Buckeye Outpost

It really seems like last Fall when expectations were so high for the Buckeyes and everyone was convinced that Terrelle Pryor had progressed over the offseason to become that special player everyone thinks he is.  We thought that Tressel could work his magic like he did with Troy Smith and we'd all be toasting another Natty.  We quickly learned that Pryor had regressed and appeared robotic and clouded with too much thought in both the USC and Purdue games.  The national media all cites the "special" performance Pryor had in the Rose Bowl and how that can only bring him to greener pastures this year.  Unfortunately, it may have all gone to his head (as it did last year).  Read my last posting, if you want my impressions on the Rose Bowl.  It looks like there's too much hype again this year behind Pryor.

That said, this year's team my actually be slightly worse then last year's.  We've lost defensive linemen as well as our safeties.  Our receiving corp is depleted with the surprising losses of Carter and Thomas and our running game has depth, but no special backs.  The strength of the team will remain the defense and all of our hopes on offense lie with Pryor.

The problem and solution is that all of our hopes lie in the mind and ability of Pryor.   I'm guessing that we lose one game this year because of lack of discipline on offense.  He'll have another Purdue game and, since our backs are average, we'll have no one to bail him out on offense.  Therein lies the problem when all of our offense really keys on Pryor.  

There does appear to be some encouraging (or discouraging) news in the announced two deeps for Thursday night's game.  Many freshman are showing up.  This bodes well for our future, but doesn't say much for some of our middle classmen. 

In any event, my gues is we go 11-1 (with a silly loss to someone like Purdue) and are on the outside looking in again on the Natty.  I also think Pryor will have another disappointing season making him one of the biggest busts in OSU history.  Here's hoping I'll be eating some crow in 4 months....

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Tags: Announcements by swjessen
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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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Technorati Tags: Bad Decisions, Bench, Buckeye Fans, Foe, Gibson, Grasp, Kid Gloves, Offensive Line, Ome, Patience, Prima Dona, Purdue, Running Game, Shugarts, Starters, Steve Bellisari, Tressel, Troy Smith, Usc, Utter Collapse

Tags: Announcements by swjessen
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