• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Game Thread Game Six: Ohio State 35, Michigan State 24 (final)

Good analysis, Jwins. Considering that Troy only had 5 incompletions and 1 turnover on the day, and got 249 yards on 10 completions (with about 100 of that being YAC after bad MSU tackling), I think a lot of people were more critical of Troy than they should have been today.

It wasn't his throws people were being critical of, it was his scrambles. I watched the game on TV, and there were two or three scrambles when the announcer said there was someone wide open.

However, it was strange that he only completed passes to Holmes and Ginn for pretty much the entire game. I always read people saying they want to see more of Lyons and Dukes, but why? When was the last time we saw anything out of Gonzo or Hall? Smith can't focus on just two receivers. MSU's secondary isn't very good. Other teams will be able to stop it.
 
Upvote 0
Nobody seems to be grasping that we were in 2 WR sets a lot today, way more than usual. Hall didn't play. Lyons has been hurt, I'd imagine he was hurt again today. Dukes is completely unproven, and couldn't hold onto anything last time he was on the field (for the spring game).

Smith definitely missed guys today. Any QB misses sometimes, but multiple times becomes too much to take. However his lack of forcing the pass was big today. He waited too long on one option sometimes, but I don't remember a forced pass today (maybe I'm forgetting one). That's a huge improvement for troy. I do remember bad passes that didn't reach their target, but that can happen at times (ball doesn't release quite right, much better mistake than poor decision making).
 
Upvote 0
Nice breakdown jwins,

A couple things I'd like to add after watching the game again. Smith really didn't take off and run on passing plays as much as a lot of people (mostly on bnuts) seem to imply. The stats say he carried 7 times. I remember 3 runs that were called, one of which was a touchdown run from the 1 yard line, leaving 4 times where he may or may not have run on a called pass play. By that, it looks like we only had around 19 or so pass plays called the entire game. I think the main reason everyone had a negative perception on Smith's plays were because most of his scrambles/bad throws came on 3rd downs (even tho we only had 6 of them), and at least a few of those were 3rd and long which we will never have much success no matter what qb it is.
 
Upvote 0
I have been a pretty harsh critic of Troy and while he did some things I did not like today he got the job done. I have to give it to our guys for fighting through it today. It looked a like a blowout in the making but they fought back and pulled out the win.

My Game balls:

Holmes- Not for his kick returns obviously, but his recieving job today was outstanding.

Troy Smith- Solid effort in spite of the mistakes.

Michigan State's special teams coaches- Thanks guys, we knew we could count on you. :)

Ted Ginn-Finally got into the endzone again

Entire defensive team- For the last series inside the ten yard line, they smothered Stanton and forced a fumble. (even if the ref saw it differently.)
 
Upvote 0
TS and Other Observations

Smith definitely missed guys today. Any QB misses sometimes, but multiple times becomes too much to take. However his lack of forcing the pass was big today. He waited too long on one option sometimes, but I don't remember a forced pass today (maybe I'm forgetting one). That's a huge improvement for troy. .

While I do believe Troy needs better vision of the field, I agree with you and add:
With only 19 minutes of possession and only 15 pass attempts (to Stanton's 36) the sheer math limits how many receivers you can throw to. Results 3 td's and 66% complete, no int. Not bad. I like the fewer qb draw calls too.

But the questions about pass distribution originated with announcer Gary Danielson with ABC who seemed genuinely disgusted that we won. Mussberger and the normally capable Danielson must have mentioned that MSU 'found ways to lose' 10 times today.

The fact is that with 4 lost fumbles OSU did more to give the game away than MSU. Furthermore, the bad call on Pitcock's fumble recovery made us earn our last td. And though we're not a consistently good passing team, we put up 3td's in only 15 pass attempts. Missed tackles or not, when you score your possession is over. When you fumble kickoffs your possession is over.

We still need an offensive coordinator (74th in total yds, 68th in scoring nationally). but we have two games with 4 offensive td's, we didn't do that all last season. We might be headed in the right direction. Remember, we limped into the MU game last year ranked 108th in total offense.

