4 days after Evanstunned.....

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

After watching the game and reading all the articles, posts, comments and everything else, I have a few opinions about this football team and where it is headed this year:

First lets talk about the weak areas of the Bucks:

1. Offensive Line- What can be said, that hasnt been said somewhere, I am not buying that "they are young" excuse, even a young line can get a push on the line 7 out of ten times, we consistently have penetration. What is the cause of this? There are probably a few factors, but it is not for a lack of talent, I think they need to go back to fundamentals and build from there, keep it simple and let their talent shine through, most importantly, they need to work in practice and get some pride in the unit. This unit is the weakess part of the team and is the most important.

2. Running Backs- Lydell Ross is a average back at best. We need a running back by committee approach and we need to make a concentrated effort to be a rushing offense, but the backs are affected by the O line and that where the majority of the problem arises, a good to great O line makes Ross look good, a mediocre to bad O line makes him look inadequate and thats where this position is, take for example the NW game stats

Ross 11 carries, 31 yards
Pittman 11 carries, 32 yards
Joe 3 carries, 8 yards

This tells me its the O line, it was interesting that Pittman got most of the carries in the fourth quarter...hmmmmm......I would like to see more of Pittman, I see a real burst from him and a mean streak when he gets hit, he is always going forward.

3. Play Calling- I think Jim Tressel is a great coach, I really do...but with that said...there needs to be a change in our play calling, we need to be more unpredicatable instead of predicatable. I don't have the answers, but I would think that running on first down 80% of the time is not going to get it done. We must move the ball on first down, at least positive yards to stay out of third and long for Zwick.

4. Overall Execution- The execution of the offensive and defensive lines are not very good right now, we get no push on offense and we get little to no pressure on defense, the young pups on D need to grow up. The coaching staff needs to get the Offensive plays in faster so Zwick can survey the D and get us into the right play to avoid mistakes. The D coordinator needs to make adjustments that work! Get aggresive on defense, dont sit back. In every game their has been a break down by one of the units and that must stop in order for Osu to be successful this year.

Now lets talk about the strong/Average areas....

1. Special Teams- Mike Nugent is an All American and Kyle Turano is averaging 40.8 yards a kick and has done a good job of pinning teams back. Our kickoff return teams have improved dramatically and our punt return teams are so so at best.

2. Linebackers- Hawk and Carpenter have been getting it done, where is D'Andrea (13 tackles)...Schlegal (15 tackles).....

3. Secondary- Whitner has been getting it done, but Salley is not and we really need Fox back.

This team needs this win vs Whisky or it will be a long season, we have some playmakers, its time to let them play, the key is the lines, we need to win the battle up front the rest of the year or we will struggle.

[BuckeyeBlitz04]

with you post. Run, run, run on first dwon isn't going to make it happen! Good Post!

[DCBuckFan]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeBlitz04

with you post. Run, run, run on first dwon isn't going to make it happen! Good Post!

While I may agree with much of the first post... one thing to point out is that for the NW game, if I counted right we ran less than 55% of the time of first down... and that is counting 3 scrambles by JZ as runs (45% without them)...

Doesn't get much more balanced than that...

[StoRMinBrutus]

When OSU is in certain formations you can almost always tell what they are going to run.

[Piney]

Also doesn't help when your first play of the game is a play action pass and is blown up before you could even attempt to get the pass off.

[DCBuckFan]

Originally Posted by StoRMinBrutus

When OSU is in certain formations you can almost always tell what they are going to run.

I totally agree with that... and there are clearly issues... just wanted to point out that we don't run every down on first down...

[Sdgobucks]

I am going to say that we need to run the ball more. We have to run the ball successfully or we will lose at least 3 games this season. Running successfully is the key, I agree we shouldn't put JZ in third and long, but if we turn to a pass first team he will be under pressure the whole game. Whatever it takes, we must be committed to running the ball effectively.

[FKAGobucks877]

Offensively, it's simple. We need to do several things. First, we need to run different plays out of different formations. Right now, our offense is extremely predictable, because it seems we only run one or two plays out of any one particular formation. Second, we need to run the ball as much as we are, but put some variety in there. Maybe try running outside of the tackles a couple times. Or maybe a counter or misdirection. Maybe both? I should have been a coach...

[VprHis]

More screens/throws to the backs?

Joe's got very good hands, and Pittman (or Hall) could be lethal out in the flat.

Would also help to slow down the rush. Just a thought. Maybe I'm just on crack.

[AKAKBUCK]

More screens/throws to the backs?

I do beleive we did have at least two throws to RB's... I was suprised....

Also- On running outside... Umm... well, I'm all for changing things up... but we suck at that too.

[Def]

Originally Posted by Piney

Also doesn't help when your first play of the game is a play action pass and is blown up before you could even attempt to get the pass off.

Are opposing defensive lines able to play the run and pass the same way against us? i.e. just get penetration and don't worry about the back slipping through your gap because the play doesn't happen quick enough.