Cheer up, Terrelle

This loss rests on Bollman’s shoulders, not yours. You can only work with what you’re given.

For those keeping score, that’s the second time this year a Bollman offense hasn’t scored a TD at home. (And had Herron not snuck one in against Ohio, it would have been three home games, out of six, without a TD.)

And it wasn’t for lack of effort, it was gameplan and scheme. Yeah, “Penn State has a good defense,” yet Coastal Carolina, Syracuse, and even UM scored more points against them, among a handful of other teams.

I don’t care what the optimists say about next year… no way this offense improves without a major change. Unless Beanie returns for his senior year, next season does not look promising, so long as the same tired coordinator is running the offense.

Time to stop screwing around.

Bollman, do what’s right and resign now.

Look at this picture. This is because of you.

Resign.

Comments

  1. buckeyebrowny919 says

    please, God..please…have him resign…i’ve never been so depressed in my life after a loss…that hurt

  2. buckeyedude says

    Bryant played horribly yesterday. I watched the game on my 58″ high def Toshiba TV and kept rewinding it when Bryant got burned. In past games it might have been Boone(vs. Florida) or Cordle(vs. LSU) or Rehring.

    I for one will be glad when these guys graduate and hopefully, they take Bollman with them at the end of the season!

    That loss was not Terrell’s fault. The offense is too predictable(Bollman).

  3. We also have to keep in mind that the offensive play-calling is handled by Tressel.

    Thus, some of the blame for a the offense’s performance falls directly on him. If Bollman goes, which I think is necessary, Jim Tressel’s play-calling must go as well. He can have input, but he needs to give it up to some creative mind with a new plan to maximize our talent.

    A couple other points:

    1) For all the talk of conditioning in the offseason, Bryant Browning and Rehring look like slugs. The right side of the line was perpetually in trouble yesterday.

    2) This was not Beanie’s fault. When there are 8 defenders in the box vs. 5 or 6 blockers, it doesn’t matter if Jim Brown is running the ball.

    3) Donald Washington needs to learn a thing or two from Chimdi Chekwa about playing the ball, not the receiver. Frustrating day from him.

    4) Not to bang the drum too loudly on offensive play-calling, but where was the little out pattern to Brian Hartline all day? When we finally needed to pass the ball on the last drive it was wide open and we took it.. Are you telling me that it wasn’t there the rest of the day when Penn State had 8 defenders in the box?! I want to know why our offensive play-calling only consists of jump-balls and handoffs.

    5) Dane Sanzenbacher is a good route-runner. Very good. He won’t ever be a #1 receiver, but when he can operate under the radar he is very dangerous.

    6) Thaddeus Gibson will be starting for the rest of his Ohio State career unless he gets hurt. He is the new Gholston.

    7) I loved the way Pryor took the loss. The picture above tells it all. The kid hates to lose and will do everything he possibly can on the practice field and in the film room to avoid ever feeling this way again. And, what’s more, as the leader of the team this will rub off on everyone else. This is how you build a new culture in a football program.. and it’s starting right here.

  4. It was a throw back to classic Big Ten football. A smash-mouth, low scoring, defensive football game, that was decided on a couple of turnovers. The defense for both teams did what they were supposed to do. As a result, both offenses struggled. Remember 2002? That was a very similar game, Ohio State won the game on a turnover,13-7. As a Penn State fan, I have chosen to take the high road and refrain from “buckeye bashing”.

  5. It was a throw back game. I’ll give Penn State some credit. It’s line play was significantly better than OSU’s on both fronts. That was the game. I agree the offense is stale. I watched it in-person at the Purdue game and it is really easy to make an offensive line look terrible when the defense knows what is coming. Unfortunately, I think we can keep echoing the same things over and over again..and we will never see any changes with a Tressel coached team. This loss is not on TP..it is on the lack of creativity of the offensive coaching staff. Why put TP in a position to fail in the 4th quarter? Why not put him in a position where he can make plays with a little wider margin for error in the 2nd or 3rd quarters of the game. I give TP credit…he did as well as could be asked of a freshman QB. Sure he made some bad reads and throws, but again…if the defense knows what is coming (ie not throwing on first down…like ever) on every down without hesitation, it can make the bst of players look ordinary.

    I guess we will have to take a Ty Willingham approach and just say we will get better with practice. I, for one, am pretty tired of saying that we are going to get better…that talk is reserved for Weeks 1-3…not at this point in the season..

  6. I think Tressel realizes privately the O-line and Bollman aren’t getting the job done. His reports of being more hands-on in practice earlier this year is one indication, and his benching of a senior QB in favor of a much more mobile freshman QB speaks volumes. That being said…

    I think there are some painfully obvious things that revealed themselves last night.

