On The Bright Side..
65 yards and a cloud of dust (AP Photo)
The Bucks may have come up short last night but it wasn’t because Beanie Wells didn’t do his part. The big man showed he can run on any defense in the country finishing with 146 yards on 20 carries including the 65 yard TD burst that put OSU up 7-0 just over a minute into the game. Unfortunately, Beanie was limited to those 20 totes due to some questionable play calling early combined with the increasingly large deficit as LSU peeled off the 31-0 run.
To me, Beanie looked like the best player on the field, surpassing 100 yards rushing for the 9th time this season. The 146 yard effort gave him 1,609 for the season, good enough to pass a kid named Griffin for the most rushing yards by a sophomore in Buckeye history.
As Jason discussed last month, Beanie is positioned to make a run at the Heisman in 2008 and last night’s effort should be a nice springboard to some much deserved preseason Heisman hype.
Beanie was a stud…..no doubt. His stiff arm on one of LSU’s db’s was classic. Last night is hard to get over but I believe the returning OSU squad has alot to look forward to next year.
A few of the incoming freshmen could also contribute early. I’d love to see one or two of those OL’s improve the gaping hole in the middle of our line (Person and Rehring, specifically)…
We had a discussion here at 11W a couple of weeks ago about whether Beanie deserved Heisman consideration. I said he didn’t yet, but that strong performances against LSU and Ohio State would state his case for him. He’s half of the way there, althought one could argue that his 65 yard run early in the game came due to busted coverage by LSU and unfairly slanted his average. (Shrug) Still looked like a big run to me. I’d put him in my Top 5 for next year’s Heisman.
Sure, one could argue Beanie’s long run was due to a busted coverage but that person would be wrong. Entirely wrong. That run came on Ohio State’s bread and butter Power play. We run it a gajillion times during a season. There was absolutely nothing fancy about it and LSU knew EXACTLY what was coming before the ball was even snapped. We blocked it up perfectly.
Rehring was my Least Valuable Player. He did recover a fumble, I think. But damn. That’s all I can say on that.
Beanie will be in the top 5 lists. He will deserve to be. He even has a big test early to springboard him to number one, or sink him out of the list in the USC game.
Keith: Eh… I actually think it might be somewhat right, rather than entirely wrong. One safety’s poor play on that snap made the TD happen. LSU made adjustments after that run and it didn’t happen again. Anyway, the point isn’t that Beanie Wells’ stats were misleading. Or to be more specific, they were slightly misleading, but not enough to say he’s not a very high quality running back. I agree he played well and he’s both a speedy and powerful runner.
Put him in the stack for Heisman next year. ‘Nuff said.
We had a discussion here at 11W a couple of weeks ago about whether Beanie deserved Heisman consideration. I said he didn’t yet, but that strong performances against LSU and Ohio State would state his case for him.
I will argue that Beanie did indeed have a “strong performance against . . . Ohio State” last night. So according to you Beanie has stated his case. Given OSU tradition, Beanie will have to plead his case fairly soon, too. Enjoy the burger flipping, ladies.
Sigh. That was obviously a typo. I meant to say “USC”. I did flip some burgers tonight, but it was on my back deck. Grilling out for a little family gathering.
I give LSU credit for winning the game, but I don’t know if they beat the bucks, as much as the bucks beat themselves. To many stupid penalties at critical moments screwed the Bucks.
Grats to Beanie for the new Sophmore record, and hope that he can make more marks in his career.
I don’t know that LSU wins 5 out of 10, but they were much better prepared to deal with us than we were with them. I don’t think they were better, per se. Just that they’d seen equivalent speed a few times this year, and we’d seen nothing like them. Except in practice.
“Sure, one could argue Beanie’s long run was due to a busted coverage but that person would be wrong. Entirely wrong. That run came on Ohio State’s bread and butter Power play. We run it a gajillion times during a season. There was absolutely nothing fancy about it and LSU knew EXACTLY what was coming before the ball was even snapped. We blocked it up perfectly.”
As they were lining up for that play, I saw LSU stacking the box and I told my wife “LSU is gambling everyone up front so they must think it’s a run.” As Keith said, the formation gives it away. Typically what happens when the defense puts everyone on the line is that they stuff the play. But if the runner happens to break through the line, it’s usually a big play because there’s no one in the secondary to make the tackle. I thought it was strange to see them put everyone up close, but apparently Steltz wasn’t in correct position.
GatorPilot, I largely agree. But, I guess I don’t call a missed tackle or an improper angle a blown coverage. That defense was lined up exactly liked they wanted to be and the LSU linebackers filled accordingly. Highsmith chose to jump out of the way rather than legitimately engage the block of our pulling guard (Ben Person).
Beanie just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and, like you say, he’ll get some Heisman pub.
Mallet is leaving Michigan; so that must mean, that RR has Pryor locked up.