OBSERVATIONS FROM C DECK - IOWA

[Oh8ch]

A. WAITING TO HEAR FROM THE ATHLETIC OFFICE

This is an Athletic Department that charges $50 to rent seat cushions for a season. They take you picture during the game and put it on a web site for purchase the next day. They run commercials during the contest. They sell "Play By Play" radios for in game use that promise "no delay" (what delay?). At the gate they are careful to remove that bottle of water hidden in your jacket pocket - then charge you $4 to replace it once you get inside. They charge $7 for a program each week that has 6 pages that are different from the $7 program of the previous week. They squeeze out every dime.

I fully expect to get a letter this week requesting I pay an additional fee for the combination of excitement, overtime and remarkable weather I experienced Saturday night.

I will gladly pay.


B. THE CROWD

Gotta give the crowd an A-, and only that high because they aced the bonus question.

Crowd noise was not at the level it should have been for what was on the line. Nothing comparable to the USC game and - seat for seat - below the standard being set in the North stands by the folks in yellow jerseys.

But in OT they rose with a roar and directly contributed to Iowa's failure.

And speaking of Iowa fans, I would like to give them mad props. Unfortunately they started up some jackass cheer in the middle of our pre-game Alma Mater and that will stick in my craw for some time. I always thought better of Iowa than that. Just a reminder to you young pups that think that sort of thing is cool. It is bush. Reflects poorly on your school and you will never look back with pride once your frontal cortex fully develops.


C. GAME PLAN

It is never ceasing that folks continue to knock Tressel and his lack of imaginative game planning.

I read a great quote from Sanzenbacher last week talking about the PSU game and how the players wanted to be more aggressive a couple of times but coach wasn't having it. He went on to admit that it is a good thing they have a level headed coach like JT who can remove himself from the emotions and do what it takes - to win.

No, it doesn't always work. But when you have an approach that is successful 9 of 10 times it really isn't logical to go on the attack the one time it doesn't. This, of course, was not that time.

Should we have blitzed and put pressure on Vandenberg? Why should a team with our front four have taken the risk of blitzing against Iowa? Give the Hawkeye OL and Vandenberg some credit. There were two teams on the field and they stepped up. Wrong blitz call on the wrong screen and that game may not have gone to OT.

Want Pryor to stretch the field - maybe once at least? My recollection is that he is capable of making a mistake now and again. He gave Iowa nothing on Saturday and did not try to force things that Iowa was taking away. And we won.

Want to use Pryor more in the run game? Have to hang out in the training room before I can answer with authority, but by all accounts the kid is pretty banged up. Why risk a blow to your QB when you have two kids who rolled up 200 yards between them? We used Pryor's running ability - we just did it without giving him the ball. As it is Pryor will be starting against UM and we are Big Ten champs.

Want a more aggressive offensive coach? Could be one available from up around South Bend in a few weeks. Might be another year or two before we can steal the guy from AA.

Wanna win? In 28 years Woody Hayes won 13 Big Ten titles. In 9 years Tressel has won 6.

Wanna pick on a coach? With the possible exception of Florida there is not a team in the country within a furlong of USC in terms of talent. Problems with a Frosh QB? Bull[censored]. Aaron Corp was #3 out of HS three years ago. And Mitch Mustain was #1 in 2006. Rebuilding your D? Shenanigans! You use 5 star LB recruits as long snappers. PC is the one who has brought in the talent at USC and deserves every bit of the credit for where that program is. But for game management I will take boring old JT. I will scream and pull out my hair. I will second guess half of what he does. And 99% of the time I will be wrong.

I read a recap of the Navy-ND game last week. A Navy player was talking about a play they had run all game. But once, near the end, they changed it just a bit. The change was to have the end take a step back off the line. This put him in the backfield and made the new end - an ineligible receiver on every execution of that play up until then - eligible. ND didn't notice and Navy rode that play to a win. ND had a talent advantage in that game far greater than any OSU had over Iowa. But the game wasn't won on talent. It wasn't won on aggressive play calling, risk taking, or an exceptional athletic move. It was won because, as part of a pre-designed game plan, one player took a step back off the LOS that virtually none of us would notice unless told. When we start picking up on these subtleties our complaints about JT may begin to have merit.

Fans will always second guess a defeat. But after a win they never ask "What could we have done differently to lose that game"?


