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Game Thread Ohio State 30, Minnesota 7 (final)

MililaniBuckeye;946064; said:
We continue to make excellent halftime adjustments on defense. Minnesota's total offense by halves:

1st half: 199 yards (10 first downs)
2nd half: 73 yards (5 first downs)


Now thats a serious stat that warrants some major kudos to the coaching staff for changing the plan...and the players for handling those changes...yet another little thing that is making this team a lot of fun to watch so far:oh:
 
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Sorry if this is been discussed earlier in the thread. If it has please delete.

I am beginning to wonder if JT is not starting to think about scoring margin this year. For the second game this season, he has passed up about a 40+ field-goal attempt and went for the first down. In prior years, he has only kicked a field goal in those types of situations. In addition, RP needs the practice on these types of attempts in game situations.

Another thought regarding the game last night was that if he had in his mind that he was going to go for a TD and not a FG why didn't he run the ball on third and fourth down rather than going for a TD on third-down and then trying to pick up the first down on another pass attempt.

Just starting to wonder.
 
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LitlBuck;946117; said:
Sorry if this is been discussed earlier in the thread. If it has please delete.

I am beginning to wonder if JT is not starting to think about scoring margin this year. For the second game this season, he has passed up about a 40+ field-goal attempt and went for the first down. In prior years, he has only kicked a field goal in those types of situations. In addition, RP needs the practice on these types of attempts in game situations.

Another thought regarding the game last night was that if he had in his mind that he was going to go for a TD and not a FG why didn't he run the ball on third and fourth down rather than going for a TD on third-down and then trying to pick up the first down on another pass attempt.

Just starting to wonder.

I wondered about this, too. However, I think there is more to it than JT wanting to keep our scoring margin high. Perhaps he saw something that he could exploit in the opposing teams defense. Maybe he didn't want to risk a blocked attempt. Maybe he has so much faith in our defense that even if we can't convert on 4th down, we'll still be able to stop the other team's offense.
 
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R0CK3TM4NN;946124; said:
I wondered about this, too. However, I think there is more to it than JT wanting to keep our scoring margin high. Perhaps he saw something that he could exploit in the opposing teams defense. Maybe he didn't want to risk a blocked attempt. Maybe he has so much faith in our defense that even if we can't convert on 4th down, we'll still be able to stop the other team's offense.

I agree with all of your statements but during one of the games this season, it always happens, we are going to need a 40+ FG to win a game or at least extend our margin beyond three points.
 
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LitlBuck;946130; said:
I agree with all of your statements but during one of the games this season, it always happens, we are going to need a 40+ FG to win a game or at least extend our margin beyond three points.
If we're scoring TDs and not FGs through the first three quarters, then we won't need game winning FGs in the fourth. :wink2:

Put it another way ... last year during the National Championship game, we really needed to convert a 4th-and-1. It didn't work, and the game really turned south from there. Maybe instead of practicing FGs, JTs practicing 4th-and-1s. Eventually, we'll need to do those during crunch time too.
 
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i've been kind of mentally tracking the packages the team is using on offense this year... against Minny, we were in the base I for the majority of the game. most of the time, it was a "twins" look with both WRs on the same side of the line, with the strong side to the opposite... when we went three wide, it was almost exclusively from an ace look, and most of that was under center... we ran the shot-Ginn look a couple times, though i guess that this year it should be called the Ray-gun...

i did notice a new wrinkle in the silver package though. we were running it from the gun unlike the previous two weeks, and we were putting the second TE in motion (should i call it an H-back? someone fill me in)...

but anyway, this week it looked like this:

SE.......LT LG C RG RT. TE
............<-----------TE....FL
..................QB. RB
 
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LitlBuck;946117; said:
I am beginning to wonder if JT is not starting to think about scoring margin this year. For the second game this season, he has passed up about a 40+ field-goal attempt and went for the first down. In prior years, he has only kicked a field goal in those types of situations. In addition, RP needs the practice on these types of attempts in game situations.

I have a couple of thoughts:

1. Momentum. JT knows its a big part of the game. And if Ohio State has it, he doesn't want to give it up by letting the opposition hold the Buckeyes to a field goal. Of course, if Ohio State doesn't get the first down, it's a MAJOR momentum swing back the other way. So I don't know if that's necessarily a good reason, especially since Ohio State's defense is capable of yoinking any momentum swing back from the other team.

2. Ball Control. If the other team's defense is still on the field, their offense isn't. JT has faith in his offense that they can be conservative enough to move forward on every play. So the longer Ohio State has the ball, the better Ohio State's field position gets.

3. Faith in the Kicker. Not saying that JT doesn't have faith in Pretorious, but look at who his kickers were in the past: Mike Nugent and Josh Huston. From the long field goal spots, JT knew it was going to score. Now, it may be closer to 50/50, and he thinks the Buckeyes have a better chance to get the first down.

4. Preparing for the Future. Football isn't about scoring a touchdown on this play. It's about setting up the touchdowns for later in this drive, or maybe even later in this game. You run the ball up the middle not because you think it will get you the touchdown. You run it up the middle to improve your field position, and to show the opposing defense this play. Maybe after 6-7 times of running this play, you fake it and throw it deep. Or maybe a future opponents get the game film, and realize that you might throw deep, or you might not. If JT shows that he's going to go for the first down on fourth and four, on the 38 yard line (and get the first down more often than not), opposing teams might defend the Buckeyes differently on third down. And that's a good thing if he has faith that Boeckman can read that different defense.
 
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