LeBron in Cleats had three touchdown passesPerhaps the press should work to get under Tressel's skin more often.
After cutting his Thursday press conference short due to constant questions about the status of Ray Small, the Buckeye offense had perhaps their finest game of the season in a 45-10 laugher over the 25th-ranked Wildcats.
Led by the play of Wells and Pryor, the offense rolled up 441 yards on the afternoon and saw three drives go for touchdowns in each half. The final score, a 16 yard run by Boom Herron, brought a grimace to the Vest's face and some scolding from color guy Andre Ware, but we'll take it.
With most of the staff from the 11W Columbus office in Chicago this weekend, we actually all got together and caught the game live. In my haste to hang with friends and family, I also forgot to record the game at home, so my impressions are slightly skewed without the help of replays and angles that television brings.
What stood out to me, were some familiar things like shaky offensive line play and the penchant for committing random and potentially damaging penalties -- such as Boone's personal foul. At this point, it's now safe to give up hope on this group actually getting better, but I'm comforted knowing that there will be at least three new faces in the group next season.
Beanie was typical Beanie and that's what makes the play of the line so frustrating. With them firing on all cylinders, he's good for 200+ on a weekly basis. Instead, he's earning his yards the hard way. His 2nd touchdown run, a thing of beauty with absolutely no help from the left side of the Buckeye offensive line, can go into the books as the season encapsulated in one play. Incredible talent overcoming ineptitude. Regardless, his 140 on 28 carries was his 5th 100 yard game of the season and the third time he's gone for at least 140 against a then ranked opponent.
The defense was also typically solid, holding yet another foe under 300 yards of total offense. Though surprise starter Kafka did some damage with his feet, particularly early, as the game progressed, the defense seemed to zero in and did a great job containing him. He was sacked four times and finished with 83 yards on 29 rushes -- a far cry from his 200+ effort last week against the Gophers.
Laurinaitis led the team with 11 tackles and the Nathan Williams show is blowing up a little as he checked in with his first two career sacks (good for 27 yards). I don't know about you, but a front with Williams, Gibson and Heyward is looking better and better with each passing week. And I don't want to short Nader Abdallah who turned in perhaps his finest outing as a Buckeye, finishing third on the team with eight tackles and also broke up two passes.
So, the line, Beanie and the defense is stuff we're used to. There were some surprises on the afternoon and of the good kind, too. It was Northwestern, so let's keep things in some context, but this was a decent Wildcat squad and Pryor took a gigantic leap in the passing game today.
He didn't post Harrell numbers, finishing just nine of 14 for 197 yards, but the three touchdowns were the most he's had since the Troy game and all three of them were things of beauty both on the throwing and receiving ends. Time and time again, he kept plays and drives alive with his talents alone and he helped pull the Brians out of their slumps, for one afternoon at least. Robo finished with three catches for 58 yards and two nice touchdowns, while Hartline caught two balls for 90 yards. Nifty average, there.
The wind was a big factor and Pryor put balls on the money all afternoon long. He is emerging as a passer and it appears the game is slowing down a bit for him. If you're a fan of another Big Ten football team, that should be a scary thought.
You know it's a good day when the Buckeyes only line up for one field goal and in general, the special teams were pretty standard. No big returns, good coverage and Trapasso banging another two inside the 20. We were all a little curious about the fake punt that went for a first down up 31-10 in the fourth. My first inclination is that I don't understand the logic behind it, but further thinking on the subject and here's what I came away with: the staff probably saw some punt-blocking tendencies from Illinois or Michigan and they're putting this out there to keep those units on their heels a little. Thoughts?
Notes
- The crowd was definitely 60-70% Buckeye. Joy once again getting on the Red Line in the morning and seeing it packed with Ohioans. The lines for the restrooms were kind of out of hand, but getting the O-H-I-O chant rolling around road stadiums is always a win.
- The combined score in the last four Northwestern/Ohio State games is 205-34. Ouch.
- Tressel tied Earle Bruce for 3rd place on the all-time wins list with his 81st victory at Ohio State. Tressel got there a season earlier than Bruce, but you may be surprised to know that the win was also the Vest's 50th Big Ten win and it took him one more game (62) to hit that mark than Bruce (61).