D. HOW GOOD IS VANDENBERG?

A lot of the talk all last week about how we would get in Vandenberg's face and generate a major fail. We looked at a small sample of a kids work in emergency service and drew conclusions of incompetence and immaturity. After all, just how good can a kid be when he is the #50 ranked QB out of HS?

In 2005 seven of the top 10 ranked QBs in Scout were from California. They showed up on lots of film while coaches and analysts were evaluating all of the other talent from that talent rich state. They were evaluated going up against other quality players and teams where they were being challenged and you could get a good idea of what their potential might be. And when it came time to list the best in the country the public analysts (who are paid by the list) knew their names.

But Vandenberg is from Iowa and if you are playing HS football in Iowa it is tough to be ranked much higher than 50. How much time do you think those analysts spend looking at film of kids from ND, SD, Iowa and other states with widely distributed populations where lots of corn fed white boys (read Northern Slow) are providing at best a mixed level of competition that makes film evaluation a nightmare? Sure, if you are 6'5' and 240lb running a 4.5 somebody is gonna take a look. But unless you spend half your life circling the country going uninvited to camps how is a QB gonna get noticed?

And that just may be part of the secret that allows a coach like Frentz to consistently put together top 20 teams from top 40 recruiting classes.

And speaking of Vandenberg, did you say MILF? I didn't say MILF. Did somebody say MILF?


E. NACHO REPORT

Several folks have asked what the Nacho Bitch looks like.

That's her with her butt hanging out in the background.




F. QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSEY

I am calling you out. You who called Pryor a clown. You who have been arguing that Jeanette's small schools opponents led to deceptive films and a recruiting mistake. You who argued that Pryor was a bust and it was time to move on.

No do-overs for you. You were wrong.

I am issuing a call to arms of the faithful. Come forward with your pikes and bills. I will bring my mace. Man the bandwagon and do not let the heretics re-board. Not until they have fallen on their swords and testified to the virtue of patience.

What you say? He was not even the best quarterback on the field Saturday! Bested by a kid with much less game experience! Balderdash.

Vandenberg did things that Pryor can not yet do consistently. Pryor can do things that Vandenberg can only dream of. And if you believe that Pryor had little or nothing to do with the rushing success of Saine and Boom think again. The threat of what he can do was present in every defensive play call Ferentz made. He was at the very core of their game plan. And his playing - perhaps for the first time - totally within himself is a testament to how far he has come.

I don't want to overstate my case, and I am certain Craig would have seen plays and recognized defenses that Terrelle did not. But there is something Krenzelesque about 14 of 17 for 93 yards and no miscues.

His progress is still coming in small steps. But they are small steps toward greatness.


G. SENIOR DAY

Danny Potokar running across the field.

Nuff said.


H. PROPS TO IOWA

There is no way you can look at this game and not give their team credit for what happened. Granted, we had every chance to put it away. On the other hand, a chip shot field goal or any of a half dozen dropped balls (did Stross beat out Chekwa for reverse player of the game?) could have kept it from OT on their end.

If their OL doesn't handle our DL as well as anyone all season, it is a rout. If Vandenberg doesn't execute their game plan to near perfection we cover the spread. If a dinged up RB from a cupboard barer than anything RR can imagine doesn't carry the load single handedly after the last minute scratch of Wegher one wheel falls off their passing game.

Granted, our D did not exactly put on a tackling clinic (perhaps a bit of a hangover from the physical PSU game) but Iowa played very good football.

And one bit of good news. Heyward didn't actually leave for the NFL prior to this game as it might have seemed. And he is [censored]ed.


I. PLAY OF THE GAME

When Herron took of on the Wildbuck from the 11 there was no way he was going to turn the corner. I would give that effort the nod, except that it came on first down and we still had two more tries.

Instead I would go with either of two earlier third down plays on that same drive.

Last play of the third quarter and Clayton (what a stud) brings down any QB in OSU history - except Pryor. But TP gets the ball to Carter for the first.

Three plays later and TP is up the middle on third and 10 for 19 yards - placing the ball just where Herron wants it.


J. NACHO REPORT REVISITED

If you still find yourself scrolling back up to catch glimpses of the Nacho Bitches hiney, look one more time. See if you can find the right arm of the girl taking the picture.

Pervert. This is a family thread.


K. FUTILITY

1) uselessness as a consequence of having no practical result
2) the quality of having no practical use

RR is setting the bar at a level that should intimidate Limbo artists worldwide. His coaching exploits are the very definition of futility.

