I'll start this off with a handful of thoughts about "The Game."
Valiant effort by the Buckeyes, unfortunately our defensive deficiencies that were exposed over the last several games were glaring holes on Saturday. They played hard, but at the end of the day I feel that our linebacking corps did not possess the play making ability to make us successful in the intermediate passing game. I believe that Ryan Shazier is going to be an absolute stud, but he is young and was probably the best play maker we had amongst our LB's.
Early in the season when we all started calling for Braxton to become our starter we all made the same disclaimer "there will be growing pains." There were for the most part, but I also feel that Braxton was handcuffed way too much by the conservative play calling. My hat goes off to Bollman for actually letting Braxton play and it kept us in the game. I am not worried about the over throws that were made that very well could have put us in position to win. The kid is a true freshman and his raw ability is incredible.
All and all, I loved watching the game. It was a great back and forth slugfest. The only problem I have with the game is the 3rd down spike on our final drive. I know this has been scrutinized to no end, so I'm not even going to get into it. But that call really put Braxton in a tough spot, on the road, against your arch-rival.
Way to fight Bucks, but who would have thought that Tressels best class (according to scout.com), would be the ones to snap the streak their Senior year.
On to Urban:
So, many people know that when Tressel stepped down and we started hearing the rumblings about the Urban Legend, I was not on board. I hate the spread, I don't think its real football. I think it's something that inferior programs run who can't play with the big boys. Recruiters end up at track meets over football camps to get the fastest guy and line him up against a LB.
About midway through the season I started to change my tune on Urban. He is a master recruiter. Keep in mind, when he took over at UF, their football program was well below par. Zook recruited well, but it never translated to on field success. Gainesville is a small town, not situated on either coast. Yet, year and year, the best talent from across the nation was finding its way to Gainesville.
With that being said, Urban isn't just going to put a fence up around Ohio, he's going to lock down the entire Midwest. From PA to IA, if you are a 5-star recruit, OSU WILL be in your top three. Not to mention he will still bring in elite talent from the south and out west.
Urban can win with the current pieces in place. Braxton Miller is the perfect make-up of a QB to run Meyer's offense to perfection. I honestly believe that by Braxton's senior year, under Meyer's tutelage and within his offense, Braxton will win the Heisman and lead Ohio State to a National Championship.
It doesn't stop there; I believe that Meyer is the type of guy that can build an absolute juggernaut at Ohio State. When I think about the teams he could build I think of Carroll's Trojans, Switzer's Sooners, and Johnson and Davis' Canes. Dynasties like that could not be built in the SEC, that's why I believe the pressure of winning finally got too much for Urban. The 3 previously mentioned teams played in the Pac-10, Big-12, and ACC respectively. None of which at the time of those teams dominance were the conference's loaded with several title contenders. This is why I think Urban can build an unstoppable force in Columbus.
Another thing I look forward to is the passion and swagger his teams play with. Every time his teams stepped on the field they wanted to show the world why they were the BEST. I expect the same to happen in Columbus.
If Urban stays here for 10 years (with no Bowl Ban), I think he wins a Nat'l title in his first 3 years and 3 in 10. Lofty predictions I know, but I think something really special is about to happen in C-Bus!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
The Real BCS Title Game.
So after last nights game, I think it's safe to say, these two teams will not provide the best possible watch for a National Title Game. It was two great, amazing defenses, but the lack of execution and production on offense left a lot to be desired. Bama's trouble in special teams as well is not something you see on a National Title contender.
Let us consider more a matchup that I feel would be truly riveting. Forget Ok State, I am pretty sure that LSU would throttle them, I may be wrong, but LSU's defense may be the best ever and OSU has basically no D at all. LSU would be able to score at will and stop their high-powered offense more often than not.
