It was a line for the ages. With the Buckeyes trailing the Badgers late in the fourth quarter two weeks ago, Beanie pulled Pryor aside before the offense went back on to the field. First, he wanted to know if Pryor was "going to be a man or a kid?" Then, he told the rookie that he was "taking a step into manhood" and he went out and did just that. Beanie Wells, man-maker.
The preferred shoe of manhoodWith a big trip to East Lansing looming -- one that I'm feeling less and less confident about with each passing day -- and the buzz about split factions in the locker room, now might be a good time for Wells to have that same father/son talk with some other guys on the team.
Since we know that this blog is his homepage, we thought we'd come up with a few suggested recipients for Beanie's manhood talk. If you see your name on this list, please report to #28's locker after practice Thursday.
The Veterans
If Ballard spoke up about wanting to see Boeckman back in the game, then you know others are saying or thinking the same thing in the locker room. Tressel, however, seems to have decided that it's Pryor or bust this season and as a player, you should know that you're not going to change the Vest's opinion on a matter through the press. Say something to him in private but using a reporter to voice these feelings only serves to undercut Pryor's building confidence and reinforce the fact that this just might be a split team.
Pryor
Yes, you, superman. You're learning and that's fine. Fans will be patient when you can mix in the dazzling play every now and then. But, play loose, have fun and take charge of this team. Ballard mentioned Boeckman's huddle presence -- you need to get that swag back we saw on the sidelines of the USC game. As for a strategy on passing plays, Sean at Around the Oval nailed it in his comparison of the 2002 and 2008 offenses:
Speaking of the passing game, the quarterbacks are another difference. In short, Terrelle Pryor could learn a thing or two from Craig Krenzel. That's not to say that Krenzel was better, but that Krenzel played the position in a way that I think Pryor would do well to emulate, at least in this stage of his development. Krenzel would drop back, look around, and if he didn't quickly see anything he liked, he'd take off running. Krenzel only threw for 140 yards per game, but he added another 26 on the ground - not bad for a guy that wasn't terribly mobile.
Do. That. Thing.
The Receivers
You're not getting nearly as many balls tossed your way since the switch at quarterback. That has to be frustrating. Especially when you are open on a play and the new guy doesn't see you and the next thing you know, you're lining up six yards back from where you started the previous play. But you're not exactly helping the cause, either. Pryor may only be averaging 10 completions per game in his four starts, but in that same span, I can think of at least five big drops out of the receiver corps -- two of which were touchdowns. No time is better than now for that first breakout game out of one of you.
The Hogs
This one has been beaten to death both by blogs and in the mainstream stuff. The head coach is even pointing their way. Shut us all up.
The Defensive Front
Javon Ringer is on the docket for this week. Here he is getting tough yards up the middle in large chunks against a pretty damn good Iowa run defense (2nd-best in conference allowing a measly 3.1 per carry and five rushing touchdowns on the year). The outcome of the game will likely rest on your shoulders. No pressure.
The fans are salty right now, but the wonderful thing about sports is that can swing back in a hurry (just ask the Cleveland Browns). Defense, you get a chance to end a Heisman campaign. If you can't get up for that, then I'm going to go stab myself in the eye. Offense, you have the capability to put up points, Tarkanian style. Time to make that happen.
Comments
Kicker, god dammit Ryan P stop missing field goals.
Heacock - please God, NO MORE SOFT ZONE on every single passing down!! Man up (both literally and figuratively)
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll need to print this out for the verbal stiff arms I'll be giving pregame Saturday.
BTW do you think it was okay for me to speak my mind on the passing game earlier this week?
This is why Tressel should keep the players away from the media....this has happened alot this season opposed to past seasons. Ray-Ray has been running his mouth since week 2 and Boone...don't even get me started. This team just needs to buckle down and focus, the talent is there, but start playing like a team. Or Ski is gonna make a call to the AD/Dean and have your Scholarship yanked.....but not you Beanie, no no, not you Beanie....your my boy!!
Beanie I dare you to call me out..
