| 27 September 2009
Did you see this one coming? As soon as I woke up and saw the weather I could have wrote the script for this game. Late fall afternoon, cool gloomy and rainy. It was a day tailor made for Tresselball. We saw it at its most brutal and effective yesterday.
You have to start with the domination of the oline of scrimmage by the defensive line. It took a USC line with four potential NFL players on it to have any degree of success against it, and that was limited. Early in the second half I knew this one was over. You could see it in Illinois body language as they left the field after Thaddeus Gibson single-handedly forced a three and out. It was like they went in at halftime and came out with a plan to try and contain Worthington, Larimore, Denlinger and Heyward only to discover that that allowed Gibson to run free. Their body language screamed, there is too many of them for us to block. I think we are going to see alot of that this year. I would give the defensive line player of the game. I don't want to single out one of them. Simon on the field again with the game on the line bodes well for the future. I notice that he does something smart once again. He was dropping into his area in a zone blitz. He stayed low so the quarterback didn't see him. As soon as he saw the arm go forward he jumped. Robert Rose might get a shot at the NFL as a tackle. Notice he is always running free. Great to see Lawrence Wilson out there having an impact. The depth and experience of this line is the best in the country.
Sweat was the best linebacker on the field today. Spitler had a really good football game.
I was impressed with Chekwa. He had the interference penalty but he had a fine game against another level talent in Benn. He reminds me a great deal of another #9, David Boston. So athletic and so long but big. With a better quarterback he would be putting up huge numbers. Juice Williams is a huge disappointment. The Buckeyes wanted him badly and I agreed with that decision. Pryor needs alot of work on his reading and decision making. Williams is a senior and Pryor is better. His arm is very strong but could not be more erratic. I don't know if he is fast enough to be a receiver in the pros but he is strong enough to be a running back. No way is he an NFL quarterback.
Donnie Evege will make a run at the depth chart. His special teams play shows he is finally healthy. He was a demon out there.
Don't like Hines at safety. He was an impact player at the Star. He has disappeared. I don't know if he is just not a safety or he is still adjusting. What I do know is he is not the same player. I have never been comfortable with him in coverage in the last third of the field. We need one of the young safeties to step up. I would have liked to notice Johnson on the field. I didn't see him.
Coleman will be the best safety to come out of this program in the Tressel era. He is physical and he can cover better than most strong safeties.
I saw more evidence that Pryor is trying to create a touchdown every time he touches the ball. We have these sayings, get north and south, run to daylight, take what the defense gives you, etc. All of them are about getting what you can out of the play. It is an important part of the game. Boom Herron is an Ohio State Buckeye because he has taken those lessons to heart. It is getting very frustrating watching Pryor turn solid runs into losses because he is trying to make a big play out of one that all he was going to get out of it was a few solid yards. I think overall he is pressing. I think we need to step him back. I would even consider sitting him for a game.
I never thought I would be praising Bryant Browning on this blog. We gutted Illinois. Ran right up the gut on them. Browning was a part of that. Shugarts is finding his way. We are running right more. Not asking our left tackle to be the lead blocker in the run game is a good thing. Adams has never been a dominating run blocker. Neither is Miller. Shugarts can be.
Is there any doubt who should be the starting back? Love Herron. Smart, tough, gives us his all. He is just not as gifted as Saine.
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