The matchup that I want to see is LSU/Stanford! Possibly one of the greatest Defenses in the history of college football going against the top college QB of this era. It'll be the coming out party of Andrew Luck to the casual NFL fan, who only knows him from the "suck4luck" campaign and has never actually watched his jaw-dropping ability. The talent level will be much higher on the LSU side, but Andrew Luck's ability will level the playing field. That's the game I want!
I think that game would provide the highest entertainment value. As a football diehard, I was able to appreciate last nights defensive battle and match of elite head coaches with various coaching styles. But from an entertainment standpoint it left a lot to be desired. I also believe that Andrew Luck is the best option in years to bring an end to the SEC's reign.
Let us consider more a matchup that I feel would be truly riveting. Forget Ok State, I am pretty sure that LSU would throttle them, I may be wrong, but LSU's defense may be the best ever and OSU has basically no D at all. LSU would be able to score at will and stop their high-powered offense more often than not.
The matchup that I want to see is LSU/Stanford! Possibly one of the greatest Defenses in the history of college football going against the top college QB of this era. It'll be the coming out party of Andrew Luck to the casual NFL fan, who only knows him from the "suck4luck" campaign and has never actually watched his jaw-dropping ability. The talent level will be much higher on the LSU side, but Andrew Luck's ability will level the playing field. That's the game I want!
I think that game would provide the highest entertainment value. As a football diehard, I was able to appreciate last nights defensive battle and match of elite head coaches with various coaching styles. But from an entertainment standpoint it left a lot to be desired. I also believe that Andrew Luck is the best option in years to bring an end to the SEC's reign.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Bucks in Indy?
Been a while since my last blog. To be honest, my shift key on my computer broke and it's been hell typing so I haven't wrote a Blog recently.
Last night I was taking a look at the remaining schedule, along with the Big Ten standings. And it occurred to me that we have a legit shot at playing for the Big Ten title game.
Several weeks ago I explained to my co-workers how upsetting it was the Big Ten would adopt a Title Game the same year we were forced to take a step back due to the immaturity of many of our players. I felt that it was too bad for a team that had absolutely owned this conference for the past six seasons. Additionally, it just didn't seem right for OSU not to be involved in the Big Ten title race.
But no worries Big Ten nation, even in a down year we are right in the thick of EVERYTHING. This is OUR conference, we have OWNED you for the better part of the past decade and our reign will continue!
Below you will see the current standings of the Big Ten Leaders Division:
5-0 | 96 | 62 | 8-1 | 196 | 112 | W7 | |
2-2 | 167 | 94 | 6-2 | 361 | 128 | L2 | |
2-2 | 84 | 80 | 5-3 | 196 | 143 | W2 | |
2-2 | 98 | 90 | 4-4 | 216 | 176 | L1 | |
2-3 | 107 | 103 | 6-3 | 236 | 155 | L3 | |
0-5 | 99 | 220 | 1-8 | 209 | 326 | L6 |
Is PSU undefeated, they sure are, but let's be honest… no one fears them. Now take into account OSU's remaining schedule: IU, @ PU, PSU and @ scUM.
And now PSU's remaining schedule: NEB, @ OSU, @ Wisky.
I doubt that PSU wins another game this season. At the very least they drop two of those games.
OSU will likely roll IU and Purdue. If OSU then beats PSU they take control of their own destiny when it comes to the leaders division. All OSU has to do is go up north and display the stout defense that they have all year and they will come back to great state of Ohio as Victors!
I fully expect OSU to win out. They will likely be favored in every game the rest of the season. Depending on the outcome of the PSU/NEB game, OSU should be favored at home against PSU.
I will be fully ready to laugh in the face of all the Big Ten when in our worst season in close to a decade we are still able to have a shot out winning OUR conference.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
MLB; King for a Night!
What a night of baseball! It was great to see baseball on such a big stage, with a tremendous finish to the end. I have a few quick thoughts on the Boston series. What an embarrassment to everything that is Boston. What's even worse are the deals and money that was shelled out to bring in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez.
