It's the midpoint of the 2008 college football season and in a sign of just how high the expectations have become in Columbus, a 5-1 team that's ranked in the top dozen in each of the two major polls is toting around a 2.5 grade point average in our book.
The 11W School BusEssentially two B's and two C's when looking at the offense, defense, special teams and coaching. This is not exactly what was expected of a team with so many seniors, particularly of the 5th-year variety. Makes all of that talk about comparisons to '98 seem a little silly, doesn't it?
Offense: B
There was the YSU blowout, but that must be kept in context. And the offense has really picked up since the reigns were turned over to Pryor, but for a unit that returned virtually everyone but a right tackle from last season's 11-2 squad, the play of the offense has been a bit... um... underwhelming.
True, the franchise player went down in the opener and missed the Ohio, USC and Troy games, but it took until Wisconsin in the sixth game of the season for the offensive line to finally get something going. And don't even mention the receivers. Both Robiskie and Hartline are well behind last season's paces and Small has vacillated from looking great to getting into trouble to looking like it's his first season.
On the freshman front, the Buckeyes appear to have found their center of the future and I have a hunch that Brewster is going to be a damn fine lineman by about week 9 or so. Posey will get his first shot at extended action this weekend after seeing progressively more and more snaps over the course of the past handful of games and that's music to the ears to many.
The Buckeyes are 11th in the Big Ten in passing offense, 10th in total offense and 5th in scoring offense. There is a lot of room for improvement on this one, however, with a healthy Beanie (137 yards/game in Big Ten play) and Pryor getting more and more comfortable running the show. If the line can build on the Wisconsin game and Pryor finds that one big play guy (or two) on the edge, there's the potential to put up some points the rest of the way.
Defense: C+
This may seem like a harsh mark for a unit that's only allowing 16 points a game (12 if you go back in time and cancel the USC game), but I think most of us thought the defense would be a dominating force. One of the top crews in the nation only a year ago and with just about everyone back, I had envisioned about three shutouts by this point in time.
Unlike the offense, the defense hasn't had any big front line injuries, either. There were the suspensions of Washington and O'Neal for the first two games, but based on how slowly those two have earned back their playing time, it's hard to make an argument that losing the two hurt the team from a talent or chemistry perspective.
Starting with the Bobcats behind a backup quarterback and continuing through USC, Troy and Wisconsin, teams have had success moving the ball on this defense. Laurinaitis has been good, but not spectacular, averaging 9.5 tackles per game, Freeman has disappeared at times and the line has led the charge to the bottom of the conference in sacks and TFLs. That and quarterbacks are realizing that they can pick on the middle of the Buckeye secondary for nice chunks of yardage.
What's crazy is that on paper, the unit appears to be in great shape. They are 4th in the conference in rushing defense, 1st in passing defense, 2nd in total defense and 4th in scoring defense. That aside, it's doubtful many of you would consider this an elite group on par with recent editions.
Again, there's a chance to move this grade up as some of the youngsters are starting to step up. Homan has turned in two straight outings with double-digit tackle totals and is currently second in the Big Ten in fumble recoveries. A slightly meaningless stat, but some guys have ball magnets on their hands and it looks like he may be one of them. Thaddeus Gibson, in only a couple of starts, has given the line a shot. In Madison, he was directly responsible for both Badger turnovers and deserves as much credit as anyone on the defense for that win.
Jenkins and Chekwa have been sharp and the rise of Hines has been a lot of fun to watch -- in fact, after a year of butter fingers, the defense is 2nd in the Big Ten with 9 interceptions -- but the line's lack of penetration and the safeties' inability to cover receivers down the middle of the field is pulling this group down a little.
Special Teams: C
While Ray Small is leading the Big Ten in punt returns and A.J. Trapasso is leading the conference in punting, the play of Pretorius has been erratic and the kick return game is downright dirty. Pretorius has missed an extra point and is 1/3 from 40-49 and 1/2 at 50+. I can live with that success rate from 50 and out, but 33% from the 40s is not what you'd expect out of a Jim Tressel kicker. Throw in the missed PAT against Ohio and it hasn't exactly been a roaring start to 2008 for the South African.
Only Michigan State has a more anemic kick return game in the conference and that's astounding when you consider the talent and burners the Buckeyes have the luxury of sending back on returns. Saine has been in a funk all season -- I think that's the best way to describe it. I'm not sure if it's still lingering doubts about his hamstring injury or what, but on returns it almost looks like he heads right for the nearest group of defenders after he crosses the 15. Rasta Wells turned in a nice 24 yard return against the Badgers last weekend and he'll get more chances against Purdue with Boom out. Maybe that's where he makes his mark as a senior? I'm not sure.