We had much uglier wins in '02. Go Bucks!
 
Upvote 0
Well...let's see how this game looked from B-deck today.

Our offense found out in the 1st quarter that it could move the ball. Troy Smith got in a groove, and we were running the ball...but a turnover stopped the momentum. We held them to 3, but then again turned the ball over. We stop them, but then get a flag...so now it's 10-0...and really it's all because of mistakes.

For the first 29 minutes of the game, EVERY BREAK was going MSU's way...our offense, which moved the ball really well in the first quarter and was able to put it in the endzone, went cold in the second because they couldn't get anything to go their way. I think the team felt defeated. They needed SOMETHING...SOME SPARK to get them back in the game....

THANK YOU JOHN L. SMITH AND FRIENDS...what a coaching blunder. From my seats, I didn't know what MSU was doing. I couldn't tell if they were kicking, or going for it, or what the hell was going on. But then I saw them finally get a holder and kicker out there, but half their line looked like it was missing, plus they had like 13 guys on the field. When we blocked that kick and returned it for a TD, the 'Shoe went nuts. You'd have thought we'd just won the game (and at that point, I knew that we actually had done just that). At halftime, I felt like even though we were down by 3, and we made all those horrible mistakes, that all that just got erased with that blocked field goal, and we were going to win this game.

We finally started to play better defense in the second half. Malcom Jenkins really stepped up I thought. They were able to move the ball...but our defense was coming up with sacks and big plays, and it was doing better against the run. I thought Troy Smith play almost exactly the type of game he needed to play, except for a couple series there in the second half. He didn't do anything horrible...but he didn't play well either. He didn't make bad decisions, but he wasn't making good ones either. He just looked like he didn't know what he really wanted to do. He threw a couple of passes that looked ugly. Missed wide open guys, and the crowd started to chant "We want Zwick!" That pissed me off. This was even before the fumble. FINE...the guy is struggling a little bit this half...but geez, he had been creating touchdowns, and hadn't fumbled or thrown a pick at this point. I'm sure booing him and chanting for Zwick is going to make him play better. What had Troy Smith done at that point to get BOOOED? My god!!!! He wasn't playing lights out, but it wasn't like he was losing the game for us. You'd have thought he had thrown 3 picks (oh wait, that's what Zwick usually did). Does anybody remember how poorly Zwick played last year? I'm not saying Zwick hasn't gotten better...but Troy Smith was playing quality Tressel football. It was Ginn and Holmes who had caused the turnover in the game. Yet one TD (thrown by Smith might I add) and the crowd is chanting "TEDDY TEDDY!" Yet two low passes and the crowd is booing Troy off the field. I don't care how he did it, and that he doesn't see the field well...he created 4 TDs and only had one turnover and 5 incomplete passes. We aren't just calling for a QB change after we lose a game, now we are calling for them if we ever go 3 and out.

Anyway...Smith obviously stayed in there because Tressel is a much better head coach than the fans, and he throws the go ahead TD pass to Santonio Holmes, who makes up for his fumbles in a big way. Then The 'Shoe came to life. No joke, that was as loud as it's been all year. The defense just fed off of the crowd late in the 4th quarter. If you were at the game, you know EXACTLY what i'm talking about. You KNEW Stanton was going to get sacked. You KNEW there was no chance in hell they were going to move the ball an inch. The game was over...our offense put our defense in a position to win the game with a stop, and it got it. I saw the replay from B-deck. Stanton fumbled. We recovered in the endzone. The refs blew that one. But it was nice for the O to get the ball back, for Pittman to get 100 yards rushing, and for TS to get his 4th TD of the day. Not bad for a horrible QB. Ohio State scores 35, 28 of which are put up by the offense without the help of turnovers. Not bad for a horrible offense.

You can say what you want about MSU's defense not being good...I don't care. This was a good MSU team. They beat a great ND team, thier only loss came in OT against scUM because their kicker choked. They have an amazing QB...but our defense got to him. The defense wore down the O-line. Amazing. It usually works the other way. But not today.