I'm a man, i'm 40
First and foremost.... to the team--Shut the hell up and stop talking to the media and giving them ridiculous headlines. Split locker room??? great... thats all we need. I have written this before, if the lineman and/or receivers cannot come to reality that TP is the new QB then tough shit. It happens in reality every day, new boss, new landlord, company gets bought out, you get transferred, you get switched to a new division, etc.... that's life boyz, grow up. The best way to get Boeckman back on the field is to blow some people out and get him some 4th quarter work. I hope and pray that Boeckman is asking everyone to support Pryor... these things can be a cancer to a locker room-- anyone remember the Stanley Jackon/Joe Germaine fiasco, or the Justin Zwick/Troy Smith soap opera?? No thanks, let's just face that fact that Boeckman has hit the ceiling of his progress under Tressel's system and Pryor has not even scratched the surface yet and he must be allowed to test his wings and improve now for the sake of the program. I am tired of this, please play like scholarship athletes who give a crap and not spoiled brats who are comfortable with the way things are.
Anyone other than Beanie who shouldn't get called out?
Secondary? Thad? Linebackers? The Todd?
Oh man, do I remember the Stanley Jackson/Joe Germaine drama. Thank God no one has turned this current QB switch into a racial issue like that one got spun as.
and they tried initially (no success thanx to Tress) to turn the Troy/Justin saga into a racial thing too.
Well, the last time I checked, Todd was white.
The entire country is gonna see this game on ABC or ESPN2..... we need to make the most of the opportunity to look good for a change on national TV
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/...
Ryan Pretorious really is a man, and probably is 40, and kicks like it. He kicks so low it begs to be blocked. If he can just fix that, he'll be fine.
I think its very interesting that Beanie got Pryor to take that 'step up' vs Wisconsin...It seems like it was vs Wisconsin last year that Beanie put the team on his back and took his big step, even though he was hurt and sore prior to that day. This was probably noted somewhere else on the internets over the last two weeks, but hey, I'm on a 2 week delay with my revelations. What is it about Wisconsin-the Buckeye Man Makers?
Gawd I just read that and it sounds ghey....
Wonder if Pryor got in Beanie's face last week and told him to man up? He was going to miss the game due to the flu? Come on Beanie!? I hate taking a shot at Beanie, but if he was going to NYC to collect some hardware in November, there wouldn't have been any question if he was playing or not and he sure as hell wouldn't have sat out on key drives.
I know this sounds like a broken record but Play Calling ladies and Gents is more important when you have a young qb. Tressel is playing Tressel ball. Just like in 02' problem is we already dropped a game and big. Now more than ever style points count and the media and fans like to see big numbers.
We need to stay focused on what is realistic and that is the Rose Bowl. That is the only thing we control. So if we play solid d and don't turn the ball over we will get there, and that has to be the thinking with a young qb.
However, this is a special once and a lifetime talent we got in Beanie and TP in the same backfield. Thats why we all say WTF when mo. wells gets two carries after a big turnover and we piss away another easy 6. Something has to change by next year and the finger is pointing at the Play calling.
Tampa: That may mean Tress takes a back seat in the play calling. Brining in a new OC may help Monday-Friday as far as prep, but in order for the play calling to change on Saturday, means Tressel gives the keys to a new guy.
Apparently, teams always benefit from new blood telling them what to do. Turnover at the coordinator positions should always be high, like every 3 or 4 years. These guys have obviously worn out their welcome in Columbus.
ive never been more miserable sitting at 6-1 in all my life.
Steve...But again, our OC isn't calling the plays on Saturday. I do feel that both coordinators have worn out their welcom in C-Bus, but a new OC won't bring new play calling on Saturdays.
In my opinion.... If a new OC comes to Columbus, Tress needs to let them make the calls on Saturday. We wont get an elite OC, which I think the Buckeyes are able to pick up given the talent that Tress brings in, unless Tressel gives up the play calling on game day.
One of the things I have loved about Tressel over the years was his ability to handle his players and the media. Now it seems like every Buckeye that has an opinion has a microphone in his face. It's time for the seniors to start acting like leaders and handle this shit "in house".
While I agree whole heartedly that our play calling needs the majority of the fingers pointed its way, if the O linemen and receivers want to bitch and moan they should start with their reflections in the mirror. Countless missed blocking and dropped passes have been a major contribution to our big stage ass whuppins and recent lackluster play. If you wanted Boeckman to play, maybe you should have blocked ANYONE so Todd wasn't scared shitless every time he called hike. You want more passes, stop dropping the ones that actually do get to your numbers.
