An Ohio State Sports Blog
There wasn’t a whole lot of stiff-arming going on this past Saturday. There were stiffs out there, but that’s about it. Hopefully Beanie will give us our fill of his Stiff Arm of Justice against USC, but for now we’ll just enjoy Terrell’s mini SAoJ’s.
The MTV of the sports world has published the Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook‘s 2008 Ohio State Team Preview.
It’s a must read. It contains enough scary language to shake the knees of Big Ten offensive/defensive coordinators – mostly stuff we already knew, like:
“The talent and depth is amazing. Traditionally, quarterbacks make big improvements in their second full year of starting, which bodes well for Boeckman. With a horse like Wells at his disposal, experienced receivers, and a veteran line in front, he doesn’t need to try and do too much… The addition of Pryor and emphasis on using backs such as Saine in the passing game will be interesting to watch.”
However, the Yearbook’s research revealed some interesting changes to the Buckeye offense that we may see this season:
“His workload is not likely to increase this year, however, mainly because the Buckeyes are trying to diversify their offense a bit. As part of that effort, OSU spent much of the spring working on a formation that features two tailbacks on the field at once, a so-called ‘pony formation.’ The reason behind that effort is to get more out of sophomore Brandon Saine (6-1, 217), Ohio’s Mr. Football in 2006 and a high school track star.”
Pony formation? Wow. I’ve said it before: could you imagine the possibilities for this offense if Pryor replaced Boeckman in near-goal-line situations, with Saine and The Stiff Arm of JusticeTM in the backfield, and the Brians and Nichol on the line?
Defensively, the analysis gives the Buckeyes the following kudos:
“Defensively, the front needs to step up. But with all four tackles and three experienced ends returning, that should happen. Laurinaitis, Freeman and Jenkins are All-America caliber, and again, the defense has incredible depth. No question, this is the favorite to win the Big Ten, which would be the first time a team has won three straight outright league championships.”
It’s a bit odd that the review talks up the superiority of the OSU defense but then gives them a grade of ‘B,’ but that seems reasonable to me, if for no other reason than no other defensive squad dropped 15 interceptions last year (which is also mentioned). Still, if this year’s team can get the butter off its hands… they could easily control most Big Ten offenses — just like they did last year, but more consistently.
Enough! I’m getting sucked into analysis already, and we’ll have enough of that over the next month or so. For now just be sated with the Yearbook’s Preview.
H/T: Sean @ ATO
The preseason hype is starting already.
So it could be the Big 10 versus the SEC for the third year in a row. Power and speed versus just speed. The good guys versus the bad. 73-16 Tressel versus 72-19 Richt. The Stiff Arm of Justice and Tackling FailTM versus Knowshon Moreno. Boeckman’s wounded ducks versus Stafford’s overthrows. The North versus the South – CFB’s metaphorical civil war may continue.
I hope hope hope hope this happens. Not only because it’ll mean another chance at redemption, but also because, if Georgia’s involved, we might be able to recycle all of our Waterboy jokes again.
We’ve listed the five things we’re keeping an eye on the defensive end, so here are the five things to look for on the offensive side of the ball:
5. Offensive line vs. Dorsey (and his little friends) – There’s no denying Dorsey is a game changer, even if he isn’t 100%. Cordle, Person and Rehring will have the hands full, literally. Dorsey on one side, Favorite on the other and a whole lot of manhood coming up the middle. How will they handle such speed?
4. Which Boeckman shows up? We talked about which Laurinaitis shows up, but the question is a valid one for Boeckman as well. Will we have the laser focused dead-eye Boeckman that showed up against Penn State or the ‘implody’ Michigan State Boeckman that couldn’t keep the ball out of Spartan hands? The Killers B’s want to know.
OSU will lean heavily on Beanie, but it will be Boeckman that will be under the most pressure. That makes us a wee bit nervous.
3. Wrinkles? What changes will we see coming out of the gate? OSU could surprise everyone and go with the spread with Boeckman (a-la Michigan, but that might be too obvious) or bring Henton in and let him throw the ball (oh please, Heavens, no). Something needs to be added for a nice little wrinkle to get Les’ knickers in a bunch. I wonder how he’d feel if he saw ‘Beanie McFadden’ line up in the shotgun?
2. Go right at the teeth of LSU’s D – This is a combination of #5 and #1. The Buckeyes can’t shy away from the challenge of Dorsey and the LSU defense. They need to go right at Dorsey and, as on defense, attack attack attack.
1. Beanie Beanie Beanie – Here’s where it gets real simple. The Stiff Arm of Justice™ has had a nice long layoff and is itching to punish some bad people. If Beanie’s ankle is 100% (we know the stiff arm never tires) then LSU has no idea what is coming for them. A steady diet of Beanie is just what the doctor ordered for OSU fans.
Let’s do this
I struggled with this one. On one hand Vernon Gholston and James Laurinaitis had huge games. Almost 20 tackles for the Little Animal and four sacks for the Python Tamer. Laurinaitis was free to roam thanks to the D-line keeping blockers off him and Gholston and the rest of the DE’s (we are so deep at the ends, it’s almost unfair) got pressure all game long. On the other hand, you have the to two sustained touchdown drives, missed tackles on crucial 3rd-and-long plays and again, TWO TOUCHDOWNS. I’ll give Jenkins a little slack for his missed tackle on Beckum, as Travis has NFL talent and size. He is a big dude (6-4, 224) and Jenkins (6-1, 208), not as much. Nevertheless, that was one of many missed tackles that drove me crazy.
