Another Good Year in the Books
The Buckeyes bid for a third straight national championship loss were ended last Saturday evening by Penn State. You just had the feeling after the first half that this game was going to come down to a single play and it surely did. Unfortunately that play went against the Buckeyes. It really was a great game and we can be upset, but not that upset. It wasn't the blow out we've seen on national TV that we've repeatedly seen.
We do have a trend to report and this should be a message to all teams out there, our defense is back. Where the heck did Thaddeus Gibson come from? He was a force in the first half. The supposedly balanced PSU offense lost the battle of the trenches and their "special" players didn't do I thing in this game. Their trio of talented WR were held in check by our secondary. I'd say the defense we thought we'd have all year is finally here to stay.
Unfortunately for us the offensive line woes continue to keep us from being a national power. This same group for the most part has not lived up to its elite status. Face it, we need to get new people in the mix and just move on taking the lumps in the process.
I still feel playing Pryor now will reap its benefits in the long term. His fumble did cost us the game, but we weren't really dominant in the trenches anyway on offense. We have to take the lumps, and wait for him to get better. Wells looks mediocre sue to his foot injury. Sure the line wasn't opening huge holes, but if Wells is the best back in the country, he finds holes from nothing. PSU had the correct gameplan for us. Force us to pass the ball and we didn't respond. This exploited Pryor as a Freshman and shut down our whole offense. I am still befuddled by the lack of a true deep threat receiver. Sanzenbacher and Small did have good games. Albeit you can see why Small drives the coaching staff crazy, he's going to get burned sometime with his special team play.
Reality is that we did have a favorable schedule last year and our team overachieved. We now see that this team wasn't destined for a national championship, but still has some work to do. This year was a disappointment and we need to move onward. A trip to the Rose Bowl may be exactly what this team needs to get us back on track. Of course, if we end up against USC again, it may be another rough outing. Not sure if we'll get Wells back, but if he trully wants the Heisman trophy and wants to improve his draft status (which may be at a low now), he'll come back.
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