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10-07-2007, 11:51 PM
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Better Than 2006?
When I think back to the National Championship debacle I can honestly say now that I saw a loss coming because of some glaring problems we had on both sides of the ball just waiting to be exposed by a good team. On defense, the loss of Anderson Russell was huge in the end as it made us depend on Jamario O'Neal in coverage situations against teams (Michigan and Florida) good enough to expose him. While O'Neal has the tools and potential to be a great talent for OSU and is doing good things in back-up and special teams roles this year, his coverage skills were so poor last year I think the whole defensive backfield suffered. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that a big reason we were playing that funky zone against Florida was because O'Neal was our best option back there even though throughout the year he was constantly letting receivers get behind him. The second I heard that Kurt Coleman won the job and that Russell was back 100% I knew we would be lights out against the pass. Though Antonio Smith was solid, overall I think we're better off with Donald Washington. If Andre Amos was healthy, one could argue this is the best collective group of starters and back-ups in the secondary we've ever had at Ohio State.
Larry Grant and Marcus Freeman have joined Laurinaitis as bonified stars. What may be lost is that even though Laurinaitis doesn't have last year's gaudy numbers... he's become an even better defensive "quarterback". In 2006 he and the rest of the defense got a lot of interceptions that were simply thrown right at them. Now they're much better at reading routes and being in the right coverage on top of stuffing the run. It might sound odd but I'll take the dropped interceptions as long as he and the rest of the defense are doing that. I'll go as far as to say that as a unit, I like this defensive line better. Without looking I know that sack numbers are down from last year, but this rotation brings terror after terror to offensive lines from the starters and the back-ups from the tackles and the ends from the freshmen and the upperclassmen. Offenses can't run, nor can the quarterbacks sit back there all day. At this point in the season I'd say there's been little to no drop-off from last year but by the end of the season Heyward, Gholston, Rose, Worthington, Denlinger, Abdallah, Larimore and Barrow will make you forget about the 2006 line... especially if Wilson comes back. The bottom line is I've satisfied myself that no team I've seen this year including LSU, Florida, Oregon, California and USC could hang 41 points on this defense. Last year's smoke and mirrors have been replaced by fire and mortar. You may ask how in the world are we better this year on offense? At this point we aren't which is the only reason for the question mark in the title to this thread. But if you ignore the superficial media observations about losing Ginn, Gonzales, Smith and Pittman and look at one of the main reasons for our success on offense in 2006 and so far this year you'll see why by the time we play Wisconsin, we could be better than last year. What do Troy Smith and Todd Boeckman have in common? A cannon arm and all day to throw the ball. Troy's obvious exceptions were Michigan and Florida and he was elusive enough for every team but Florida. This year Michigan has been unable to recover from it's losses on defense, so with the possible exception of Penn State and yes Illinois, no team should get much of a push on this line. Announcers tried to make the "astute" observation that Pittman got most of his big gains by running left without noting that he was running through holes cleared out by Boone and Rehring. While pointing out what we lost to the draft, the so-called experts either chose to ignore or were ignorant to what we left behind: an offensive that can dominate nearly anyone on our schedule. Brian Robiskie is a better receiver than Ted Ginn... period. Ginn was faster... period. I predict by the time we play Wisconsin Ray Small will give us about 90% of what we lost from Ginn. Likewise I think Brian Hartline has nearly filled Gonzales' role. Sanzenbacher is a gamer and Taurian Washington is a superstar waiting too happen. Dukes and Lyons remain life's biggest mystery to me and Torrence is still a project. While Ginn was entertaining and Gonzales reliable.. I like the Robiskie, Small, Hartline connection just as much and feel the entire wide receiver group will be better than last year's... as will the running backs. Chris Wells' ankle problem may be a blessing in disguise. I make all these predictions about this year's offense overtaking last year's by the time we play Wisconsin because this unit has yet to be hit in the mouth. We can count on that at Penn State. Sometime during that game Beanie is going down for an extended period, hopefully just to be retaped. Either way we're going to see a healthy dose of Brandon Saine... and if it's worse, the debut of Boom Herron. It means he burns a redshirt, but is the Pittman, Wells & Wells backfield more appealing than Wells, Wells, Saine and Herron? I argue the latter is even better than USC within the context of our schedule. The biggest part of the question mark is Todd Boeckman. Sometime during the Penn State game he's going to make a mistake... but this will be the game where he shows the whole country that he knows he doesn't have to do it all himself. This will be the game that he shows the collective Ohio State offense, not one player, is the force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten. This will be the game where the question mark is removed. Last edited by Carmen Ohio; 10-08-2007 at 12:05 AM.          
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10-08-2007, 12:04 AM
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Good post.
It's really hard for me to say if we are better than last year's squad. As it stands we have not been tested in ANY game so far this season. We've pretty much had it in the bag by the end of the 3rd quarter in every game. I want to see how this team plays in a tight, close game and see how they respond.
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10-08-2007, 12:45 AM
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Our defense is much better. No doubt. Everyone in the back seven are much improved.
Offense? We just have to wait before jumping to conclusions. Just as Purdue hasn't faced a decent D before playing us, we haven't faced a decent D yet. YSU, Akron, Washington, NW, Purdue....even with the amount of talent on this offense, no idea how we would fair against a defense like LSU's. There's not much to complain about this offense, that's for sure. But just like the feeling that I got with last year's defense, at this point, I don't know if this offense is quite as good as what people think they are. We'll see.
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10-08-2007, 12:52 AM
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Until this group of players wins a National Title like the 2002 team did, there is no comparison. The ultimate measuring stick is winning the MNC. No amount of dominance matters without that title.