Very annoying. This is the last thing that a freshman QB needs to hear in the media on a daily basis. Bravo for the way Boeckman has handled this so far. Time for the upper classmen to put up or shut up. There is plenty of talent behind them.
Regarding the coordinators...You know the other day I was screwing around on Wikipedia with a friend, who was telling me about all the folks in coaching who got started at KState (I live in KState territory now). I had always thought Bill Snyder was a softie jwek who refused to schedule a decent non-conf game, so I initially scoffed at the idea.
So, wiki it was, and wiki told some sad truth...Bob Stoops, Mark Mangino, Mike Stoops, and then Bill Snyder himself was of the Hayden Fry camp.
WTF?
KState like, sucks man. How the hell have they pumped out some decent coaches over the last decade or so?
It seems to me that coordinators that are good, leave. They move on, they move up. Your measure for whether your OCoord is any good? If he's good, in 4-5 years, he's gone. That's how you tell. You get a good one, he makes name for himself, gets hired elsewhere.
How many JT disciples have there been the past few years? Shockingly few, I think. Dantonio. Who else?
Here's the rub though...if you have a coord who has been around 6 years and hasn't been hired out by someone else (barring the possibility of being 'offered' and deciding to stay put, of course), then what do you do with them?
It seems to me that Heacock and Bollman are not high on other schools' 'want' list. So what do you do with them? You know they're not good enough to warrant a HC job at a smaller school. So do you keep them around? You be loyal to them for awhile, but then they get stale...so now we are where we are today.
Our coords aren't only a notch or two below the blue-chip level, but they are also stale b/c they've been around for so long. Why is it that every damn blitz we run gets picked up by some mediocre line and a sophomore running back with relative ease? Because its the same stale blitz package we've run for the last 4 years!
I don't think Heacock and Bollman are blue-chip coords, as evidenced by the fact that a.) our schemes seem to suck and b.) no one else is clamoring to hire them. But not only are they less than blue-chip, now they're stale and what they're doing is old hat to our opposition, who has no problem discerning what we're going to do on offense and defense.
It is time for new blood, and as far as I'm concerned, if you're not good enough to get hired away after 3-4 years, you need to go...
How the HELL are there more Bill Snyder disciples in HC positions enjoying (relatively) decent success than there are JT disciples? Seriously?
I agree with all that has been said. Also, have you guys noticed that our point differential has been suffering? I think that we should be beating each team by at least 550 points. And I found it interesting that OSU has been playing football for 118 years, but only has around 7 national titles. Don't you guys think we should have more titles? I'm thinking we should have won at least 200 national titles by now. And only 7 heisman trophies? I think that's ridiculous; the number should be closer to 70. Also, have you noticed that Jim Tressel can't fly? If we are going to pay him $3 million plus, you figure at a minimum he'd be able to levitate!!!!1!!1!!1!
Tressel can levitate, his coordinators are holding him down.
Tressel eats kryptonite for breakfast and makes Rehring takes his shits for him
I call better plays on ncaa 09. Never have I put in the third string running back and ran him up the gut twice after a turnover. Never have I left in Boeckman at qb. I call LB Blitz audibles and play man coverage with the SS over the top. I avg. 60 a game with this game plan and there is no reason Tressel can't learn from my Play Station expierence.
So Jim If your reading this I'll take the "Car Keys" back on the play calling.
Sorry, when you run your mouth off like that to the press, you deserve to be benched. If you don't like the way Tressel makes decisions re quarterbacks, maybe you need to find another team. Instead of the media, Ballard should have been man enough to speak to Tressel directly. This is pure weenie behavior.
Brian Hartline and Brian Robiskie - So what happens if they drop easy passes against the Spartans. I don't want to say any of their incompletions are 'on purpose', but Hartline's reaction after his drop seemed a little strange and Robo doesn't run out deep passes.
Prove me wrong, boys.
Well here I go again, being all flaky.
I don't think the Brians are intentionally dropping passes. I understand they're off, but I'm too damn rosy in my outlook on life to think that these kids are devilish enough to try and sabotage Pryor.