    Before I get into that, kudos to Penn State. They played tough, mistake-free football. They deserved to win and will win the Big 10(11) championship. I hope they represent the the Big 10(11) well, but I’m really concerned that they’ve played inferior competition all year long in our conference.

    1. The O-line again, is not performing. No need to beat that dead horse, although I will say that it’s amazing to me how far they’ve regressed since the Penn State game last year. Night and day difference.

    2. Because of #1, and because Pryor apparently understands the playbook a lot less than I thought, the coaching staff has zero confidence in the offense’s ability to execute even the most basic plays. I don’t know what else would explain the lack of creativity in regard to play calling during the game. They never once seemed to try to get Penn State off balance with something unexpected, and they threw the ball when they positively, absolutely had no choice but to do so.

    3. Chris Wells had 55 yards rushing on 22 attempts. 2.5 yard average. 6 yards rushing from Pryor. That’s it. Worst production I’ve seen for I don’t know how long. Expect the Penn State defensive scheme to show up for the next 4 games. I don’t have TiVo, so I can’t watch the game again, but I’m fairly certain they dedicated 8 guys to the LOS to take Wells away.

    4. There are 2 games against whom I’d define as quality opponents, USC and Penn State. In those 2 games, they’ve managed 3 field goals. 3 points against USC in the 1st half, and 3 in each half against PSU. This isn’t BCS bowl game material.

    5. The defense has improved by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the year. If it wasn’t for these guys living up to their expectations in the last 4-5 games, the season would be completely lost. They played absolutely lights out last night and Pryor, just doing what freshman QBs do, put them in a no-win situation.

    6. Heacock has saved his job for next season. Bollman…I hope you’ve dusted your resume’ off and are planning on trying to get a Division II (or whatever they’re calling that level these days) HC job somewhere. If he’s not gone after the season is over, I’m betting the boosters will revolt.

    7. Just how good is Penn State? They played a tough defense last night and really only managed 9 points on their own. 6 if you want to be picky. Is Spread HD all it’s cracked up to be? Defensively…I don’t know if they were really tested against a one dimensional offense.

    8. One penalty last night on Penn State for offensive pass interference. One. Neither side got penalized for much of anything, so did the referees take the night off, or were both teams nearly perfect in this category? I don’t recall a single holding penalty on either team. Were they letting both teams play, or wasn’t there any holding going on at all? If it’s the former rather than the latter, can we get that crew the rest of the year?

    I’m now going to resign myself to watching Pryor develop for next season, and considerably lower my expectations for the rest of the team this season. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether they’ll embarrass themselves in their bowl game at the end of the year, and I’m not convinced they’ll make it to a BCS bowl.

  7. @brian – i agree

    could we talk a little more about the play of washington? i remember at least two pass interference penalties that kept psu drives moving. he looked like he was lost most of the time and definitely panicked every time the ball came his way. he needs to step up his play in a major way in the coming weeks.

  8. buckeyedude says

    Tom Blogical, in regards to your comment “it’s anyone’s guess as to whether they’ll embarrass themselves in their bowl game at the end of the year.”

    If we play Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl, I feel pretty confident about our chances! 😉

    lancelott: I agree with you on Washington. Wasn’t he rumored to be a 1st round pick last year before he decided to stay?

  9. This web-site has changed. I don’t know why. It just has not become very optimistic. The past couple years that i have been reading this website it was very up beat, very positive. Maybe it was the last two years were great years for OSU Football, I dunno.

    I do notice though that the optimism, fun, and silver lining that this website showed me in the past couple of years has change. It now blames, looks for faults and is entirely not optimisic, even when OSU wins.

    Maybe someone else is posting articles, maybe it is because of the economy, election year… I dunno. I am slowly lossing interest though. I know i am just one fan of this site.

    But it has changed, and it has not changed for the better. Maybe now that we have no chance to go to a national championship, or win a big ten title the pressure will be off, and you can actually be a little more positive.

  10. @zach:

    from some previous comments:
    lancelott: ‘…90 is a beast, plain and simple. and how did the defense turn it around? with our d line.’

    brian: ‘…5) Dane Sanzenbacher is a good route-runner. Very good. He won’t ever be a #1 receiver, but when he can operate under the radar he is very dangerous.

    6) Thaddeus Gibson will be starting for the rest of his Ohio State career unless he gets hurt. He is the new Gholston.