Every week there are new "firsts" to report.

Saturday was the first time Wisconsin has scored 45 points against the Wolverines.
Last year it was the first time in school history that UM had given up more than 35 points three straight weeks. Saturday he bested that record by going to four straight weeks - and the clock is running.
With a loss next week RR will have lost as many Big Ten games in 2 years as JT has in 9.

JT talks about November being for Contenders. So here is a trivia question. What do Minnesota 2008 and Delaware St 2009 have in common?

Answer: They are the ONLY TWO teams RR has beaten in EITHER November or October in the past two years. That's right. Two wins after SEPTEMBER.

However, there is still one week left, and...


L. IT IS MICHIGAN WEEK

Wanna [censored] me off? Just start talking like we are 10-2 already. "Throw out the record books" means exactly that. It does not mean "Throw out the record books, unless..."

Twice while leaving the game Saturday my son and I struck up a chorus of "I don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan."

No response.

There will be plenty of time to celebrate the Rose Bowl. As soon as that kick went through the uprights it became Michigan Week. Let's focus.

Last time OSU went to the Rose Bowl they sewed up the championship in their next to last game. The following week that undefeated OSU team lost to an 8-4 Michigan - at home.

UM doesn't just play bad. They play like a bunch of unmotivated losers. And for that reason, because a loss next week underscores everything that has gone wrong for two full years, they have every reason to come out as pumped as any team we have seen. And brash and silly as it may sound, nothing focuses a team like a bold promise.

They have nothing to lose. They are playing in their stadium. And if you don't think their athletes - however far below Michigan standards they may be - are not as good as Purdue's you aren't paying attention. Not having talent and not playing to the level of your talent are two different things. The later can be fixed in a week.

Granted, it is impossible to imagine how they can do it. It is impossible to conceive that their coaching staff is capable of such a feat. It is incomprehensible that their lowly D can slow or stop any offense, let alone the OSU offense. And the only way it possibly can happen is if we believe that it can't.

This is college football and the unimaginable can only be seen when looking back. In 2007 in what many call the greatest upset in CFB history Appalachian St beat UM. Many look back now and say "Sure, but their program was already in decline". Yet that team went on to beat 9-4 PSU, 9-4 Illinois, and 9-4 Florida and finish 9-4 themselves.

This past week all I read was how Iowa could not beat OSU. I listened to an ESPN talking head answer the question what would Iowa have to do to beat OSU. His answer started with "Well, to begin with, they can't do it." You think listening to that all week didn't play in to what happened Saturday? Do you believe OSU would have beaten Miami for the NC if they had not spent two months being told they couldn't do it?

It CAN happen. And if the unimaginable does happen it would rival the greatest upsets in series history. It would mean everything to their program - and they know that. And they are being told they can't do it.

Do I think it will happen? Hell, I can't begin to imagine it.

But the point is this.

Do not wash those lucky underwear. Down precisely as many Coor's Light Jello Shots as you did prior to last years Michigan game. Do nothing unusually regarding your beard or lack thereof. Screw the fat chick if that is what it takes. But do not let up until we are up by 35 halfway through the 4th quarter.

Do not contribute to the karma of the unimaginable.


M. FUTILITY REVISITED

I was watching channel 10 news the day before the Iowa game. They were talking about parking and reminding folks that many areas are marked as tow away zones. Then they gave the number to call if your car was towed.

So tell me, are there really people in the world who are so careless and inattentive as to park their car in a tow away zone and yet, finding their car missing, reach in their pockets and pull out the number they had jotted down while watching the news?


N. POST GAME

There was some dispute this week about whether it would be appropriate for OSU fans to storm the field if we beat Iowa (more precisely, it was framed as "when" we beat Iowa).

All I can say is that there are few more beautiful sites in Columbus, Ohio on a Saturday evening than 10,000 arms choreographed to the singing of "How firm thy friendship 0-HI-O."

If there was a jackass cheer coming from the North end at the time nobody could hear it.

[ScriptOhio]

Very good report.

[THEWOOD]

fantastic

[Apache]

Energy but fairly calm up there in the stratosphere. Why does the OSU football team take it upon themselves to drive me crazy and not put a team away. Perhaps Iowa is a good, physical football team??

Go Bucks.

