Rebuilding 101
Well, the season is officially over for most Buckeye fans. We still have the Big11 to play for and it somehow seems hollow. Most people thought we would reload like USC or Florida does and the way the Defense was playing early on, it appeared to be so. After last weekends complete and utter collapse, its now a Rebuilding cause for next year. If Gibson (big if) stays, we'll have 18 returning starters next year and may be back in the hunt.
We'll start with the biggest surprise, the defense didn't come to play. Hand it to Purdue, they had a quarterback who could throw on the run and they spread the offense out. Our defense just looke tired and couldn't close on the Purdue play makers. Make no mistake, every remaining foe will try to do the same thing to us and some might suceed.
The offensive line might have well not even taking the field, they were letting everything get by them. Our running game never really got off the ground (Purdue was daring us to pass) and Pryor made some bad decisions. Until Pryor can learn to throw and make good choices, we will face this against every team we play. Every ome thought we were getting an improved version of Troy Smith and so far all we got is another Steve Bellisari.
Tressel's refusal to bench Pryor for even a series and unwillingness to say anything negative about Pryor suggests that kid gloves need to be used when addressing him. He's more a prima dona than a player and that is apparent. We can't light a fire under him to motivate and have to wait for him to develop. The biggest question is do we have the patience and the answer is we have to. Tressel has thrown his lot with this kid and we have to take it for the next 2 years. He does have the potential to be something special and we have to wait for it.
The offensive line is as much to blame as Pryor is for our 92/119 offensive ranking. Adams and Shugarts don't appear to have a grasp on the basics of blocking. I'm tired of ranting about how Bollman needs to go, but whatever he is teaching them isn't working and something has to change. We are getting 4 star recruits every year on the Oline and have little to show for it.
Finally, there is no chemistry or emotion on the offense. I don't see Pryor as a leader (to much into himself) . Theres no decision to suceed at any cost and we are not imrpoving (regressing actually) on offense,
There's too much to fix in order for us to have an offense which even resembles Northwestern's.
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