Archives for October 2012

It will be strange on Saturday to look across from the Ohio State sideline and not see Joe Paterno, the man who patrolled the Nittany Lions football squad for 46 seasons. Instead, there will be a stern, younger looking man with a fiery personality and modern offensive mind. His name is Bill O’Brien and he will be a fixture on the sidelines for Penn State for a long time.

O’Brien came up through the coaching ranks relatively quickly compared to others. He started at his Alma Matter, Brown University, then went on to become offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech for seven seasons, left there to go to Maryland for two years to coach running backs, and then went to Duke for two seasons to coach their offense.

After 14 years as a relatively unknown college coach, he made the jump to the NFL with the New England Patriots in 2007. Working under legendary head coach Bill Belichick, O’Brien started out as an offensive assistant to Josh McDaniels and helped engineer the most explosive offense in NFL history. McDaniels left after the 2008 season and the keys of the offensive were given to Bill O’Brien. The Patriots sputtered in 2009, but went 14-2 in 2010 and 13-3 in 2011 before losing in the Super Bowl. He became more well known across the country after his verbal spat with Tom Brady on the sidelines in which the two had to be separated after a Brady interception. After Paterno was let go in midst of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, O’Brien interviewed and accepted the offer to become head coach at Penn State the week before his Patriots took on the Giants.

O’Brien was the focal point of scrutiny in their losses while he was offensive coordinator, but he changed the offensive from when McDaniels was there. Bill O’Brien’s offensive philosophy starts from the inside-out and McDaniels was opposite. Meaning that O’Brien wants his quarterback to focus on his tight ends, crossing routes and check downs. His offense rarely goes outside the numbers and he needs a smart, patient quarterback like the one he had in New England to run his offense to perfection. Quarterbacks that understand his system will have a high completion percentage and will be looking for the open receiver.  Not to say that O’Brien is against going down the field, but he feels there is no reason to force a ball down the sidelines into coverage when the tight end is open to check down to and gain five yards.

O’Brien befriended Chip Kelly, the offensive wiz at Oregon, and the two have been known to meet up in the off-season with Belichick and Urban Meyer to share offensive philosophies. Obviously the personal and the play calling is different between Oregon, Penn State and the Patriots, but their NASCAR package is very similar. After this weekend’s game versus the Buckeyes, really focus on Penn State’s fast pace, no huddle offense. Then on Sunday, watch the Patriots game versus the Rams and the similarities will jump out at you. It is no coincidence that these offensives are the best coached in their respective divisions or leagues.

NFL teams have been calling O’Brien after his team’s surprising 5-2 start to the season but his agent has stated that he is committed to Penn State. He may not be a fixture on the sidelines in Happy Valley as long as Paterno was but that does not happen as much in this era of coaching. Even with the harsh sanctions, expect O’Brien to use his NFL credentials to lure recruits to Happy Valley. It will be a tough order but do not count out Bill O’Brien.

Expect a chess match between Meyer and O’Brien this weekend and take advantage of seeing two of the most well coached offenses in the country go at it until the final whistle blows.

As always, presented without comment.

Stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

Ohio State has announced that they have scheduled the Oregon Ducks for a home and home series in 2020 and 2021. First the Buckeyes will travel to Autzen Stadium then the Ducks will come to the ‘Shoe in 2021.

Oregon will be sandwiched between TCU (2018-2019) and Texas (2022-2023,) on the Ohio State out of conference schedule.

You have to love that the Buckeyes are willing to play the best teams year in and year out.

Can’t even imagine what Phil Knight will have in store for these games.

The Buckeyes survived a massive scare against Purdue and almost lost their Heisman Trophy candidate for a while. Once again, Sparty fell in a close game, this time to rival Michigan. Over at Penn State, Bill O’Brien’s offense looks unstoppable as they continue to play conference spoiler and Nebraska ripped the hearts out of  the Northwestern faithful. Overall, it was a great weekend for B1G football fans.

1. Ohio State (8-0)- After Braxton Miller went down, Kenny Guiton led the Buckeyes to an amazing come from behind win. They now travel to Happy Valley for their biggest road test of the season. Keep an eye on Miller’s health throughout the week as the Buckeyes will need him at %100 to keep their unbeaten streak alive.

2. Michigan (5-2)- Denard Robinson orchestrated the most clutch drive of his career to steal the game from Michigan State. Also, it was surprising to see a kicker make clutch field goal after clutch field goal to lead his team to victory.

3. Penn State (5-2)- Penn State squashed Iowa after the Hawkeyes big win over Michigan State. They now welcome the Buckeyes into Happy Valley for the Banned from Bowl Games Bowl.

4. Nebraska (5-2)- Nebraska squeaked out a win versus Northwestern and now have Michigan up next for a prime time showdown.

