After trading punts to start the game in LA last year, the Buckeyes platooned Todd Boeckman and Terrelle Pryor on the way to a 17-play, 69 yard drive to take a 3-0 lead. Unfotunately, things quickly got away from OSU when Trojan quarterback Mark Sanchez hooked up with fullback Stanley Havili for a 35 yard touchdown completion on their next possession. Sanchez would go on to throw three more touchdowns and when you toss in a horrific Rey Maualuga pick six, you had all of the ingredients of an ass kicking.
While Sanchez is now in the Big Apple and USC will be lining up a freshman at quarterback this weekend, the supporting cast from last year's carnage is back, largely intact. Given the concerns about the Buckeye pass defense that have come up after Ricky Dobbs did his thing, I thought it would be worthwhile to look back at Sanchez's four touchdowns and discuss what the Buckeyes might do to prevent the same from happening.
Stanley Havili Gets Things Going for the Trojans
Trailing 3-0, the Trojans leaned on Joe McKnight and Mark Sanchez to quickly move the ball to the Ohio State 35. On first down, Sanchez lines up with RoJo wide to his right, McKnight as the single back behind him and fullback Stanley Havili at H-back.
As Havili releases off the line, Freeman tries to chip him.
Havili utilizes his speed to avoid the chip and by the time he's five yards into his route, there is separation from Freeman.
Once Havili crosses the 20, there is plenty of room for which Sanchez to throw. He obliges and Havili snares the ball with his fingertips.
Jenkins is unable to get to Havili before his momentum carries him into the endzone.
With so many weapons on offense, it might have been easy for OSU to overlook Havili last season. Though you can bet he'll be recognized anytime he's on the field this weekend, the play he scored on last year isn't an easy one to defend. The Trojans run so much out of that formation, that you have to respect that threat with your personnel. Odds are, a linebacker will be forced to play Havili unless USC is in an obvious passing down, but part of what makes Petey such a good coach is that he doesn't run this play on 3rd and long (witness the 1st and 10 scenario in which Havili scored). Perhaps Rolle can cover Havili here a little tighter than Freeman (who was battling injuries) was able to do last season. Maybe even Hines, depending on the package. Whatever happens, if Spitler finds himself on Havili one on one for this route, we're in big trouble.
Damn You, Tight End
After a Buckeye three and out, the Trojans marched down the field again before facing a 2nd and 1 from the OSU one yard line. Coming out in a two tight end set, Stafon Johnson is the deep back with Havili at fullback. Blake Ayles is the tight end to the left side of the USC formation.
Sanchez fakes a handoff to Havili while Johnson flares out to the left. Ayles blocks temporarily before releasing.
After pulling out of the fake, Sanchez looks up to find Ayles has slipped by the safety Anderson Russell who bit on the fake to Havili.
By the time the ball is in the air, Russell is stumbling to get turned around and Ayles has a yard cushion.
The end result.
This is another play that scares the hell out of me. Not so much because the Trojans execute it well (they do), but more so because the Buckeyes seem to be extremely susceptible to play actions and short seams to the tight end. LSU used something similar though with a bit more trickery involved. Given USC's rushing prowess, you have to respect the run (and by proxy the fake) here, so OSU would most likely either have a linebacker or safety on the tight end. Further complicating matters is the fact that Ayles is 6-5, so a Rolle matchup might not exactly be favorable down near the goal line. I'm somewhat comforted by the fact that Barkley shouldn't have Sanchez's poise quite yet.
Williams the First
Holding on to a 21-3 lead, USC was forced to punt on their opening possession of the second half. No problem, they downed it at the OSU five. After taking a 3rd down sack, Trapasso got off his worst punt of the season, going for only 31 yards to the Buckeye 36. Facing a 3rd and 10 from the Buckeye 24, Sanchez comes out in a shotgun with four wide receivers.
All four receivers release up the field and the tight end runs a seam. The Buckeyes rush two down linemen plus Heyward off the edge. Gibson drops into short zone coverage.
