Eric
Passing, passing, more passing. I asked for 350 yards, and came up 106 yards short. I’ll ask for 300 this time and hope that’s easier for the Buckeyes to match. If Braxton gets his footwork under control, it might be possible.
A sack fest. We’ve been told that OSU might have the best defensive line in the country. I’d like to see some backfield punishment of the UCF quarterback to prove it. Remember, Urban Meyer believes that a quarterback should pay for trying to pass. I want to see that philosophy in action.
A 100 Yard Game from Carlos Hyde. I think this is pretty self-explanatory. Lets get him his first century of the season.
Ultra-short laser pulses. Wait, what? That’s right, a physicist at UCF just set the world record for the shortest laser pulse at 67 attoseconds. For the uninitiated, an attosecond is merely a millionth of a billionth of a second (or 1/1,000,000,000,000,000). A thousand of these are also known to their friends as the amount of time it takes a photon to travel the average width of a human hair (about 100 micrometers). Let’s just say that’s really, really short. Now back to your regularly scheduled football coverage.
Jason
Plug the gaps. We’ve heard how UCF brings a straight forward running game, I want to see the defensive line plug the gaps and force the back to make other arrangements for finding positive yardage. So along with that…
Seek and Destroy. When the defensive line plugs the gaps, I want to see the linebackers fill and crush the back. We know Shazier is a sure tackler, despite being a true sophomore. How about Sabino and especially Curtis Grant? Be physical!
Should they sneak through. Attention CJ Barnett and Christian Bryant: let’s light some people up!
Lock down. If the run is being punished, the corners are often alone. Lock’em up!
Brax-tacular and Mr. Hyde. I’m excited to see week 2 of Braxton Miller in Urban Meyer’s offense. He had a breakout game of sorts against Miami, how will he follow it up and keep the train rolling? Carlos Hyde ran hard last week. Meyer all but called him the workhorse. I started the hash tag #FeedCarlos during last weeks second half, will they oblige again this week?
Malibuckeye
Shutout. UCF’s offense plays into the Buckeye’s defensive strength, and is very run-based. Let’s see the Silver Bullets in action, even if it’s against a different running back than Akron saw.
No False Starts. Please? Just once??
Scarlet And Gray. Ok, so this is a thing now… I’m interested in seeing if Buckeye fans will actually pay enough attention to actually “stripe” the stadium in school colors, or if it will be more “Scarlet and meh”.
Hands Of Stone. Can you believe Stoney hasn’t have a touchdown yet? This time last year, he was our only option, it seemed… let’s get the big man involved.
Sack You Very Much. Miami’s offense neutralized a lot of what Ohio State was trying to do up front with quick passes out of the shotgun. UCF isn’t as one-dimensional, and will be a good test for the Buckeye front seven.
Westy
How the Big Ten handles against stiffer competition. Week one saw the Big Ten go 10-2, with the only losses being the upset PSU loss to Ohio (though I don’t call it an upset cuz I totally called it), and the performance piece in Texas where M*chigan and Alabama reenacted the prison violence scenes from the Shawshank Redemption. Tell me you didn’t just immediately have Morgan Freeman’s voice in your head going “I wish I could tell you Andy fought the good fight…” Opponents for most of the Big Ten in week one were admittedly pretty crappy, and several of our victories (ahem, Whisky and Iowa) were less than stellar. This week I’m looking forward to the Big Ten taking on a bit stiffer competition. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no juggernauts on our schedule. But virtually every Big Ten team is playing a game that should pretty well predict how the rest of their season will pan out. In particular I’m looking forward to Illinois vs Arizona St, Purdue vs Notre Dame, and Northwestern vs Vandy.
Consistency from our Buckeyes. Once the jets turned on in the second quarter, I was as happy as a fat kid eating pudding. But for the first quarter I was as angry as Mel Gibson trying to leave a voicemail. It was pretty terrible, our offense looked like a cat trying to bury a turd on a marble floor… (ok seriously, last one)… I can’t argue with results, but I’m looking forward to the game (hopefully this week) where we lay on the gas from the opening second, and never let up. I’d love to see the opening drive end in a TD after just a few plays, and then have us score on every ensuing possession in similar fashion.
