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....

Technorati Tags: Bigg, Buckeyes, Deeps, Defensive Linemen, Discipline, Freshman, Greener Pastures, Gues, Hype, Impressions, Offseason, Purdue Game, Purdue Games, Rose Bowl, Running Game, Safeties, Terrelle Pryor, Thursday Night, Troy Smith, Usc

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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!

Technorati Tags: Big Games, Buckeyes, Champs, Distraction, Endzone, Execution, Field Goal, Freshman Qb, Hub Bub, Key Point, Michigan Game, Odds, Ot, Purdue, Rose Bowl, Running Game, Some Good Reasons, Throw Back, Uniforms, Usc

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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.

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

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I know it's been a while and heck I didn't even blog about the Fiesta Bowl.  But I'm back from my hiatus and ready to think some more Buckeye football!  The Fiesta Bowl was a great game for us.   We were well matched with UT and it all came down to the final play.   Nothing to hang our heads low about here. 

I usually only pay attention to NFL combines about as much as I enjoy watching paint dry.  There really isn't anything to get excited about.   I did notice though that all of these stellar Buckeyes have underachieved.  Wells, Laurantis and Jenkins all seem to be performing below there levels.    This concerns me about their conditioning and drive to be the best they can be.  Throughout this last year we expected much out of a senior laden team and they performed below expectations (not that a 3 loss season is sub par, but we did make it to the Natty the prior 2 years).   I just wonder about their conditioning programs and how this may have affected their ability to excel this year.  I seem to remember Boone saying after the USC debacle that what was all the offseason conditioning about if they couldn't show up to play. 

Moving forward, we will be having a rebuilding year.   We addressed all of our needs in the recruiting process and will ahve a young talented team.  Prior will be the center of the offense, but we'll have to wait to see who else if anyone emerges.  The O-line will be solid with great depth from our last two years of recruiting.  The defensive line will now be a strength for us and all indications are we will reload at linebacker.  The secondary will need to establish someone as a shut down corner. 

All in All, this is the time of the year when you just start couting the days till next year.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Buckeye Football, Buckeyes, Debacle, Defensive Line, Doldrums, Fiesta Bowl, Great Game, Hiatus, Nfl, Offseason, Random Thoughts, Recruiting, Shut Down, Talented Team, Usc

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