Damian Williams runs a post, splitting Laurinaitis and Chekwa in the zone. Sanchez delivers another perfect ball.
It looks as if Russell has an angle on the play.
But that was just an optical illusion.
Heading into Saturday's matchup, you'd obviously like to see a little bit more man out of the Buckeyes when backed up in their own end. USC has several talented receivers, but it's not like any of them are burners of the like the Buckeyes haven't seen over the past two or three years. Further, Williams is only listed as 6-1, so he shouldn't pose too many matchup problems outside of his crisp routes. It was a great pass and catch, but the play should have been stopped around the five.
Williams the Second
USC's final touchdown of the night came off a 1st and 10 from the Ohio State 17 yard line. They're out in a single back with Stafon Johnson in the backfield, Havili at H, Patrick Turner at X and Damian Williams at the Z spot. The Buckeyes are in their base 4-3 with Freeman package with Freeman lining up on the left edge.
Homan, Laurinaitis and Freeman all blitz and the Buckeyes get good pressure on Sanchez.
Sanchez gets the ball off and his pass is to a wide open Williams in the left corner of the endzone. Chekwa, the nearest defender, is seven yards away. But how?
The play called for outside receiver Turner to come in and pick Williams' defender.
As you can see, it worked. While technically it's an illegal play, if done in a way so as to make it appear more pattern than pick, it's easy to get away with it. This is where the combination of talented and smart comes into play.
Chekwa should have recognized what was going on and switched on the play. It's not that much different than basketball, really. It appears as if he was maybe paying a little too much attention to what was going on in the backfield instead of scanning the receivers. If nothing else, you can bet the staff has the scout team executing picks all week and having seen this play quite a few times already, I'm guessing the players read it better Saturday evening.
Conclusion
The Buckeye secondary was torched in the Coliseum last season. Whether it be from a missed switch or assignment, a beautifully drawn-up h-back wheel route or a well-timed pick, it wasn't pretty. The bad news is all three of the Trojans that caught Sanchez touchdowns are still on the team and while they're extremely talented athletes, none of them pose a sever matchup problem on the face of it. The Trojan offensive line is probably the best unit on an obscenely talented squad and getting pressure won't be easy, but if Barkley is given time to throw, we could very well be in for a similar result.
If the Buckeyes can get pressure on Sanchez Barkley and if they learned from last September's game, then things could break Ohio State's way. Unfortunate Vick quotes or not, OSU has one of the more talented players in the nation touching the ball on every snap. Some combination of solid pressure, coverage and an offense that eats clock could be enough to keep the potent USC offense away from the endzone -- or at least as away from the endzone as can be reasonably expected.
Bonus: USC's Opening Possession
On the first play of the game, USC comes out in a single back formation with two wideouts split to the wide side of the field, while Ohio State is in their base 4-3. CJ Gable is the tailback and goes in motion to the left side emptying the backfield. Feeling the defensive pressure out a bit, Sanchez takes a three step drop and makes a bad throw to Damian Williams (the Z) on a slant against the Buckeye zone for an incompletion.
On 2nd and 10 from their own 39, USC comes out in another single back formation with receivers split to either side of the ball. This time McKnight is the back and Ronald Johnson goes in motion left to right, pre-snap. The handoff goes to McKnight with a fake carried out to Johnson on the reverse. Jenkins fills and makes an excellent open field tackle on McKnight limiting him to a one yard gain. Helluva play, really.
On 3rd and 9, the Trojans come out with three bunched to the right and one wide left with McKnight in the backfield next to Sanchez in the shotgun. Ohio State is in their nickel package with Hines in at STAR. McKnight goes in motion to the right to join the bunch. When the ball is snapped, McKnight and two other receivers clear out while RoJo runs up the line setting up a screen. Sanchez's throw hits guard Zack Heberer in the head and falls incomplete.