[dragurd]

A deck in the north endzone was pretty loud most of the game in fact the loudest I've actually heard. However for both the 2006 Mich and 2009 Usc I was in C deck and B deck on the open end respectively so that probably influenced it quite a bit. I had a nice old lady from Iowa sitting next to me and I shook her hand after the game. However those fans up in the north endzone cheering through script ohio and carmen ohio are lucky the game wasn't a blow out. Otherwise I have a feeling they would of got their asses beat for that stunt. Passion is one thing stupidity is another.

[FCollinsBuckeye]

[osugrad21]

Originally Posted by Oh8ch

Should we have blitzed and put pressure on Vandenberg? Why should a team with our front four have taken the risk of blitzing against Iowa? Give the Hawkeye OL and Vandenberg some credit. There were two teams on the field and they stepped up. Wrong blitz call on the wrong screen and that game may not have gone to OT.

When it became obvious the front four couldn't get there, why not try something? Right blitz call on the right play and that game may not have gone to OT.

Always two ways to look at it..

[Class'13]

I have to agree with the last poster, North A (Block O North and surrounding) was the loudest I've ever heard it, although I wasn't at USC this year.

And to the OP, to make you feel a little better, in the mayhem down on the field, there was a continuous "We Don't Give a Damn" song being sung the whole time

[ScriptOhio]

Originally Posted by Apache

Energy but fairly calm up there in the stratosphere. Why does the OSU football team take it upon themselves to drive me crazy and not put a team away. Perhaps Iowa is a good, physical football team??

Go Bucks.

Yes they are. And I really think Kirk Ferentz is doing an outstanding job there too. He seems to consistantly get more from less talent than anyone else in the Big 10. I'm pretty sure that Iowa doesn't have that many "top 100 division 1A football prospects" so he has been working primarily with everyone else's leftovers (i.e. he only the gets out of state players from a state (like Ohio) that the major school in that state (like Ohio State) doesn't offer a scholarship to, etc.)

[ShakerBuck]

Originally Posted by Oh8ch

And speaking of Iowa fans, I would like to give them mad props. Unfortunately they started up some jackass cheer in the middle of our pre-game Alma Mater and that will stick in my craw for some time. I always thought better of Iowa than that. Just a reminder to you young pups that think that sort of thing is cool. It is bush. Reflects poorly on your school and you will never look back with pride once your frontal cortex fully develops.

Agree 100% That bull[censored] during Carmen Ohio [censored]ed me off... I wish the team was on the field to hear that.

Besides that, they were the loudest fans of an away team in the 'shoe I have ever heard.....Very impressive.

However, Someone needs to break the news that the yellow and black striped overall look is not a good one

[CalvinistBuck]

Originally Posted by Oh8ch

Should we have blitzed and put pressure on Vandenberg? Why should a team with our front four have taken the risk of blitzing against Iowa? Give the Hawkeye OL and Vandenberg some credit. There were two teams on the field and they stepped up. Wrong blitz call on the wrong screen and that game may not have gone to OT.

Grad beat me to it.

Originally Posted by osugrad21

When it became obvious the front four couldn't get there, why not try something? Right blitz call on the right play and that game may not have gone to OT.

Always two ways to look at it.

This was the one approach that puzzled me most. If NW doesn't blitz Vandenberg, they don't beat Iowa the week before. What did the coaches see that made tOSU defense play so much prevent?

[Bleed S & G]

Originally Posted by Oh8ch

Twice while leaving the game Saturday my son and I struck up a chorus of "I don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan."

No response.

Myself and a buddy walked from the West parking lot over to the 7/11 before the game to check out Lane and buy a pack of smokes. In the tunnel between the French Fieldhouse and St. Johns, we started the song once on the way, and again on the way back.

No response there either

[buckeyesin07]

Originally Posted by CalvinistBuck

This was the one approach that puzzled me most. If NW doesn't blitz Vandenberg, they don't beat Iowa the week before. What did the coaches see that made tOSU defense play so much prevent?

Good question. It seems that the games in which our defensive scheme is to sit back in a zone and not blitz are the games that the opposing offenses have the most success.

[dragurd]

Where were you guys? We had a good chorus of that going leaving the stadium's west side walking towards the tower past the Iowa team truck and buses.

[buckeyes_rock]

Originally Posted by dragurd

Where were you guys? We had a good chorus of that going leaving the stadium's west side walking towards the tower past the Iowa team truck and buses.

I second this...I heard the chorus break out all over the field after the game and walking out of the game as well! It was sweet!