, let’s end that discussion now.
Secondly, I do not believe they should be an extension of the crew that’s working because if the White-Hat on the field has an opinion on the play, he is going to go with that. He is looking at a smart-phone basically on the field where the people in the booth are seeing it on a larger screen.
I will finish these thoughts later this week, but suffice it to say, we need a lot more consistency across the board. Fortunately this didn’t cost the Buckeyes the game, but bad replay has cost teams games before.
Let’s see what the staff has to say about the Bumblin’
Scott – Brian Kelly and his game of musical QBs.
JC – Chris Ash and his program. They are looking soooo typical Rutgers. I feel bad for him. But then again it is only year one. Hopefully he improves them or gets a job elsewhere (outside of the Big Ten!).
Mike Meals – Overall officiating at the college level this year.Chris tweeted it out during the game, the spots of the one side/line judge (I don’t know their official titles) was terrible. There were so many holds, facemasks, illegal blocks, etc. not called on either side last night. But it’s been more than that. There is no consistency in what is targeting, what is a catch, how to apply rules, SOOOO many missed bad facemask penalties all across college football, the extra time for the D to sub, and the terrible job at the end of the Houston game this weekend. I get it that these kids are better athletes than some officials, they move faster, they are quicker, and there are more players than officials (and even TV cameras and slow mo make us at home see things they miss). But something has to be done. Do they need more zebras on the field? Do they need someone in the booth to help spot penalties? I don’t know. But something needs to be addressed.
Ben – What is going on in East Lansing? Yeah they lost Connor Cook and a few other pieces, but this team was preseason top 12 and to have lost four in a row, especially to Indiana, BYU and then Northwestern is very un-Dantonio like. They are having issues at quarterback, but they have a legit running game and some great talent on the defensive side of the ball. Not sure what happened since their dismembering in the CFP semi-final last year, but it’s headed downhill fast.
Brandon – This is a toss-up between Notre Dame and Michigan State. The Spartans have lost four straight games and their only two wins have come against Notre Dame and Furman. For a team that was in the playoffs last year, this has to be a nightmare for the fans. Meanwhile, Ohio State’s Fiesta Bowl opponent from earlier this year is sitting at 2-5 with their only wins coming against Nevada (who lost to Purdue) and Syracuse.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
