While the sight of college football tonight may ease the pain for some of you, we all know these next 2 days are possibly the longest of the year. Your legs twitch uncontrollably, you can't sleep starting tonight and the nervous sensation in your stomach just won't go away.
It's been Buckeye overload for me the last couple of days, as I tried to catch up on a week's worth of news. I know we all just simply need an actual game to talk about, but I still came across a couple of topics that I thought needed discussed further before Saturday's opener.
Up-Tempo offense coming our way
My first impression from watching Ohio State'e televised practice was the sveltness of Ohio State's offensive line, as Boone, Rehring and Person each look as if they have lost 20+ pounds. Apparently they are ready for the no-huddle offense Ohio State has been practicing this fall.
Ken Gordon pointed to Beanie's comments Tuesday about going exclusively to the no-huddle and calling plays by signals. Are we going to see an up-tempo style from the beginning? The depth is undoubtedly there and will only add to the excitement for this season.
Controversial Replays will now be shown in Ohio Stadium.
It has always been frustrating at the Shoe when you are not able to see a replay of any close call, but it was announced Tuesday that will be coming to an end. Ohio State is now able to show these types of plays, but they can only show it once and it can't be any slower than 75 percent, so don't get in an argument with a blue hair when they tell you to sit down and stop booing, because your going to miss the replay.
Field Goals, is there reason for concern?
The numbers from the kick scrimmage were disappointing last week. Jason touched on it, but Gene Smith's smack down of Time Warner overshadowed the dreadful numbers put up by the kickers, as the three combined to make only 10/20 attempts, with three of those being blocked.
Ryan Pretorius made 17 of 21 field goals last year, with 2 of those misses from 30-39 and three attempts being blocked. He made only 5 of 8 in the scrimmage, connecting on longs of 47 and 53, but missed from 35, 48 and 42 yards. It has been some time since the game came down to a field goal, but I have a feeling 3 points will be huge in Los Angeles and Madison this year and OSU can ill afford to take a step back in the kicking game. Does anyone feel concerned or is OSU's high octane offense going to make FG's obsolete this year?
The Motts
Help Spread the Word
If there is one thing you know we like to do around here, it is give away free stuff. In an effort to try and spread our Buckeye passion we have created the 11W Sticker 2.0 (1.0 is a collector's item currently blowing up on eBay), shown here and would love to send some your way and possibly a few for your Buckeye friends. Simply contact me at corey@elevenwarriors.com and we'll be sure to get some out to you.
No Michigan mailing addresses will be accepted.
Side note -- anybody interested in this print as desktop wallpaper?
Comments
wallpaper - yes!
I can't believe I can't get one up here in the dumb state. I am as scarlet of a buckeye as their is. What a bummer, but I would still love it as a desktop wallpaper!!!!!
This was emailed to me by a fellow Buckeye and it has to be the goddamn funniest thing I've read all year...so true on so many levels! Enjoy, football season is here!
http://www.gump4heisman.com/my...
I'll send them to Michigan, if you bleed the scarlet and gray. That line was thrown in there for humor, of course we would love to cover that state in 11W stickers.
I also failed to mention the first Jim Tressel call-in show is today at noon.
You can get it here: http://www.1460thefan.com/live...
Lots of atmosphere changes being made this year, glad to say I was part of some of the decision making process, although I couldn't get them to get rid of the FREAKING KISS CAM!! Apparently Gene Smith's wife loves it......yawn
i think the biggest thing to come out of this is the no huddle, to be honest. i can't remember a time where we have used the no huddle for any extended period of time duing a game, and the ability to do that at will for any offensive situation would be an incredibly powerful weapon in our arsenal.
also the controversial replay thing; FUCKING FINALLY. this was by far the worst part of my experiences at Ohio Stadium, knowing something had gone wrong but not being able to confirm or deny exactly what.
It seems that Pretorious doesn't always kick the ball on a high enough trajectory, which is why he gets a disproportionate amount of his kicks blocked. Here's hoping he's worked on that a bit.
According to JT on his call in show, it looks like OSU will be thin in the secondary this week. Kurt Coleman and Andre Amos are going to be sitting out right now, throw in Washington and O'Neal's suspensions and they may only have 4 safeties and 4 corners.
Does anyone know WHY it took so long for them to get instant replay in the Shoe? Was it a technology issue or were the decision makers just being stubborn? Just curious.
I agree, outside of the Ancients bitching about me standing in cheering, that was the absolute worst part of Ohio Stadium. Hated the fact that instead of seeing a potential game changing call, I would look up and see Homer Simpson spelling out OHIO.
OSU didn't want drunk rowdies to yell at the officials or chuck old people on to the field if a call was blown.
Wallpaper, yes! In nice, high rez samples (preferably).
Make it a wallpaper
wallpaper = good...! thanks Corey.
I think the "smells like D Day" graphic would make a great wallpaper too.
[...] the game, you won’t miss out on any replays that we’re all able to see at home. Per Eleven Warriors: Last year in the first quarter of the Ohio State-Illinois game in Ohio Stadium, some Buckeyes fans [...]
This team needs to know that it can get at least 3 points every time it crosses its opponents 40 yard line. I am disheartened to know that after 7 months these guys might have gotten worse, especially being a special teams unit on a Jim Tressel team. Hopefully, that gets resolved before the 13th.
Just nit-picking here, I know... But I think Pretorius was 18 of 23, per the NCAA stats page... ;)
Have to agree with everyone else on the repalys in the Horseshoe. Finally! That was a desperate need for fans who are in the stands and not watching at home in glorious HD.
I love the sticker! I'll need to get me some of those! And you're not joking about these being the longest two days... I am so freakin' ready for college football. Especially Buckeye football!!
What time is it?? 4:46pm, and M!ch*g@n STILL SUCKS!!
Count me among the astounded crowd regarding the bad special teams news. As bad as we were last year and as much as JT loves the special teams, this is going to drive him (and us) nuts unless they get this corrected.
"Roger Danish"
Arrested Development reference?
[...] few weeks ago, we gave you the chance to have some 11W stickers sent your way. We didn’t know how many request would be received, after all how many of our [...]