Archives for September 2013

Welcome to the weekly installment where we look at the game from a statistical perspective. Feel free to add your thoughts. What stats impressed you? Any stats concern you? Here are 5 stats that stood out to me in week 2.

7 – The number of players that recorded a rushing attempt and caught a pass. While I think we were all impressed with Kenny Guiton, I thought the team played much better as a whole. Multiple players contributed and rallied to overcome the absence of Braxton Miller.

23 – Even more impressive to me is the fact the 23 defensive players recored at least 1 tackle in the game. Of course the number of players msy be skewed a little becasuse backups were in the game, but the team defense was strong especially against the run. They held the Aztecs to 64 net rushing yards. I was also impressed by the pass rush. The Buckeye D-line was in the backfield a lot, recording 3 sacks on the day.

3-3 – The number of redzone chances resulting in touchdowns. The buckeyes were 1-1 in this category last week. This tells me two things. When the Buckeyes get in the red zone, they are making it count (100% touchdowns thru 2 games). Also, the big play ability of the offense has been off the charts. The Buckeyes have scored 11 touchdowns in 2 games. 7 of the 11 have been plays > 20 yards. Wow!

1 – I was happy to see Dontre Wilson score his first touchdown as a Buckeye. His speed is going to an X-factor for this offense. After the game he spoke about scoring his first touchdown and moving on from his fumble last week:

“When I saw the endzone I had to get there. I think about it [fumbling last week] all the time. I wish I had that play back, but you have to move on and keep playing. I’m way faster than a lot of people. Now, I have to go out and prove it.”

8/75 – Not too much negative for this game, but if there is one stat that could use improvement – dumb penalties. Most of the pentaliies yesterday were mental mistakes. You can live with some pentailies resulting from agressive play, but too many mental errors especially on the offensive line (I am looking at you Marcus Hall). I think this will be a point of emphasis in practice this week.

All in all a very impressive game. Any other key stats?

This game was over last as soon as that scrub Braxton Miller went down with an injury/brace issue. LOL just kidding or am I? To be honest the game was over before it started. The defense showed up and played tough. The offense was led by every ones favorite back-up Kenny Guiton.

At the half OSU led 35-0 behind a strong offensive effort from everyone. Dontre Wilson got the 1st TD of the day and the first of his career at OSU.

Philly Brown had a good game 6 catches for 73 yards and 2 TDs.

We are very blessed to have without a doubt in my mind the best back-up QB in CFB. Guiton is so in control of this offense and leads the team with smooth play and emotions.

The second half was a real sleeper with OSU going into turtle shell mode.

Final score Ohio State 42 – San Diego St. 7

Urban Meyer directly after the game said Braxton Miller will be full go next week so fear not Buckeye Nation.

Look for a lot more info over the next few days when the Motsagers delve deep into what this all means.

Good morning Buckeye Nation.

Show Me The Money: Fox Sports has said they want to be an active participant to get the broadcasting rights to the Big Ten. Mike Muluihill the vice president of programming was quoted as saying:

“I think when the time comes, we will certainly be an active participant in next round of Big Ten rights talks,” Mulvihill said. “Clearly we have a majority interest in the Big Ten Network. We have an ongoing relationship with the conference with the Big Ten Championship Game. I think the relationship between our management and Big Ten Conference management is exceptionally strong. I expect that we’ll be a very active participant in those discussions.”

Personally I think this will be great even though Fox Sports owns like 51 percent of the Big Ten Network. The B1G current deal expires after 2016 and that four letter network will have the $EC network started which hopefully they can’t afford the Tier 1 games just so I could listen to Gus Johnson screaming as only he does at the end of a Buckeye win.

Just Throwing Money Away: The owner of the Miami Dolphins (who are going to start 0-1 after losing to my Browns) has money to waste. Stephen Ross is giving scUM 200 million dollars.

“The University of Michigan had a profound impact on my life and I have received enormous satisfaction from being able to give back to the institution that played such a critical role in my success,” Ross said in a statement.

Oh sorry having a Breaking Bad moment and I’m just laying on a storage room filled stacked bills. There is other ways to waste 200 million like burn it, bury it, heck even send it to space. Oh wait here’s one even better replace the current scUM football team with the Dolphins so you might have a chance at beating The Ohio State!!! Nope Buckeyes will still kick butt. Go Buckeyes!!

He’s No Urban Meyer: Seems the head coach of the Texas Longhorns football team is catching some flack. Mack Brown and company dropped the ball on trying to get Jamies Winston into their program. Seems Winston who is now the quarterback of Florida State and he really wanted to go play for the Longhorns.

Jameis Winston put his name on the map with his first game versus Mark May Pitt by going 25 for 27 and passing for 4 touchdowns and running one in. I’m not sure what Mack and company are doing in Texas but I say keep up the good work so you can watch all the good players play elsewhere like the Buckeyes will be able to see Demetrius Knox (Texas decommitment and has committed to Ohio State) wear the Scarlet and Gray next season.

Final Walk: This was awesome to see, last week Zach Boren was on the outside looking in till Urban Meyer seen him. Boren who like other former Buckeyes went to Columbus to show his support to his former team and players plus deep inside he wanted to relive being a Buckeye player again.