Overall this was a really exciting game to go to. I thought our offensive sets and playcalling was excellent. I saw less shotgun and 4 wide, and more I formation and 2 WR sets. That's the type of offense Ted Ginn, Holmes, Pittman, and Smith are going to be sucessful in. The FG block was the most exciting play of the year. The comeback was fun to watch. And the crowd was amazing in the 4th Q...bringing the defense to a new level of greatness. We were -4 in turnovers...we didn't even have the ball for 20 minutes...and we had 70 less yards total offense than them...yet we win by 11. If the team didn't have heart before this game...they sure as hell have it now. GO BUCKS!!!

By the way. Smith's QB rating was 149.3 today. In 5 games he is:

55 for 96 (57%) for 806 yards with 6 TD 2 INT (97.0 QB rating)

299 yards rushing with 6 rushing TDs

So that's 221 total yards and 2.4 TDs per game.

Biggest stat of all...he got the W today. GO BUCKS!!!
 
Upvote 0
My observation concerns the mental strength this team showed today.

Call it a letdown, after realizing that you are not going reach your goals, a vicious sun in the eyes, a comedy of errors...that first half was painful to watch.

Last week, the Buckeyes lost more than a game; they lost a national championship. It's a season in which bad luck, execution and play calling destroyed a dream.

So, I suppose that it is not surprising that today, after a quarter of play, they had a choice to make: embrace mediocrity and a 6-5 future or reach deep inside to find the champion that remains and find some way to fight their way back and make the best of what they can from this season.

I agree with most of what others have said here. It was ugly a lot of the time. The spread offense needs to be discarded. More people need to touch the ball. Turnovers, what can anyone say about the turnovers?

But today, we saw something that we haven't seen since 2002. When there was no hope left, we saw the Buckeyes reach deep down inside and pull this one out. We saw the hearts of champions.

And with that, you can conquer anything.
 
Upvote 0
With only 19 minutes of possession and only 15 pass attempts (to Stanton's 36) the sheer math limits how many receivers you can throw to. Results 3 td's and 66% complete, no int.

Hows does your math "limit how many receivers you can throw to"? The amount of pass attempts has nothing to do with the amount of receivers available. I've seen QBs throw completions to 8 different receivers in succession, so those 8 completions didn't limit who the QB was able to throw them to.

Keep in mind that two of his three TD passes were the direct--actually sole--result of missed tackles. I'm not saying we wouldn't have scored TDs in those drives anyway, but I'm not stacking up the compliments for Smith on those TDs. IIRC, he failed to find more several wide open WRs, and he threw downfield only a couple times...guess what, both of those resulted in TDs to Holmes. His completion percentage was more a result of the majority of his attempts being nit-noy short passes rather than being laser-locked.
 
Upvote 0
i had great C deck tickets, 20 yard line, 10 rows up.

there were 3 instances where hamby released into the flat out of the i formation and had nobody within 10 yards of him. troy never looked at him.

our wr's for some reason do not run many routes over the middle. osu certainly doesnt run any routes over the middle that exceed 7 yards.

we can all talk up smith all day. the fact is that if msu even has average db's osu loses this game easily. his first td throw to holmes was an hour late. if the msu db isnt picking daisies out in center field, thats an int or pass breakup. however, the option fake froze him just enough.

this brings me to my next point. it was hard to day with the limited time osu had on offense to really see some things. however, osu needs to scrap the ginn reverse play. if not, for the love of everything holy, mask it for once. that play is the most obvious play ever devised, and every opposing defense knows it. if pittman fakes that handoff to ginn yesterday, he could have turned the corner and ran to bloomington for the game next week.

look at the option for example. osu has ran it just well enough that the PA out of it has worked. the ginn reverse hasnt worked at all, but osu has never once tried to fake anything out of that. i saw it against psu and it happened againt yesterday. a fake reverse on that play will get big yards. even if it doesnt it may at least slow pusuit enough to lett ginn get the corner on the play at another time.
 
