Onward!After a hellish two weeks that consisted of moving, an ass-kicking project at work, an ass-kicking of my favorite team last weekend and my pets heads falling off, I'm ready to settle back in and hopefully watch the beginning of a new era of Buckeye football.
If Pryor does get the start and manages to play a majority of the game (or at least a majority of the game while it still matters), I have every reason to believe that his natural talent will make a lot of the other problems disappear. The line will start to groove, receivers will break open because of the pressure he exerts on defenses and the time he can buy in the pocket or on the run and the running game will positively blow up. Especially if the pistol/read option is run on a regular basis.
There is still so much football to be played and there's something to be said about the contagiousness a truly dynamic player brings to the table.
Outside of Pryor, are there any youngsters you've been dying to see more of on the field? What about the over/under on the number of Trojans in the flyweight category that have to be helped off of the field?
There's not much in the way of marquee Big Ten out of conference games this weekend, though Michigan State welcomes Notre Dame to East Lansing (3:30PM, ABC). Not exactly two Goliaths, but Sparty has a great chance to turn that "little brother" rubbish around by beating the team that waxed the Wolverines last weekend.
We'll also find out if Iowa is (somewhat) for real this weekend as they travel to Pitt. The Hawkeyes have taken care of business out of the gate, despite the turbulent offseason. It's a reflection of how far they've fallen since that Orange Bowl appearance that Pitt, sorry Pittsburgh, is a barometer game -- especially when you consider the egg the Panthers laid against Bowling Green in their opener. A noon start on ESPN2, this is the game you'll most likely be peeping during commercial breaks in the Buckeye game.
National games of note:
- #6 LSU travels to #15 Auburn in this week's marquee game. Even with the question at quarterback heading into this season, the Tigers have pretty much smacked-down everyone they've played (albeit all warm-up games) and finally get their first true test of the season. If this game even comes close to living up to the drama of Matt Flynn's last second heroics last year, it'll be worth taking in. (7:45PM, ESPN)
- Georgia fans will finally experience the thrill of boarding an airplane to go see their team play when they make the trip to Tempe to see their #4 Dawgs take on Arizona State. It's the first game outside of SEC territory that the Dawgs will have played in Richt's seven years at the school and was a topic of much discussion by fans of each school all summer, but the game has a lost a little bit of its luster thanks to UNLV's win over the Sun Devils last weekend. (8PM, ABC)
- Daggummit's Seminoles host #17 Wake Forest and at least in the Coaches Poll, the Noles are ranked for the first time since they ran into Wake last year and took one on the chin 24-21. Florida State has feasted on two FCS teams (Western Carolina and Chattanooga) to get that 2-0 mark, but enter the game as underdogs. If your football coming of age years were the 90s, like mine, this is mind-boggling. But it's also a testament to the fine job former Ohio coach Jim Grobe has done at the school. (7PM, ESPN2)
Comments
Let the Pryor to Posey era begin!!
I voted for Other in the poll. Ryan Pretorius will score first.
Thank God it's finally "next saturday" so we can hopefully get the taste of last week out of our mouths. I guess that's the only good thing about the USC debacle compared to Florida and LSU - we don't have to wait 8 months to get back on the horse.
It's actually Georgia's first trip west of Arkansas since 1967. Not kidding one bit. Nineteen sixty-seven.
flipbuckeye,
Offense stalls in the redzone and Pretorious gets the first points? I have no reason to argue.
It'd be nice to see the Buckeyes put up over 50, which should not be too tall of a task. Ofcourse, hopefully Troy doesn't score 50+.
Hey, remember when everyone was freaking out about Wisconsin almost losing to UNLV last year? Proof that the Big Ten is awful? Well they might be right, Arizona St (arguably one of 2 actual contenders for the PAC-10 title (haha yea right, someone besides USC?) actually LOST to UNLV.
Arizona also dropped one to New Mexico State...Now ESPN asks "How good is the Mountain West Conference?" NO SPIN ZONE.
Hahahaha, great point Poe!
That's right Jason, I hope to see what should be the turning of a page in Buckeye Football. Let's all hope that the catastrophe which was USC will turn out to have been the bottom of the barrel...
Interested to see mroe of Pryor this week. Good luck against Troy Buckeye fans. I'll have to catch the rebroadcast of the game when it is on BTN as I'll be watching Penn State-Temple.
Boom!
Let's see some risk taking on D!
Let's see TB holding a clipboard!
Let's see LBiC throw the ball 40 yards downfield!