More freak catches. That grab by Devin Smith in the end zone last Saturday was awesome. Given the proclivities of the last administration at OSU we didn’t really see stuff like that too much. Sure you’d get your occasional awesome pass/catch (see Devin Smith last year vs Wisconsin) but for the most part we were just excited that we completed a pass. I remember sitting in Ohio Stadium during the Indiana game last year and realizing we hadn’t completed a pass for the entire game, and it was now the second half. I remember being excited when he finally completed one, and then kind of ashamed when someone in the crowd shouted out “aww man, he broke the streak!!” So I’m pretty excited to not only see a regular passing game, but circus catches on top of all that!
Jake Stoneburner can has ball plz? Still waiting to see this monumental talent used in Meyer’s offense. He saw very minimal usage last Saturday… and thinking about it more I suspect I probably won’t see too much of him until Big Ten season. Hopefully Meyer and company are keeping a lid on him until they need to use him to beat more talented teams.
Janelle
Show Up for Four Quarters. The first quarter last week was painful. I feel like the offense was trolling us by looking much like they did in 2011 before erupting in the second quarter. This week I want to see an explosive offense from the get-go.
BraxOnBraxOnBrax. Braxton put up video game numbers last weekend. I want to see him pick up where he left off, only with better passing. As Urban said, 14-24 isn’t going to be good enough for where this team wants to be.
The Secondary. Too many times last week there were players out of position, allowing for Miami (OH) to make a big play. I want to see what adjustments are made this week so that doesn’t happen again against UCF.
Pass Rush. This week they don’t have to deal with 3 step drops like they did against Miami (OH), so I want to see them get some pressure on UCF QB Blake Bortles.
Stone Their Running Game. I expect UCF to build their offensive attack around the run game. I want to see the Silver Bullets shut that down, especially since starting RB Latavius Murray is out with an injury.
Jeff
Shut down the run early. With their best RB likely out, UCF’s running game will thrive on emotion. If they pick up early yards, it will mean a lot to them. But if they hit a brick wall, we’ll demoralize them in a hurry.
Adjust earlier. In the Tressel era, we got used to the pattern of allowing two early drives, then locking down the defense. It lasted longer in Game One of the Urban Era, so let’s lock it down sooner this week.
Release the Braxton. Yeah, I know, they already di it last week. Miller will need TONS of confidence when we hit the Big Ten schedule, so let’s let him run a little wild in the non-conference schedule. Go get us another 350 yards, son.
WVaBuckeye
Silver Bullets. Perfect opportunity to get back to the tradition. Turn the D loose and set the tone early. Take away the confidence of the UCF run offense and put a helmet on the QB and WRs.
Power O. I am big on Braxton having a lot of success in this offense. However; I also believe that we have to exert ourselves in the Power O with Carlos Hyde and show that they mean business.
Kicking game schmicking game. We honestly probably have the best two kickers in the B1G. That being said, we may not see them on the field all that much save for kickoffs. Buchanan and Basil will contribute nicely this season but wont be a huge part of it. Goal line stand aside, Coach Meyer wants TDs
Turn Vrabs and Coombs loose. You woulda thought I could hear the both of them on D-Deck Saturday while the D had its hands full and the O struggled. I cannot wait for the situation that both of them cut loose and the stadium erupts because of it.
Jim
Buckeye Leaves on the Helmets. For some reason I am expecting them to look a whole lot better this year.
Tim
Fast Start. It is no secret the first quarter against Miami didn’t go how we all imagined. I’m looking for the Buckeyes to jump all over UCF, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter.
Braxton’s Accuracy. We all know about his incredible athleticism, but I want to see Braxton improve as a passer. Against UCF, I would like to see Braxton complete 60% of his passes.
Pass Rush. Wasn’t much of one last week. A lot had to do with Miami’s quick throws, but this week the defensive line needs to apply some pressure in passing situations. I also wouldn’t mind seeing a blitz or two from the linebackers.
Joe L.
The number one play of the week again. Expectations are now very high after devin smith’s highlight reel catch last week.
Interceptions, pass breakups and tight coverage. Last weekend we didn’t see great coverage from our secondary.
New hd Scoreboard continuing to light up. I loved seeing 56 points last week. Hoping to see a lot of points again.
Gary
Electricity. Last week in the shoe was the most electric and excited I have seen in a long time. I hope that the fans can bring it again this week to prove that Buckeye Nation is back stronger than ever.
Better Secondary. I know Dysert from Miami of Ohio is projected to go to the NFL but the secondary had some blown coverages and missed tackles last week. I would like to see the safeties take some better angles and focus on pass breakups rather than go for the big bit.
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