OL Coach Greg Studrawa (Official Thread)

[Jaxbuck]

I don't think you will find an OL coach in America that honestly says he prefers his guys pass block vs run block.

The hand wringing over the OL/run game/short yardage is all misplaced angst imo.

The job is to score points. A team has to cover yards to do that. If passing is this team's surest method to achieve that goal then so be it.

7-0 football team despite the loss of the best defensive player in college football, a once in a lifetime QB having the best individual season in OSU history, an offense performing at historic levels and Buckeye nation would have Meyer fire half the coaching staff.

I did a lot of this myself, especially during the Tressel years, and I can tell you from first hand experience that if you want to make it a joyless, miserable season you absolutely can do it. As i get older I ask myself what exactly is the fucking point of that particular course of action.

 

[NorthCoastKid]

7-0 football team despite the loss of the best defensive player in college football, a once in a lifetime QB having the best individual season in OSU history, an offense performing at historic levels and Buckeye nation would have Meyer fire half the coaching staff.

I did a lot of this myself, especially during the Tressel years, and I can tell you from first hand experience that if you want to make it a joyless, miserable season you absolutely can do it. As i get older I ask myself what exactly is the fucking point of that particular course of action.

Goddamn, I couldn't agree more.

A bunch of 18 to 22 year olds playing a game. It ain't that serious.

 

[charlohiottean]

 

[Ryan36_1]

Glad the coaches are on the same page. We seemingly have a coach leading a position group whom essentially just said he doesn’t like what we do offensively.

Great.

I think you are reading too much into that statement. Clearly the Oline is being asked to do a tougher task than in years past. I seriously doubt there is dissension in the coaches room based on one comment said with a smile.

Studrawa and Alford should want to ground and pound all day. Day (as a position coach) and Hartline should think we need to be passing more. And collectively they probably all have to band together and tell UFM to stop suggesting more QB runs a dozen times every offensive meeting.

 

[RB07OSU]

I don't think you will find an OL coach in America that honestly says he prefers his guys pass block vs run block.

The hand wringing over the OL/run game/short yardage is all misplaced angst imo.

The job is to score points. A team has to cover yards to do that. If passing is this team's surest method to achieve that goal then so be it.

7-0 football team despite the loss of the best defensive player in college football, a once in a lifetime QB having the best individual season in OSU history, an offense performing at historic levels and Buckeye nation would have Meyer fire half the coaching staff.

I did a lot of this myself, especially during the Tressel years, and I can tell you from first hand experience that if you want to make it a joyless, miserable season you absolutely can do it. As i get older I ask myself what exactly is the fucking point of that particular course of action.

But I want to bitch about the short run game now that we have fixed the passing game

And thank you for saying this...this team has caused some anxiety with some close calls and what we view as "under-performances"...but we are undefeated and have a really fun team to watch. The offense is as dynamic as I have ever seen it, which is what we opined about with JT at the helm. Let's try to enjoy that.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

I don't think you will find an OL coach in America that honestly says he prefers his guys pass block vs run block.

The hand wringing over the OL/run game/short yardage is all misplaced angst imo.

The job is to score points. A team has to cover yards to do that. If passing is this team's surest method to achieve that goal then so be it.

7-0 football team despite the loss of the best defensive player in college football, a once in a lifetime QB having the best individual season in OSU history, an offense performing at historic levels and Buckeye nation would have Meyer fire half the coaching staff.

I did a lot of this myself, especially during the Tressel years, and I can tell you from first hand experience that if you want to make it a joyless, miserable season you absolutely can do it. As i get older I ask myself what exactly is the fucking point of that particular course of action.

While I am on record that this team’s problems can be, but probably won’t be, fixed in time, I think of the offense as simply the other side of the coin from what the Ohio State offense has been for most of my life. For decades now, the Ohio State running offense was usually so good that it did not matter that they lacked a credible passing threat. The few years that did sport a passing game were historic. Now, the passing game is so good that it can shred defenses despite the lack of a credible run threat. As it turns out, this type of offense scores more points than the former. Works for me.

If this team does work out it’s major defensive issues and minor running game issues it could be the best Ohio State team of all time.

 

[Jagdaddy]

The hand wringing over the OL/run game/short yardage is all misplaced angst imo.

The job is to score points. A team has to cover yards to do that. If passing is this team's surest method to achieve that goal then so be it.