If I'm Red Sox owner ship I fire Terry Francona, right now! This team is too talented to not be in the playoffs. Let alone missing them 2 season in a row. Someone has to be held accountable for this. Such an epic collapse like this has to fall on the manager.
I also love these final 2 games in the AL. This was the best possible scenario that Baltimore could have hoped for this year. They had a chance to end the season on a high note, despite not playing a meaningful game since the All-Star break.
And for the Yankees!!! Way to stick it to the Sox by basically mailing it in this entire series and putting all the pressure on the Sox to make the playoffs.
Changes are a coming in Boston...
Rumors are that Theo may be headed to the Cubs, which would be great for the city of Chicago. Another name is Friedman (the GM for the Rays) could be headed there instead. If I'm the Cubs, I go after Theo. Friedman has done more with spending about 300 million less, but that's not what the Cubs need. They need a guy who has GM'd a big market team, with all the financial resources at his fingertips.
I think it's going to be a great playoff year and at the end of the day, I'm taking Phils over Yanks in 6.
If I'm Red Sox owner ship I fire Terry Francona, right now! This team is too talented to not be in the playoffs. Let alone missing them 2 season in a row. Someone has to be held accountable for this. Such an epic collapse like this has to fall on the manager.
I also love these final 2 games in the AL. This was the best possible scenario that Baltimore could have hoped for this year. They had a chance to end the season on a high note, despite not playing a meaningful game since the All-Star break.
And for the Yankees!!! Way to stick it to the Sox by basically mailing it in this entire series and putting all the pressure on the Sox to make the playoffs.
Changes are a coming in Boston...
Rumors are that Theo may be headed to the Cubs, which would be great for the city of Chicago. Another name is Friedman (the GM for the Rays) could be headed there instead. If I'm the Cubs, I go after Theo. Friedman has done more with spending about 300 million less, but that's not what the Cubs need. They need a guy who has GM'd a big market team, with all the financial resources at his fingertips.
I think it's going to be a great playoff year and at the end of the day, I'm taking Phils over Yanks in 6.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Is that a RB or a QB?
So here's my Sunday morning reaction, to OSU's Saturday afternoon game.
Braxton Miller can run..... and run and run and run. He is nothing like your average Dual Threat QB who finds angles and takes off. Braxton uses his blocking, has excellent field vision and has some pretty nasty juke moves as tacklers are approaching. In 3 years of TP, we saw the 3rd and long tuck and run perfected. But TP just relied on his speed. The closest thing I've seen to Braxton is D-Rob at *ichigan. D-Rob is much faster, but he runs in much the same way, finding holes and juking tacklers out of their jocks.
As for his passing, he is very raw. But I think he will leave OSU as an accomplished passer. You can tell his natural skills to read a defense and make reads are far ahead of where TP was at this point. My hat goes off to Fickell for starting him verses a team like Colorado where OSU was physically better at every single position. It gave him an excellent opportunity to get his feet wet against an average opponent.
I look at Braxton as being right in the middle of TP and Troy Smith as far as it comes to his style of play. He has the escapability that TP had, but not nearly the speed to break big runs. He also possesses the arm strength/accuracy (although it's still in the raw stages) that Smith had and his quick release will be huge against the tough pass rushes in the Big 10.
It's no wonder Tressel wanted this guy, he is a perfect fit for JT's offense.
Now I want to talk about Jordan Hall. He has embraced the opportunity to start because of the suspensions. Not sure what happened to him in the off-season, but he has appeared to pack on some muscle and learned how to read a block and find a hole. He reminds me so much of Josh Cribbs when he returns kicks. He isn't going to run by you, but he will find the hole, break a tackle and then it's off to the races.
I've been pretty satisfied for the most part with the O-line play, it'll be nice to get Adams back in a few weeks to protect Braxton's blindside. There have been consistent holes in the running game all year and I only expect that to continue.
