Hitting Rewind: Defense vs. Illinois
This is a partial list of teams that surrendered fewer yards to the Illini than the Buckeyes did Saturday: Louisiana-Lafayette, Iowa and Western Michigan. So it was curious that the Buckeye defense, which had been peaking, was carved up so easily in Champaign.
Granted, it was the Big Ten’s top offense and they’re powered by a guy that can do some incredible things with the ball. But it appeared as if there was some sort of informal competition to see who could rack up the most missed tackles in the first half.
Credit the Buckeye defense for making solid halftime adjustments, though. And when you step back and look at their performance, they were just a little elastic, that’s all. They held when it mattered and forced big plays when they needed to. Oh, and add Tyler Moeller to that list of players you can’t wait to see next year.
Field Flop
What I love about this sequence is that no matter how old Tressel gets, he’ll never need any type of male enhancement tech. All he’ll need to do is loop these three minutes of the game. A booming punt from your own territory, leading to a field position edge. Then the fumble on the very next play. Five runs later and the Buckeyes had the first lead of the day. That’s Tresselball smut.
With the line of scrimmage the 23, Trapasso fields the snap at his own seven. Zook puts 10 on the line, but does not go for the block.
Benn is driven back on the 58 yard blast with Chekwa and Lane trucking on coverage.
He finally fields the ball at his own 18 and Lane and Chekwa are there to force him out for no gain.
Juice starts the next play by pulling the inside handoff to Ford. Moeller, coming on a blitz, and Gibson are closing from different sides.
Thaddeus Maximus still thinks the ball is going inside while Moeller is already suspect of Juice’s intentions.
Moeller quickly picks up on the trickery and gives chase while Freeman runs right by the wide receiver on the right side of the Illini line.
With Freeman closing, Moeller makes the hit jarring the ball loose. Only four plays into his first significant playing time, he’s serving notice that his name will be called frequently in years to come.
Who else? Nader with the fumble recovery. Just like that, the Buckeyes are in the red zone.Cumberland’s Shoestring Snag
After the Buckeyes had gone up 7-0, Illinois marched down the field behind some nice runs out of Dufrene and found themselves in a 3rd and 6 from the Ohio State 7 yard line. If you’re not a fan of zone defenses, please turn away.
Ohio State comes out in a nickel and Washington spots something he really likes.
Seeing this, Juice calls Will Judson into motion to that side of the field.
Dufrene stays in to block and the Illinois line does a good job of stuffing the Buckeye four-man rush.
Cumberland makes a hell of a catch working the back of the zone. The nearest defender, Coleman, is four yards away.
Another look. Hats off.Jenkins Gets His Second
Illinois had moved quickly to tie the game and the Buckeyes were forced to punt on their next possession. Trapasso did a great job of pinning the Illini inside their own 10 and after a three-and-out, Jenkins comes through for his 2nd punt block of the season. Ohio State was suddenly up 9-7 and getting the ball back.
With Jenkins coming hard off of his right edge, punter Anthony Santella decides to get his stride-on.
Sabino gets penetration up the middle, joining the block party.
Had Sabino not been held, perhaps this would have been his block.
Dave Pasch kept insisting it was Grant, but the definitive proof is Jenkins waving his tender pimp hand.Coleman’s Clutch Interception
After the Buckeyes scored to go up 16-7, Illinois marched right back down the field thanks to some nice throws from Juice and a little bit of hurry-up offense. They soon found themselves in a 2nd and 10 at the Ohio State 12 yard line.
Andre Ware sees the blitz from the booth and Juice looked like he did as well.
Moeller is able to come clean off the edge and Juice starts to step up into the pocket.
Because McGee hasn’t come out of his break yet, Juice is forced to throw to Benn who is being bracketed by Freeman and Coleman. It might have worked had Moeller not delivered the hit right when the throw was made.
Coleman comes over the top of Benn to make the interception.
Oops. Tackle Jeff Allen does a good job of stripping the ball from Coleman on the return, but Freeman covers it up.
Excellent work again with the Hitting Rewind. I could do without Ware and Pasch ever calling an Ohio State game again.
indeed
Great breakdowns…I really enjoy these.
The last two weeks I kept wondering why Andre Ware was trying so hard to be Mark May.
Andre Ware is another big A-Hole… he adds nothing to the game his comments are focused on showcasing himself as a has-been Heisman Trophy winner. What the hell has this guy done since stealing the heisman????? I’m glad he won’t be doing the OSU-UM game.
Andre Ware is a toolbox. Everyone knows this.
Is Herbie gonna be calling the game with brent mussssssssssberger? LOL Cant wait to see Spielman on the sidelines this saturday flipping out
I didn’t think it could get worse than the Big 10 Network guys doing games:Their whole production is atrocious, missing snaps due to commercials, cameras zooming in on the ball carriers on play-fakes only to see the tackle from the pass play, etc.
But Ware and Pasch might be the absolute WORST crew in the history of football. I mean they are just flat out dead wrong on at least 4-5 ‘insights’ every single week. I am still floored by the Pryor enrolling early and taking part in spring drills nugget that Ware informed the nation about. WTF??
No, Herbie and Musburger have the Texas Tech/OU game. And Spielman for whatever reason is calling a Pac 10 game over on the west coast. Probably a good idea, if he was in Cbus he probably would’ve started clotheslining dudes on the field.
We have Bob Griese, Brad Nessler, and Paul Maguire… so get ready for some incoherent babbling!
Ill take them over Ware anyday
Even tho Griese has scUM ties……..
Great job on this rewind post. Cumberland’s catch was amazing, but I still say he drops it against Western Michigan. ;-)
I really don’t think we should have given up 20 points. We all seen the Penn State. Same type of QB, so why did we resort to the soft zone? I have been saying it all year and I will say it again TO DEFEND THE SPREAD YOU HAVE TO SEND AT LEAST 5 GUYS AND PUT PRESSURE ON THE QB. We did well against Clark at PSU and eventually knocked him out of the game. A defender has to be assigned to the QB and make sure he gets hit on every play.
Dear god do I hate Andre Ware. I hate that his gimiccky offense gave him a Heisman. And I really fucking hate that he went on for two hours about how Utah or Ball State deserved consideration for the BCS over Ohio State. Did the idiot realize %70 of his audience was Buckeye fans?
Ok so to re-cap:
Mary May = Satan reborn
Andre Ware = Anti-christ
Go Blue = shoulda killed himself after the toledo game
This is not only Jenkins’ second punt block this year, but both blocks came off the same punt block play, if there is such a thing. Jenkins is absolutely brilliant in disguising his rush. You couldn’t see it on the ESPN telecast because the cameramen suck, but Jenkins lined up to stop the gunner, and at the last second slid over. That’s why the punter did the 3-step stride, never saw the block coming.
It’s almost like Tressel went over to Jenkins in the off-season and said, “punt blocking is like blitzing,” because Malcolm has been great at both.
I think the Big 12 and SEC should have all of the BCS slots.
SHOCKER!
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