I'd say it's overblown angst, and largely agree with your analysis, but I wouldn't say that it's entirely misplaced angst. A strong passing game typically has more potential variability in results than a strong running game, especially when coupled with a high-risk and maybe high-reward defense like we currently seem to have, than a strong running game. Lousy weather (you KNOW we're going to have this for Sparty), an untimely injury to or simply an off game by Haskins, another Prince mental meltdown following a bad play or two, or a random (see Mack vs. TCU) case of the dropsies ... can all derail the passing game pretty quickly. The high-octane passing approach may well prove to be the best way to beat Bama or Clemson, but we've got to to get there first and I'm a lot less worried about Purdue, Sparty, or scUM if the ground game is looking stronger. While we may have Harbaugh's mental weakness to help save our bacon, it appears that the erstwhile slob king is building a legitimate OL at scUM and Mississippi Jesus, whatever his passing skills are or aren't, is not their usual statue in the pocket. I'm pretty sure that the team that rushes for the most yards almost invariably wins the GAME, so I'd like to have a bit more confidence that OSU will be that team.

But I want to bitch about the short run game now that we have fixed the passing game

To quote Queen: "I want it all, and I want it now!"

 

[kujirakira]

I don't think you will find an OL coach in America that honestly says he prefers his guys pass block vs run block.

The hand wringing over the OL/run game/short yardage is all misplaced angst imo.

The job is to score points. A team has to cover yards to do that. If passing is this team's surest method to achieve that goal then so be it.

7-0 football team despite the loss of the best defensive player in college football, a once in a lifetime QB having the best individual season in OSU history, an offense performing at historic levels and Buckeye nation would have Meyer fire half the coaching staff.

I did a lot of this myself, especially during the Tressel years, and I can tell you from first hand experience that if you want to make it a joyless, miserable season you absolutely can do it. As i get older I ask myself what exactly is the fucking point of that particular course of action.

I think this is a bit oversimplified.
Inevitably there are going to be moments like 4th and 2 in 2013, Cardale 4th and 1 against OU, 4th and 1 in '16, etc.
PSU saw it 2 years in a row against us... not being able to stop 4th down conversions while we did.
Those moments happen in every season. It's easy to say "just score more points" ... but even this year we find ourselves going for a lot of short yardage 4th downs because we couldn't get it on 3rd.
There's legit angst if you have little to no confidence in surviving those.

As much as I love Haskins and pulled him to win the job - there also has to be a sense that this is Big10 country. Winter is coming ... there's only 1 Dome in the conference schedule and there's no room for error to earn that trip. Historically, power running game is a necessity to survive November in the Midwest.
Whether it's to shut down a hard game by controlling the clock, letting the D rest, or just to get those tough yards on days where the wind is swirling.

But yea, so long as defenses are just going to stack the box and make Haskins beat them -- take what they give us.

 

[Ryan36_1]

I think this is a bit oversimplified.
Inevitably there are going to be moments like 4th and 2 in 2013, Cardale 4th and 1 against OU, 4th and 1 in '16, etc.
PSU saw it 2 years in a row against us... not being able to stop 4th down conversions while we did.
Those moments happen in every season. It's easy to say "just score more points" ... but even this year we find ourselves going for a lot of short yardage 4th downs because we couldn't get it on 3rd.
There's legit angst if you have little to no confidence in surviving those.

As much as I love Haskins and pulled him to win the job - there also has to be a sense that this is Big10 country. Winter is coming ... there's only 1 Dome in the conference schedule and there's no room for error to earn that trip. Historically, power running game is a necessity to survive November in the Midwest.
Whether it's to shut down a hard game by controlling the clock, letting the D rest, or just to get those tough yards on days where the wind is swirling.

But yea, so long as defenses are just going to stack the box and make Haskins beat them -- take what they give us.

To derail this thread further than it already has been. I think I have a fine solution to this problem:



Sidenote: That score is further support to this past page that there a more than one way to win a football game and do so at an 80%+ clip.

Sidenote 2: Hope we plunger Purdont for all of the heartache they have cause in the past 20 years.

 

[kujirakira]

To derail this thread further than it already has been. I think I have a fine solution to this problem:



Sidenote: That score is further support to this past page that there a more than one way to win a football game and do so at an 80%+ clip.

Sidenote 2: Hope we plunger Purdont for all of the heartache they have cause in the past 20 years.

I knew this would come up. But it ignores how Tressel got to that point -- and he used short yardage on more than a few occasions to go deep on PA.
See the reason that worked for Tressel is because he'd spend 3 quarters every game mercilessly pounding teams with Dave. He not only set the tendency, but he demanded that the tendency have enough success to consistently be a 10 win team running between the tackles and only running between the tackles.

 

[RB07OSU]

I knew this would come up. But it ignores how Tressel got to that point -- and he used short yardage on more than a few occasions to go deep on PA.
See the reason that worked for Tressel is because he'd spend 3 quarters every game mercilessly pounding teams with Dave. He not only set the tendency, but he demanded that the tendency have enough success to consistently be a 10 win team running between the tackles and only running between the tackles.

