LB James Laurinaitis (St. Louis Rams)

[OregonBuckeye]

Originally Posted by 'BusNative

The "bend don't break" defenses of 2005 and 2002 faced about the same amount of good and bad offenses.

I completely disagree with '05 and even '02. The '05 squad faced great offense after great offense and to still put up amazing stats was quite a feat. Notre Dame, Iowa, Minnesota, scUM, Texas, Michigan St., Northwestern, and Penn St. were all top 25 offenses, I believe.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by OregonBuckeye

I completely disagree with '05 and even '02. The '05 squad faced great offense after great offense and to still put up amazing stats was quite a feat. Notre Dame, Iowa, Minnesota, scUM, Texas, Michigan St., Northwestern, and Penn St. were all top 25 offenses, I believe.

2005 Total Offense stats of the teams OB listed:

Notre Dame (#10, 477.33 ypg)
Iowa (#22, 432.42 ypg)
Minnesota (#7, 494.75 ypg)
scUM (#55, 384.25 ypg)
Texas (#3 512.08 ypg)
Michigan St. (#5, 497.27 ypg)
Northwestern (#4, 500.33 ypg)
Penn St (#33, 421.50 ypg)

We played three of the top five and five of the top 10 offenses in the country.

[DaddyBigBucks]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

2005 Total Offense stats of the teams OB listed:

Notre Dame (#10, 477.33 ypg)
Iowa (#22, 432.42 ypg)
Minnesota (#7, 494.75 ypg)
scUM (#55, 384.25 ypg)
Texas (#3 512.08 ypg)
Michigan St. (#5, 497.27 ypg)
Northwestern (#4, 500.33 ypg)
Penn St (#33, 421.50 ypg)

We played three of the top five and five of the top 10 offenses in the country.

Rushing Offenses

Texas #2
Minnesota #3
Penn St. #14
Michigan St. #20
Northwestern #26


I posted this in the RUSHING DEFENSE thread at the time. The data has been destroyed due to the unfortunate exigency of not being able to use HTML code anymore (at least not in the way it was used at the time); but the gist is this. No team in the country played a slate of rushing offenses any where NEAR as tough as what OSU played that year. We STILL led the nation in rushing defense.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by DaddyBigBucks

Rushing Offenses

Texas #2
Minnesota #3
Penn St. #14
Michigan St. #20
Northwestern #26

What each team averaged against everyone else, what they got against us, and the amount under their average against others:

Texas: 289, 112, -177
Minn: 281, 182, -99
PSU: 221, 117, -104
MSU: 208, 137, -71
NW: 202, 98, -104

[Taosman]

I think JL had a better soph season than Hawk.
Now, whether he has peaked or will just get even better I can't say.
I do believe when all is said and done he could equal Hawk.
I said equal because I believe he leaves after this year.

[Yertle]

Originally Posted by Taosman

I think JL had a better soph season than Hawk.
Now, whether he has peaked or will just get even better I can't say.
I do believe when all is said and done he could equal Hawk.
I said equal because I believe he leaves after this year.

You're probably right, but with the stage set for another title run in 2008, he could very easily "pull a Doss" and shoot for the NC.

[xcrunner]

Originally Posted by Yertle

You're probably right, but with the stage set for another title run in 2008, he could very easily "pull a Doss" and shoot for the NC.

He was also mentored by Hawk & co. who all decided to stay... that has to help.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Scout.com$ (Adam Jardy)

Staying Humble..........

[BuckeyeInLA]

Laurinaitis is on a strict diet of babies. He scares children and the elderly. The 2007 football season? Prediction: Pain!

[EastSide]

Originally Posted by OSUBasketballJunkie

Scout.com$ (Adam Jardy)

Staying Humble..........

This article is now free

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State football: Laurinaitis on watch list
Posted by dlesmerises@plaind.com August 23, 2007 09:47AM
Categories: OSU Football
Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis has been named to the Walter Camp watch list, the early-season group of 35 candidates for this player of the year award, won last year by OSU quarterback Troy Smith.

Only eight defensive players are part of the list, the others including Penn State linebacker Dan Connor and LSU defensive tackle Glen Dorsey.

Ohio State football: Laurinaitis on watch list - Cleveland Sports News – The Latest Breaking News, Game Recaps and Scores from The Plain Dealer

[osugrad21]

DDN

Laurinaitis 1st junior OSU captain since '00

Linebacker joins seniors Barton, Johnson as those voted in by ballot of players and coaches.


By Doug Harris
Staff Writer

Saturday, August 25, 2007

COLUMBUS ? The Ohio State football team, which has only a handful of seniors, has dipped into the ranks of the junior class for a captain for the first time in seven years.
All-American linebacker James Laurinaitis was chosen Friday in a vote of the players and coaches. Senior tackle Kirk Barton and senior fullback Dionte Johnson also were named, while a fourth captain will be selected before each game from the defense.



Cont...

[tlinc]

I was reading an article about Andrew Sweat in the recruiting forum and the following quote really stood out to me.


Sweat: "Wait (Ohio State junior linebacker James) Laurinaitis, two-time All-American, will be making $60 million in a couple months."

It seems like the incoming recruits are always one of the first to know that we have players who are planning on leaving. I remember in interviews with Chimdi Chekwa he mentioned that 2 of our DBs were leaving early and Whitner and Youboty later declared.

I wonder if that is not the case here as well. If Sweat is being told that James is likely to leave, it would explain his decision to come in early and compete for playing time at middle linebacker next season. With James already being a captain as a junior, I could definitely see him leaving ealry if he thinks he'll be an early pick.

Laurinaitis would be a big loss as we could be real contenders in 2008. It would be huge having a talented, experienced leader at MLB as we go out to USC early in the year.

The rest of the article is below, for context:

Yancich reminisced with Sweat, an Ohio State recruit, about how maybe this was the plan all along. After all, they used to flash the touchdown signal as they crossed home plate after hitting a home run in baseball. They played against each other in grade school, but were reunited in high school. The best friends will be opponents again in college when Penn State plays Ohio State, which is usually the Lions' most anticipated game of the season.

That thought triggers a debate, and it goes something like this.

Sweat: "Penn State might be better this year, but then Ohio State the next four years."

Yancich: "What?"

Sweat: "We have this running back named Chris Wells."

Yancich: "(Sweat) will be at Penn State with me and I'll be like, 'Sean Lee just intercepted that. Oh is he at the 40, 30, 20, 10, touchdown?' "

Sweat: "Wait (Ohio State junior linebacker James) Laurinaitis, two-time All-American, will be making $60 million in a couple months."

But once the bickering calms down, Sweat puts things into perspective, and Yancich agrees with his philosophy.

"We just live life," Sweat said. "We're just still kids. We don't know what to expect. We just love the game and we play it."

Yancich and Sweat are laid-back and high-strung at the same time. They don't feel the pressure of joining programs with high expectations. Their hyper side comes out when they perform toe-touches to see whose is better and talk really loudly when they get excited about playing in college. But there is a serious side to them, especially Yancich, who, along with Sweat, is expected to lead a Trinity team that hopes to improve upon a 6-4 finish and advance past the first round of the playoffs, where the Hillers' season ended last year.

[schwab]

I would be hugely shocked if this wasn't 33's last season in Columbus.

[Wells4Heisman]

I think Laurinaitis will go the route A.J. did and will stay for his senior year...