Buckeye Outpost » Losses

The beginning of the new era

swjessen — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:00:46 +0000

I must admit that I was surprised at how well Braxton Miller ran last weekend and I was equally surprised at how little passing was actually displayed. I realize that they were trying to ease him into the QB role, but it would have been nice to develop a rhythm for both him and the dropsie wide receivers we have. While this strategy will work against Colorado, it won't do much for any team in the Big12. We got to get a passing game established or it will be a very long year. Of the guys suspended, Posey is really the only guy we desperately need back. We need his presence to open things up for the other receivers and Stoneburner. If we can somehow beat MSU, we should be in much better shape.

The Oline was opening wide holes for the entire running game and there really wasn't a reason to throw. The last time we saw holes this big was against Akron and we know how good a team they are. I think this was more a function of how bad Colorado is and not how good our Oline played.

I am especially concerned about the defense now. We have had way to many missed tackles over the first few games and this is quite uncharacteristic of a OSU defense. We haven't really been dominating the line as much as in years past and you begin to wonder if Williams and Simon are as good as advertised.

Overall, the MSU game is critical for this team. A victory will demonstrate that we can overcome adversity. A loss will most likely cost Fickel his job. Because more losses are sure to follow.

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Technorati Tags: Adversity, Big12, Games, Holes, Last Time, Losses, New Era, Oline, Osu Defense, Passing Game, Posey, Presence, Reason, Rhythm, Running Game, Shape, Stoneburner, Tackles, Victory, Wide Receivers

Times are Changing

swjessen — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:41:22 +0000

I've been reluctant to blog anything after last week's abysmal performance. Many questions have now been answered for us concerning this years team. This game was like the other 2 National Championship losses. We don't have our explosive player, we make stupid mistakes, both our Lines don't show up to play and our QB performs poorly.

Beanie Wells was all we had going for us coming into this game. While I believe he wouldn't have made a difference, just his presence would have helped to keep them honest on the defensive side. The whole soap opera before the game really helped to pin USC's ears back and drill us.

While it appeared that at least the officials were making bad calls equally between the 2 teams, out penalties always appeared at critical times. Just scoring an initial TD would have lifted the team.

Face it our lines on both sides of the ball have let us down the last 3 years. We've looked slow and overpowered in each of these 3 games. I strongly think we need to make some changes in the line.

Boeckman looked out of place the entire game. He is definitely a pocket passer and looked awkward and confused when moving out of the pocket. Sure he made some bad decisions, but it wasn't like he had anytime to throw. Pryor was the better option here because of his elusiveness. I am amazed at how poised he looks in the pocket and he literally glides when he runs the ball.

The coaching let us down once again. I remember when we first got Tressel, i was so relieved to see half time adjustments on both sides of the ball. This is something Cooper couldn't do to save his life. Now it just seems that Tressel is duped by these other coaches and refuses to change his game plan. This also goes for Heacock on the Defensive side. The Oline play disturbs me so much that we really need to make a change on the top.

Now we face a national bias against both the Buckeyes and the Big Ten. Nearly everyone outside of Big 10 country doesn't even think we belong in a BCS game. This, of course, is ludicrous. However, this might as well have been 2 losses for us. We face an upward battle.

How do we get back into the good graces of the National media? We have to change something up and be a power house on offense. We have to be making sick plays which get shown on sports center every week. We can do this by inserting Pryor, getting Beanie back and shaking up the starters at other positions. If Pryor looks as good as advertised, there isn't a Defense in the country which could stop a Wells/Pryor backfield.

I think Tressel has lost this team and needs to re-establish their respect. Without some swagger, we'll continue to lose the big game. There is so much talent on this team, we ave to find a way to get back into it. It's still September, so an awful lot can happen.

GO Bucks!

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Technorati Tags: 3 Years, Abysmal Performance, Bad Decisions, Boeckman, Buckeyes, Critical Times, Ears, Game Plan, Games, Heacock, Losses, National Bias, National Championship, Presence, Qb, Soap Opera, Stupid Mistakes, Td, Time Adjustments

Hello Buckeye Nation

admin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:58:46 +0000

After what many will call two disappointing losses in consecutive National Championship games, we are set to begin another season. Fortunately, we loss few people to the NFL draft. I am anxiously waiting to see the team get out and play and even more anxious about the upcoming USC game. Here are my top things to watch (in no particularly order): 1.) Beanie Wells at 100%. Coaches have been saying that at times last year he was playing only at 70% health. I shutter to think what he'll be like running completely healthy. It'll also be great to have InSaine thrown into the mix as a nice change up. Hopefully Mo Wells will stop falling down as soon as someone touches him. 2) Don't Bend It Like Boeckman. It seemed late in the season that Boeckman forced the ball into the middle of the field into double coverage. That burned us quite a bit. I remember hearing him say that it's the receiver's job to come down with the ball in those situations. Not only does that throw another player under the bus, there's no ownership on Boeckman's part. What about checking down to someone else? How does this make Boeckman a leader to follow? I really hope that he's been working on his technique for these situations. From what I hear about the Spring game, he was making the same mistakes... If he hasn't improved, there'll be way too much pressure to throw Joe Bauserman or Terrelle Pryor into the mix. 3. Who'll emerge as the next deep pass threat? I love Robo and Hartline. They are both quality possession receivers. I do seem to remember though that they weren't exactly burning the LSU DB's. We really needed Small to step up last year. Hopefully this year, Small, Sanzenbacher and/or Devier Posey will step up as legit deep ball receivers. This will only make Robo and Hartline so much better. 4. Will the D line step it up? Yes, we had the best defense in the country last year, but the interior of the D Line seemed to not be penetrating and/or forcing turnovers. We have the same group returning this year and hopefully, with experience, we'll have improved play by this bunch. The rest of the defense is scary good (provided the DB's stay out of trouble). I really believe one of the keys to beating the likes of USC this year is to pressure their inexperienced backfield. If we can disrupt the USC backfield enough, that'll keep it out of the hands of their WRs. 5. The P factor. Terrelle Pryor is the 3rd McDonalds All American we've recruited in the last 5 years. The other 2 have helped the team immediately upon joining: Ted Ginn and Beanie Wells. Will Terrelle have immediate success? Or will he follow the path of say Ron Curry at UNC? We had some explosiveness when InSaine joined the team, imagine what havoc Terrelle would wreak in the red zone if he can add immediate help. I just saw posted that the initial assessment on Pryor is that he looks similar to the pre-Heisman Troy Smith, eager to run first. He has however done some unbelievable stuff within practice... we won't know until we see him in one of these earlier games.

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Technorati Tags: Backup Role, Big Game, Big Toe, Championship Games, Consecutive National Championship, Crutches, D Line, Decoy, Devier Posey, Double Coverage, First Degree, First Game, First Glance, Game 1, Grapevine, Hasn, Health, Herron, Interaction, Job, Joe Bauserman, Losses, Lsu, Maurice Wells, National Championship, Nfl Draft, Own Pace, Possession, Receivers, Scary Situation, Shutter, Spring Game, Terrelle Pryor, Torn Ligaments, Turf Toe, Usc Game, X Rays