Comments
Im not coming 1050 miles to watch ohio state get blown up. So lets fuckin roll. Im going to be there and ready to watch us beat some ass for a change. We have the talent and the time is now. This game reminds me of Notre dame 95' 96' they have the young stud qb but our dline is going to eat them for dinner.
The "Williams the First" TD makes me sick--we rush only three guys so we generate absolutely no pressure on the QB, and yet we somehow run a lousy zone defense in the secondary, leaving gaping holes. Ugh.
I really hate that it's pile on Anderson Russell week, but that "angle" he took to Williams on that play was also pretty atrocious.
I heard a lot of people complaining in the wake of last year's game that the Bucks didn't blitz enough. No, we did. All night in fact. We just didn't get there; we were either getting blocked or Sanchez had already hit his outlet.
Suprise Suprise....two touchdowns were direct results of none other than #21
Im not piling on a fellow Buckeye, but am soooooooo glad he got replaced.
I have no problem with piling it on Anderson. He deserves every ounce of criticism despite Griese's "they're just kids" defense in response to Spiels. It seem as if the only people in Buckeye Nation who understand the cutthroat world that is college football nowadays are the people on this website. The rest of Columbus and the bluehaired alumni are still in the "Win one for State boys!" mentality. You sure as hell don't hear that talk coming out of SoCal or Gainesville. Earn your f'ing scholarship or get out of the way.
ND in 95/96 was not nearly as talented as USC today. The problem was the Irish had 1 guy to hand off to, and one guy to throw to, problem was in each case it was the same guy.
I'm at work and def. didnt see this comment before I posted. But like that we both used the term "Pile On" LOL
Me too, but I'm glad Sanchez is not playing too!
2500 miles for me, i win?
Excellent work, as always, Jason.
Seeing that Havili touchdown in excruciating detail gave me instant heartburn.
conclusion.... Sanchez should be Barkley (2nd paragraph).
I will try and drink twice as much.
what?
We're going to get blown up.
We won't be able to get pressure.
We won't be able to cover.
We won't be able to tackle.
We won't be able to get YAC.
We won't be able to protect the QB.
Sucks.
All those blown coverages. I hope our backfield steps it up this week and doesn't miss an assignment like they did last season.
I've been piling on Russell for a few years, FWIW. That angle he took on the TE was pretty atrocious as well, I'd even call it 90 degrees from standing up.
It was almost as if Sanchez knew where the blown coverage was on every play before the ball was even snapped. There's a dramatic fearlessness in knowing where you're going to throw it before the ball is even snapped. They did it against Penn State, too. The only hope here really is that Barkley shows hesitation. Otherwise he'll just chuck it the same way.
I still think that if Beanie had played in the game, the score wouldn't have been as lopsided. Boeckman maybe doesn't throw a pick-6? It's all academic at this point, we can suppose until we're blue in the face. Fact of the matter is, Ohio State gave up 4 TDs and 330 yards against a good team, and their defense got a TD bonus. They did their job. Ohio State didn't have the central component of their offense, nor did they have his backup. It was destined to be a day of stalled drives and headaches in the Ohio State backfield.
Gotta hope Pryor can keep drives alive and show as much poise as Sanchez. There's no way we were going to blow USC out in the Coliseum. The best we could have ever hoped for was a close game with key turnovers.
And that situation hasn't changed this year. Offensive discipline will keep this Ohio State team in the game. Know your job, and do it perfectly. If the defense can limit USC to last year's production, then that gives us a good shot.
38-9 USC...I still don't think Tressel/Bollman will have our offense ready to go at that level when it counts...in the red zone to score TDs both on the ground and through the air. Lobbing the ball up to Carter...how can if fail? $50 says they don't even attempt it.
OHHHHH SO THAT'S HOW YOU BLOCK??? WHY DIDN'T YOU INCLUDE THE IMAGE OF SANCHEZ GETTING A GATORADE FROM THE BENCH DURING THE HAVILI PLAY??
Sorry for the caps lock. REALLY. But it just doesn't look good for the young Bucks. Maybe they can surprise, but probably not.
