Game Thread Navy 27, at tOSU 31 (Sep 5th, ESPN)

[SEREbuckeye]

I was stunned when up 29-14, Tressel decided to go for it. Going up by 3 scores with an easy FG is an automatic decision. I don't care how many people are chanting " go for it ". That would have closed the game out and avoided all that unnecessary drama.

Confidence building should never cloud such a crucial decison. That was one huge mulligan he dodged.

I beg to differ

Pass play on a 4th and 1?
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=julW9Eroqcw]YouTube - Holy Buckeye[/ame]

A three when all you need is two?
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6npKFKU4fmc&feature=related]YouTube - Winning shot in OSU vs. Illinois[/ame]



Tress absolutely made the right call. When your QB - THE LEADER - is telling you he wants to go for it, you trust him. If Tressel were to pull him off and send in the FG unit it would have made Pryor look like a puppet, not a leader. You want to send a message to your team that Pryor is the leader on the field and we will trust his decisions. Tressel had already went for it on a short 4th down earlier in the game and was successful, he had no reason not to go for it at the time.

Football is all about attitude. If you train like a warrior, you will play like a warrior. If you play soft, you will get beat. But if you take risks, you play hard, the outcome will ultimately be in your hands.


Good call by 'The Senator'.

 

[Mike80]

- Ohio State - Sept. 5 vs. Navy
This is a landmine because ... It's Ohio State. It's going to struggle to put teams away early in the season, and this could be another one of those games where the vastly inferior opponents hangs around for three quarters and then the Buckeyes get one huge play and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. The last thing a team with a new linebacking corps needs is to face the Navy option, and having the USC game looming the following week will only add to the concerns.

CFN pointed this out over a month ago as did a few posters here back as early as March.

Scout.com: Big Ten Landmines - The Scary Letdown Games

This was Navy's biggest game of the year (since Ntre Ame was perceived to be down again.

 

[lightyears2012]

The circumstances might have been a TAD bit different, however, I agree he made the right call to go for it.. now for the actual play? I'm not nearly so sure...

I beg to differ

Pass play on a 4th and 1?
YouTube - Holy Buckeye

A three when all you need is two?
YouTube - Winning shot in OSU vs. Illinois



Tress absolutely made the right call. When your QB - THE LEADER - is telling you he wants to go for it, you trust him. If Tressel were to pull him off and send in the FG unit it would have made Pryor look like a puppet, not a leader. You want to send a message to your team that Pryor is the leader on the field and we will trust his decisions. Tressel had already went for it on a short 4th down earlier in the game and was successful, he had no reason not to go for it at the time.

Football is all about attitude. If you train like a warrior, you will play like a warrior. If you play soft, you will get beat. But if you take risks, you play hard, the outcome will ultimately be in your hands.


Good call by 'The Senator'.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Tressel had already went for it on a short 4th down earlier in the game and was successful, he had no reason not to go for it at the time.

Thank you for bringing that up. Seems like no one else remembers the first half when we ran behind the left side and picked up 4 yards when all we needed was one. Why doesn't the OL get credit for that?

 

[lightyears2012]

That's a great point and another reason he should have called something unique.. Navy was expecting it and it came.. bummer from an aesthetic standpoint but perhaps an opportunity to learn?

Thank you for bringing that up. Seems like no one else remembers the first half when we ran behind the left side and picked up 4 yards when all we needed was one. Why doesn't the OL get credit for that?

 

[SEREbuckeye]

Thank you for bringing that up. Seems like no one else remembers the first half when we ran behind the left side and picked up 4 yards when all we needed was one. Why doesn't the OL get credit for that?

Because most analysts have a short term memory. They see a screen pass as the O-Line not blocking And they forget key moments like the first 4th down completion.

My favorite is that before this game a lot of people were talking about how Navy will test us and that it will be a good game for the Bucks. The we win and everyone says "how did you let Navy almost beat you?"

Perfect example via CollegeFootballNews.com:

Ohio State Preview

The Schedule: The last thing a team with new starting linebackers needs is to deal with Navy in the opener

Ohio State vs Navy recap

What It All Means: The Buckeyes looked sharp early on against Navy, but then the defense couldn?t come up with enough stops, the explosiveness wasn?t there, and the game became way too tight.

Whos not Hot?

8. Ohio State ? The good news is that the Buckeyes escaped with a win over Navy. The bad news ... well, you can see where this is going. The Middies are plucky and tough to defend, but when you need a two-point stop to avoid overtime, it could be a sign of pending problems. Ohio State looked ordinary at the point of attack, which is not the way you want to head into the USC showdown.

Umm, you (CFN.com) already said Navy will be a tough game because of our young defense, then turn around and press us because our defense didn't look like a bunch of seniors?

