Jeff at The BBC
Evil Tressel – Ohio State is favored by 44.5 points this weekend. Yes, I said 44.5 points. Therefore, nobody truly thinks that we’re going to have much trouble with the Aggies. But we need to put our foot on their throats and TWIST. Run it up, Evil Tressel. Go ahead.
Terrelle Pryor getting 400 total yards – I don’t care how he does it, 250 pass/150 rush, or whatever combination you want. Just get us 400 by yourself.
600 total yards of offense – Only four times this year has a Big Ten team gained 500 yards against another Division 1 shcool, and Ohio State has two of them. Let’s make it three…and then some.
MaliBuckeye
Focus and Improvement – One of the signs that a person (or a football team) is maturing is that they see each opportunity is a chance to improve. The Buckeyes looked good against Minnesota, and NMSU is allegedly less prepared for this game. That doesn’t mean, though, that this shouldn’t be a chance to get better… And all of this is based on attitude. What Purdue taught us (or should have) is that any team can beat you on any given Saturday. Yes, the “Big Three” are coming up in November, but it’s important to keep your eyes on what is before you. Play the game you’ve got against the team you’re facing.
Wrinkles – It might be nice to have the playbook opened up a bit- either as a way to help the team develop or as a way to make State Penn/Iowa/Mich1gAAn have something else to prepare for.
Sustained Drives – The 17 play one last week was a beauty, but I want Ohio State to prove that it can churn up yardage and clock. This means success in the red zone as well- I’m looking your way Pettrey.
The Second Coming – No, not Vince Young 2.0 or even “Troy, the Sequel”. I want to see more of the latest version of Pete Johnson– Jermil Martin. Keep moving that pile, playa’!
Healthy Buckeyes – These are the types of games where someone gets dinged and it changes a season. Part of this is the nature of football, and part of it can come from a lack of focus. Coaches- get a victory, get some quality reps, and keep the boys healthy.
Pretty Please? – No false starts this week?
DeWayne Walker – I know, this is a Buckeye blog- we don’t usually talk about the opposite coach. But Walker is one of only 8 head coaches of African American heritage in all of Division 1A… 8/@120 (6.7%). It would be good to hear some of the Big T1e1n network talking heads comment on this. But, given that they barely know what teams they’re watching, I’m not holding my breath.
Jim
An Offensive Identity – Last week I just wanted to see offense, and the first half aside, I was pleased with what I saw. Now (and I may be getting a little greedy here) I’d like to see our offense develop an identity of some sort. Are we a spread team? Are we a read option team? Are we a pro set team that lines up in single back and I formations?
Based on the Minnesota game, I would say that the coaches don’t even know the answer to that question. It seemed to my extremely untrained eye that we spent about a third of the time in a five wide formation, a third of the time in an option read formation (shotgun with a running back right next to the QB), and a third of the time in single back or I formation sets.
Throwing lots of different looks at the defense to keep them off balance is a good thing, but just throwing different formation at Penn State in Happy Valley isn’t going to be good enough. We need to be good at running plays out of the formations to get a W in Happy Valley. That is why I want to see us pick an offense and perfect it. One week is not the ideal amount of time to perfect an offense, but hey, you work with what you’ve got (plus New Mexico State might as well be a scrimmage for us and the perfect time to get some reps in for whatever style we go with).
I will be looking to see if we throw the offensive equivalent of the kitchen sink at New Mexico State (like we did against Minnesota) or if we pick an offensive style and stick with it.
No matter what formations we run out of, it would be really nice to see the play action bootlegs from Pryor continue.
In an ideal world, I would like to see us go with the single back and I formation sets, with lots of play action roll outs, and maybe some five wide thrown in to keep the defense from loading the box too much.
No Letdowns On Defense – The defense bounced back nicely against Minnesota. I want to see that high level of play against New Mexico State, no looking ahead.
Eric
OSU to score more than 40 points – If they’re going to do it this season, this is the game to do it in. I want to see us smother the life out of the Aggies.
Hurt Coleman scoring points – The last two weeks have seen lots of great Hurt moments, but he has been denied the endzone twice (once by the officials, once by the other team). That needs to change this week so that he perhaps gets the respect he deserves.
Terrelle Pryor not throwing off his back foot a single time (that we notice) – I add the qualifier so that Jeff doesn’t have to go back and watch the entire game again just to figure out if I was successful or not. If there’s going to be a single game where Pryor will be able to confidently step into all of his throws, this will be it. Coupled to that…
The O-Line gives up zero sacks – The O-Line should be able to have a field day with NMSU’s defense. I expect them to look like the offensive line of an elite caliber college football team this week.
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