At least, not intentionally.
Knowing a thing or two about motivation and leadership, I would totally buy that the Brians aren't fully behind Pryor and thus aren't giving that eleventy-thousand percent of effort that players at such a high level have to give in order to be successful. They seem more...apathetic than deviously saboteur. I know my grammar is off there, but I'm in the middle of writing my sermon so forgive me, my word-kung-fu is being sapped right now.
Motivation is a devil of a detail. It's a finely tuned, high-strung ball of tension. Lose it just in the slightest, and the razor edge dulls in a hurry-especially at this level of competitive athletics where the margin is often only razor thin.
Sorry...I just can't buy, not without damning evidence, that these guys are intentionally trying to do Pryor in. But I totally beleive that they haven't fully downed the TP Kool-Aid and their skepticism is resulting in a loss of 'edge.'
HOWEVA, similar story goes for the entire O, which seems to not fully believe in its coaching staff these days. The players seem to have skepticism about the QB, the play calling and the preparation, the whole system in general. I'm not surprised that we're seeing a 'questioning' attitude among the players at the same time we see a drop in production. The reality of motivation is that if you don't buy it 100%, you won't give 100%.
These guys are not dropping passes to spite Pryor. Unless they are being paid, no athlete under-performs on purpose; Egos, egos, egos!!!
After a few days of thinking, I believe I have come up with the issue: this team isn't that talented. Sure, it has top 25 talent, but not top 15 talent.
changing the offensive or defensive schemes likely wouldn't change the results. We just have to hope that these younger classes are have more talent.
we have average talent at all these positions
1) O-Line
2) D-Line
3) QB
we have below average talent at WR
We have slightly above average talent at LB, DB
we have elite talent at RB
we need more elite talent
I disagree Woody we have enough elite talent. There is aleast 4 first round draft picks on this team not counting any freshmen or sophmores i would imagine that no other team in country has more (Jenkins, JL, Wells and Robo or Boone because its not deep this year for OT or WR). Our problem is coaching and OL and there is no way players are purposely dropping balls, to much money in the NFL to hurt your draft status. This being said we play the second best team we played this year so i am excitied to see this weekend's game brings. GO BUCKS
Hey, I like Jenkins and I like Beanie, but personally I wouldn't take anyone else in the first round. But then again I never pretended to be an NFL draft expert.
I just don't see the talent on this team that we have seen in other years. The lines on this team are flat out average at best. Then with the WRs I see the same thing - ok but not great.
Hey this is OSU and 90% of the teams out there would rather trade rosters, but it is precisely because this is OSU that we are supposed to be in that top 5-10%.
Slightly above avg at LB and DB...What woody? We have 3 future NFL draft picks (One will go high first round) at LB At CB we have a 1ST round guy. Don't see where your coming from there.
This problem with us not scoring is the play calling sucks. Period.
I'm no fan of Snyder, but K-State was horrible when he took over. I mean decades of losing records. He and his staff had them playing for Big 12 Championships during their tenure. As unremarable as they are today they are still significantly better then when Snyder took over. Actualy, that is one of the more remarkable turn around jobs ever.
No that this really has anything to do with the Bucks.
Did anyone watch the Missouri-Oklahoma State game this weekend? The defensive coordinator for Oklahoma State, Tim Beckman, is the former DB coach at tOSU. He coached under Tressel and took the promotion to Okie State.
I was impressed how he shut down the spread that Missouri runs. Wouldn't it be nice if he came back to coach our defense?
Here is Beckman's bio.
http://www.okstate.com/ViewArt...
Robb, he's also from Findlay and his dad played for Tressel's dad @ BW.
NOW WE'RE TALKIN...Vet that guy, hire him if it looks good and hopefully in 4 years he's going to have a top rate job offer.
What's his 40 yard dash time? Cause unless he can throw on the scarlet and gray jersey and do work, I'm not that interested. Coaches are a dime a dozen, get us Marlon Brown instead.
yeah but we got a dozen coaches worth about a dime
lol touche, so yeah i guess whats ten cents more
I think Pryor did take a page from the Krenzel notebook. While he did not create a lot of statistics against Purdue, he did not do anything to hurt the team. Somethimes great quarterbacks have to put their egos aside and just win, baby!