Let's see Ray Ray continue to meet his freshman expectations!
Let's see Mike Adams @ LT!
Let's see a sack!
Let's see tOSU with more points than the other team when the game is over!
I would just like to see some emotion in this game. I don't doubt we can win (hell, that's what we do - we beat the teams we're supposed to). But how we win is more important than the actual win. We need to get some swagger back.
I'll have a Samuel Jackson!
Well that was nice. Two things:
1. LiC drops back for the 1st time today, and who do we see chasing a Trojan towards the QB? Ben Fucking Person. Deja fucking vu. He really, really sucks.
2. Boom looks better - much better - every week. Another reason to ask why he wasn't kept in the OU game to keep finding his groove. Yes, I know all the reasons why we had to play them all that week, etc...
3rd and 11, Ben Person sucks again.
Is it just me or does Robo really have a bum shoulder?
Wow - even though that 3rd down ball was incomplete, you can tell already he's better than Boeckman AT EVERYTHING - at least the ball was thrown where ONLY Robo could catch it, instead of, well, you know, just ANYBODY when Todd flings it.
Thanks for the effort, Robo.
So, question...I heard the TV cronies float the idea that Tress was starting TP just to give TB a rest...What are the chances that this TP action is a one week deal? I'd much rather see him play for the rest of the year, but what if Tress is just letting his bruises heal for a wee? You know what, I'd rather not know the answer to that question. Aaaand, I'd rather see us stop their damn run game.
Sorry I meant 2nd down. I'm a little behind the action on the DVR.
Hey we're on pace for 28 points!
Too bad Troy average 30-some against BCS schools last year...
Lol, El Cab, so what you're saying is that Robo didn't catch that b/c he's totally not used to catching a ball in stride? That he's used t the jump ball, was waiting for the jump ball, was ready for the jump ball and SHIT TP THREW IT PAST ME NOW WHAT ARGGGGHGHGHGHG....
Aaaand we got a sack. Nice.
Jebus, how shitty/injured IS Robiskie, anyway?
Can someone please match Pryor's effort on this team!
can we carbon copy coleman and then have two colemans and no russels on defense?
the guy who dropped 40 gabillion INTs last year comes up with THAT?!
I continue to be unimpressed by the play of the seniors on offense. Now it's Robiskie with the mental error on going out of bounds on his own, not to mention the nonchalant one-handed attempt to catch that long ball from TP. Time for the young receivers to take over.
Robiskie is not giving any effort and shold be benched until he gets his head out of his ass.
I swear the next person that says OSU is getting 'out of character' penalties is going to get slapped. We've been getting lots of dumb penalties for a looong time now. Just b/c Tress is squeaky clean does not mean his team plays penalty free. We get too many damn penalties all the damn time, and after awhile that starts to become your characteristic than being 'uncharacteristic.'
TP TD TP TD TP TD THAT IS SURPRISINGLY NOT ALL THAT EASY TO TYPE PROPERLY!
Brian H you are now forgiven for your dumb penalty. Please carry on.
was it a long ball or a catch and run?
Aaron, are you asking how the TD came? I'm assuming here you don't have access to the game?
Rather than wait for the answer...TP sensed some edge pressure, stepped up and to the right about 2 steps, kept his head downfield and caught Hartline on the post, about what 30yds and takes 2 steps into the endzone. So, yes.
LiC may never lose another game in college!
Any info? What is Small in trouble for this week?
Yeah, I have no idea where Small is.
Downfield. Downfield. Downfield.
I also came here to find about Small.
I'd rather hear that he has a mild injury than hear that he is in trouble AGAIN.
Good tackles...all around.
Teh awesome. And now the announcers are talking about how Troy has more speed than us.
aaaaand even though this has looked pretty easy, we're letting them hang around.
I just this minute signed up for the BT Network now that Brighthouse is finally carrying it. It came on, and I got to see that miserable backfield work that led to a Troy TD. Maybe I should get my $1.99 back,
I want to see some Lamaar 'Flash' Thomas...
Think we settle for a field goal? Uh, probably.
Meanwhile, NW is beating Ohio 9-0 heading to half. We might have to watch out for those Wildcats
16-0! Wildcats at halftime. Boy that makes us look bad
ya im in the army and not in the states and im an avid buckeye fan and no way to see the game
I think you've gotta just tip your hat to that kid from Troy on that TD, it was a hell of a run. That's the hell of defending the spread, of course. Even the very best defenses will get burned from time to time.
