After last week’s super successful game you can imagine that the crowd here at the BBC might get a little greedy with their requests. After all, the sky’s the limit now, right?
Let’s see what the guys asked for. Bonus points for people who kept themselves grounded this week.
Jim
Carlos Hyde. With Jordan Hall possibly still nursing an injury, it would be nice to see Hyde get back in on the action.
John Simon. Simon’s play has been unbelievable the past two games, watching him continue to dominate will be a lot of fun the rest of the season.
Big plays from the secondary. The Buckeyes failed to record a turnover last week, it would be nice to see someone in the secondary get back on track this week with a big interception or two.
Braxton Miller. Miller continuing to build confidence and momentum in the next few games will be crucial for a strong finish to the season.
Chris
A blowout win. The Buckeyes haven’t had a blowout win since Akron. I would love to see Guiton hit the field for most of the second half, because Ohio State is up big.
More progress for Braxton. If the Bucks are going to make it to Indy to play for the B1G title, Braxton needs to keep getting better. Indiana is the perfect team to do it against.
A defensive TD. Haven’t seen one of these in awhile. A pick six would be nice, but I will take anything.
A healthy win. Win and get out healthy. We don’t need any lingering injuries this late in the season.
Joe L
20 pass attempts. This is a perfect opportunity to get Braxton the confidence that he needs to finish the season strong. Let the line give him time to sit back and make the read and deliver the ball with confidence.
Pass the ball on first or second down. It isn’t against the rules of football to pass the ball on first or second down. We don’t need to wait till 3rd and long to pass the ball.
No let down. After such an emotional game last weekend, I want to see us come out and build on the game and not take a step back which you can see at times with a young team coming off such and emotional hard fought win.
Luke Fickell continuing to get better. Yes we won against Wisconsin, but man were there coaching mistakes. Use of timeouts at the end of the first half almost cost us 3 free points for Wisconsin. Not telling Jordan Hall to fair catch a punt at a time in the game that a punt return meant very little. Not throwing the ball on first or second down. Letting a 12 point lead evaporate in 3 minutes. Just some things that very good coaches do and were taken for granted under Tress.
Mali
Focus. There are no “gimmes” this year, and this is supposed to be a team of toughness. Big win last Saturday, but we’re on to the next one now.
Diversified Portfolio. We’re either opening up the playbook a bit, or discovering things we couldn’t run previously. Let’s keep it up for Saturday, perhaps a more expansive passing attack?
Carlos! Carlos! Carlos!. Not only because he’s a great running back and has earned his shot, but because Indiana should be a game where we can get multiple folks involved. Having a couple of backs go over a hundred would be mighty nice.
Silver Bullet Score. Seriously, how has it been this long since the defense has hit pay dirt? And how many interceptions have hit them in the hands only to be dropped?
Health And Wellness. No injuries, major or minor.
Only One False Start. Ok, I’ll lower expectations a bit. JB can have his token “whoopsie”, but no one else. Ed. – You want to see a false start? What kind of horrible person are you? MB- We call it being a realist.
Eric
Focus. The absolute most important thing for the team this week is to be focused on Indiana, and Indiana alone. If they come out of the gates with poor tackling and generally slow behavior we’ll know they didn’t keep focused properly.
Aggression. We saw plenty of it against Wisconsin. The sign of mental toughness of a football team is to do it again the week following a very emotional game. I absolutely want to see us attacking the quarterback on defense, and attacking the defense in every possible way on offense.
Short passing. Braxton completed a couple of nice short, quick throws to receivers on slant routes against Wisconsin. This is the game to really work on that against someone other than our own defense.
Boom Herron for 200 yards. He very nearly did it against Wisconsin, and probably could have if he had been more mentally sharp. He says he’s worked on it, and it would be great to see him prove it against Indiana.
Carlos Hyde for 100 yards. No reason these guys can’t combine for 300 yards some day. I’d like to see Hyde get enough carries to get him past the century mark. I really like this kid, and it would be great to see him continue to improve.
Joe D
350 Yards Rushing. Do I sound mad? Why Yes I am! This is the game where the Buckeyes should control the line of scrimmage rather easily and yes, It’s a game where Ohio State wants to work on that Passing game. Sticking to the identity of this team and its offense (blame Bollman!) should get this team to the 300 mark and beyond.
2 Backs with 100 Yards Rushing. Give Boom the Rock, and when he cracks the defense, Give Carlos Hyde a solid amount of carries to get him experience in Big Ten play. Even if Braxton Miller got to the century mark I’d be happy with it, but to get Hyde some touches and pick up his morale would be huge at this point of the season.
Stay Healthy. Coach Fickell and company have to be smart here. Get starters rest and give them rest often. You have to come out of this one unscathed.
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