Upvote 0
Good Breakdown JXC...

Now for the two weekly questions:
  • How far below their average did our defense hold them?
  • How far short did our offense fall of MSU's defensive averages?
Defense

MSU was averaging 566.4 ypg and 45.4 ppg
OSU held them to 456 yards and 24 points

That's a difference of 110.4 yards and 21.4 points.

Only scUM held them to fewer yards (455).
NOBODY held them to 24 points. scUM came closest at 31.


Offense

MSU opponents were averaging 405.4 ypg and 23.4 ppg
OSU managed 386 yards and 35 points

That's a -19.4 on the yards and a +11.6 on the points

ND and scUM both put up over 100 more yards against Sparty, but only ND scored more against the Spartans (and still lost) than we did.
 
Upvote 0
Hows does your math "limit how many receivers you can throw to"? The amount of pass attempts has nothing to do with the amount of receivers available

I think what he meant was, if you throw something like 36 passes, as compared to 15, that is 21 more chances of you finding a different receiver. Makes sense, although the point doesnt hold much weight :biggrin:

I badly want to see the Troy Smith that played against scUM last year. Sure havent even gotten close to that yet. I kept thinking that maybe it was because scUM's defense was really that bad. However scUM St's defense is worse, and he didnt do it there either. Kind of out of ideas.
 
Upvote 0
Here's what I saw...

Michigan State: We want to win this game!!
Ohio State: We don't want to win this game!!
Michigan State: You don't want to win this game???
Ohio State: No way! Winning is for losers!
Michigan State: Maybe you're on to something.. alright, then.. WE don't want to win this game!
Ohio State: Well, you're screwed, because you're winning.
Michigan State: Joke's on you! We're going to punt right to your kick-ass punt returner.
Ohio State: No. Joke's on YOU. He just muffed the catch.
Michigan State: CRAP!! We kinda have to score the touchdown. We don't trust our kicker to miss this kick.
Ohio State: Yeah.. kick our asses.
Michigan State: CRAP!! The clock is running and we don't have any timeouts.
Ohio State: Yeah.. just kick the field goal to go up by 13 points.
Michigan State: Fine, fine..
Ohio State: OH NO!
Michigan State: KICK ASS!! We put our "block our field goal attempt" play in there.
Ohio State: Ok, you're up by 3 at halftime. You could still blow us out.
Michigan State: No way.. we're going to win.
Ohio State: Man, this is an ugly game.
Michigan State: Yeah.. and you just scored a touchdown. We're going to win!
Ohio State: Nope. You just scored a touchdown, too.
Michigan State: DAMMIT!! And with 8 minutes left in the game, we're already in field goal range.
Ohio State: Yeah. This game is already marked in our "L" column.
Michigan State: Not so fast, my friend. We just missed a short field goal.
Ohio State: Well watch how long it takes our QB to throw to a wide-open receiver. He's looking at Holmes the whole time. I bet your safety will get this interception.
Michigan State: Nope. In fact, your receiver just scored a touchdown to take the lead.
Ohio State: AWESOME!
Michigan State: What?
Ohio State: Oh.. we were just kidding about wanting to lose. You guys are stupid.
Michigan State: No way! We were joking, too!
Ohio State: Right. So you're going to win, now!
Michigan State: Heck, YEAH!
Ohio State: How are you going to win when we actually tackle your QB?
Michigan State: Uhh..
Ohio State: And now you're pinned back against your own endzone.
Michigan State: Uhh..
Ohio State: And you punted to Holmes and he returned it 95 yards to the 19 yard line.
Michigan State: Uhh..
Ohio State: And we just scored a touchdown.
Michigan State: Uhh..
Ohio State: We won. You guys are stupid.
Michigan State: You guys cheated. The coaches screwed us. The referees are jerks. See how we can whine, like Lloyd Carr and Kirk Ferentz?
 
Upvote 0
Back
Top