It's also why DickRod's teams will very dangerous in a couple years.
whoops forgot the "be"
The QB formerly known as Big Head Todd and the Boeckmans, shall now and forevermore be known as, Big Head Todd and the Backups!
Aaron,
Where you at, who you with?
El Cab,
Yeah, it was a hell of a run, but we seriously missed 3 tackles on that guy from 3 of our best defenders-Freeman, Washington and Coleman all tried to arm tackle.
Has anyone heard whats up with Small?
Good coaching having Dane Sanzenbacher (5'6"?) out there on that hail mary jump ball.
im with 2ID...stationed outta fort lewis, washington...but from what i understand it doesnt look like we are doing to good against troy?
If there is a brightside... Pryor still continues to impress! If we couldn't say he was the real deal last week, he's definitly proving it now!
Halfway through his first start he has looked fantastic. He definitly throws the ball very well. He had one bad pass ( Come back route to Sanz - Part of the bad throw may have been forced by lack of a throwing lane though ). His only other bad play came at the end of the half were he tried to do too much, not to make another excuse for him, but at least he's showing effort!
I may being going out on a limb ( Remember this kid is a Freshman ), but I think he is slowly going to change this team for the better as we enter Big 10 play. He is simply embarrassing the Seniors as far as Leadership and Effort...There is NO way that they can allow this kid to simply look like our one shinning star!
On the other side of the ball, Hines continues to impress...I think he had every tackle in the first half.
I'm going to be very, very angry if Boeckman gets ANY more snaps today.
A. Russel must be benched. Horrible!
Yo, Dirty. But that's what I meant about the spread - Freeman can't keep up w/ that kid and it all goes bad after that.
For anyone who can't watch the game like me, here's live streaming audio coverage (it's amateur radio but better than nothing):
http://sc9.spacialnet.com:2451...
Aaron,
I spent a partial summer as a cadet w/ a 2ID bn in Korea, Camp Hovey. Good times. We look uninspired, I think, and even though TP has had some very nice flashes we're not scoring enough to keep this offense of theirs off the field.
WHO THE BLOODY HELL TAUGHT COLEMAN HOW TO CATCH A FOOTBALL???!!!
argh punt. we HAVE to score, they are moving the ball on us awfully well.
Our D is again having to bail us out of close games
Again, play calling is horrible! Pryor shows he can throw, but you don't call a pass play the entire series?
dangit we cannot blitz for the LIFE of us. why can't we ever get to the qb? i've been moaning about how we don't blitz enough and play pressure D, but when we DO we get no effect...so why blitz? Omg...tackle someone on first contact!
I don't know if our D is bailing us out. Troy's stupid mistakes ( A lot of them coming form the coaching staff ) is bailing us out.
Big stop!
FINALLY an open field tackle.
JB, I hear you...Our D has a couple nice takeaways, but is getting killed on those screens. We have to make tackles at the point of first contact, and they're getting six, seven yards after contact. And our 3rd down defense has been rough too.
Yes more blitzes, yes better tackling, PLEASE. Is it me or does Malcolm seem to be having an off day? He's gotta jump on one of those routes sooner or later, no?
El Cab,
Is he in a spot to jump that, or do they have him playing that off-nickel sort of spot against their spread?
Hey, look, TP makes an off-throw...but when you let a guy's arm cool down, that's what happens. How many throws has he had in the last 45 minutes?
We need to capitalize on field position. They are owning us in ToP
I don't know, Dirty, that's why I asked.
Didn't we own some other team in TOP last week?
Posey time. Sending a message to the Brians, I hope.
First play should be a shot in the end zone....
Nice pass and catch. Whew.
HA SECOND PLAY JB say it next time too, you're obviously good mojo.
Way for Robo to respond. And the above comments are on the money -- the Boeckman era at Ohio State could be coming to an end.
Wow. This kid is so, so good right the hell now.
lol, AWESOME TV work by the crew, with 1113 left in the game "We'll have to find out later why Ray Small has not been in at all."
You think?! It only took you 3/4 of the game to figure that out?
Where in the world is Ray Small ?
There you go El Cab, Jenkins jumped one.
Wait a minute....where's Ray Small? I haven't seen him all game. He's nowhere to be seen, like a ghost or something.
Ummm.... Who's Todd Boeckman?
Four TD strikes in his starting debut. DAAAAAAMN...
TDs not FGs. Nice! That's what elite teams do.
Dude, Rob, this is NOT an elite team.
