Biggest reason for current problems.....

[PRBuck1]

I believe our problems stem from the fact that we are getting very little from the 2000 and 2001 classes. These are the classes that should have produced the players who would be key performers and seniors this year. The two classes did not turn out very well as there were many who left the program for various reasons (primarily academics) and others who were disappointments. Furthermore, because we did very poorly on the field in 1999 and 2000, we probably could not redshirt a number of good players from the class of 2000 and thus might be seniors this year. The class of 2001 was hurt in part because of the Cooper/Tressel transition and the fact that it was a small class. Here is the rundown:

Class of 2000:

Larry Kinnard: academics

BJ Barre: acadmics

Alphonso Townshend: academics

John Hollins: still a reserve

Alex Stepanovich: had to play as true frosh

Darrion Scott: had to play as true frosh

Jamal Muhammed: transferred

Will Allen: had to play as true frosh

Andrew Lee: too embarassing to mention

Brandon Joe: injury-plagued career

Jason Caldwell: still a reserve

Josh Huston: didn't pan out

Bam Childress: still a reserve

Jack Tucker: remember him?

Rick McFadden: transferred

Bobby Britton: never panned out

Sam Maldonado: transferred to Maryland

Michael Jenkins: had to play as true frosh

Shane Olivea: had to play as true frosh

Will Smith: gem all the way: couldn't expect him still here

Robert Reynolds: had to play/wouldn't start this year anyway

Marco Cooper: guns, drugs, academics

Harlan Jacobs: still a reserve

Class of 2001

Reggie Arden: didn't pan out

Adam Olds: injuries

Andre Tyree: still a reserve

Ryan Cook: ...and to think we desperately needed O-linemen

Dustin Fox: true gem

Simon Fraser: solid career

Angelo Chattams: crime; academics?

Brandon Schnittker: still a reserve

Ja Ja Riley: transferred

Chris Vance: solid career

Ryan Hamby: bit of a disappointment

Chris Gamble: gem: left early

Marcus Green: decent career

Mike Nugent: NOOOOGGGGEEE!!!!

Lydell Ross: disappointing career

Quenton Thomas: academics

Maurice Hall: injury-plagued career

LeAndre Boone: transferred

[SanClementeBuck]

Hard to comment on that impressive list. Good analysis.

[LloydSev]

Agreed.. hard to look at that and say it doesn't have an affect.. amazing how many people left from the 2000 class...

[buckzip]

That's depressing.

[slickman]

I want to say, "Great list! Good thinking! We're gonna be good!"

Now we just have to hope that every class since those two will improve their production and pray that those types of players never happen to us again.

Looking at that list- and great post/thread by the way- it makes the two years previous to this one even more impressive. With that in mind, we should never be this bad again.


**edit** what I mean, by those types, specifically regards the players that went away. I don't think we can be completely upset with every single player for not getting to be a starter or a huge contributor within the limelight.

[Airspace]

I believe there are several reasons for the current state of affairs.

1. Coaching/play selections.
1A. Offensive coordinator - do we have one?
1B. Offensive line play - over the last 5-6 years - the worst I have seen in
over 35 years of watching Ohio State football.
1C. No idea on what to hang our hat on, on offense.

2. Defensive coordinator getting on the job training.
2A. Defensive secondary plays too soft - 5-10 yard passes are there all day.
2B. No pass rush and no blitzs to get pressure - poor containment.
2C. Schlegel has been disappointing by allowing cut back running and over pursuing on plays.
2D. Make adjustments at half time not during the game.
2E. Poor tackling compared to past teams.
2F. Missed assignments.

Another problem is the number of players that we lost last year. The current starters did not get the proper amount of playing time the last two years to be able to reload this year. When you are in a dog fight every game, your reserves just don't get the opportunity to get sufficient playing time.

As bad as we have played this year, we have been in every game except the Iowa game. We had opportunities to win those games but just did not have the experience and confidence to pull it off.

[buckzip]

So what you are saying is our offense sucks, our defense sucks, our coaching sucks. Yep, that may be the problem..

[LloydSev]

Originally Posted by Airspace

I believe there are several reasons for the current state of affairs.

1. Coaching/play selections.
1A. Offensive coordinator - do we have one?
1B. Offensive line play - over the last 5-6 years - the worst I have seen in
over 35 years of watching Ohio State football.
1C. No idea on what to hang our hat on, on offense.

2. Defensive coordinator getting on the job training.
2A. Defensive secondary plays too soft - 5-10 yard passes are there all day.
2B. No pass rush and no blitzs to get pressure - poor containment.
2C. Schlegel has been disappointing by allowing cut back running and over pursuing on plays.
2D. Make adjustments at half time not during the game.
2E. Poor tackling compared to past teams.
2F. Missed assignments.

:boohoo:

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

1. Coaching/play selections.
1A. Offensive coordinator - do we have one?
1B. Offensive line play - over the last 5-6 years - the worst I have seen in
over 35 years of watching Ohio State football.
1C. No idea on what to hang our hat on, on offense.

2. Defensive coordinator getting on the job training.
2A. Defensive secondary plays too soft - 5-10 yard passes are there all day.
2B. No pass rush and no blitzs to get pressure - poor containment.
2C. Schlegel has been disappointing by allowing cut back running and over pursuing on plays.
2D. Make adjustments at half time not during the game.
2E. Poor tackling compared to past teams.
2F. Missed assignments.

Havent I seen this post about a thousand times on this board, same critical comments, enough of all this bs, its SCUM week, lets just play some ball

[Buckeye737]

I agree totally on the 2000 & 2001 recruiting classes. There has been some bitching about the 2002 class performance recently, but I think in the end that class will have had nearly all of it's members contributing. Even the guys who haven't played quite to expectations are still involved.

[BuckeyeInTheBoro]

Originally Posted by buckzip

So what you are saying is our offense sucks, our defense sucks, our coaching sucks. Yep, that may be the problem..

Thank God for special teams!

Our O looks better (I really like the option look with TS, TG and AP)
Our D looks better (we made actual second half adjustments this week last drive notwithstanding).

We might be moving slowly, but at least we're moving in the right direction.