Buckeye Outpost

Yet again, the Buckeyes are Big Ten champs.  I really didn't think we would pull it off this year, but we managed to do it!  Now we have the bitter sweet task of dealing with Michigan this week.  While we wait all year for this game, we don't want it to be here because it signals the end of the regular season for us.  As always, this game will be tough (regardless of the records) and shouldn't be taking lightly.  In fact, this whole hub bub about the throw back uniforms is too much a distraction for my likes.  This is the Michigan game after all!

A few comments about last week's victory are needed.  Iowa's strength all year has been their Line play, so a close game was completely expected.  Every team rises to play us and, yes the Iowa freshman QB played lights out for most of the game.  In the end, he is a freshman and they paid for it.  I am not sure why so many people are disgruntled about going to the Rose Bowl and winning the Big 10.  Yes Tressel played conservatively and he had some good reasons.  The running game was strong again which is very surprising.  Pryor didn't have to make any big decisions and that is the key point.  Did you really want to see Pryor chucking the ball all over the field against the Iowas defense?  Did you really want to have Pryor run the 2 minute drill at the end of the game (have you forgotten the USC and Purdue debacles at the end of the games or the practice 2 minute drill against Indiana where he threw a pick in the endzone)?  I think Tress knew what he was doing when he opted to go into OT and then opted to kick the field goal.  The game shouldn't have made it to OT and probably wouldn't have if not for the Iowa kick off return and tipped ball which Iowa caught. 

We really need to celebrate what we have which is a winning coach and, yes, we will start winning these big games again.  It really comes down to player execution.  Tress does play the odds and he does win 0.800 of his games.

UM has a lot to prove this weekend and still has the best offense in the league.  If our offense doesn't show up to play then we could be in for a lot of trouble thiw weekend.  We shoudl never sleep on UM.

Go Bucks!

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This is by far the best week of the year!   We've been patiently waiting and waiting for what seems like eons for the football season to finally begin.   In our minds are thoughts of winning big games, winning the conference and winning the natty!  We all rationalize that this will be our year and things will be different and better.  I even convinced myself that we would be better this year.

Well, I am starting to already burst my bubble with reality.  I really think we'll be fortunate to win the Big 11 this year and keep that streak alive.   When you start looking at things on paper, it sobers you up real fast.   Sure everyone in the country is talking about Terrelle Pryor and his great potential, but theres the rub, he's an unproven commodity and no one is talking about anyone else on the team.  In a nutshell the whole team is an unproven commodity.  Until we actually see Pryor in the big game, we won't know for sure if he is it.  There are too many holes to fill the void which is left from last year's team.

Last year, it was clear that our greatest weakness' were the Lines.  This year everyone is saying the strength of our team is the defensive line.   Wait a second here, that was the weakness last year?!? Here's the paradox, if our strength this year was last year's great weakness, we could be in lots of trouble! 

Our O-line is supposed to be quicker and leaner with a complete overall from last year's unit.   You take the core of that excellent recruiting class last year and add the Michigan xfer Boren into the mix and we are revamped, but not a unit which has played together a long time.   With all the mixing around this spring and the injuries this camp, you need to be worried about how this gels together.

Granted Beanie Wells was a killer when he was healthy, but that was only 50% of the time, so we already have some experience in having to play without Beanie.   Herron and Saine looked good in the Spring and throw in Freshman Berry and we are alright at RB.   Unfortunately these guys are all the same type of runner, so there isn't going to be a change of pace.

Who will step up at WR is the biggest question on offense.  We have the incredibly skilled, but head case WR in Small.   He makes you say O my gosh what a play in the same breath as what a knucklehead.  Duron Carter has come in as a freshman and appears to be the real deal.   We just have to see how Washington, Thomas, Sanzenbacher and Posey perform.

We supposedly will be able to reload at linebacker, but there are really big shoes to fill and there may still be the same problems for our LBs this year as last year in that the Dline (our strength)  can't stop the run or rush the passer.

Safeties should be strong but you have to worry about the corners.  Chekwa makes me nervous as our top DB.

Navy has all the makings of a trap game.   Their offense is so different then anyone elses, it's the first game of the season and our biggest game of the year is the following weekend.   I expect a close game well into the third quarter with both the offense and defense looking bad until our dpeth just wears out Navy.   This will be a typical Tressel lead first game back with a lot of rust being shaken off.   The only question is whether we can shake it off quick enough.

I honestky think we are in for a rebuilding type year.  USC will most likely give us one of our worse home losses in history.  Both Penn State and Illinois may very will add to our misery forcing us to play in the Capital One Bowl if we are lucky.   As always, I hope I am wrong and will gladly take any abuse for being a doubter.   I am just happy to have football back!   Go Bucks!

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Technorati Tags: Big Game, Big Games, Boren, Commodity, Defensive Line, Dose Of Reality, Eons, Football Season, Gels, Great Potential, Greatest Weakness, Herron, Holes, Long Time, Lots Of Trouble, Nutshell, Paradox, Recruiting, Terrelle Pryor, Xfer

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After much thought (and the last few blogs), I remain convinced that the problems with the Buckeyes mainly stem from their O and D lines.   Over the last few years, this has seem to be the issue on all of the big games.   That said, Tressel has opted to rotate underclassmen into the O-line and has been experimenting (in part due to inuries, in part due to poor play).   It's hard to say right now whether we will reap the benefits of these changes this year.  

