| 05 September 2009
Not nearly as bad as it appears. We are bad at safety. It is a different game with a play out of our free safety. It is a completely different game with only two plays out of our free safety.
Not much was asked out of Anderson Russell. Not against a ground oriented attack like Navy. They only threw 13 balls. Two of the three Navy touchdowns came when he was one one one against a receiver . One touchdown was on an inside move and the other on an outside move. Three of the last four touchdowns scored against this defense were because of poor free safety play. Remember the last defensive play of the Texas game. I am not blaming Russell. He is not the same player as he was before his knees were cut out from underneath him. That we are in a situation that he is our best option at free safety is where I place the blame. That comes down to coaching decisions. We are not good enough at safety. That is why there is much anti-Buckeye buzz after this game.
The other negative is the offensive line. I had private e-mails about how myself, and others like me, were going to have to eat our words about the offensive line and Bollman before the season was over. I will wash my foot again next week in eager anticipation of the offensive line making me eat my words. Against a greatly outmanned and outsized Navy defense, we got nothing done. Don't listen to me. Everyone has DVR now. Look at your tape of the game and tell me we dominated the line of scrimmage. We got stood up at the point of attack all day. 3 of 11 on third down. The season has started. My muzzle is off. This is not good enough.We need change.
Pryor has the chance to change the quarterback position. That he is not a good passer is utterly ridiculous. He is a special player.
Did you notice the difference in Saine? His feet are quick again. I never thought we would see explosive out of him again. He looks lighter too. Some good runs out of Herron too. He is a smart and brutally efficient back but he is not special. I don't know if Saine can be. I think based on what we saw in this game that we give him the opportunity. Herron is the back that is always going to get you four and a half on a play that should give you five. I question whether he is going to get you 80 on a play where he was not supposed to get more than four. I think we may want to give Berry and Hall more reps. Then again, the offensive line play needs to get better. Maybe we don't need to shuffle the depth chart in practice this week at running back.
Talk about dissappointing. I thought we would see Taurian Washington make an impact. I noticed him twice, both times dropping balls that would have had some impact on the game.
Great game by Ballard. A couple of great catches in this game. I like that Pryor is looking underneath. Kept some drives alive with underneath stuff.
Duron Carter impressed me greatly. Love that he catches the ball with his hands instead of his body.
The defensive adjustment after the first Navy touchdown on its first possession must be noted. The linebackers were getting beat. I don't know if it was so much a schematic thing as it was a motivation thing. I will need to watch the game again before I can say which. All I know is the linebackers were late on that first series but not again for the rest of the game. I thought Homan as well as Rolle had really good games. Spitler had a couple of plays that I noted.
The defensive line had a great performance beyond the first drive. Heyward had a couple of noteworthy plays but it was Worthington and Larimore that got my attention. They were around the ball and making things happen all day. Big plays by our weakside guys with Gibson and Williams both stepping forward with game impacting plays. I thought Gibson in particular had a great game.
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