As I said, analysts have a short term memory.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Rivals.com College Football - Rivals.com Experts: What we learned in Week 1

Ohio State has reason to be worried. When USC comes to town, as it will next week in Columbus, opposing teams generally brace for bad times. But going off Ohio State's performance in the opener, the Buckeyes should be quaking in their boots. The Buckeyes were lucky to escape with a four-point win over Navy. Now, maybe the Buckeyes were playing possum, being very vanilla on both sides of the ball. But that seems doubtful because of how the game played out. Navy ran for 186 yards, and that was with no linemen or no skill-position players that would've interested USC - or Ohio State, for that matter - on the recruiting trail. Ohio State's linebackers had problems, and with USC and its deep running back corps coming to town, those problems need to get fixed in a hurry.

This is the media for you. Now, we were lucky to win and we should've held Navy to 50 yards, even though they've led the nation in rushing the last 4 years. Also notice the dig about our recruiting. Stick it up your ass, Mike Huguenin.

 

[lightyears2012]

WOW! we hold a team 100 yards under what will be it's avg. and all of the sudden it's dooms day for us?!

Honestly, i would say Navy could have done the same damage on the ground against SJSU as USC.. not taking anything away from USC at all!! That Navy attack is odd and simply put the defense in an uncomfortable place..

 

[SEREbuckeye]

This is the media for you. Now, we were lucky to win and we should've held Navy to 50 yards, even though they've led the nation in rushing the last 4 years. Also notice the dig about our recruiting. Stick it up your ass, Mike Huguenin.

I agree. They talk up an opponent, then the outcome isn't that the opponent (Navy) play a helluva game, its that we (OSU) looked like ass.

Its a big WTF?

If we lose a close one to USC, captions will read:
"Mighty OSU loses 'Shoe to Freshman"
"Ohio State continues to be overrated"
"USC Freshman Phenom dismantles the Bucks at home"
"Troy men capture the Horseshoe"

If we beat USC regardless of the outcome, headings will read:
"USC narrowly loses, will bounce back guarantees QB"
"Ohio State needs every effort to put away the men of Troy"
"OSU finally wins a big one"
"USClooked great, but OSU wins"

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

...we should've held Navy to 50 yards, even though they've led the nation in rushing the last 4 years...

This is a great point.



Navy was held to less than 190 yards rushing:

• Once in 2008
• Not at all in 2007
• Once in 2006
• Not at all in 2005
• Not at all in 2004

For those of you from TSUN, the total there is TWICE in the last 5 years.

Did I want to see better? Sure.

But that may be the best defensive performance that Navy will see all year. Their QB may have worse games, they may have trouble with weather a time or two; but they aren't likely to face a better defensive performance.

 

[BuckeyeNation36]

Rivals.com College Football - Rivals.com Experts: What we learned in Week 1
Ohio State has reason to be worried. When USC comes to town, as it will next week in Columbus, opposing teams generally brace for bad times. But going off Ohio State's performance in the opener, the Buckeyes should be quaking in their boots. The Buckeyes were lucky to escape with a four-point win over Navy. Now, maybe the Buckeyes were playing possum, being very vanilla on both sides of the ball. But that seems doubtful because of how the game played out. Navy ran for 186 yards, and that was with no linemen or no skill-position players that would've interested USC - or Ohio State, for that matter - on the recruiting trail. Ohio State's linebackers had problems, and with USC and its deep running back corps coming to town, those problems need to get fixed in a hurry

This is the media for you. Now, we were lucky to win and we should've held Navy to 50 yards, even though they've led the nation in rushing the last 4 years. Also notice the dig about our recruiting. Stick it up your ass, Mike Huguenin.

As I stated earlier, The Buckeyes should have kicked the FG up 29-14 with 6+ minutes left and this article never would have been printed. Tressel admitted it was a huge blunder on his part.

The Buckeyes didn't play a patsy ( exhibition game) like USC, Florida, Texas etc. on Staurday. Those wins don't impress me at all.

 

[Gothmog8]

The Buckeyes didn't play a patsy ( exhibition game) like USC, Florida, Texas etc. on Staurday. Those wins don't impress me at all.

No kidding. Charleston Southern?? Is that like Westerville South?
It also bothered me that ESPN had a headline:

OSU hangs on | USC rules ( or something close)

How does USC get to "rule" by winning against SDSU? If OSU had dominated Navy, does anyone think OSU would "rule".

 

[BrutusMaximus]

what do you tell your dad about 4th and 2?

Punt of course.....oh, or a flee flicker.

 

[Best Buckeye]

Punt of course.....oh, or a flee flicker.

5 demerits for mispelling flea. A decades long football term.

 

[1926Buckeyes]

Rivals.com College Football - Rivals.com Experts: What we learned in Week 1


This is the media for you. Now, we were lucky to win and we should've held Navy to 50 yards, even though they've led the nation in rushing the last 4 years. Also notice the dig about our recruiting. Stick it up your ass, Mike Huguenin.

I'm actually impressed that OSU held them to 186yds rushing. The D had other problems, but when you play Navy, they're going to run on you no matter what, because they run the triple option. Not sure why the guy was surprised that they gained that much.