HAHAHA.
Yes. There's a serious disconnect between the defensive pressure and coverage assignments. It just so happens that most passes just happen to be perfectly timed so the defensive line hasn't gotten pressure and the secondary has lost coverage.
Even against Ricky Dobbs and Navy, pressure almost made it but Dobbs was able to finish the play. One side has to step their game up.
Hey coming to columbus this weekend where should I tailgate
SERIOUSLY MAN<I'M FREAKING OUT,
I recommend away from a lot of Ohio State students and be respectful and courteous. If you can't find the nearest Trojan bar, I recommend by the stadium or West Campus somewhere.
Also, plan on being there around 9AM. I say stay away from the die hards because drinking from early AM to late PM is tough for anyone.
same question every day get's you the same answer.
which one are you; pete or repeat?
"If the Buckeyes can get pressure on Sanchez..."
There are a few bridges over the Olentangy...I suggest you start there. Make sure you wear a life vest.
Remember the first time Tressel took on michigan at ann arbor? I didn't think we had a chance in hell and we won. Same thing against miami and we won.What did Sparky Anderson use to say - every dog has his day - we are about to have ours.
Depends on how old you are, and where you park, if you go over by Jesse Owens area(by the baseball and track and field stadiums) there are tons of RV's with a really good amount of people, beer and food, then head south towards the stadium and you'll hit the rest of them. And I'd like to say I'm sorry to you if you run into any of the idiot fans that don't respect you traveling to watch your team, it's always nice to be welcomed when you're at another teams stadium. I know I've always ended up at somebody's tailgate while I was visiting other places. Good luck
hopeso
Might not matter if we can stop the run. Every pass their qb completed last week was off the play action. Barkley gets happy feet and Corp gets called in but it will be too late.
TP is going to put on a show. Get your popcorn ready.
Look, I'm not going to provide any analysis that hasn't already been provided (getting pressure on Barkley, etc.). The only thing I'm going o say is that there's a reason they play the game. Before the 2006 NC, ESECPN's analysts and NCAA Football projections all predicted a relatively easy win for us. Crazier things have happened than us beating SC. "They put their pants on one leg at a time..."
I was able to catch a replay of the SJSU-USC game, and it did brighten my opinion slightly for Saturday. SJSU is awful. They had plenty of opportunity to find open receivers and the QB would throw it into the ground, or the receivers would drop it - not executed well at all in any facet. Of course, they had no running game to speak of whatsoever.
Navy is undoubtedly several tiers above SJSU.
Barkley was sacked once in the first quarter, and knocked down a 2nd time on route to an incompletion. SJSU forced 2 fumbles, and recovered. Where Mark May says that our O-line is in big trouble, even though they only gave up one sack and Pryor was never on the turf, USC's offensive line showed that it can be pushed around by far weaker defensemen as well.
I think San Jose ran out of gas in the 2nd quarter...simply a matter of stamina. Some of USC's big plays came off of plays they ran earlier in the game, but where SJSU defenders closed and kept it from going anywhere they suddenly were a step and a half shy of a tackle (i.e. WR screen, running off-tackle). Ohio State has stamina...these simple things won't work against quick LBs and safeties.
Anyway, I'm not sure how many people on here got to see that game, but the phrase "SJSU is no Navy" is probably not just rhetoric. SJSU had no speed, no discipline, and no stamina. Navy seemed to possess all 3, and perhaps they really are coached up to another level.
If Pryor is crisper, and if the backfield blockers play a quarter step better than they did on Saturday, Ohio State might have a much better shot than previously predicted.
thank you bucksfan for breathing some clarity into the "house is burning" notion that seems to be running rampant... san jose state looked like a JV team against SC, if tressel wasnt as conservative about blowing people out we could have easily matched or exceeded SC's score against them.
We're going to be fine.