- The win was the team's 14th-straight Big Ten road victory, which is crazy impressive when you think about it. Now if we could just turn the Shoe into an impossible place to lose...
- We apologize for the lack of open thread earlier and the light recap coverage, but we did imbibe quit a bit. It was great to meet some of you Friday night and props to Moran's for hooking us up.
Comments
I loved the fake punt run. I also think that Tressel was giving a little reward-love to senior punter AJ Trapasso, who has been perhaps the sole consistent offensive performer, every game, in this season of highs and lows. I'm sure he was jacked to get the chance to scramble for the first down, although I was screaming at the TV for him to take the shorter angle on the first down, and not scamper about. But he obviously saw something that I didn't see from the close shot by the camera.
Another great game. This blowout didn't feel as "it was a lot of luck and good bounces" in the way that the Michigan State game felt.
And I think we are near guaranteed a share of the Big 10 title now, 4 straight years, assuming we don't bang the pooch against a terrible Illini team and a laughable Michigan squad.
And who knows, MSU beats PSU and we go to the rose bowl. But I'd prefer Capital One.
I'm confused---Bucknuts says we have an "outside" chance at sharing the Big 10 title. So long as we beat Illinois and Michigan, aren't we guaranteed a share of the Big 10 title, with just one conference loss against PSU?
I am confused too: if we win out, and thus tie Penn St. atop the conference, don't they become conference champ since they beat us?
if us and PSU win out, we're both co-champs, but PSU gets the automatic BCS bid. If PSU loses even one more game, we're co-champs with MSU and get the automatic bid, unless they lose to PSU, in which case we're sole champs.
Okay that's what I thought. I don't see how Bucknuts views that as an 'outside' chance---Illinois can't beat a Mac team, and Michigan's struggled in that category as well. 4 straight 4 sho.
I put together a little highlight reel from the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Totally agree re the fake punt. Most likely nothing more than giving future opponents something to think about. Andre Ware is dense and didn't quite grasp that angle.
Does anyone watch USC or Florida games? Do they get as much flak from the color commentators as we do for "running up the score"? It did seem a bit un-Tressel like, but I think he's trying to just give Pryor some practice as a passer against a defense that is allowed to hit him. I notice that he is opening up the passing game a lot more in some of these blowout fourth quarters than he is willing to when the opponent is still in the game.
Agree 100% on that Beanie touchdown run exemplifying this whole season. Although he wasn't completely unhelped by the line - it looked like Boone gave him a little push to wish him on his way :P
dude i just saw "Eleven Warriors blog" on ABC-6 here in columbus, crazy crazy i think they're doing a spot on it coming up here.
Why is 11W on TV? Are they publicizing me and Pogue's massively in-your-face flame wars?
I just want to hug Kirk Ferentz. Kirk, I'm sorry I gave up on you three seasons ago. Mea culpa. You rock, my friend. I love you. I really, truly love you, since I absolutely hate p*nn st*t*. C'mon, Sparty!
What's up with Zook dropping one to a MAC school? Wow. Time to get the cameras out of the locker room, buddy.
Doesn't Herron look good? I'm loving that Beanie stiff-arm, but Herron is really improving.
Just saw it. Look at Chris giving interviews!
Y'all want the video to post?
yo' jaxson...we're still in chitown so we haven't seen anything...but if you've got video we'll take it...great game today but cold like the Boz in Stone Cold. That's cold.
Here ya go! http://www.zshare.net/video/51...
"They're trying to hit us -- big dudes wrapping me up, trying to get me down," Pryor said, "and I'm breaking it and throwing it the end zone (for a) TD. It could demoralize them; it could just eat them up in the head, because what are you going to do? We're not going down."
Badass.
TP impressed me today...he was straight money on 3rd down...absolutely sick.
Then when does the tie break about FCS teams come into play? Is that only when there's more than 1 team that tie? Or was that Jesse Palmer being an idiot?
Nice work, Chris. I loved the "pajama pants" comments. You guys are even funny on TV.
