…and say that we still can’t deduce much of anything from the Buckeye offense after yesterday’s destruction of Sparty.
While it was certainly satisfying to see touchdowns scored – even the most critical of fans must have noticed that whatever could go wrong for Michigan State, did go wrong.
So, in the interests of fostering some reasonable expectations regarding next week’s Big Ten Championship game against Penn State, let’s take a realistic view of yesterday’s game.
Of the Bucks’ 45 points, 14 were scored by the defense. Really, they should be credited with another as well, the first fumble recovery and return deep into the red zone. So that leaves a much more reasonable total of 24 points that the OSU offense actually “earned.”
Continuing the speculation, though, 7 of that 24 came from the Buckeyes benefiting from a one-in-a-million play with Hartline’s big reception. If that play happens 100 times, it results with a first and goal inside the one maybe five times. The other 95 times get split between incompletes, interceptions or catch & tackles.
And how about those fumbles? Have you ever seen a defense so fortuitously served up two (really three) touchdowns? Two balls bounced directly into the hands of running defenders, and one was served up on Cousins’ posterior like a gourmet waterfowl being uncovered on a silver platter by the Queen’s butler.
Oh, and how in the world did OSU recover Ray Small’s muffed punt return? There was one OSU player in the vicinity, and something around fifty green jerseys, yet the ball bounced directly to him.
Knows a thing or two about fortuitous ball bounces
Never in my OSU fan-dom have I seen the team benefit from so many statistically unlikely circumstances.
HOWEVER… even I can understand that one can only take the “what if” game so far. Tressel definitely called off the dogs by late in the second quarter. No way was he planning to run up the score on his old pal and former coach Dino. So even if MSU had stayed in the game, the Vest might have kept attacking, and the outcome would no doubt have remained the same.
And contrary to the first sentence in this post, I’ll concede that we did learn a few small things about the offense. First, we learned that the Buckeyes are improving, if ever so slightly, in red zone offense. Second, it appeared that Tressel has finally surrendered his attempts to turn Pryor into the next Troy Smith, and has finally found a series of plays that are specifically suited for Pryor – the most satisfying of which are the ones that involve the fullback as either a primary (or at least a check-off) receiver. FB Brandon Smith had the best game of his career so far, and Beanie was used as a FB himself from time to time.
We also learned that Pryor has a nifty signature move of his own to match Beanie’s stiffarm – the “leg juke,” which has beaten too many defenders this year to be just coincidentally effective. It’s a slick move against a defender in the open field, where he’ll show a leg going in one direction, snap his hips in the opposite, and wait for the defender to choose the angle (and then go in the opposite direction). For two examples, see his first two TDs (one running, one passing). It’s snazzy, and I think we should come up with a name for it.
Good piece. Makes me want to mull over the game more, but my impressions were similar. OSU had everything go their way, MSU had everything go against them.
“It’s snazzy, and I think we should come up with a name for it.
Leg Juke of Justice? Nope? You Left Your Jockstrap Over Here? Gone? Chris Berman’s Fantasy? (Whoop!) Oops, There It Was?
I’m all tapped out.
Shimmy Shake? OK, now I’m all tapped out.
Leg Juke of Death
“The Elvis”
“The Elvis.” I like it, but it’s not really “his,” y’know? But taking the theme one more step we could call it “The Pryor” or “The Terrelle” and just make it all his.
In line with the political season, how about TP’s “I get all tingly down my leg when I see TP do that move”?
How about, when TP fakes a defender out of his jock, just say, “you just got TP’d.”
buckeyedude – [insert Beanie stiffarm pic here] “did you eat too many beans?” [insert Pryor juke pic here] “…then how about some TP.”
“the TerElvis”