Other than florida our "big-game losses" have been in the opposing teams backyard. If you want to count Penn state, we lost on a freshman mistake, and guess who's not a freshman anymore? Guess which team has the only mobile quarterback in this game? Have a little faith people, this is a different team, and this is going to be a different result. Not saying we are going to blow them out, but with 4 minutes left which quarterback you think is going to put this game away?
Get on board, because after this week the band wagon is going to get crowded...
Knowso - hahaha I got one on the poet
Hello McFly, we stopped the run last year on all but one drive. They knew we would come out against the run and beat us with play action. Russell sitting is the one hope we have of decent coverage. If our offense can match their scoring, then we have a chance. Without Russell, last year would have been a 17-3 affair. Barkley will have to make those plays, and the way to rattle him is pressure against their outstanding o line.
No "the house isn't burning" Yet !!! Two things can prevent Forest Fires .."PRYOR & PRESSURE"...Pryor must be involved on everyplay..running ..passing ..options ..faking...moving the pocket..Third & one ..Fourth & one...must be Pryor with options.(not dives between the tackles). Pressure on defense...stop the run...hit the QB...PRESSURE.
Do those well...Game over.....You will not outscore this team...DEFENSE must carry the day.
Indiana would kick the snot out of SJSU! Navy was a bunch of hard charging jar heads and squids ready to take an ass whupin and give as best as they could. We let off the gas and paid for it. USC will quickly find out what they are up against Saturday night in the 'Shoe. Mobile QBs are 4-1 against USC. Now is TPs time.
There's other websites that have been calling for Russell to get out of the way.
I'm jus' sayin'.....
Go to Eddie George's grill and announce that you are the second cousin to Ralph Gray Decker.
They'll buy you a beer if you do.
Honest.
that. is. funny.
OR USC comes down with swine flu?? I hope Tress has a plan in place if our folks come down with it. H1N1 has hit Ole Miss pretty hard, but they have an open week.
Will being negative now give you satisfaction in a potential I-told-you-so situation Sunday morning? It sucks that you have no hope. Consider yourself not-invited to my party, negative nancy. We will drink copious amounts of bourbon and be anxious, not nervous; positive, not pessimistic. I get being anxious about how the Bucks will play but I do not get writing off their chances all together. I hope you sold your NC tickets in 02 because we had no chance.
I can imagine this post takes a while to put together, but it is greatly appreciated. I love seeing the break down of plays.
Thanks!
I agree...
Think about it! If USC didn't play us last year what would we all predict?
Would the points spread even be in USC favor?
Cmon buckeye fans it's football, any given saturday something can happen.
I like are chances on defense the silver bullets had a good challenge against navy.
They will be ready... i am not saying USC isn't tough or a great team.
But we are not SJSU, I REPEAT WE ARE NOT SJSU!
Look above Gibson, Coleman, Hines, and Chekwa have all seen this offense.
Sanchez was amazing quarterback I.E. (JETS STARTER). Barkley is not sanchez yet.
In the words of King Leonidas:
This is where we hold them! This is where we fight! This is where they die!
agreed
Livingston Avenue and Nelson Road
E husdson and Linden Avenue
Cherry Creek
Hilltop
Point Dexter (east side)
I'm amazed at how many people on this blog that regularly post are calling a huge USC blowout again. I really don't believe that it's going to be that lopsided at all. I am somewhat affraid of the secondary in this game, but I think the offense puts up more than 9 points. All of those passes to TE, RB's, and short passes to wideouts in the first half last week, weren't by accident. That is a little show of things to come. I look for Saine to be out of the backfield making a lot of catches in this game. I'm thrilled for it and I think they are going to pull out a huge surprise in this game.
Thanks. USC's offense works so well because it's creative. Oh, that and the fact that it's littered with five-stars.
Fixed. Thanks for the heads-up.
Could we get the dogs and police to search USC ala Michigan a few years ago?
Like others have said, the RV lots are a good starting points before you start working your way to the stadium. Don't believe the hype: while Buckeye fans can be hooligans at times, the people of Columbus and the Midwest in general are as polite as any people in the United States.