And not to mention that the key read on the 64 Y King Shallow Swap was a 3 yard drag route to the TE, but Krenzel decided that his first time to go rogue world be a bomb to Jenkins. But I digress...

I see everyone's point though and I agree we need to improve the run blocking or it will probably bite us at some point this year. I think that we can accept our identity as a pass-first offense and shit, we should with Haskins and our WR group. But we have an OL that is more than capable of clearing some room and making our run game at least good enough to make defenses honest. Whether that's more creativity from coaching or execution I can't say since I haven't gone back to look, but there's still time to get it sorted out.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

To derail this thread further than it already has been. I think I have a fine solution to this problem:



Sidenote: That score is further support to this past page that there a more than one way to win a football game and do so at an 80%+ clip.

Sidenote 2: Hope we plunger Purdont for all of the heartache they have cause in the past 20 years.

That play still brings a tear to the eye.

 

[Ryan36_1]

I knew this would come up. But it ignores how Tressel got to that point -- and he used short yardage on more than a few occasions to go deep on PA.
See the reason that worked for Tressel is because he'd spend 3 quarters every game mercilessly pounding teams with Dave. He not only set the tendency, but he demanded that the tendency have enough success to consistently be a 10 win team running between the tackles and only running between the tackles.

TBH, my post was more excuse to post that play than an attempt to comment on our current short yardage effectiveness, which admittedly is not one our strong points right now.

 

[Systems_id]

I don't think you will find an OL coach in America that honestly says he prefers his guys pass block vs run block.

The hand wringing over the OL/run game/short yardage is all misplaced angst imo.

The job is to score points. A team has to cover yards to do that. If passing is this team's surest method to achieve that goal then so be it.

7-0 football team despite the loss of the best defensive player in college football, a once in a lifetime QB having the best individual season in OSU history, an offense performing at historic levels and Buckeye nation would have Meyer fire half the coaching staff.

I did a lot of this myself, especially during the Tressel years, and I can tell you from first hand experience that if you want to make it a joyless, miserable season you absolutely can do it. As i get older I ask myself what exactly is the fucking point of that particular course of action.

This this this. There was a short time this year where I wasn’t actually even looking forward to the games because all I’d do is point out flaws and shit. Team has a lot of work to do but I’m gonna enjoy being 8-0 if we get past Purdue. I’ll leave he handwringing to the coaches.

 

[pnuts34]

I don't think you will find an OL coach in America that honestly says he prefers his guys pass block vs run block.

The hand wringing over the OL/run game/short yardage is all misplaced angst imo.

The job is to score points. A team has to cover yards to do that. If passing is this team's surest method to achieve that goal then so be it.

7-0 football team despite the loss of the best defensive player in college football, a once in a lifetime QB having the best individual season in OSU history, an offense performing at historic levels and Buckeye nation would have Meyer fire half the coaching staff.

I did a lot of this myself, especially during the Tressel years, and I can tell you from first hand experience that if you want to make it a joyless, miserable season you absolutely can do it. As i get older I ask myself what exactly is the fucking point of that particular course of action.

I'm in full agreement here. Fans are quick to want to fire a coach for every close game or loss when at elite schools. I was re-reading some of the pages of Tom Herman in 2013-2014, and you would've thought that the man made OSU a .500 or worse football team. Go to Alabama message boards, and a loss in the NC, and fans think Saban is overrated and should move along and retire. Its asinine that (some)fans will never be satisfied. We're an undefeated team, ranked #2, who has holes on the team, but is still in one of the best spots in CFB. I have friends who are fans of Free Shoes U, Cryami, IU, Tejas, OkSt, etc and ALL would kill to be in our position, annually in the NC conversation and annually a favorite to win their conference.
I like you, had a many "fire Tressel" moments when he was our HC, and regret a great many of them, as it makes us look like the ugly, entitled fan base. Some calls for firing may be on target based on a continual ineptitude(I.e. Davis, Beck, Withers), but Coach Stud, I would have to disagree with. He's tasked with playing the best 5, and sometimes that's putting guys at new positions(Jordan, Pridgeon, Alabi, Price, Elflein) and hoping for the best. An OL has to gel and become cohesive, Jordan has never played OC before and its arguably the most important position on the OL, and we're expecting him 7 games in, to play at the level of Price and Elflein like that. That's a little unrealistic, as we were simply spoiled with those 2. I can't wait for the arguments for Stud to be fired next year, when Haskins leaves, Martell is the QB, and all of the sudden the offense does a 180 and we're averaging more yards rushing than passing, and the passing game isn't close to the level of this year. You will never please all fans, even with an NC, some will find reasons to complain