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Game Thread tOSU at Wiscy, Nov 17th, 3:30 ABC

I think one thing Wisconsin teaches us, or reinforces what we already knew, is that coaching staff integrity is uber important in the college game. They lost, what, 6 coaches off their staff last year? They fired their OL coach after one game. Both coodinators are new. You see that they are pulling together and improving, but then they lose to MSU.

At the same time, Ohio State has gone through significant coaching staff changes, but are 10-0. Which is the other thing we can learn/re-inforce. The head man is of ultimate importance. Bielema is not Meyer.

Finally, there was something about Tressel's regime where they were often not ready to play well after a bye. I don't think that will be the case here, but you don't know until they play after a bye.

But I'm feeling good about this one. Wisky wants to line up and play smash mouth. Great. We have shown we can handle that. They are struggling and have to be under a lot of pressure. How would it be to go to Indy knowing that you were, at best, the 2nd best team in the Leaders, or at worst, the 3rd best? They NEED to win this game to feel some sense of legitmacy. That's pressure.

At the beginning of the year, the schedule presented OSU with the opportunity to defeat all of the contenders in both divisions. When it is all said and done, the ability for Ohio State to say, "Have fun in Indy playing for our title" is the very best outcome of this season - contingent on the Bucks winning these final 2 games.

Destroy Wisconsin! Nothing better than a Bielema beat-down (OK, except for a Hoke/scUM beat-down). No last second heroics. Come out in the first qtr, ram it down their throats, don't let them gain a yard, and put these Badg-stards back into the 2nd tier status they belong in.

And, no, I'm not going to say how I really feel about Wisconsin.
 
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OSUK;2252540; said:
I think one thing Wisconsin teaches us, or reinforces what we already knew, is that coaching staff integrity is uber important in the college game. They lost, what, 6 coaches off their staff last year? They fired their OL coach after one game. Both coodinators are new. You see that they are pulling together and improving, but then they lose to MSU.

At the same time, Ohio State has gone through significant coaching staff changes, but are 10-0. Which is the other thing we can learn/re-inforce. The head man is of ultimate importance. Bielema is not Meyer.

Finally, there was something about Tressel's regime where they were often not ready to play well after a bye. I don't think that will be the case here, but you don't know until they play after a bye.

But I'm feeling good about this one. Wisky wants to line up and play smash mouth. Great. We have shown we can handle that. They are struggling and have to be under a lot of pressure. How would it be to go to Indy knowing that you were, at best, the 2nd best team in the Leaders, or at worst, the 3rd best? They NEED to win this game to feel some sense of legitmacy. That's pressure.

At the beginning of the year, the schedule presented OSU with the opportunity to defeat all of the contenders in both divisions. When it is all said and done, the ability for Ohio State to say, "Have fun in Indy playing for our title" is the very best outcome of this season - contingent on the Bucks winning these final 2 games.

Destroy Wisconsin! Nothing better than a Bielema beat-down (OK, except for a Hoke/scUM beat-down). No last second heroics. Come out in the first qtr, ram it down their throats, don't let them gain a yard, and put these Badg-stards back into the 2nd tier status they belong in.

And, no, I'm not going to say how I really feel about Wisconsin.
Actually Wisconsin has NOT played smash-mouth football for a large portion of the year, much to the chagrin of the fans. Canada (the OC) has used a lot of 5-WR sets that includes 2 TEs and 2 RBs for some mysterious reason. In addition, gone is the playaction that has been the staple of the offense for years. Gone also is the screen pass.

I have no idea how Phillips will do this Saturday, but for the rest of the way (including OSU), I'd expect to see a lot of roll-outs, sprint-outs, and bootlegs to give Phillips clearer passing lanes, because he doesn't have the strongest arm ever. The success of the offense, like usual though, will depend on how well Ball and White run the ball.
 
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Think we lose this one :wink:

(It's worked for 10 games, no reason to quit now)

That said, we have a significant shot to lose this game (think about how we beat Wiscy last year at the 'Shoe). It'll all come down to how well Braxton is throwing the ball, whether our DL can get penetration against their behemoth OL, and how many special teams snafus we have. Actually, anyone know the state of Wisconsin's OL now that they've lost Chryst?

I'm also praying the coaches take the Bye week to fix our punting scheme.
 
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redguard117;2252619; said:
Think we lose this one :wink:

(It's worked for 10 games, no reason to quit now)

That said, we have a significant shot to lose this game (think about how we beat Wiscy last year at the 'Shoe). It'll all come down to how well Braxton is throwing the ball, whether our DL can get penetration against their behemoth OL, and how many special teams snafus we have. Actually, anyone know the state of Wisconsin's OL now that they've lost Chryst?