Not quite yet, but if Pryor gets his groove-on, they could become one in a matter of weeks. Madison will obviously be huge.
I like seeing Sabino in there mixing it up. Great hit earlier on kickoff coverage too.
Yeah, would have been great to get some of the freshmen in for more time against OU, but we'll take what we can get.
New poll up on the right -- may be the most lopsided results ever in an 11W poll, but...
Jason, I agree that TP makes the dynamic of this team very different and can do a lot to 'make up' for bad oline play, but against an elite DLine TP would face an entirely different kind of pressure than he got today, and an entirely different talent level in the secondary. Just ask Troy Smith what playing against an elite level team is like in the MNC. And TP's presence does not do a damn thing to shore up our shoddy DLine play.
I agree Jason... I said it in a previous post, but I really think that Pryor's Leadership, Effort and the sheer Energy he brings to the offense will propel this team back into an elite team when all is said and done.
You saw how well our D reacted after the first TD strike in the 2nd half. We finally have LIFE under center and I really think this entire team will "come to life" in Big 10 play!
4 TD's is great, but that lack of mistakes it whats so shocking! He came out and was cool calm and collected and really won this game for us!
Alright ya'll, nice hanging out with you today. I'm headed out, gotta make the drive back out to the country. Until next week...Go bucks!
I agree with Dirty that this is NOT - yet - an elite team.
I also agree with Jason that they're getting close to being one. Camp Randall will tell all.
So long, Dirty.
Where's my buddy Tom?
sounds like a great kid. Gonna be fun to watch him develop
Exactly BC! His interview was as good as his performance! Not only did he do great on the field, but he is proving all the people that gave him bogus crap for his delayed signing that they didn't know what they the hell was going on.
Does anyone know a site that shows extended highlights of Buckeye games?
Deuce, ESPN has some video footage with their recap:
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/...
The Big Ten Network will probably have something up soon as well:
http://www.bigtennetwork.com
cool, thanks man.
Again the defense struggles, and with the spread. WTF? Wasn't that supposed to be our best unit? They need to have a players only meeting and do two things 1) IGNORE WHATEVER HEACOCK CALLS 2) get the fundamentals right and play like a warrior and just for fun GET SPIELMAN ON THE PHONE!
Anybody start firejimheacock.com yet? If not please do!
I do like what Pyror gives us. Kid is a straight baller. Troy Smith with height and a little more speed?
Observations:
(1) Pryor is the real deal, but will still have struggles this year and at time this O will still be shut down.
(2) Defense still has major issues
(3) Major issues at WR still - nice grabs by Hartline today though
(4) Boom clearly gets the nod over Saine - only breathers for Boom until Beanie gets back, at which time Saine sits next to Mo Wells
(5) I do not like our chances at Whisky in all honesty. But, at least we keep it close, And who knows, TP could make it happen there
but we can still win the B10 with that loss at Camp Randall - who knows, maybe 7-1 in league and BCS bowl win and we can start to change conversation nationally about this team. these long off season conversations about our losses have hurt as much as anything, and having an off season of positive results to talk about can help ... lets get some positive momentum back
go bucks, glad to have a W today
Here's extended highlights from the BTN:
http://link.brightcove.com/ser...
Is anyone else disgusted with the play of Mr Laurinaitis and Mr Freeman?! I swear they have honing devices to search out their blockers! They just gobble up blockers, maybe they should've been tightends of fullbacks, I dunno...not linebackers who're supposed to be searching out the ball carrier!!!
Two questions. Do we have a RG on this team? Why do our Lb's drop back so far on running plays?
Kyle:
Pryor is Troy Smith on bionic stilts.
Sorry guys, my shoulder really hurt today. I will try harder next week.
Brian,
you are a pussy. They should play me.
Seriously, Brian you are a pussy. Throw me the damn ball. Or Posey.
Also, I have pretty hair.
Once I get done with my post-game meal of five Chipotle burritos, I'm going to shave the word "Pussy" into your hair, Brian. I'm such a prankster!
After seeing the highlights, I gotta say Pryor's passing mechanics aren't exactly pretty but hey at least they result in catches that aren't INTs.
This Ohio State team needs to file a report for Missing YAC. Yards after Catch. Hell, how about yards per carry. There is no space to operate. Even Troy can turn a short pass into a long gain. Ohio State? No.
Though Robiskie's 89 yards TD would have helped...o, wait.
FYI - In reference to the picture, I do believe that is an AFV nocked out during the Battle of the Buldge with a German soldiers in the forefront in attack mode.