In the end, making Pryor the starting QB is the correct thing to do.  We needed a spark and a leader and it appears he is providing on both fronts.   There will be some bumps (hopefully minor) along the way, but the dividends will be huge (in possibly 1 year).   Pryor teamed with a healthy Wells will be an unstoppable duo in the backfield.   We should get use to the large yardage on the ground amassed by them.    Just think about it, in their respective recruiting years, both Pryor and Wells were the #1 recruits in the country and McDonald's all Americans.  The main question is whether we will develop a passing game.  Pryor has shown incredible arm strength so far, but needs to use it.   Additionally, we hear players (Wells in particular) ranting and raving about what he brings to the offense.   I don't recall comments like this from players regarding Boeckman.

It's apparent that the National media needs much convincing before they will back the Buckeyes.   This year may very well be lost.   If we can play well and beat Wiisconsin at Camp Randell that will go a long way to helping us.   Of course, with the National media gooing over Penn State, it would be nice to beat then at our place if they remain undefeated.

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Technorati Tags: Arm Strength, Backfield, Big Games, Blogs, Buckeyes, Camp Randell, Dividends, Gooing, Lost, Mcdonald, Passing Game, Penn State, Qb

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Yes folks you've seen the heading correctly, the Buckeyes are Champions again! Crown them now!   We are the MAC Champions!   There is no other word to describe the performance we saw on Saturday except pathetic.   I would excuse this performance if this was the first game of the year, but we looked real good last week against Youngstown State.   I am reluctantly given into the National Consensus that the Big 10 is nothing but a glorified version of the MAC.   Living in Texas, I am constantly bombarded with our lack of performance in the Big games.   How do we contribute the cause for this collapse?

Both the offensive and defensive lines didn't show up to play.   In the last 2 National Championship games you can contribute our loses to poor perfomances by the OLine in particular.   They looked slow and unprepared for each of these games.   I somehow convinced myself that this year would be different.   We would work in the offseason to improve speed and strength.   It was like I awoke form a long sleep last Saturday and found myself thinking the same thing I thought for the last 2 January's...   Our OLine didn't start to block it seemed until late in the 3rd quarter.   With this kind of perfomance, I'd be inclined to let Shugarts, Brewster and Adams start getting their reps.   These guys were highly recruited and our the future of our OLine.   Anything has to be better then the uninspired play of these guys.  In addition, we have lost how many defensive coordinators since Tressel took over?   I've lost count, but we have had the same Offensive coordinator/ OLine coach since day 1, Jim Bollman.   I have been uninspired by any of the OLine we've had in the Tressel era.  Guys we are supposed to be playing cupcakes this time of year, not eating them.

The DLine didn't help any either.   We weren't getting any penetration into the pocket and we didn't collapse the pocket.  Instead there were many plays were Boo was able to get outside of the pocket and outrun our ends.   Let's remember this guy was the backup QB for Ohio, not the starter.  We have so many problems with a spread offense, it is scary.  By the way, the team up North just went to a spread offense.   We better get ready to see this the rest of the year because it seems to be a blueprint for victory against our Defense.   There were also many mis-tackles across the board on the Defensive side of things.  The play just looked unispired at times.

What us wrong with the running game (besides the obvious lack of effort from the OLine)?   I thought prior to the beginning of the season that we were finally 4 deep at running back.   We look like we are woefully one deep and he's got a sprained toe.   These other RBs were all highly recruited and would allegedly be starters on any other team in the country.   I realize Saine is still coming back from a hamstring pull (and he was moving tacklers), but the other backs were unimpressive.   Maurice Wells still falls down whenever someone is close to touching him.   The problem is he doesn't have any finesse to make up for it.   Herron looks like he can move some piles, but I haven't seen too much more out of him in the moves department.  

This brings us to Boeckman.   He was supposed to be improved in the "let's not throw it deep every time department."  I really saw a regression to the old "look and throw deep"  attitude he had.   If all of our receivers were covered on all those pass plays then we are in loads of trouble.  The USC DBs are even better than our DBs.   I really wish Boeckman would check down and get some throws to our TEs.  

There was really one bright spot in this pathetic performance.   Ray Small had a great game.   He appears to finally getting out of Tressel's doghouse.   Ted Ginn Sr said that coming out of high school he thought Ray Small was just as fast as his son.   We haven't seen this yeat, but hopefully we will soon.   We desperately need a deep ball threat.  Robo and Hartline demonstrated again that they aren't barn burners.

I do have to question why none of the supposed team leaders have stepped up and taken responsibility for this loss.   Tressel has said that this year he is leaving the motivation up to the seniors on the team.   The only player to really step up and discuss his reaction is Hartline.  He also described the perfomance as pathetic.

I am expecting another embarrassment for us on Saturday night.   I am getting ready to assume the fetal position once again.  The USC Defense will be the best defense we see all year.  Based upon our performance last week you would have thought Ohio was the best D in the country.   The USC offense will also be the best we see all year.   I feel the only way for us to stand a chance is for the best 2 players on the field to play.   We need both Beanie Wells and Terrelle Pryor to play.  We need their explosiveness to beat SC.   I just don't see it happening.  I'll be watching and hoping for the best.

As an aside, I was watching the UF/UM game last Saturday night.   UF had the game in the bag with 3 minutes to go.   They were up by > 2 scores and Urban Meyer chose to try and score a touchdown and run up the score.   He ended up kicking a field goal, bu the point is it was unnecessary to score again.   I truly hope that what goes around comes around for Urban Meyer.

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