Game Thread Wisconsin at tOSU, Oct 29th, 8 pm ET, ESPN

[Taosman]

Brax rolling away from the "triangle" probably helped in this instance!
But what is Wiscy's excuse for the MSU screw up? (Bielema is feeling a bit of heat for the results! Poor guy!)
In the long history of college football, has a team lost on consecutive Saturdays in this manner?

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Wikipedia offers this definition of a "Hail Mary pass" -- "a very long forward pass made in desperation, with only a small chance of success, especially at or near the end of a half."

You do realize that any nimrod can make a wiki page, right?

 

[cincibuck]

It was, and I already discussed how incredibly undisciplined Wisconsin was in painstaking detail, but it was also a throw from Miller that I don't think a lot of people saw coming.

Not to mention that a freshman QB has "grown" enough in patience to keep his eyes down field. The guy had more than one choice, get what you can and get out of bounds, throw short, or look to see if your decoy was open. He also had a time out left, a kicker who could score from inside the forty and 20 seconds on the clock. He took the best option offered to him.

The Decoy, also a freshman, had the sense to run to the open area -- he stayed with the play even when though he was never the primary target -- he didn't half ass his role. That's not luck, that's not desperation.

That's good coaching and freshmen keeping their heads in a pressure situation, knowing what to do and doing it.

The MSU play was a no-time-left-on-the-clock desperate heave and there were at least three Wisconsin players in position to make the play. The DB, actually Abracadabra asked to play DB, did exactly what he had been coached to do, go up and knock the ball down only have the ball fall into the hands of another receiver.

 

[BB73]

Not to mention that a freshman QB has "grown" enough in patience to keep his eyes down field. The guy had more than one choice, get what you can and get out of bounds, throw short, or look to see if your decoy was open. He also had a time out left, a kicker who could score from inside the forty and 20 seconds on the clock. He took the best option offered to him.

The Decoy, also a freshman, had the sense to run to the open area -- he stayed with the play even when though he was never the primary target -- he didn't half ass his role. That's not luck, that's not desperation.

That's good coaching and freshmen keeping their heads in a pressure situation, knowing what to do and doing it.

Have you seen or listened to the way that Philly Brown's described that play yesterday? The guys that threw and caught it made excellent plays in a clutch situation, but the way that Philly described it, the coaching and communication involved with what the other receivers were doing was rather haphazard.

 

[Coqui]

Have you seen or listened to the way that Philly Brown's described that play yesterday? The guys that threw and caught it made excellent plays in a clutch situation, but the way that Philly described it, the coaching and communication involved with what the other receivers were doing was rather haphazard.

Don't coaches teach WR that when the QB is flushed out of the pocket, you do whatever you can to get open?

 

[scooter1369]

Don't coaches teach WR that when the QB is flushed out of the pocket, you do whatever you can to get open?

Follow the QB and come back to him. That is what most receivers are taught. While Brax's pass won the game for us, he simply broke the biggest rule of playing quarterback. "Never throw late over the middle"

 

[Coqui]

Follow the QB and come back to him. That is what most receivers are taught. While Brax's pass won the game for us, he simply broke the biggest rule of playing quarterback. "Never throw late over the middle"

Or throw cross body, or throw with your feet not planted, or.......

 

[Tlangs]

It was very similar to TPs interception in the closing seconds of the PSU game his freshman year. I said it then and I'll say it now, if TP throws that ball to the back pylon instead of the front, its a touchdown. Miller was able to get enough muscle to get it to the back of the endzone. If he only gets that throw a yard deep in the endzone, its an INT.

 

[buckeyes_rock]

Have you seen or listened to the way that Philly Brown's described that play yesterday? The guys that threw and caught it made excellent plays in a clutch situation, but the way that Philly described it, the coaching and communication involved with what the other receivers were doing was rather haphazard.

I just don't understand how they could come out of a timeout and not have something called for that second play right after the first down...makes no sense.

As for the rest of the pass plays...I think it's pretty obvious that we just don't have an innovative play-caller...period. Braxton has a ton of ability, but we can't expect him to make it happen all on his own. I think back to how often the only way TP was successful was when the play broke down and he just made something out of nothing...hmmm...

 

[buckiprof]

Follow the QB and come back to him. That is what most receivers are taught. While Brax's pass won the game for us, he simply broke the biggest rule of playing quarterback. "Never throw late over the middle"

Which is why "never" is a word that should not be used.

 

[smithlabs]

I was a bit distressed in the description of the Miller to Smith pass as a Hail Mary as well, but couldn't decide why the dissonance with the term.

Wikipedia offers this definition of a "Hail Mary pass" -- "a very long forward pass made in desperation, with only a small chance of success, especially at or near the end of a half."

By those two criteria I wonder how many Hail Mary's we have thrown to this point?

 

[buckeyesin07]

It was very similar to TPs interception in the closing seconds of the PSU game his freshman year. I said it then and I'll say it now, if TP throws that ball to the back pylon instead of the front, its a touchdown. Miller was able to get enough muscle to get it to the back of the endzone. If he only gets that throw a yard deep in the endzone, its an INT.

Actually, he only got it about 4-5 yards deep into the end zone, but I agree with your general point.

 

[BB73]

Don't coaches teach WR that when the QB is flushed out of the pocket, you do whatever you can to get open?

Depending on the situation, I believe they're usually either supposed to come back to the QB or just go vertical.

But Philly wasn't talking about what happened in the middle of the play. He was saying that Smith was the only receiver that knew what play was called when it started. That's what I meant by haphazard, not what happened in the middle of the pass play.

I just don't understand how they could come out of a timeout and not have something called for that second play right after the first down...makes no sense.

Yeah, and the other thing that frequently drives me nuts when tOSU is in the 2-minute offense is that the receivers switched sides. The ball was spotted after the first down with 38 seconds left, and the clock temporarily stopped. Then the receivers first lined up with 2 on the right side and 1 on the left - then all 3 of them flipped to the other side, and the winning play was snapped at 31 seconds. That wasted about 5 seconds, since a team that was sharp could have hiked the ball at about 36 seconds after the refs spotted the ball and started the clock.

It obviously worked out - but why call a play after the running play that requires the receivers to switch sides, wasting several seconds? That could have meant an entire extra play to try to get a TD 30 seconds later if tOSU was inside the red zone.

 

[Bucky32]

Not to mention that a freshman QB has "grown" enough in patience to keep his eyes down field. The guy had more than one choice, get what you can and get out of bounds, throw short, or look to see if your decoy was open. He also had a time out left, a kicker who could score from inside the forty and 20 seconds on the clock. He took the best option offered to him.

The Decoy, also a freshman, had the sense to run to the open area -- he stayed with the play even when though he was never the primary target -- he didn't half ass his role. That's not luck, that's not desperation.

That's good coaching and freshmen keeping their heads in a pressure situation, knowing what to do and doing it.

The MSU play was a no-time-left-on-the-clock desperate heave and there were at least three Wisconsin players in position to make the play. The DB, actually Abracadabra asked to play DB, did exactly what he had been coached to do, go up and knock the ball down only have the ball fall into the hands of another receiver.

Actually, the ball bounced off the MSU WR's helmet and into the hands of Nichol. I don't think a Wisconsin player ever even touched it.

In that situation, I'm not sure why Bielema put Abbrederis in there instead of a taller player like Toon, who also happens to have a better vertical. That's what Bielema caught heat for.

 

[buckeyes_rock]

Which is why "never" is a word that should not be used.

Ummm...usually then?