“I was definitely sad,” Boren said. “I wanted to be on the other side of the ropes. I wanted to be with those guys.”

Coach Meyer seen Boren shook his hand and gave him a hug then lowered the rope to have him join his former team for one last walk to the ‘Shoe. This is what the 2012 season was about, the closeness the players felt for the Scarlet and Gray and the love they had for their coach and his in return to them.

Until next time Buckeye Nation…

We’re in Week 2 and if this week is half as exciting as last week, I’m diving right in! This is the first look we’ll have at Stanford as they had a bye week in Week 1 (how odd is that?). They face a San Jose State team led by quarterback David Fales who led the nation in completion percentage and was sixth in the nation in passing yards last season. The Cardinal started their season against the Spartans last season too and squeaked out a three-point win in a game that was tied going into the fourth quarter. Alabama is off this week getting prepared to face Johnny “Time Magazine Cover Boy” Manziel next week. Manziel and the Aggies are in a classic trap game this week. They’re in danger of looking ahead to the matchup we’re all looking ahead to and not taking Sam Houston State seriously. SHSU are the two-time defending FCS runner up and if last week taught us anything, it’s that top-tier FCS teams are not to be taken lightly. The Aggies will still be without several suspended players on offense, but as long as Manziel can stay in the game offensively, they should be okay. Pay attention to the new targeting rule this week, I know I will, as it now can result in an ejection (and if it happens in the second half, will result in missing the first half of the following game). There were six ejections last week. The play is subject to review, but not for reversal of the penalty (the 15 yards will be assessed regardless), only to determine whether the play warrants an ejection. Well I started the season 4-1 (thanks a lot Boise!). Let’s see how I do this week!

1. #12 Florida at Miami (FL) (11am CST ESPN): This may be the last regular season matchup between these two teams as a source from the Florida athletics program told the Orlando Sentinel, “Unless Miami joins the SEC, I don’t see us ever playing them again during the regular season. It’s just not worth it.” I hope it doesn’t happen that way, but if it does, I don’t think it will be difficult to enjoy this game. It’s a classic case of stingy defense versus explosive offense. Running back Matt Jones will play this week for Florida after battling a viral infection over the last few weeks even though Mack Brown did an admirable job last week against Toledo running for 112 yards and two touchdowns. I expect Muschamp to run the ball a lot Saturday with both Jones and Brown (and perhaps Fred Taylor’s son, Kelvin) to keep Miami’s athletic offense off the field and eat clock. I don’t blame them because running back Duke Johnson is explosive all by himself (224 total yards and a touchdown last week) and quarterback Stephen Morris is more than capable of taking over a game. Florida’s secondary may be too good though with highly-recruited freshman cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III already grabbing his first pick of the season last week and top-notch cornerback (and probable wide receiver as well) Louchiez Purifoy returning from suspension, Morris may have nowhere to throw. I think Miami can make a lot of noise in the ACC this season, but I think in order to win this game one of two things will need to happen. Either they’ll need to get a fairly big lead (ten points or so) early and force the Gators to go to the passing game or Florida will have to turn the ball over three or four times. I think the first scenario is more likely than the latter, but I don’t see them pulling it off. Florida wins a fairly close game.

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It’s that time again, time to get your weekend kicked-off right: It’s the MotSaG Friday Open Thread.

First, Some things about San Diego State for you to read:

• You can read Garth’s preview here.

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Glenville High school has long been know to Ohio State fans as a pipeline school for OSU. And in 2015 there is another great player who I recently interviewed named Matthew Draper. Draper is a very physical hard hitting linebacker in the similar mold of Chris Worley. We are not in on Draper currently, however I expect this to change soon. Urban is eyeing Glenville closely and he is a name Coach Ginn will not shy away from talking about. If he gets an offer I would not be shocked to see him carry on the Glenville tradition.

Q: Can you give us your current stats such as height, weight, 40 yard time, bench press, etc?

A: height:6’2 weight:200 40:4.62 bench:225×10

Q: Has the Ohio State contacted you yet?

No

Q: Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?

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The B1G Conference started the season on a solid foot, going 10-2 in the first week of the college football season. But its only going to get tougher as the season progresses. And of course the match-up of the week in college football involves a B1G team. I hear the game involves wolverines and leprechauns, so it should be exciting. Anyway let’s look at this week’s slate.

Saturday, September 7

South Florida @ Michigan State

The biggest question for Michigan State entering this game: Can the offense get going and help out the defense? Well if the Spartans want to win the B1G they better. And what better game to get going than this one? South Florida is coming off a season-opening beat down at the hands of FCS “powerhouse” McNeese State, who hung 53 points on the Bulls’ defense. The Spartans’ defense should have no problem handling South Florida’s offense too, which only mustered 21 points last week. I look for Michigan State to get a comfortable victory.

Eastern Michigan @ Penn State

The college football world was introduced to Penn State freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg last week and many Nittany Lion fans expect him to improve on his game this week as they take on a MAC team. Hackenberg threw for 278 yards in Penn State’s season opening victory over Syracuse, but turned the ball over twice. I expect coach Bill O’Brien to use this game to build up the young quarterback’s confidence and help him cut down on turnovers. Penn State will get an easy win and some valuable playing time for its backups.

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