5. Wisconsin (6-2)- Don’t look now, but Wisconsin is finally living up to their lofty preseason expectations. They welcome a reeling Spartan team into Camp Randall this weekend for what should be a classic B1G battle.

6. Northwestern (6-2)- The Wildcats hope to bounce back against an up and down Iowa team after a heartbreaking loss to Nebraska. It will be very interesting to see how this team responds after a last minute loss like that one.

7. Michigan State (4-4)- Michigan State is surprisingly 1-3 in conference play after another close loss, this time to in-state rival Michigan. The formula to beat MSU is simple; shut down Le’Veon Bell and chances are that you walk out victorious. Sparty now has to travel to Camp Randall in attempt to salvage their season.

8. Iowa (4-3)- The Hawkeyes were coming off of a big win at East Lansing and were undefeated in conference play until Penn State came to town. Iowa hopes to rebound at Northwestern this weekend.

9. Purdue (3-4)- Purdue could have had the upset of the year in B1G play, but got a dose of KG. It will be interesting to see how this loss effects the Boilermakers as they travel to Minnesota this week. Upset alert.

10. Indiana (2-5)- Navy came back to defeat the Hoosiers for their first B1G win since 1979. The Hoosiers have lost their last three games (MSU,OSU,Navy) by a combined 8 points and look to get a conference win this weekend versus a very poor Illinois team.

11. Minnesota (4-3)- The Gophers played Wisconsin tough for the first half before getting ran over in the second half. They square off against Purdue this weekend in a game where anything could happen.

12. Illinois (2-5)- The Illini got a much needed week off and look to get out of the B1G basement this weekend versus Indiana.

Compare to last week and feel free to discuss…

Per Tony Gerdeman of the O-Zone.net:

Braxton Miller has passed all concussion tests and is symptom free. He is being released from the hospital per OSU.

— Tony Gerdeman (@GerdOzone) October 20, 2012

A short synopsis of thoughts on today’s game at Purdue with more in depth coverage to follow.

On the first play from scrimmage following the kickoff, Purdue QB Terbush completed a pass to running back Akeem Shavers who had beaten Storm Klein easily and he went untouched for the 83 yard touchdown.  Although the Buckeyes were able briefly take the lead later in the first quarter on a touchdown drive that was capped off by a Braxton Miller run, the lead was quickly relinquished with a 100 yard kickoff return on the ensuing kickoff.  With a blocked extra point on their first touchdown, Purdue held a 13-7 lead at the end of the first half, limiting the Buckeyes offense to 49 yards on the ground with 52 yards through the air.

Although the Buckeyes would again take the lead at the midway point of the third quarter, Purdue promptly answered on their next drive with a touchdown of its own.  The score was 20-14.  On the next possession for the Buckeyes, Braxton Miller broke a long run but was pulled down by the back of his jersey landing hard on his shoulder and leaving the game with an undisclosed injury.  Any hope of Braxton’s return went out the window when it was reported that Miller was taken to the hospital.

With Braxton out of the game, things only got worse as Purdue downed a punt on the one yard line with Kenny Guiton directing the offense.  A penalty in the end zone gave Purdue a safety and an eight point lead 22-14.

With the Buckeyes offense sputtering and seemingly unable to overcome the 8 point deficit, the Buckeyes had to punt the ball back to the Boilermakers with 2:40 left in the final quarter with only one timeout remaining.  With the help of a penalty on 1st down, the Buckeyes defense forced Purdue to punt the ball back with 1:53 remaining.

Guiton engineered a 7 play 61 yard drive that was capped off by a two yard pass to Chris Fields with the two point conversion being successful on a pass to Jeff Heuerman.

In overtime, Purdue won the toss and selected to play defense first.  The Buckeyes scored without much trouble on a 5 play 25 yard drive to take the 29-22 lead.  After two incompletions on first and second down, Purdue picked up five yards on third to force 4th and 5.  With the pocket collapsing, Terbush scrambled and threw a prayer to the endzone that fell incomplete.

The legend of Kenny Guiton may only last one week with the uncertainty of Miller’s status, but nevertheless, it is in the record books.

After giving up 87 points and 918 yards in the last two games, all eyes will be on the reeling Ohio State defense as the units looks to earn its way back to Silver Bullet status or, more realistically, to preseason expectations when the Buckeyes welcome the Boilermakers who are trending downward but are in search of a season defining win.

The good news … the game is being played at home and not in West Lafayette, where the Buckeyes have struggled mightily in recent years.

OHIO STATE DEFENSE V. PURDUE OFFENSE

Looking at the remaining games, the Purdue game comes at the perfect time as the Boilers and Illini are the only relatively poor offenses (Illinois is beyond relatively poor, but that story is for another day) remaining on the schedule, allowing the defense the opportunity to gain some confidence before making a trip to (insert inappropriate comment here) Happy Valley next week.

