Have at it. I’ll be AFK for most of the day, but I’ll be watching the game. GO BUCKS.

Presented without comment.

As always, stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.

What a strange game that was.

This second look post is going to concentrate mostly on the offense but let me just state that the defense is mostly fine (the loss of Moeller SUCKS but with Nate Oliver’s return, I think we’ll be okay) and let me state the obvious and say Jonathan Hankins is going to be a manimal for years to come. He is a space eater and manhandles opposing linemen. It’s a joy to watch the boy play.

Also, something not many people seem to be talking about is how the wind affected the passing game. Why is that? Doesn’t fit the narrative? Anyway…

(Once I looked at my notes, this was a hot mess. Hopefully I can sum up the situations and that they’ll still make sense).

Let’s talk about the running game (and the offense in general).

I tried to concentrate a couple things watching the game a second time — line push, line assignments and backs finding the hole. During the first quarter, I thought the line was able to get movement up front and actually opened holes for both Saine and Herron which were both missed. This is going to be a common theme for Saine but Boom’s vision got better as the game progressed.

During the second drive of the second quarter, the line opens a HUGE hole that Saine hits but then stutter steps just before the line of scrimmage, right before contact that never actually comes and is subsequently tripped. It’s little things like this that have been plaguing Saine. The pass blocking was mostly okay but near the end of the half, Shugarts whiffs on 3rd and ten block that could have sprung Pryor for a decent run, possibly picking up the first instead of surrending a sack. This came after two missed passes (a poorly thrown ball to Sanz and a Posey drop) that set some bad joojoo in motion.

On the next possession, after the two drops and a sack on the preceding three plays, Pryor needed to calm down. Unfortunately, he tries to force a pass on the very next play into triple coverage and throws an INT. This is a coaching issue here. If there is one serious knock against Pryor, it’s that he presses too much and then makes boneheaded decisions like this. This fact is amplified on the very next possesion to close out the half. The possession starts out with a designed QB run that Pryor gets big yardage, setting up a TD. This comes about 3 minutes too late. When Pryor allowed to use his athleticism, it usually results in a big play and usually calms him down.

The second half was strange and kind of a blur. Losing Pryor was scary, but it was amazing how quickly Tressel went into turtle mode. It’s a credit to Herron that he was able to carry the load. As monkey pointed out, Herron carried the ball 19 times for 89 yards. 4.7 yards a carry is exactly what Tresslball calls for when a lead needs protecting and your superstar is unavailable.

I would have said the offensive line, on a scale of 1 to 5 played at about 3.5. The outside blitzing that Illinois did was troublesome, with both tackles missing pick-ups while helping inside on the defensive ends. This is easily correctable and when the tackles did recognize the blitz, they were mostly able to neutralize it. I’d also like to point out some more obviousness: Boren doesn’t miss blocks and he is really good at pushing people out of the way. I think I saw maybe one missed assignment by Boren.

So what to do about these running backs. Saine is not seeing any running lanes. He isn’t playing to his strengths. He had multiple times to beat defenders to the corners and inexplicably cut things back to the middle of the field. It’s almost as if he’s lost confidence. Boom is still playing like Boom and a 4+ yard per carry average is solid but it isn’t flashy. It is what fans want to see.

So what do you want to see? Who would you rather see in the backfield on Saturday?

[poll id=”6″]

Men of the Scarlet and Gray Ballot – Week 6

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	—
2	Ohio St. Buckeyes	—
3	Oregon Ducks	—
4	Boise St. Broncos	1
5	TCU Horned Frogs	-1
6	Nebraska Cornhuskers	3
7	Auburn Tigers	4
8	Utah Utes	—
9	Arizona Wildcats	5
10	Michigan St. Spartans	6
11	Oklahoma Sooners	1
12	LSU Tigers	1
13	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	2
14	Michigan Wolverines	4
15	Nevada Wolf Pack	2
16	Iowa Hawkeyes	6
17	Northwestern Wildcats	8
18	Miami Hurricanes	6
19	Wisconsin Badgers	-9
20	Missouri Tigers	—
21	South Carolina Gamecocks	-1
22	Kansas St. Wildcats	1
23	Florida Gators	-17
24	Stanford Cardinal	-17
25	Air Force Falcons	-4
Dropouts: Texas Longhorns

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

I feel mostly good about this. I struggled with ranking Ohio State and Oregon. I thought about flip-flopping the two after Oregon dismantled Stanford (man, how refreshing is it to watch Jim Harbaugh get thoroughly punked?). After comparing the two resumes, I still have to give the edge to Ohio State. The two marquee games for each school (Miami and Stanford) could be viewed as a “push”. The mere fact that Ohio State didn’t play a 1-AA school gives them the slight edge.

Auburn gets the big bump due to last week’s comments urging me to rank them higher and them looking very good five weeks into the season. Michigan State got a nice little bump for their victory over Wisconsin.

Also — have I been too harsh on Stanford and Florida? I deranked those teams with a certain amount of glee.

Comments, suggestions and rebukes in the comments section, please.

I am going to be busy pretty much all day today doing family-type things, so I probably won’t be able to participate in the live chat, but feel free to join your fellow Buckeye fans in there and feel free to use the comments here to post anything CFB related throughout the day. I’ll probably make it in here near around the Oregon/Stanford game.

Hit the jump for the Live Chat

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Ahead of the Illinois game, let’s bask in the light of some of the highlights from the four non-conference games. This video comes courtesy of MotSaG video guy, MannyCincy. It is, as the kids say, *tight.

*Do the kids still say that? I’m not really sure.

Time for the Numbers! I love it. Your father loves it. Your Aunt Neda watches it every night in the VCR.

Presented without comment. Just for clarification: Illinois’ 100% red zone is based on NINE trips to the red zone. Ohio State has 18 touchdowns scored in the red zone.

As always, stats are grabbed from cfbstats.com.