Archives for September 2011

I meant to get this out earlier, but here are is statistical comparison of the two teams doing battle in The Horseshoe this Saturday.

As always, presented without comment.

As always, stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

Today on his Radio Call-In show Coach Luke Fickell did the obvious. He announced “It’s time to give him a shot. We still know we need both of them. Have to make sure you can handle it in the locker room.” Braxton Miller will start this Saturday against the Colorado Buffaloes. This probably wasn’t an easy of a decision for Fickell as it would be for most fans. I am sure Bauserman will handle it with grace and dignity. I hope Braxton can rally the troops behind him and lead them to glory. Only time will tell but for now we have a new era in Ohio State history…. Miller Time.

Also on the Show he said Corey “Philly” Brown more than likely won’t play this week due to his ankle injury. He did say Andrew Sweat will play battling through being dinged up.

Christian Bryant may get the safety starting spot depending on what formation they start off on in the first series. Translation Orhian Johnson will play much less and Christian Bryant will play a lot more going forward. THANKFULLY

The running back situation is still a bit murky but Fickell said that Jordan Hall and Carlos Hyde may both start the game on Saturday. Personally I am hoping they open in a wishbone with Boren as well and with Braxton Miller that is a 4 back field I could get behind :).

Adam Homan is injured and will miss a few weeks.

The failures are obvious. They are increasing. They are consistent, they are maddening. And they are inexcusable.

As our cohorts over at the BBC point out, the key sentiment in Carmen Ohio refers to “time and change will surely show,” and argue that we need more time to allow change to take effect. An excellent metaphor for their point, but with due respect, I argue the exact opposite. We’ve had enough time.

The coach must go. He can no longer hide behind the convenient excuse of a program in turmoil. His failures go back much further than Jim Tressel’s resignation, in fact his failures were present throughout the Tressel era at Ohio State.

What, you thought I was referring to Luke Fickell? Of course not. It would be a terrible overreaction to hold Fickell responsible based on eight days of offensive failure. On this, the BBC and the thousands of Buckeye fans blogging and tweeting the same thing are exactly correct.

Not the problem.

No, I’m referring to the coach at the root of the problem: Jim Bollman.

Buckeye bloggers and writers like myself have been critical of Bollman for the past decade. But because Tressel was the type to keep details of his management style “close to the vest,” we were unable to criticize Bollman with reasonable credibility. Our criticisms were mitigated by the fact that we trusted Tressel, and he obviously trusted Bollman, and he was winning all those conference championships… so we’ll yield the floor to the one that clearly knows better.

Yet we should have seen this collapse coming. Ohio State’s offensive line problems were maddeningly inexplicable through the mid-late 2000s. Despite several classes of high-star recruits, OSU consistently failed to develop the squad with the same level of success as the defensive line players, or linebackers, or WR corps, or any other squad on the team. (Somewhere out there Boone is still whiffing on easy blocks.) The responsibility for the high-profile losses of the era (LSU, USC, Florida) were largely placed at the feet of the underachieving O-line.

In fact, it was the consistent underachieving O-line that was the primary driver for Tressel’s pursuit and use of mobile QBs like Pryor, Guiton, and Miller. With a better O-line, Pryor would have likely redshirted as Boeckman cerebraled (yes, I totally used the word ‘cerebraled’) his way to another title shot a’ la’ Krenzel.

The problem.

The day after the 2008 beatdown by USC, I ran into Dimitrious Stanley, former OSU WR currently serving as an analyst for a Columbus TV station. I asked him what he thought of the shame of the offensive gameplan and whether or not it would ever improve. Stanley said that the weaknesses were well known to everyone on the inside, but that Tressel had also made it clear that he would never dismiss Bollman, regardless of performance, and that the two would work as a tandem for as long as Tressel had a job.

Loyalty was Tressel’s most dominating personal attribute, for better or for worse.

But that horse has been beaten, shot, buried, dug up, and beaten again. What does that mean for 2011 and beyond?

Put simply, for a decade it’s been quite impossible for us to pinpoint where Bollman started and where Tressel ended. But whatever mystery remained on the issue has been exposed and clarified for us in Tressel’s absence.