Coaching: B-
This grade would certainly have been a lot lower had the staff not shaken things over the course of the last month by turning the quarterback job over to Pryor, putting Brewster in at center, getting Thaddeus Maximus on to the field and trying to figure out ways to get Posey and some of the other receivers more involved. Consider that some effective last-minute cramming.
Pryor has definitely been a spark, but both he and Beanie would make any staff look good. With those two in the backfield, everything else starts to open up. The line seems to block better and the passing game starts to come to life a little.
I'm not sure if my mind is playing tricks on me, but it does appear that Heacock has dialed up some more man-coverage blitzes as of late. Not that the blitzes are connecting, but the strategy tweak is appreciated.
However, the bottom line here is the fact that a roster with this much talent has not produced a single conference player of the week through six games. Not on offense. Not on defense. Not on special teams. That's pretty hard to believe.
Comments
I think you may have been a bit generous with the C+ on defense. The D-line has been brutal at best since the YSt game. Thankfully, we came back to win the game, but the touchdown drive from Wisconsin was absurd. What did they average per carry? Seven, eight yards?
I agree Scott Jason was being generous, i think offense and coaching to me at best are a C- we have twenty returning starters from a good team last year and it seems to me we have not gotten better. I look at PSU and they have made changes and so far looked way improve even though i have not seen alot of them but they were not good at all last year. I guess i had alot more hopes this seaon and we do not look better then last year and i think Beanie will be gone after this year. I pray he stays but why would he just a injury away from killing his draft status. I do like the fact Pryor is playing Tressel did man up on that but when you are a high school recruit watching this year's team what would make you excitied about coming other then Pryor and Beanie are great. I am to the point where i don't understand how we do not have a better offense and defense and i blame it on coaching and our lines on both sides of the ball.
".. but when you are a high school recruit watching this year’s team what would make you excitied about coming"
The fact that we have the number 1 recruting class for next year says that High School recruits are STILL excited about playing in Scarlet and Gray and for JT.
I think the C+ grade is fair. Jason said it, "What’s crazy is that on paper, the unit appears to be in great shape." and looking outside the Big 10, this unit is 14th vs. the pass, 32nd vs. the run and 18th in the nation in total defense. No, thats nowheres close to where we thought this D would be, but you can't grade them based expections, you have to grade them based on 2008.
We are getting into the toughest games of the season ( Penn State, Michigan State and Illinois in a 4 week span ), but I would also agree with Jason that if the second half of the Wisconson game is a sign of things to come that the grade will improve as the season goes on.
I don't know, last week was great and all but we were supposed to lose that game. I wouldn't grade anything above a C. The DL deserves a failing grade and even though the OL had a pretty solid game at Camp Randall, they saw penetration from Ohio and USC that would make Peter North jealous.
What mystifies me is why people looked at a team that got blitzed - royally blitzed - by LSU, and got beaten up front and deep by Illinois, and expected them to be world-beaters. This team struggled last year against comparable competition, and failed miserably against good teams. Why would they run the table and win the national title? I never did understand that.
I think moving Heyward down and sliding Gibson in has worked out well - Gibson just needs to come on, and come on hard now. Personally, I'd slide Homan into the middle spot and play Laurinaitis outside, but that's just me. I don't know what they do with safety, or with their offensive lines.
The strangest thing about this team is the virtual disappearance of the hitherto reliable wideouts and kicking game. That's a complete mystery.
Coaching - D
Defense(because of coaching) - D
Great Peter North ref that is a instant classic. I got to add that to my quotes and when i talk about recruiting in my early post not talking about next year i am talking about years to come, because it will have a impact because we have not been exciting to watch except Beanie. I think that when and if Beanie's healthy he has a chance to be one of the best running backs in NFL that came from THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. I can't wait for heart of the Big Ten games to see Pryor mature and how he does. It would be amazing if a freshmen QB leads us to a BCS game.
Who cares about the Buckeyes? I just want to know what's going on with the real crisis in Ohio - and that's the mistreatment of the guy who runs Buckeye Battle Cry at some random BW3. Oh wait, that's not a crisis. It's stupid. Thanks to you guys for actually writing about Buckeye sports.
