Game Six: Ohio State 35, Michigan State 24 (final)

[crazybuckfan40]

Originally Posted by exhawg

I think the MSU game is the first OSU game I've watched in a while where I came away thinking that we didn't deserve to win. MSU has to be kicking themselves for all of the mistakes they made. Except for Holmes getting wide open for his first touchdown everything the offense did was luck and poor tackling. Even that first TD was underthrown by 5 yards or so.
Indiana should be an easy win this week, but 3 of our last 5 games are going to be more difficult unless we get more out of the offense. The turnovers on offense have to end.

Very much the same feeling we had against Texas.

[jwinslow]

I think we were lucky to come back as well as we did against MSU, but what I dont' get is why OSU's mistakes are reasons why we shouldn't win and MSU's mistakes are reasons they should have won but squandered.

They should have tackled Holmes on the last td of his, but the Ginn play was just toughness by him running into and over a LBer and sprinting for the TD.

I think we battled very hard and put ourselves in position, and caught a few lucky breaks (which may have turned into scores later anyway had we not fumbled the ball (that was the main way they slowed us down).

MSU was in the game b/c of how we gave the game away. The first Holmes fumble was a miscommunication (he needed the next line of guys to field it b/c it was too far to run up, yet they didn't hear him and he couldn't get there). Ginn has caught a lot of balls bouncing off of the turf, so that was a little uncharacteristic of him too.

The roughing the passer call was nothing they did either.

Our mistakes were huge turnovers that definitely led to some of their scoring. For the most part, their mistakes (other than the FG) were missed tackles against talented players. If they make those tackles, we may very well go onto score still.

[tsteele316]

Originally Posted by jwinslow

Nah yertle, it was well stated. I agree that the power formations are doing very well. Also, we are passing out of them finally! even on 1st down! Dionte is a monster, and it requires less reading for Troy to find WRs in that formation.

is it just me or does smith look more comfortable under center? It seems that when he's in the shotgun he gets antsy in the pocket. Dropping back seems to help his timing.

[jwinslow]

Originally Posted by tsteele316

is it just me or does smith look more comfortable under center? It seems that when he's in the shotgun he gets antsy in the pocket. Dropping back seems to help his timing.

yep, I think so (grad was calling for it after last week too). I want to say he was under center a decent amount vs. UM last year. He can get back into his 5 stop drop very fast if necessary, and seems to have a better delivery than when he is standing aimlessly in the 'gun.

[exhawg]

Originally Posted by jwinslow

I think we were lucky to come back as well as we did against MSU, but what I dont' get is why OSU's mistakes are reasons why we shouldn't win and MSU's mistakes are reasons they should have won but squandered.

They should have tackled Holmes on the last td of his, but the Ginn play was just toughness by him running into and over a LBer and sprinting for the TD.

I think we battled very hard and put ourselves in position, and caught a few lucky breaks (which may have turned into scores later anyway had we not fumbled the ball (that was the main way they slowed us down).

MSU was in the game b/c of how we gave the game away. The first Holmes fumble was a miscommunication (he needed the next line of guys to field it b/c it was too far to run up, yet they didn't hear him and he couldn't get there). Ginn has caught a lot of balls bouncing off of the turf, so that was a little uncharacteristic of him too.

The roughing the passer call was nothing they did either.

Our mistakes were huge turnovers that definitely led to some of their scoring. For the most part, their mistakes (other than the FG) were missed tackles against talented players. If they make those tackles, we may very well go onto score still.

IMO if we play like we did the past 2 weeks the rest of the season we will lose at least one more game. Penn St. didn't make any major mistakes and beat us, MSU did make major mistakes to even out our mistakes so we won.
Smith still seems to be having problems reading defenses and hitting receivers that are just a little open. The 2 TD's were good balls, but won't go for TD's against better teams. Ginn was invisible again except for his TD. It's also a little disturbing that only 4 players touched the ball on offense.
We are going to have to play better if we are going to beat Minn, NU, and scum. Hopefully the game at Indiana will give the offense a chance to get on track.

[jwinslow]

agreed that we need to make big strides, especially in holding onto the ball. I think the lack of distribution was a product of the formations we ran. The one option that may have been ignored was Hamby, IMO, and he's struggled somewhat lately. Gonzo was not involved in many plays, and we often went to other WRs when he was in the game, which usually worked well. He needs to get more involved, no doubt, but you have to put it into perspective. Usually we run many more plays and he is a small contributor (save a few games like Iowa, or the Alamo Bowl).