    7) I loved the way Pryor took the loss. The picture above tells it all. The kid hates to lose and will do everything he possibly can on the practice field and in the film room to avoid ever feeling this way again. And, what’s more, as the leader of the team this will rub off on everyone else. This is how you build a new culture in a football program.. and it’s starting right here.’

    previously i think it has been stated how frustrating to care about something so much that you have absolutely no control over (or something to the effect, i couldn’t find the quote).

    the point here is two fold. first, i think i see a lot of good things that can come out of this season, and are coming out of this season. the defense is much improved and i actually think that our play-calling has also gotten better. tp is our future and i think that we will look back on this game and say that it was a turning point for him in his young career. we all need a loss now and then to teach us how to be better.

    the second is that this forum is a place to vent frustrations. because we care so much about how our team does and have absolutely no control over the outcome of any game, we need a place to sound our opinions and see if they are valid or not. if they are, great, we can know that we are not the only ones who see a problem. if they are not, we are able to see the flaws in our logic, become better students of the game (and hopefully better overall).

    i do agree that it is not healthy to be pessimistic all the time. we were 8-4 when troy *tears up with fond memories* took the helm, this is certainly a better season than that. i still think that we will go to the rose bowl, and i hope we do better than our last visit. so, i do agree with you pointing out that we should not wallow in our own negativity. i hope i also explained a little about why such conversations are also necessary.

    ps. if i am off base with these comments, let me know. i don’t presume to know others thoughts about this. thank you!

  11. was talking about the comments… i was talking about who ever writes the blogs. As for the frustration… I just dont’ see it. We lost to two very good teams. I know frustration, lived in columbus and attended THE OSU during the Cooper years.

    I agree that being pessimistic all the time isn’t healthy But the blame game is just ridiculous.

    You guys have every right to voice your opinion say what you want, and I too appreiciate this web-site. I am just saying it has changed recently, the articles that is.

    I remember back in the day, beating those bastards from up north, and winning a bowl game, pretty good season.

  12. buckeyedude says

    I think some of it is just venting and the other part of it is reality, zach.

    I think Buckeye fans, by and large, are more “football educated” than most other team’s fans(Rah, Rah! Go team!), and like to debate football. I’m sure losing the last two NCs and the ass whooping to USC also have something to do with the negativity. It is deserved, in my opinion. Especially on the offenisive line, a huge weakness that opposing teams are exploiting since the Florida game.

    I think most Buckeye fans understand the Cooper years sucked, but are we supposed to now accept mediocrity? I don’t think so. Leave that to the Michigan’s of the world.

  13. buckeyedude says

    Actually, saying Michigan is “mediocre” is an insult to the word mediocre.

  14. Buckeyeblowoutwin says

    Zach
    the articles have changed because the team has changed. When the team is good and performing well, there is every reason to write more positive.

    when the team is not very good, well, you have more negative comments regarding the team.

  15. @zach:

    i don’t want this to be a ‘bash zach’ conversation, by the way, so please keep posting (besides, i have a brother in law named zach, and he’s pretty cool. lives in cbus, going to bowling green). i also want to give you props on bringing up the cooper years. my dad is a [i]crazy[/i] buckeye fan (and old) and every time he gets worked up about one of these losses, i bring him back to the statements you just made. i still think this year is a good year. great year? no. if we lose to michigan, it will be a bad year. however, this is still a good year.

    the ‘blame game’ arises out of a couple of things. first, these coaches are paid a lot of cash to do their job. until very recently, tress was one of the lowest paid ‘big school’ coaches, but even then i think its safe to say that he saw more dough than you or i. this is the same for the assistant coaches on the team. it is only natural for us as americans/human beings to say that if someone is going to be valued at such a high level, that more should be expected of them. if they are not able to produce those results, corresponding to their compensation, then questions should be raised. (note: please don’t get it twisted, i don’t think that tress should go) second, there is some serious talent on this team, it is the coaches job(s) to most effectively use that talent. again, when this does not happen… questions… etc. third, i believe another innate thought process for americans is that we should have some say about the people who are in power. you know, democracy and all that. (even though, in this case our thoughts really have little bearing…)

    again, if i am off base with these comments, let me know. i don’t presume to know others thoughts about this. thank you!

  16. You cannot blame scheme and playcalling on Bollman……Tressel does that for the offense he has even said it publicly.

  17. @zach

    While I can appreciate the sentiment, I cant really speak for monkey and kaiser on this one.

    I started writing for the site in late August/early September, but I wouldnt call any of the stuff that I have written to be real gloom and doom. Is it cynical and laced with large amounts of sarcasm? Indeed..it is.

    Let’s be honest here. This team has given us little reason for joy this year. I understand that people can point back to the Cooper years, but I dont want to have to point back to the cooper years anymore. I want to be able to point back to 2002 and say that this year’s team plays with same level of intensity….win or lose. I have only seen two games where that has occurred this year.

    Here is where all of the negativity creeps into every OSU blog out there that isnt regurgitating a game recap without any opinion. The weaknesses of this style of play (Tresselball) have been exposed on a national stage three times in the last three years. This is my opinion and it seems like a pretty popular one amongst Buckeye fans everywhere. It seems like the program has regressed over the last couple of years…even with the successful record. The OSU offense is purest definition of ‘insanity’ right now..and in turn it is driving all of us a little insane.