This week also marks the first glimpse that Buckeye Nation will get of the Buckeyes defense since Urban has begun appearing at defensive meetings.  As we are all well aware, Urban’s presence at the meetings isn’t out of sheer boredom with carving up other Big Ten defenses; rather the Purdue game follows the Buckeyes defense’s worst game of the season.  Following the Indiana game that we all wish we could forget, Urban said he was “’not happy at all’ with what had been going on with the defense, players and coaches.”  He continued that long-term the Buckeyes could not be successful scoring a lot and giving up a lot, but at some point we have to play good defense.  Not surprisingly, no player on the Buckeyes defense graded out as a champion following the Indiana game.

Although it pains me to point this out, the Buckeyes defense currently ranks 69^th in total defense, 33^rd against the rush, 103^rd against the pass, and 53^rd in scoring.  Insert Urban into the defensive team meetings and the public notice that he has put out an “APB” for tough guys to step up on the defense.  Perhaps the addition of Zach Boren with a week of practice at linebacker returns to high school all-state performer form.  If so, Boren’s legend will last for ages or until Boren III finds a way to upstage him if that’s even possible.

Boren is not the only player on the move for a defense that is searching for answers, leaders, and tacklers, as Urban has mentioned that Nathan Williams may also see some time at linebacker.  In my lifetime, I cannot remember ever being as worried as I was last week that our defense would be unable to stop an Indiana offense should they be successful in recovering a second onside kick, so I’m up for trying new things as long as we figure things out before next week.

Luckily this week, we welcome in the Boilers who rank 77^th in total offense, 63^rd in rushing, 69^th in passing, and 45^th in scoring.  Purdue plays two quarterbacks in Caleb TerBush and Robert Marve and the only thing I can really say is that Marve has shown toughness by playing with a partially torn ACL, but neither Purdue quarterback is much of a threat to have a big game.  I look for the Buckeyes to send all kinds of blitzes at the Purdue offense in order to force the quarterbacks to beat us.  I don’t think they are capable of doing so.

Playing from behind much of the day against Wisconsin last week, Purdue’s punter outkicked their offense last week by almost 100 yards as Purdue only mustered 252 total yards.  I am hopeful that the defense puts up the type of statistics that were standard during the Tressel era this week and forces similar numbers as the Badgers did last week.

OHIO STATE OFFENSE V. PURDUE DEFENSE

While the Ohio State defense has been the subject of much criticism as the unit is doing some soul-searching, Braxton Miller has continued to be at or near the top of on the Heisman watch list.  Miller will have his day against a pretty porous Purdue defense which, following the close loss at Notre Dame, has given up 123 points (41 ppg) and 1588 yards (529 ypg) in the last three games against the likes of Marshall, TSUN, and the fighting Beliema’s.

During their recent struggles on the defensive side of the ball, Purdue has shown it is able to play equally poor on the ground and through the air as the Boilers allowed 439 passing yards when they played Marshall, while they allowed 467 rushing yards against Wisconsin.  On the season Purdue ranks 76^th in total defense, 97^th against the rush, 41^st against the pass, and 71^st in scoring in the NCAA.  Kawann Short will look to lead the Boilers defense, but with the offensive line dominance the Buckeyes have exhibited in recent weeks, it’s more likely that Short comes up short (lame, I know) against the Buckeyes O-line.

In opposition to the paltry Boilers defense, the Buckeyes will field an offense that ranks 34^th in total yards, 8^th in rushing, 100^th in passing, and 20^th in scoring.  With Braxton leading the Buckeyes against a pretty inept defense, it should be a matter of picking their poison for the Buckeyes offense and Braxton should put up solid numbers through the air and on the ground adding to his Heisman resume.  Joining Miller in thrashing the Purdue defense, Carlos Hyde should add his third straight 100-plus yard performance to the books as Purdue.  To complement the ground game, you can almost take a long distance connection from Miller to Smith to the bank and this matchup will also provide Corey Brown (I heard he doesn’t like to be called Philly, but then I hear everyone [coaches included] call him Philly) opportunities to turn short routes into bigger gains.

With a relatively soft matchup against a pretty inconsistent defense, the Buckeyes will look to fine tune the well oiled machine that the offense has become and hopefully cut down on penalties as the Buckeyes are tied for 11^th most in penalties committed per game (one instances where a high ranking is not a positive).

SPECIAL TEAMS

If this game goes anything like I prognosticate that it will, the Boilermakers should be punting early and often, providing ample opportunity to break one and add to what should be a dominant Buckeyes performance.  With a dominant Buckeyes offensive performance, the Piranhas will have plenty of opportunity to lay the wood on the Boiler returners.

Call me a glass half full type of guy, but I think the Buckeyes hit their stride at home against the struggling Boilermarkers.  Agree or disagree?