I also loved the "Lebron of football" comment during the broadcast. Maybe they read the top blogs as research for their upcoming games. Either way it was pretty cool.
Now it's time for some revenge on Juice and co.
Flip, the highlight video is awesome. Evil Tress is the man.
Jaxson, thanks for that capture. We were kind of wondering how we'd get our hands on a digital copy of that, but you saved the day on that front. Thanks!
Steve, it's when more than two teams tie, and no one has an advantage in wins over each other (we beat MSU, MSU beats PSU, PSU beat us). That's why MSU would have gotten the automatic BCS bid if they won out and PSU hadn't lost yesterday. Now, we need PSU to lose another, regardless of who it comes against, that way it's just us and MSU, and we've got the head-to-head tie breaker
oh, i forgot, that's only in the B10. No clue on how the other guys do it.
In a perfect Buckeye world PSU would lose to Indiana next week, then beat MSU the week after. Ohio State wins out and just like that the outright Big Ten title.
The fake punt IMO, was too simply put Pryor back in the game. It was obviously wasn't a run the clock out scheme, since Pryor bombed away. I think Tressel just wanted him to get back out there since he was in one of those Troy Smith versus scUM modes...
either way, it was awesome, haha.
and yeah, penn state losing to indiana followed by a good ol MSU beat-down would be nice...
Dude... that feature on the news was awesome.
Thanks, flip. I was so nervous during it I was afraid of how it would turn out.
i didn't get to see it, can someone post it so i can watch it? preferably not on youtube since i can't access it on campus, but if so, that's okay too.
It was posted earlier up there by Jaxson: http://www.zshare.net/video/51...
Nice job on the videos. Chris, you didn't look nervous to me. Your pajamas almost looked like a nice work shirt and pants.
ah, missed it earlier. Good stuff
Great feature Chris, great job on the site also. Awesome highlight reel Flip. Yesterday should be a landmark day for Buckeye fans, Terrell really showed me something. He showed everyone the ability not only throw to the right reciever, but to also throw the right kind of pass. To do that in just his 7th start is nothing short of amazing. He is so far ahead of the curve, he may be the Best Ohio State QB EVER, right now. The first TD pass to Robo was a thing of beauty, and as Andre Ware pointed out, was a throw even some NFL QB's struggle with. The second, showed his ability to extend the play while keeping his eyes downfield. This too is something that lots of NFL QB's have a hard time with. The future is bright for Terrell and the Bucks. I feel so lucky that we have the chance to watch him develop each week, the sky's the limit with this kid. What's really neat is that he has the greatest attribute a QB can have, the ability to make eveyone else on the offense better.
What bothered me about this game, again, was the play calling.
The entire first half, we saw exactly 3 pass plays called on 1st and 2nd down combined.
Explain that logic to me.. "hmm, our line is underperforming, lets run into 8 men in the box, maybe it'll confuse em!"
Big12, ESSSS EEEEE SEEEEEE, and USC all do it and when they do it's "the other team's job to stop them". Or "they're just running their offense".. But when tOSU does it it's a crime against all things sacred in this world.
For example, Texas Tech pasted okie state today, no talk of them "running up the score". Also Oklahoma hung 66 on A&M and no one said a word about how unsportsmanlike it was. Also see this year's Florida v. LSU game.
We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. If we went out there and won that game by 7 in stead of 35 we're not good enough and we let NW hang around and our offense "just isn't clicking". But if we go out there and take care of business and put up some serious points on a team, who mind you is/was in the top 25, then we're in the wrong.
makes me sick.
FTW, bomb away Pryor.
Hey guys, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the B10 have a (new?) rule in regards to tie-breaks with regards to FCS opponents? I believe that a team is favored by not scheduling FCS teams, which MSU did not. Which would mean that if MSU and tOSU would tie MSU would get the automatic BCS bid. So the way I understand it after last night's PSU loss:
PSU wins out: PSU - Rose Bowl
MSU wins out: MSU - Rose Bowl
tOSU wins out + PSU loses to Indiana + PSU beats MSU: tOSU - Rose Bowl
Anyone know for sure on this? I heard the guys on ESPiN radio talking about it last night, and I vaguely remember the FCS issue being mentioned in the past.