Despite all the problems this team can only get better. Have you checked any of the scUM blogs? Now those guys got big problems. I'm not hating on the O and D or the coaches. They are working on "getting better". Think the coachs and players rag on each other like some of these posts do? Not a chance. This is major CFB with young guys trying their best to be their best. OSU is great! Smell the roses while you can!
We are not as good as we thought we would be. But we will get better each week (ass-uming no major injuries). A W is a W. I sure hear a lot of whining out there. We have 3 really tough games coming up (MS, Ill, PS) but I would give up any of them for a BIG W against _ichigan. If our defensive backs get better then our worries are over.
If you had been grading my papers in school, I might have gotten an academic scholarship.
So is it safe to say that since our D is a top 20 Defense and you guys seem to think that it should be a C or lower that 85+% of the teams in the NCAA have Defense that grades out at a C- and lower? I'm not buying it.
You can't tell me that if this was a Defense of 11 new startes that you would grade them that low. I'm just as dissapointed that they are not playing as well as I thought they would, but to say they are a C- is just a fan of the team basing the grade on where they wanted this team to be vs. an honost grade for the season.
J.B. you can't hold the same standards for every team in the NCAA though. Everyone's grading based on preseason expectations. People expected OSU to be NC contenders... poor performance against great competition or even good performance against poor competition doesn't warrant a high grade when you're supposed to be a top 3 team. We were supposed to have the #1 defense in the nation. Yeah we put stops on the 'high powered offenses' of Ohio U or Youngstown State but we were getting destroyed by a real team in USC.
Look at Minnesota, ask their fans what they'd grade them, probably A's-B's across the board, but that's because their expectations weren't that high. Yet they're far from the grade A teams in the rest of the nation.
So yeah, we're probably a B+ if you clump all the NCAA teams together, but in the top tier? C, C- sounds about right.
Can anyone explain to me why Small is not returning kickoffs? They let Ginn return kicks and he made a ton of big plays. Small is the #3 WR so why not get him on the kick return instead of Saine who looks like he can't make a move to get free.
JoseOle - no clue why Small is not given more duties on kickoffs. Although I think I heard our punt return performance is in the top 15 (is that true), our special teams the last few years have not been good.
Actually, mediocre (I wouldn't say bad) special teams is sorta becoming a disturbing trend. Remember how pedestrian our return game was before Ginn got here??? I remember the criticism of that unit and Ginn made a lot of those problems go away. Now after Ginn, the return game stinks again - I do not think that is a coincidence
When people talk about our "Always solid special teams" I have to laugh because all they are doing is parroting the stereotype of tressel having great D and special teams, and I know they never really bothered to look at stats or live play. Pedestrian special teams of this team is one more reason to criticize coaching: we are not better than this??? seriously?
The truth is the best thing we have is a couple of guys that can break off a 70 yarder at any time - and that ability ain't coached
p.s. props to AJ Trapasso - he did perform and is performing for the most part
Just to clarify, I don't get jealous.
"We have 3 really tough games coming up (MS, Ill, PS) but I would give up any of them for a BIG W against _ichigan. If our defensive backs get better then our worries are over."
Chances are 50/50 you'll end up giving away two of those games, anyway - a win over m*ch*g*n notwithstanding.
I expect DickRod's guys to come in and give us a tough game, so be on your toes for that one, too.
Brandon Saine is a great football player but might be the worst kick returner in America.
Ike: I'm not certain what you're basing Saine's "greatness" on. He hasn't done much of anything with the opportunities he's been given thus far, and based on the depth chart, the only dude he seems to be better than in practice is Rasta Wells (insert joke about random toddler from random daycare being better than Rasta here).
I do agree he's been woefully lacking at KR. He just doesn't seem to have good vision - runs into guys more than he runs to daylight. He may have great measurables, but at this point, at least, he looks less like a football player than just a semi-big, fast dude.
Plenty of time for his light to go on, I guess, but if you haven't shown flashes by this point, especially at that position, it's hard to expect him to suddenly develop the vision & instincts of a good RB.
I think Saine would benefit from a Wild Hog formation. Kind of off topic, but my dad and I were having our weekly Buckeye bitching conversation (more of him bitching and me saying everything will work out). The one thing we agree on his the need for new coordinators and threw Spielman's name out there. I never thought about Spielma coming in and running the defense or the d-line and linebackers. He does have some coaching experience and if nothing else he can fire the players up and teach them how to knock the fire out of some one.
Saine would benefit from not running straight into defenders.
A lot of people threw the Spielman idea around but bottom line he is not really proven as a defensive coordinator. They could definitely use his passion on the sideline but beyond that I don't think they'd consider it.