I still hate our WR's. But it appears that there may be some emergence coming from Devin Smith. I thought he made some great plays and had some solid catches. I like the connection that him and Braxton will build over the years. Similar to Pryor and Posey. By the way, the catch on the sideline was a catch, no doubt about it. Guaranteed, if that play happens in bounds it's ruled a fumble.
It was refreshing to see a quality game played by our defensive secondary for possibly the first time this season. This Buckeye D is extremely young and will make a few mistakes, but for the most part, they've been pretty spot on.
All and all, it was a solid game. And a great opponent for Braxton to makes his debut. We are now just 2 weeks from the return of Posey, Boom, Adams and Thomas. I don't think the Big 10 is ready for the impact that Posey's return is going to make on this offense.
Braxton Miller can run..... and run and run and run. He is nothing like your average Dual Threat QB who finds angles and takes off. Braxton uses his blocking, has excellent field vision and has some pretty nasty juke moves as tacklers are approaching. In 3 years of TP, we saw the 3rd and long tuck and run perfected. But TP just relied on his speed. The closest thing I've seen to Braxton is D-Rob at *ichigan. D-Rob is much faster, but he runs in much the same way, finding holes and juking tacklers out of their jocks.
As for his passing, he is very raw. But I think he will leave OSU as an accomplished passer. You can tell his natural skills to read a defense and make reads are far ahead of where TP was at this point. My hat goes off to Fickell for starting him verses a team like Colorado where OSU was physically better at every single position. It gave him an excellent opportunity to get his feet wet against an average opponent.
I look at Braxton as being right in the middle of TP and Troy Smith as far as it comes to his style of play. He has the escapability that TP had, but not nearly the speed to break big runs. He also possesses the arm strength/accuracy (although it's still in the raw stages) that Smith had and his quick release will be huge against the tough pass rushes in the Big 10.
It's no wonder Tressel wanted this guy, he is a perfect fit for JT's offense.
Now I want to talk about Jordan Hall. He has embraced the opportunity to start because of the suspensions. Not sure what happened to him in the off-season, but he has appeared to pack on some muscle and learned how to read a block and find a hole. He reminds me so much of Josh Cribbs when he returns kicks. He isn't going to run by you, but he will find the hole, break a tackle and then it's off to the races.
I've been pretty satisfied for the most part with the O-line play, it'll be nice to get Adams back in a few weeks to protect Braxton's blindside. There have been consistent holes in the running game all year and I only expect that to continue.
I still hate our WR's. But it appears that there may be some emergence coming from Devin Smith. I thought he made some great plays and had some solid catches. I like the connection that him and Braxton will build over the years. Similar to Pryor and Posey. By the way, the catch on the sideline was a catch, no doubt about it. Guaranteed, if that play happens in bounds it's ruled a fumble.
It was refreshing to see a quality game played by our defensive secondary for possibly the first time this season. This Buckeye D is extremely young and will make a few mistakes, but for the most part, they've been pretty spot on.
All and all, it was a solid game. And a great opponent for Braxton to makes his debut. We are now just 2 weeks from the return of Posey, Boom, Adams and Thomas. I don't think the Big 10 is ready for the impact that Posey's return is going to make on this offense.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday Night Second Guessing
I have tons of thoughts about todays OSU game and instead of updating my status a million times on FaceBook, I'll just put them down here.
Ohio State has NO playmakers on offense. This is a fact. We are very young at the receiver position. 3 years ago, our O was supposed to look like this:
QB1 Pryor
WR1 Posey
WR2 Duron Carter
WR3 Corey Brown
RB1 Herron
RB2 Hall
TE1 Stoneburner
2 of those players were in uniform tonight. TWO!!!!! Tonight's number WR was a HS QB at Marion Franklin. When we signed him, I knew he would eventually be moved to WR, and figured he would at best be a fringe special teams player. And tonight, he was running WR1 routes. So we have no playmakers on offense. It'll be different in 3 weeks, when we have both Posey and Herron back. They will atleast cause a threat that the defense will have to account for.