The two old friends, frankly, were a good team – a single good offensive coordinator in a two-coach body. Now that Tweedledum’s gone, we’re left with one-half of an offensive team coach in Tweedledee.

(An aside: while this post concentrates on the offensive coordinator, similar concerns should be raised about QB coach Nick Siciliano, whose weaknesses were apparently also hidden by a hands-on Tressel.)

Former video technician for the film room, now the QB coach. Also a problem.

But all we need is “time” for the changes to work, right? After all, Tressel also inherited a program in shambles, and turned it around into a national title contender in two years. Right? Wrong.

The comparison between Fickell’s and Tressel’s situations stops when you consider that Tressel installed a new coaching staff. Tressel was not saddled with underachieving Cooper leftovers.

Also, he was able to give himself the best opportunity to succeed by putting together a staff that complemented his strengths and mitigated his weaknesses. He was a coach who spent his career on the offensive side of the ball. He coached quarterbacks like Mike Tomzcak, and running backs like Keith Byers. After being named head coach at OSU, he recognized that he needed help running a BCS defense — and thus the legacy of Dantonio and his successor Haecock were established.

Luke Fickell is not in that situation at all. In that sense, Fickell is the anti-Tressel. He’s spent his playing and coaching career on defense, and enters a situation with a world-class defensive staff already in place. Fickell and Vrabel are the new Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Fickell needs to recognize that, just like Tressel needed defensive minds in 2000, he needs offensive ones in 2011.

And Bollman is not an offensive mind. If you still disagree with my assessment of the impact of his weaknesses, consider this:

One hallmark of any decent OC or DC is the manner to which they are pursued by other schools. We can mentally tick off the numerous Tressel assistants that have been pursued by other schools and hired as head coaches: Dantonio, Treadwell, Hazell, and of course Fickell. But nobody’s come calling for Bollman. And when OSU needed a head coach, he was immediately ruled out in favor of Fickell. Sure, I will concede that his closeness to Tressel may have been a factor, but I’m also certain that the powers-that-be were nervous about whether he could pull it off.

Potential offensive coaches would be clamoring for the opportunity to work with a team with the prestige of Ohio State, not to mention one as stacked with talented players and recruits as OSU seems to be. Fickell would have his pick. Consider Muschamp’s first hire. Regardless of what you thought of Weis as a head coach, Muschamp’s action in hiring him exemplifies one of the most important duties of a modern-day head coach: surrounding himself with the talent he needs to succeed.

I believe that it’s clear that Bollman, along with many others in the offensive staff, will not be around next year. But if it were up to me, I’d have them gone by this weekend.

It’s “time” for “change to surely show” how weak thy OC is, Ohio.

vs.

For a better part of a decade Miami Hurricane fans have been complaining that the passing interference call vs. OSU was BS. Let’s get this out of the way early:

Now, onto Saturday’s primetime game.

The Al Golden era has begun in Miami. They lost their first game of the season to a Maryland team that quite frankly isn’t all that good. The Miami defense was without most of their starters and that was a real issue, as Maryland amassed 499 yards of total offense, however only scored 32 points thanks to a sputtering red zone offense.

Also missing from that game was Jacory Harris, Miami’s starting QB for the last couple years. As most Buckeye fans remember, Harris threw 4 interceptions last year in the Shoe and struggled most of the day with constant pressure from OSU’s defensive line. For those counting on Harris to fork over footballs to the Buckeye’s defense like douche bag politicians handing out campaign bumper stickers… it’s not going to happen. Either he will play a mistake free game or at the first sign that he is going to turn into an interception machine Golden will yank him for ultra talented sophomore Stephen Morris. Morris showed flashes vs. Maryland but threw 2 costly INT’s of his own including a pick six that sealed the game.

Miami runs a pro style offense very similar to USC. Which ever QB Golden goes with they will surely rely on their running game, or try to with tailback Lamar Miller. Miller averaged 6.6 yards per carry last week on his way to a 119 yard, 1 TD night. He kept the Hurricane’s in the game and should be productive come Saturday night.