I'm also praying the coaches take the Bye week to fix our punting scheme.
The early season struggles were well-documented. However, since they fired Markuson and installed Bart Miller as OL coach, the results have been anywhere from satisfactory to dominating. The exception was MSU, but Wisconsin was also missing Rick Wagner for that game.

Unlike years past, Wisconsin's secondary has been one of the more solid units on the team. With that being said, they typically don't match up well against mobile quarterbacks (see: Taylor Martinez this year). I think Borland and Taylor will have to have huge games for Wisconsin to keep this one close.
 
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Bucky32;2252583; said:
Actually Wisconsin has NOT played smash-mouth football for a large portion of the year, much to the chagrin of the fans. Canada (the OC) has used a lot of 5-WR sets that includes 2 TEs and 2 RBs for some mysterious reason. In addition, gone is the playaction that has been the staple of the offense for years. Gone also is the screen pass.

But the point is, they are not in a 5 wide spread - which is what has given the OSU D some trouble. MSU and PSU tried to line up and run it. Couldn't do it. Wisconsin will try to do the same. Whether they do it in what you would describe as smash-mouth fashon is neither here nor there. They will try to run it, and I'm confident we have the D line to handle that. Best case scenario for OSU is that O'Brien or Phillips have to throw the ball 40 times.
 
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OSUK;2252636; said:
But the point is, they are not in a 5 wide spread - which is what has given the OSU D some trouble. MSU and PSU tried to line up and run it. Couldn't do it. Wisconsin will try to do the same. Whether they do it in what you would describe as smash-mouth fashon is neither here nor there. They will try to run it, and I'm confident we have the D line to handle that. Best case scenario for OSU is that O'Brien or Phillips have to throw the ball 40 times.

Teams that try and run out of wide sets is something the cover 4 is really good at stopping, and has been a strength of this defense. The dline does not even have to be that good to stop it since the safeties are reading the RB's and TE's instead of having to worry out deep routes from the WR's on the boundaries like they would in the cover 2. So when teams do try to spread this defense and run they have still be rather good. On the other hand the double slants, swing routes, and other things from the spread have hurt this team when in cover 4. So I prefer the cover 2, but at least if Wisconsin tries to play some smash mouth running this defense has been pretty good with it and the cover 4 allows the safeties to strengthen the run game defense.
 
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Another difference I noticed between Bielema and Meyer.

Bielema in a interview thinks his team is "really good" despite having lost 3 games. I have been to every home Badger game this year, and I have yet to see a "really good" performance from the Badgers.

Urban Meyer comments on the unity, the bond, the improvements this OSU squad has made. But he will never go as far to claim that he has a "really good" team.
 
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However, since they fired Markuson and installed Bart Miller as OL coach, the results have been anywhere from satisfactory to dominating. The exception was MSU, but Wisconsin was also missing Rick Wagner for that game.
Which is also the only decent defense in that stretch.

Rush defenses:

(16. OSU)

20. MSU

...

73. Minnesota
82. Illinois
84. Nebraska
85. Purdue
93. UTEP
118. Indiana

I don't find Utah St (or UTEP) statistics to be particularly relevant, given who they play most weeks, though they are ranked in the top-5.
 
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jwinslow;2254153; said:
Which is also the only decent defense in that stretch.

Rush defenses:

(16. OSU)

20. MSU

...

73. Minnesota
82. Illinois
84. Nebraska
85. Purdue
93. UTEP
118. Indiana

I don't find Utah St (or UTEP) statistics to be particularly relevant, given who they play most weeks, though they are ranked in the top-5.
Point taken. I just don't think this is that good of a matchup for Wisconsin. Phillips is very much of an unknown coming into this game, and OSU typically does well against power running teams.

It will be interesting to see where the line opens for this one.
 
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youra6;2254147; said:
Another difference I noticed between Bielema and Meyer.

Bielema in a interview thinks his team is "really good" despite having lost 3 games. I have been to every home Badger game this year, and I have yet to see a "really good" performance from the Badgers.

Urban Meyer comments on the unity, the bond, the improvements this OSU squad has made. But he will never go as far to claim that he has a "really good" team.

What else would you expect him to say, he's looking at his team through Badger colored glasses:

Wisconsin-Sunglasses.jpg


Besides he's too big of douchbag to come out and tell the truth, like: "this team sucks because I suck as a coach".

:biggrin:
 
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