The three way tiebreaker heuristic in the Big Ten is the presence of a FCS/1-AA opponent. Head-to-head tiebreakers (like one between Sparty and Ohio State) would still be the head-to-head result, which Ohio State won. Since Penn State lost to Iowa, the idea of a three-way tie on top of the Big Ten seems unlikely (either Penn State or Michigan State will lose by season's end... obviously).
In order for Sparty to get the Big Ten's automatic BCS bid, we need to lose one more game and the Spartans need to win out and beat Penn State.
There is a difference between beig aggressive and not taking your foot off the pedal and being an ass ... faking punts with 8 mins left in the game is not being aggressive, it is being an ass ... failing to take a knee with 40 seconds left is not as bad, but when put together with the fake punt and bomb, in total it was being an ass. How many faked punts with half the 4 qtr did you see this year by teams up 3 TDs ??? just curious, my guess is none.
If tressel was still bombing away with 7 minutes left that is fine as that is aggressiveness and deciding to never stop trying to score... but faking a punt is quite another thing, IMO
I think there is a definite difference between being aggressive and staying so the entire game, and being an asshole ... JT yesterday did very questionable things.
For those of you that don't think it was Bush league for JT to fake the punt and fail to take a knee yesterday, would you have been cool with going for 2 after Boom's TD run at the end of the game??
Personally "That Guy", I would never count out Pat Fitzgerald and that high-flying Wildcat offense, letting off the gas would be a sign of disrespect to such a distinguished and time honored program, right? (heh,heh)
"For those of you that don’t think it was Bush league for JT to fake the punt and fail to take a knee yesterday, would you have been cool with going for 2 after Boom’s TD run at the end of the game??"
Only if we couldn't go for 3
I would've been cool going for two, but only because we couldn't go for three.
Seriously, I agree on the fake punt. We have never been that team that runs up the score and for me it was always one of those "points of pride" that we didn't. Hopefully, it does not become a habit.
Chris, great job in the interview!
BOMBS AWAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY FTW
on a serious note though, all I was trying to convey was that the folks over at ESPN wanna rag on the Bucks for running up the score they need to do it consistently and take a look at the oklahoma, texas tech and other scores from around the country that just got ugly.
I have no problem with the fake punt call. Why do we feel obligated to give them back the ball when Pryor could use some more in-game reps in the passing game. Don't forget we have two more regular season games and the bowl game. We need to keep the offense firing otherwise we're likely to see another 6 point horrendous effort much like penn state two weeks ago.
keep the pedal down, keep bombing down field, and keeping the running game going for al 4 quarters. if they can't stop it then it's not our concern. If you're upset about getting blown and worry about it happening again maybe you're playing the wrong game. There is no mercy rule in football.
¡viva evil tressel!
What do you all think about sliding Rob Rose back inside and giving Nathan Williams the start opposite Thadd? He has more sacks in garbage time than Rob Rose has as a starter. The kid is a force.
Vico - thanks for clearing that up.
So we need to win out, then Sparty to beat PSU and we're smelling roses!
Alternate fake punt theory: Tress really likes Fitz and wanted to point out a vulnerability he saw in NU's punt return team so they can take care of it before taking on the Wolverines this weekend.
I'm with you Jason
With all of this offensive line talent coming into play the next few years, I'm of the firm belief that we need a new line coach to help them play to their ability. The underachievement of the offensive line this year and in recent years has shown that they are not being coached well. My .02.
Florida looses to OLE MISS at HOME, USC looses to OREGON STATE, Georgia has beaten absolutely no-one of compitence, but Penn State looses by 1 point on the road to Iowa and suddenly they're completely out of the title hunt.
The Big Ten is not the best conference right now but it's teams are getting bashed by a missleading perception.
"Ohio State lost three big non-conference games therefore the conference is bad"
This is how fans see it because they think like fans, but forecasters and pollsters shouldn't be focusing on that fact as if it's evidence to discount Penn State as being any worse than any other one loss team. Look at their record for god sake, they Blew away the same pac ten opponent that USC lost to, and beat OHIO STATE, WITH BEANIE, AT THE SHOE.