The OSU defense needs to be great. That will be difficult because their best pass rusher Nathan Williams will be out after having a minor surgery recently. OSU does get back the suspend Travis Howard, their #1 corner. The big eaters up front need to clog those running lanes and that means Garrett Goebel, Big Hankins and Johnny Simon need to continue their stellar play. Look for Andrew Sweat to have 8987 tackles in this game.

The OSU offense last week was, well, offensive. They barely managed 300 total yards and scored only 3 touchdowns. Braxton Miller didn’t get a single rep and was held out because he missed practice time the week before the Toledo game. He is full go this week and could play a big role in the offense. Also back from suspension is Jordan Hall. Jon Gruden called Hall the best player on Ohio State’s team during a recent visit. Having Hall running and running well will open up Stoneburner on playaction.

I have to think that last week OSU was playing conservative on purpose, for multiple reasons. Not only to protect Joe Bauserman with an injured and ill practiced Miller on the bench, and also to not show their cards come Saturday vs. Miami. I see Miller, Hall and Berry all getting meaningful playing time and being used primarily out of the gun. Ohio State’s offense desperately needs playmakers on the field and Miller, Hall and Berry all fit that description. Berry average 8.3 yards per carry last year and NEEDS to be on the field far more often.

If Ohio State can figure out how to play special teams — you know, learn how to block for your punter and actually make a field goal I see OSU winning this game. But only if those skill players play early and often. I think Harris will play better than last year but make a critical error at the worst possible time.

OSU: 31
Miami: 20

OSU pictures above curtesy of Josh Winslow at jwinslow.com

Yes, I know it’s a small sample size (as small as they get, even) but I’ve been chomping at the bit to get one of these out.

As always, presented without comment.

As always, stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

Does the season feel like it’s in full effect yet? The weather outside has been cooler, it’s getting darker sooner, the leaves are changing and the Foosball is on the ESPN, but I don’t feel like it’s “football season” yet. Either way, news-type things are happening and In Case You Missed It has a few you might be interested in:

BACK, AND BETTER THAN EVER: As SYR blogged yesterday (beating everyone, including The Dispatch, to the punch I might add), the “Charity 3” have been reinstated and will be in the line-up for Saturday evening’s tilt against the Miami Hurricanes. Hopefully that stands through the weekend, instead of having an NCAA “SIKE” hours before kick-off. Hopefully that’s the end of it and we can all move on, awaiting the Committee on Infractions final judgement sometime next week.

The Dispatch has the story of the Cleveland-area Booster accepting responsibility for the money the given to the three players (Hall, Howard and Brown):

DiGeronimo confirmed reports to The Dispatch that former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor gave the cash envelopes to his three teammates. DiGeronimo said the money was intended as reimbursement for travel expenses.

WHAT’S A BATTLE BOOSTER? Speaking of boosters, The University of Miami is changing its rules with regard to boosters having side-line access during home games. The change being they won’t have access. This takes effect this week against Ohio State.

WON’T YOU STEP BACK FROM THAT LEDGE, MY FRIEND: For those of us who had the knee-jerk reaction of “man our offense looks bad,” Ross over at Along the Olentangy to break down the offensive performance of the Buckeyes and actually made me feel a little better about our prospects going into the Miami game:

The good news is that most of the errors were results of technique and failure to recognnize what the defense was doing. Ohio State’s offense was not getting beat, but instead largely shooting themselves in the foot. The bad news is that these mistakes reflect an inexperienced unit, and OSU’s young players are going to have to learn and mature quickly.

Having Jordan Hall in the backfield should help with that.

HE’S FAST: Finally, our pals at EE-LEV-DUB look at Buckeyes in the EN-EFF-EL with the Week 1 Houndie.

ALSO: Football in Europe. When I lived Spain, a few of us Americans got a bunch of college age Spainards interested in playing some futbol Americano. With just six or seven of us to play, Fumble Rumble was pretty much the only option. It was ugly. Most Spainards aren’t built with a competitive spirit or killer instinct. It was like lambs to the slaughter. We stopped playing after about three minutes, when it became obvious someone of Spanish descent was going to get hurt. Watching that video makes me feel like I could lace up the cleats again and get it done in the Spanish American Football League.