| 03 October 2010
The Buckeyes can't have a tough game? When is the last time Illinois was not a tough game? It was the first road game of the year. That is always a big thing. That doesn't seem to be taken into account. Illinois came to play. It is not the same team we saw last year. Defensively they were very aggressive and athletic. This was a huge game for them. For the Buckeyes it was just another game. Can we not give Illinois some credit for playing hard and having a great game plan? Didn't Alabama have to come from behind last weekend to win?
None of that seems to matter to Buckeye fans. We are taking apart a national championship caliber team for having the audacity to have a tough game.
Pryor not throwing well seems to be of particular angst to fans. First off, Pryor only threw 16 passes. He completed 9 and hit for 2 touchdowns. Not a bad day throwing when the wind made passing a real adventure. Smart to keep a factor that you have no control over out of the equation. Another huge factor, I would say the biggest factor outside of the gusting wind, was being without 2 of our 3 starters at receiver. Stoneburner was missing physically while we were without Posey mentally. That has to be ironed out as our receiver depth chart is lacking veteran depth. Washington and Schwartz are there but Washington is unreliable and Schwartz has not proven to be a player the coaches have any faith in. The rest of our depth chart is a bunch of redshirt freshmen and true freshmen. We have to get Posey focused again. It is crucial. Pryor has not found a comfort level with Fragel. On his interception he forced the ball to Washington while Fragel was 10 yards behind him uncovered. If that was Stoneburner he would have found him. Who knows what his progression was on the play. He might have read the defense and made Stoneburner the primary. With Fragel there he tried to force it. We need our starters back for Wisconsin.
I hear complaints about Tresselball. With the starting quarterback out and in a tight game I was expecting and yes, hoping for, Tresselball. We did not start doing Tressellball until Bauserman threw up the worst ball since the days of Craig Krenzel. I see 4 white jerseys within about 5 yards of the ball. Where Bauserman threw the ball none of them had a shot at it. I would demote him for that one ball. The only thing worse than the throw was the decision to throw it. With a star quarterback you want a veteran behind him as a backup. He is going to be a player who manages the game. He is not going to make mistakes. He is going to take care of the ball. JT decided not to shut it down. Really gave him the reins. He made the worst possible decision. We can get that out of Guiton. I doubt Guiton does that. He likely tucks it and takes off, a much better play under the circumstances. I could live with that bad ball out of a youngster like Guiton. Veteran makes a bad decision and a bad throw. He doesn't take care of the ball and has no wheels. Put the young guy in there. The one with the wheels. That will serve us better than what we saw out of Bauserman.
I think we saw the beginning of the end of Brandon Saine. Herron starts and responds with a 95 yard game. Behind a great effort by the offensive line he responds with a 51 yard fourth quarter. That is rising to the occasion. Illinois expected Ohio State to run the ball but could do nothing about it. The next step is working Hall and Berry above Saine on the depth chart.
Who is left to play defense for us? We are quickly running out of bodies. Losing Moeller is huge. He was defensive MVP through the first quarter of the season. I saw Rolle get up slowly too. If we do not win the national championship I think it will come back to too many lost bodies on defense. This is really getting worrisome. What if Christian Bryant does not step up and show he is ready to play yesterday? I don't want to think about it. My game balls go to Nathan Williams and Bryant. What a game by Williams. Did I see him lined up at middle linebacker on a few plays? I know we are still moving the defensive line all over the place. The Xs and Os guy in me would love to know why they are doing that.
I see that Gant, Damicone and Wood had tackles yesterday. Orhian Johnson did not. All I remember from him is he left his man to attack the quarterback who was nearly out of bounds and being pursued by others which allowed a 29 yard pass play to set up the last Illinois field goal. No doubt in my mind that if Barnett had not been injured he would be the starter, and we would be a better defense for it. Johnson defenders are going to have a hard time defending a starting safety with zero tackles. He is not finding the ball.
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