This team is very good and should only continue to get better with experience. But until they go all the way, finish the job and bring home one of those crystal footballs, they fall short in the 'better than or worse than' measurement. That said, Kent State is next on the schedule. That's all anyone should care about. The comparisons can wait until after the season is over and done with.
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10-08-2007, 12:53 AM
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10-08-2007, 01:03 AM
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10-08-2007, 01:08 AM
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Defense AND the Defensive scheme seems much better this year.
Offense is still not clicking and not nearly as good as last year, though there are elements in the Offense that seem to improve each week. M. Wells has become a solid backup to Beanie. R. Small is starting to come on and is adding a much needed breakaway dimension. The OL has been solid in both the running and passing game. Special teams are playing lights out. Trapasso is playing at a very high level and Pretorius has proven to be reliable.
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10-08-2007, 04:23 AM
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I still think there are some things on offense that need some tweeking abit. Todd B has yet to take a couple of hits . That may be coming at Happy Valley. For some reason unknown, the Knittny Lions play us tough there.
Boeckman decisions back there are coming I think but i see some sort of apprehention holding him back. I can never get Krenzel out of my mind as I remember how he played and some of his decisions he made. He was uncanny. I'm not saying boeckman has to be like Krenzel but for some reason I think he will be there at a level somewhat similar. "Carmen" stated that he thought Robiskie was better than Ginn. Well maybe better in catching the ball but speed and moves favored Ginn alittle better there. I think Ray Small is a real deal here. But "Beany" has to rest that foot for sure. Maybe we can get by without him against the "Flashes" Brandon Seine will fill in nicely there. Our biggest hope is that we can fit it all togehter in one nice package before we move on to State College Pa. Last edited by kippy1040; 10-08-2007 at 04:25 AM. Reason: spelling
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10-08-2007, 04:42 AM
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10-08-2007, 11:36 AM
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I'm buying everything said about the defense.
The offense lacks two things that made the 2006 team so explosive -- one (and Ray Small may be the answer) is a deep threat you-gotta-keep-an-eye-on-this-guy-wherever-he-is type of player, which was Ted Ginn. Two, we don't have a real threat of mobility at the QB position. Otherwise, I'll agree about WR depth, and RB depth. The 2007 team may also improve more over the season than the 2006 team as well.
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10-08-2007, 11:51 AM
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You say the comparisons can wait until the season is over, but unfortunately thats what the pollsters and pundits use to rank teams and ultimately decide where they play in December and January. It is opinion that has USC still in the top ten after losing at home to a 40 point underdog and not having a quality win all season. That opinion is based on comparisons. You are right... we don't compare 07 to 02, but if more poll voters intelligently looked at what happened in 06 and what teams were left with this year, teams with no defense like Louisville, Texas and Michigan never would have been in the top 10 to begin with. Last edited by Carmen Ohio; 10-08-2007 at 11:57 AM.
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10-08-2007, 11:55 AM
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Defense:
Definitely better. More aggressive (scheme), better coverage skills, DTs have really stepped it up against the run vs the start of the year. Very good pass rush all year (with our #2 DE out). Only negative is turnover creation. They have been in position numerous times, but haven't quite completed the plays. Offense: Main diference is "less diverse". Running game (with the RBs) is at least as good, but '06 had more ways to attack on the ground due to TS. Short yardage running game is still weaker than we would like. Passing game is again less diverse, but has been at least as effective as I think any of us would have hoped for to this point. The really fun (or scary if you're the rest of the country) thing is that almost this entire team comes back next year. I still think that the offense is probably going to come up short once or maybe twice during the regular season, but don't see anybody stopping us next year, including USC out west.
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10-08-2007, 12:04 PM
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As far as the defense goes lets also be fair and say we haven't played a team yet thats going to challenge our manhood in the middle of the DL and try to pound away at us. We may very well be up to the challenge but being as fair and unbiased as I can be we haven't faced it yet. This is still an area of concern to me untill I see with my own two eyes that we pass the test.
Offensively I think the comparison to last years D is spot on. It looks good on the stat sheet but you know deep down inside its probably not really that good. Level of competition plays a big role here. Overall I'll always take the dominant defense, solid special teams, adequate offense type team over any other combination. That and the motivation from last years NC debacle are why I feel better overall about '07 than '06.
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10-08-2007, 12:20 PM
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Spot on. We have played the 3 worst defenses in the Big 10. We struggled offensively when we played on the road. It wasn't all due to Tresselball. The game in Happy Valley figures to be a defensive slug-fest. I also agree that we can take this team as is over '06. But I will go further and observe that it took Troy a few games before we saw any improvement. Sometimes a player grows like a bamboo tree. You don't see anything for awhile, then he grows a hundred feet in 2 weeks. I haven't given up on TB yet. By the end of the year we may well have more than just a "dominant defense and solid special teams". It'll be a fun ride either way.
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10-08-2007, 12:40 PM
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On the defensive side, I think the most telling "fix" is that we haven't been exposed on the edges like last year. There were warning signs there after NIU and Texas both gashed the defense on the outside for huge gains.
There was also the issue that two of the starting back-four last season were a walk-on at one corner spot and a fifth year senior at safety that could never get back into the depth chart after losing his job to Nate Salley in '03. No disrespect to B-Mitch and Yao, but they were starters because there wasn't anybody else better, and the entire back-seven got worked those last two games. This year, this back-seven is as good as any in OSU history. Chimdi and Donald have really impressed me, and the light has finally gone on for Freeman. What's the longest pass play we've given up this year? Last edited by Dryden; 10-08-2007 at 12:47 PM.
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