    Zach…I agree that things have been moving more to a negative fell across the Buckeye blogoshpere. When the coaching staff and team give us something positive to write about, it will most definitely happen. There wasnt much to be positive about in the Penn State game. Sure the D-line showed up for parts of the game, but the other parts of the team have not improved, which is a reflection on the coaching staff…bottom line.

    ~~YNBA~~

  18. I going with Wil…A lot..ok most…of this lose fall at the feet of Tressel, but let’s not forget who didn’t protect the ball. Yeah, freshman mistake…high school freshman…you have 2 downs to go 2 feet…HOLD ON TO THE F’n BALL…Actually, I liked the call to go outside just hold on to the ball…Ok back to the VEST…if he cannot see the play calling sucks it maybe time to move on to a HS freshman team that can’t hanlde the complexity of the big school game……

  19. zach – I hope you don’t stop coming around; you’re one of our longest and most consistent participators. Thanks a lot for the feedback, I’ll keep it in mind when considering the tone for future posts.

    I couldn’t agree more with something YNBA said:
    “The weaknesses of this style of play (Tresselball) have been exposed on a national stage three times in the last three years. This is my opinion and it seems like a pretty popular one amongst Buckeye fans everywhere. It seems like the program has regressed over the last couple of years”

    That is exceptionally well-expressed. Kaiser and I were having a similar discussion on Tresselball over lunch. IMO, I don’t think Tresselball has regressed as much as it has stayed rather consistent, even though defenses have figured out a way to beat it. It doesn’t seem like Tressel has done much to adapt to the modern “mantra” of dealing with opponents that score quickly and often.

    More often than not anymore you need your offense to score points to win games. To depend on your defense and special teams to win games, and turn the offense into nothing more than “keep the other offense off the field for as long as possible,” is not Tresselball, it’s insanity. It might work against bad to mediocre teams, but it will rarely work against good teams.

    Look at the 2006 OSU/UM game: Tressel got aggressive, and used never-stop attitude and creativity to beat UM. The Wolverines scored 39 points that night, but Tressel still beat them. Why has he abandoned that aggressiveness the past couple of years?

  20. to quote eleven warriors:

    “The line, without question has been the weakest link on the offense all season long. I’m still not sure how that unit actually regressed, but through nine, they’ve been yelled at by Tressel, Beanie and Nicol, seen a freshman forced into their ranks and have seen themselves getting worked over by the majority of opposing lines they’ve gone against. That is on Bollman.

    Another complaint has been about the playcalling and while I maintain that a playbook doesn’t matter if your line cannot provide the protection to use half of it (or the players simply cannot execute), this is a legitimate beef.”

    I know you all want to put the vest out in the cold, but i think that would be the wrong call. tress made the right call putting tp as our starter and sticking with him, just imagine the pain/ugliness if we still had tb in there. and this is not a crack at beockman, i think that with a decent o line he would be a great quarterback (see previous work). however, without that foundation, the tower known as our ‘offense’ is built on sand.

  21. lancelott – I don’t want to “put the vest out in the cold” at all. He’s way too successful of a coach, both in the tangible (wins) and intangible (classiness) parts of the game.

    It’s the Bollman thing I have an issue with. I do agree that there’s only so much the OL coach can do – if the players won’t listen, then they won’t listen. Or, maybe they are listening, and they’re just plain not that good. Either way, the coach is the one responsible.

    It’s not about the # of wins, either – it’s about HOW you win. E.g., the peak and perfection of Tresselball was 2002, and even then they never failed to score a TD. This season, they have three games without an offensive TD, another one where they squeaked by with a late TD, and a couple of sloppy games where the team won, even though the offense was outgained by the opposing squad. That’s not Tresselball, that’s sloppy performance. Even the Bellisari years were more offensively productive.

  22. sM – i think we can both agree on bollman should go, no doubt. i think that you make good points on ‘only so much coaches can do’ and ‘# of wins’, and if i might interpret, its the misuse of the incredible amounts of talent (even on the o line) that angers us.

    the tone in the posts and in the comments (which one can’t and probably shouldn’t control too exclusively) is that tress should go, and i’m totally against that. from a purely recruitment standpoint, how can one argue against the results for the vest?

    going forward, i would like to set some new goals.

    1. beat michigan (one might think ‘of course’, but lets remember a couple of games that michigan has shown hints of what they can do if given the chance. read: wisconsin, michigan state. i know they will be juiced for us, it would only be proper to return the favor)

    2. win the rose bowl (this was always the dream of my childhood and i’m all too happy that our bucks have a chance to make this dream come true)

    3. finish the season 10-2 (this will be an improvement over troy’s first season and a great point to move from for the next season)

  23. After the Losses Pryor is still one of the bigest threats in the NCAA. He is a loose cannon waiting to be lite. O-H!

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