Next thought; seriously Bauserman, I mean seriously? You can not make me believe that play after play there was not a single guy open. It's not possible. I would love to watch this game from the blimp view to see what was going on in the secondary. Not sure if adjustments could be made or even were made, but I just have a hard time believing that over and over again the best option was to cover up the ball or throw it into the 3rd row.
As for the coaching. I'm not killing them over this loss. Again, we just aren't very good on offense. I would have liked to have seen them do some different things to get guys in space. You know the easiest way to do that.... SCREEN PLAYS!!! I'm not really sure what adjustments could have been made, Miami wasn't blitzing all that often. Maybe we should have just done the Peyton Hillis and ran it every single play.
Defense...your amazing. Without such a quality game from our D, this easily could have been a 40 point game. Our D-Line is incredible and our top guy Nathan Williams is still out. But let's be honest. THIS IS OHIO STATE.... we will NEVER be bad on Defense.
I'm also not crying over Miami's final TD. You see this all the time when games are basically over. 4th down, the ahead team normally goes for it to try to hold onto the ball. The FG is almost looked like you're rubbing it in. Believe me, we've been in this situation before and we've done it to our opponents. Our job is to STOP them and we didn't do that. And who cares that we're taking the timeouts back to Columbus with us....THE GAME WAS OVER. What were we gonna do? Get the ball, throw 3 incomplete passes and go home?
Finally, give Braxton the reins. I know Bauserman has "done his time." But who cares? This will be Braxton's team for the next 2-3 years. Let him learn under pressure. We're not fighting for a Nat'l title this, but we very well could be next year and the year after. I rather have a QB ready to go to battle after having a full season to learn at game speed.
And sadly, I anticiapte that we will drop out of the top 25 come Monday. Ending our 103 week run in the poll (longest active streak). We won't be gone long, but be ready to be unranked for the first time in a long long time.
Don't cry over the loss Buckeye Nation. We knew when the Tat-5 got suspended that we would have a hard hard time winning this game. Don't be afraid to admit that our offense sucks. Wouldn't it be nice to know that if we wouldn't have ran him out of town that TP would be coming back in 3 weeks? :)
Ohio State has NO playmakers on offense. This is a fact. We are very young at the receiver position. 3 years ago, our O was supposed to look like this:
QB1 Pryor
WR1 Posey
WR2 Duron Carter
WR3 Corey Brown
RB1 Herron
RB2 Hall
TE1 Stoneburner
2 of those players were in uniform tonight. TWO!!!!! Tonight's number WR was a HS QB at Marion Franklin. When we signed him, I knew he would eventually be moved to WR, and figured he would at best be a fringe special teams player. And tonight, he was running WR1 routes. So we have no playmakers on offense. It'll be different in 3 weeks, when we have both Posey and Herron back. They will atleast cause a threat that the defense will have to account for.
Next thought; seriously Bauserman, I mean seriously? You can not make me believe that play after play there was not a single guy open. It's not possible. I would love to watch this game from the blimp view to see what was going on in the secondary. Not sure if adjustments could be made or even were made, but I just have a hard time believing that over and over again the best option was to cover up the ball or throw it into the 3rd row.
As for the coaching. I'm not killing them over this loss. Again, we just aren't very good on offense. I would have liked to have seen them do some different things to get guys in space. You know the easiest way to do that.... SCREEN PLAYS!!! I'm not really sure what adjustments could have been made, Miami wasn't blitzing all that often. Maybe we should have just done the Peyton Hillis and ran it every single play.
Defense...your amazing. Without such a quality game from our D, this easily could have been a 40 point game. Our D-Line is incredible and our top guy Nathan Williams is still out. But let's be honest. THIS IS OHIO STATE.... we will NEVER be bad on Defense.
I'm also not crying over Miami's final TD. You see this all the time when games are basically over. 4th down, the ahead team normally goes for it to try to hold onto the ball. The FG is almost looked like you're rubbing it in. Believe me, we've been in this situation before and we've done it to our opponents. Our job is to STOP them and we didn't do that. And who cares that we're taking the timeouts back to Columbus with us....THE GAME WAS OVER. What were we gonna do? Get the ball, throw 3 incomplete passes and go home?
