First Impressions of the 2010 Season
Regardless of anything else I might write in this posting, this is the best opening performance I've seen from a Tressel lead Buckeye Team. This was a ginormous victory when you consider that Tressel views a 28-7 score as a blowout. We definitely came ready to play and there was a lot more working then not working. Also uncharacteristic of a Tressel team, was the poor play of the special team units. Normally that is the only thing which goes right in our first game. Giving Tressel's track record for special teams, this will be straightened quickly and hopefully a nonconcern moving forward.
As you know from my writing, everything starts and ends with TP. Our paradox of savior and nemesis appeared to be the former in this game. I remain skeptical that he has improved enough to take us to the Natty. As always, there were some nice throws where only the receiver could get it and there were some "what the hell is he thinking" throws to keep you worried. This night the nice plays outweighed the bad by far. Unfortunately, Pryor had all night to throw the ball (with the exception of one play where he was forced to throw off balance into coverage) and wasn't really tested. It's that one play which keeps one worried. He will have pressure next week and will need to make quick decisons and that is his one major weakness. The Miami dbacks are one of their weaknesses, so maybe he'll have a repeat of the Rose Bowl. I still don't see the progression from last year where he's shown he is Heisman caliber. Hopefully, we'll see this moving forward.
Saine does look like he earned the title of starter and showed his speed as being difficult to handle in the open field. He definitely doesn't have the size to bruise or show he can "make holes", but his speed makes up for it when he has an open hole. I was also impressed with Berry, he showed both speed and "hole making" ability and it will be interesting to see how he much playing time he gets moving forward.
The Oline looks much better this year compared to last year's opener. It's hard to tell if this is related to the quality of the opponent or is true improvement. This should be one of our better lines in years with many new faces added.
The only two issues I have with the defense are lack of pressure on the QB and apparent holes deep in the middle of the field. I know Marshall had a quick strike offense, so that probably offset the apparent lack of pressure by our D line. Getting Nathan Williams back should improve our pressure and depth on the line. Our starting safeties allowed a lot of crossing patterns to work for large gains and that has to be a concern for the defense moving forward. Tyler Moeller is a linebacker playing safety and looks like a beast.
Everything still hinges on TP's performance. Saine still doesn't look like a back who can take over a game and the only way to get the ball to our very talented receiving corp is through Pryor. Maybe down the road Berry will develop into something special, but it wouldn't be till much later this year or next. I am still more than a little worried about the safetys and hope they'll be able to produce some INTs next week against UM. For the 4th year in a row, our Natty chances rest on our performance in the 2nd game of the year. I was very pleasantly surprised by our defensive play last year against SC and UM isn't SC. Everything really rests on whether Pryor lays an egg again in a big game.
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