I’m taking all this under consideration without giving any weight to the luck Wisconsin had on more than one occasion. It can’t be ignored. The second touchdown was a desperation heave by Donovan, off his back foot, into the most improbable and almost uncatchable location possible. Kudos to him. There’s no defense for going up against Lady Luck.
This has nothing to do with the Defense’s performance, but I was really hoping PJ Hill could have played in this game. Zach Brown was a competent runner, but the defense could have used Hill as preparation for Mendenhall this week and Hart next week. They need confidence they can shut down a great running back, not just a decent one. Still, how can you be worried about opposing offenses when you see this:
Wisconsin came close to getting the dreaded no-sweatervest score not because of how they played (which wasn’t bad and would have earned them at least 3.5 SV’s) but how they acted after the whistle. I mentioned it in my semi-live update, but it bears repeating — hooting and hollering and getting in people’s faces after you make a tackle, no matter how impressive it was, has no place when you are losing by 14 points. Get pumped, high-five your buddy and get your sorry, no good, yella, losing-the-game-by-14-points keester back to the huddle. You made a great play. Good work. Now do it again on the next play.
Ooops, did Beanie just ran over your FACE?!
I listened to some of Bielema’s press conference after the game. He mentioned that he didn’t want his team to back down, not to be intimidated. That’s fine. Do it with your arms and legs, not your mouth. One of my favorite aspects about Tressel-coached teams is that you never see this. It’s never “look at what I did,” it’s all about “what we did.” Cue up Beanie’s score and run straight to the bench if you want to see how to do it. Make a great play? Great. Get ready to line up and run another.
Like most of you, I was wondering where the running game went during most of the second and third quarters. I thought we had good success running Beanie on the first couple of drives, when Wisconsin was obviously playing to stop the pass. Getting away from the run was a mistake and it showed. Going back to the run paid dividends very quickly. Twenty eight straight points prove that point.
I love how Beanie is running. Even when it looks like he’s in pain after every run, he gets back there and does it again. Wisconsin defenders were lucky they never really got close to tackling him. They were spared punishment via the Stiff Arm of Justice™
Garbage. Absolute garbage. While I can’t point to any particular play, I had the pervading feeling the whole game that we were getting jobbed. A missed holding call here, a questionable call there. Maybe I’m not remembering correctly. Something just didn’t feel right. But worse than the missed calls were the fact that they never flagged Wisconsin for obvious taunting on more than one occassion. They had the power to take control of the game, but the never did.
What more can be said about our collective man-crush? Wisconsin’s offense, Donovan in particular, was absolutely abused by Gholston. We’re talking pull-the-pants-down, spanked-on-the-bare-bottom-with-a-wooden-paddle-with-holes-cut-out abused. The defense is starting to call him “The Animal.” I don’t think that’s quite right. I prefer Manimal. Dude is just sick.
Baseline: 3 Sweatervests; +1 for each of Beanie’s TD runs, -1 for each of Wisco’s; +1 for each time Donovan was sacked, -1 each time a Wisconsin player whooped it up after a non-play.
I’m still surprised how the Ohio State/Michigan State result has been perceived. Not just nationally, either. The headline on the sports page of the Columbus Dispatch was “Quite a fright.” Are you kidding me? I know the writers don’t pick their headlines, but that is ridiculous. A fright? Seriously? Hardly. Michigan State came into Columbus with a vaunted rush game and something to prove. Ohio State’s defense put them in their place. Let’s start there:
Michigan State and its one-two punch of Ringer and Caulcrick came into this game running other defenses over. They were averaging over 450 yards of offense a game. These are not insignificant numbers. Michigan State may not be a great team, but they are good. You don’t rack up that kind of yardage without some talented players.
That being said, Ohio State’s defense absolutely dominated the Spartans. Gholston & Company held the double-J’s to 59 yards on the ground, 2.1 yards per carry. That’s stout. Nine first downs, total. Solid tackling, good adjustments, everything. Laurinaitis continues to be a leader by example, racking up 12 tackles and really seems to be everywhere on the field. Everyone is flying to the ball. This is a fun defense to watch.
As I mentioned above, Michigan State is not a bad team. They laid the wood to a good Indiana team (the same team that played Penn State tough last Saturday) and matched Wisconsin stride for stride for 3+ quarters. They also beat Pitt (even though it wasn’t pretty) who just beat a good Cincinnati team. They were averaging almost 37 points a game and gobs of yards coming into the Horseshoe.
They’re also a well coached team. Give Dantonio a couple years and he’ll have Michigan State in the thick of the Big Ten again. Don’t be fooled. Ohio State beat a pretty good Michigan State team.
It’s unfair, actually, how easily Beanie pushes around defenders. You know as soon as you see him switch the ball to his other hand that the Stiff Arm of Justice™ is coming, halting all in its path.
My only concern is that he relies on it just a little too much. It also leaves him vulnerable for arm/shoulder injuries. But for now, he seems to be doing just fine. Stiffing people is Beanie’s business, and business is good.
Gholston decided to descend from his throne atop Mount Olympus to play as a mere mortal this week. Can’t let anyone get too suspicious. We’ll give him the decidedly mortal five Sweatervests.
Baseline: 3 Sweatervests. +1 for Ballard’s catch. Thing of beauty. +1 BIG D. That’s a D with 72 point font. +1 for Beanie’s 221 yards. More of that, please. -1 for Boeckman’s INT, -0.5 for his lost fumble (not entirely his fault) and -0.5 for Beanie’s almost lost fumble. Less of that, please!