Finally, give Braxton the reins. I know Bauserman has "done his time." But who cares? This will be Braxton's team for the next 2-3 years. Let him learn under pressure. We're not fighting for a Nat'l title this, but we very well could be next year and the year after. I rather have a QB ready to go to battle after having a full season to learn at game speed.
And sadly, I anticiapte that we will drop out of the top 25 come Monday. Ending our 103 week run in the poll (longest active streak). We won't be gone long, but be ready to be unranked for the first time in a long long time.
Don't cry over the loss Buckeye Nation. We knew when the Tat-5 got suspended that we would have a hard hard time winning this game. Don't be afraid to admit that our offense sucks. Wouldn't it be nice to know that if we wouldn't have ran him out of town that TP would be coming back in 3 weeks? :)
Friday, September 16, 2011
Takin a stab at this Blogging stuff.
So here it is, after a long chat about it at work I'm doing it. I'm putting my thoughts, mainly concerning the sports world out there for the world wide web to see. I'm not an English major by any means, so constant grammatical errors should be expected.
I'll mainly use this blog talking about big sports stories. My opinions on them and a lot of predictions as well. I will also probably quite commonly break down games that I watched over the weekend. Don't be surprised if I talk a ton of Fantasy Stuff as well. If you don't know me personally, i love my Buckeyes and Cleveland sports teams to death. But I don't consider myself a homer. I can be very objective towards my team and honestly believe that those making decisions for the organizations are mentioned are much more qualified than I am.
So let it begin.... a few quick ideas about this weekend...
Watch out for Toledo tonight! I think Boise will win, but the game's gonna be tougher than expected. Toldeo's O is very gimmicky and Page is a true playmaker. If a few bounces can go Toledo's (like they did against OSU) Toldeo could "shock the world." This is the biggest HOME game in the history of Toledo football, not sure how they got BSU to come but kudo's to the Rockets. I think the game will be a lot closer than anyone expects. BSU 41 TOL 38
As for OSU this weekend, it may be a long night Saturday night. OSU's D will keep them in the game, but I'm not sure that the O can win it. I think with Miami's speed, you have to play Braxton Miller to keep their LB's honest. With Miller they won't be able to blitz as much and also won't be able to just drop into coverage. I think Braxton gets plenty of PT and Bucks win 27-24.
I'll do some NFL stuff on Sunday as I prep my Fantasy lineups for the games...
I'll mainly use this blog talking about big sports stories. My opinions on them and a lot of predictions as well. I will also probably quite commonly break down games that I watched over the weekend. Don't be surprised if I talk a ton of Fantasy Stuff as well. If you don't know me personally, i love my Buckeyes and Cleveland sports teams to death. But I don't consider myself a homer. I can be very objective towards my team and honestly believe that those making decisions for the organizations are mentioned are much more qualified than I am.
So let it begin.... a few quick ideas about this weekend...
Watch out for Toledo tonight! I think Boise will win, but the game's gonna be tougher than expected. Toldeo's O is very gimmicky and Page is a true playmaker. If a few bounces can go Toledo's (like they did against OSU) Toldeo could "shock the world." This is the biggest HOME game in the history of Toledo football, not sure how they got BSU to come but kudo's to the Rockets. I think the game will be a lot closer than anyone expects. BSU 41 TOL 38
As for OSU this weekend, it may be a long night Saturday night. OSU's D will keep them in the game, but I'm not sure that the O can win it. I think with Miami's speed, you have to play Braxton Miller to keep their LB's honest. With Miller they won't be able to blitz as much and also won't be able to just drop into coverage. I think Braxton gets plenty of PT and Bucks win 27-24.
I'll do some NFL stuff on Sunday as I prep my Fantasy lineups for the games...
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