Who are these mobile qbs you talk about being 4-1? I can only think of Dixon and Young. USC beat Oregon once with Dixon and the smashed Illinois with Juice so your stat is wrong. Also I would consider Masoli of Oregon a mobile quarter back and USC kiled them last year 44-10. In 2007 Washington's Jake Locker ran the ball 18 times against USC and USC won that game. So I would say Mobile quarterbacks are 2-4 and I'm probably missing a few that would go in the loss column.
Classic Jeff, Classic
I am glad that some people have come on here and actually had a positive outlook for this game. I have been saying since last Saturday that the close call against Navy was not the same as last year's close call to Ohio. Last year we looked about as good as Ohio U at that point in the season. I mean they were moving the ball at will and their D had the bucks stopped w/out Beanie.
To me, even though Navy go their points, it seemed like the Bucks were far and away the better team on all sides of the ball. Instead of going for the kill in the 2nd quarter, Bausserman came in and I will not attempt to explain or defend that, but it was more a case of letting a team hang around than the team being as good as the buckeyes. I feel so much better about this team moving forward. Posey, for a half, looked really good. I thought Pryor looked much better, and Saine looks strong. Not to mention Carter will be a star and soon. This team is much much better than people think.
I think dixon beat them twice, young, and then some dude from Kansas State
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
watch at 3:55 -- that seems pretty mobile to me
I second that!
All this banging on Bollman, why is Taver Johnson getting a free pass? Hasnt his DB's been the focal point of alot of OSU's struggles of late?
interesting tidbit from http://www.usctrojans.com/blog/
NFL teams made their 53-man roster cuts this week, and an astounding 36 USC alumni will be playing on Sundays this fall.
Ten Trojans were cut from training camp rosters, leaving at least one Trojan on 26 of the 32 teams. All 36 players who survived the cuts are from the Pete Carroll Era (2001-present).
The positions most represented by the Trojans in the League? Seven USC linebackers and seven Trojan defensive linemen are playing as pros this fall.
I'm surprsied that most of the SC NFLers were from the defensive side of the ball.
Not only in their backyards, but I believe (with the exception of Florida) we were the underdogs. We weren't even supposed to win. No way around it, the only way to shed this image is to get a W. It's gotta happen.
One thing I'd like to add. If any of you who are so convinced the Bucks are getting stomped would like to get rid of their tickets, I'd be glad to take them off of your hands, we need all the good MOJO we can have in that stadium.
It will definitely be difficult to stop the SC offense on Saturday. Which is all the more reason OSU needs to move the football when they have it. I don't care how good the SC defense is, it's no excuse. If you can't score touchdowns (instead of FG's) you will not win. If OSU dominates the line of scrimmage on offense they will win. If they get dominated (like last year) they will lose. Either this be the week when OSU fans (and people like me) finally get off Bollman's back because the O-Line lives up to its promise, or the week the heat gets more intense than ever because the line gets dominated again. I'm hoping for the former.
I'm sure this is more than recruiting. Pete’s got a great system, as someone who has coached in the NFL he is able to sell that and use the relationships he has out there. I've long suspected the line between the NFL and USC was at best blurred, and at worst non-existent. I'm sure that if the NCAA was aware of what Pete was permitting in this regard, they would shut it down. I mean, the infractions against Bush are one thing, that Bush was brought in on a conference call when Pete recruited McNight is another, and then they brought in some NFL assistant to coach special teams. We are left to wonder what else they do. There is no way to get a young players attention like bringing in someone from the NFL. Additionally, if these students are already building relationships with agents, as Bush did, the agents have an interest in seeing that the player is ready from the NFL, and will get him exposure to things and places they would not otherwise have access too. So it not like guys form USC are going straight from the combine to preseason to trying to make the roster. The minute Carroll sits down with them he is selling them on the NFL.
Dixon beat them once, not twice, and I knew SC had lost to Kansas State but I did not know who the quarterback was
K-State's Eli Roberson:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports...
No problem. It does take time, but it's also a lot of fun.