Gonzo played teddy's role sometimes today, and surprise, he was the one that disappeared. That is a problem, but I'm ok with our #3 WR not getting much action (vs. our #2 who is always in).

What I loved seeing were some of the adjustments that were made. Gonzo ran the out route (decoy) a few times, opening up Ginn downfield (including the TD). Ginn had some good blocks out there too. We were spoiled by some unbelievable performances by Teddy, and now I think we expect too much. IIRC, he caught two first down passes on the OSU sideline in addition to his TD where he shut up some of his "afraid of contact" critics.

It's pretty hard for him to get that involved when we missed at least 20-30 plays that most games would include thanks to turnovers.

[sandgk]

The one problem I have with the "decoy" strategy is that it is only going to work if the decoy is a credible threat. I feel that means the decoy is actually thrown to at least once or twice, to keep the opposing DB's guessing as to who is the primary receiver.

With only 3 players hauling in receptions there isn't a decoy, there is a void.

In saying this I'm not knocking Smith, more so I'm wondering about the sophistication with which the staff tries to set up the shell game of primary receiver vs decoy.

[exhawg]

Originally Posted by sandgk

The one problem I have with the "decoy" strategy is that it is only going to work if the decoy is a credible threat. I feel that means the decoy is actually thrown to at least once or twice, to keep the opposing DB's guessing as to who is the primary receiver.

With only 3 players hauling in receptions there isn't a decoy, there is a void.

In saying this I'm not knocking Smith, more so I'm wondering about the sophistication with which the staff tries to set up the shell game of primary receiver vs decoy.

I don't know much about passing games except how to block it up, but I don't think good OC's design plays with someone being a decoy to get someone else open (not counting pick plays). They can design routes and know how the defense will probably react to it to determine what the reads are, but if the defense starts to think that you are sending someone deep as a decoy they will jump the short route. I would like to see our QB's use the pump fake more often because I don't think I've seen them do it yet. It seems like they could pump the underneath WR to freeze the D and open up the deep man.

[martinss01]

<TABLE cellPadding=2 width=135 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD width=125></TD></TR><TR><TD><CENTER></CENTER>

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

His hip flexor was hurting. He ran that in on pure adrenaline. He came in (at half) and he had tears in his eyes in the training room. I felt for him. That's the kind of guys we have that are willing to give it up for the team," Carpenter said.

i saw him get hurt the play before and was surprised he didn't come out to be honest. you can actually see him in considerable pain once he hit around the 25 on his return for the td. even though no one was around to make the takle i was a little conscerned as to whether or not he was going to make it.

hard to ask anything more of him. great game ay.

i don't think boone will take the starting position this year. but this will likely not be the last time we see him in the season. id imagine he will get a decent amount of playing time as a backup from here on out.

without an injury, i don't see pittman giving up his starting position to anyone period.

[JustinOSU]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeTillIDie

Exactly. Pittman is good, but he is going to be GREAT.

I definitely agree with you on this one. Pittman is gonna be a force by the end of this year.

[Yertle]

Hell, I think Pittman is a force now. Get Dionte Johnson into the game and set Pittman loose!!! He's going to break 1,000 yards this year. Can you remember when an OSU tailback did that? Ummmmm.....uhhhh....Jonathan Wells, right?

Barton is our best lineman, in my opinion. Although Boone may continue to start, it won't be for Barton. Datish maybe.

[scarletngrey11]

Pittman will surpass 1,000 yards this year, which is huge since that hasnt been done since '02. The only reason why Pittman isnt having an even better year is because of lack of attempts, hes simply not getting 20-35 carries a game like other running backs do.

With that being said, I cant wait for Chris Wells to come in next year, im young, but ive never seen anything like that kid...

[hawaiianbuckeye]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Some outstanding pics, as always. Have a Great Post Award...now get yer ass back here after the season so we can hit The Shack again.

See you in a few...months!

[jwinslow]

Sadly, many pictures were ruined by the tall heads in front of me (TheStoicPansiano was two seats to the right of these heads, so he can't be blamed )

However, there were still some good pictures. Some of these are gonna be turned into wallpapers.

[IMG]../gallery/files/1/4/3/2/IMG_3113_thumb.jpg[/IMG]

My MSU pics

[nicknc33]

i figured pictures of that bird would pop up sooner or later