Eleven Warriors

[Ed: Bumped by popular demand.  Excellent work on these, Fry. Hopefully some context for Saturday's performance.]

Something we are not familiar with this season happened in Iowa City, drops by wide receivers.  8 drops on 33 attempts, nearly 1 out of every 4 throws ended in a dropped pass.  The 2 most glaring were on Pryor’s best throws, a 50 yard pass dropped on a dime in the endzone to Posey as well as a 40 yard pass to Corey Brown who was pulled down by his facemask 5 yards in front of the backjudge (who sees nothing wrong) after dropping the ball.

Five inaccurate throws on the day, the worst at the end of the first half throwing late and well behind Washington leading to Pryor’s first interception of the day.  On 3^rd and 6 with 8:33 left in the first half, Clayborne gets Pryor's legs causing a high late throw.  Posey is knocked off his spot by the defender well early of the ball getting there.  It's hard to know if the ball was catchable due to the contact on Posey.  Pryor began the fourth quarter on the wrong foot delivering low and wide of Sanzenbacher on the sideline.  On Ohio State’s final scoring drive of the day, Pryor delivered two inaccurate passes to Stoneburner before the dead on pass intended for Posey.

Pryor’s only bad read was disastrous for Ohio State as it set up Iowa’s go ahead touchdown.  Pryor tries to split the zone to Sanzenbacher on 3^rd and 10, Iowa’s linebacker makes an excellent play on the ball knocking it away resulting in an interception.

The biggest week of the year is upon us, and to celebrate The Game, Donatos is hooking one fan up with a 42” LCD TV. As a Columbus-based company, Donatos knows how important it is to beat that team up north. With that in mind, they’re giving one fan an upgraded view as Jim Tressel tries to capture his ninth win in ten years against Michigan.

To enter, fans can design their own Beat Michigan coupon which captures the spirit of “The Game” on the official entry form. Entry forms are available at all participating Donatos locations. Attached to the entry form, is a perfect game day meal deal coupon – two large one-topping Donatos pizzas and 25 wings for just $29.99. All redeemed coupons are automatically entered into the contest. A winner will be chosen on Friday, November 26 at 7 p.m., and he or she will have a 42” LCD TV and a Donatos pizza delivered to his or her house before kickoff.

Check it out at your local Donatos Pizza. After all, who doesn’t enjoy watching Terrelle Pryor stiff arm defenders on a TV with a crystal clear picture?

The greatest week of the year has arrived. While many current Buckeyes (players and students) were fairly young when Michigan last dominated Ohio State, it’s important for everyone to remember – this is the most important game of the year. Jim Tressel does his part each year to let the team know how important this game (and this entire week) is.

However, I found one move by coach curious. Let’s be clear – I don’t question Tressel’s tactics, he’s been one of the most successful coaches in Big Ten history during his tenure. But after the Iowa win, he said that the team would not be reviewing this tape, but instead moving straight to Michigan.

It was Tressel’s dedication to beating Michigan that made fans fall in love with him in the first place, as he “called his shot” at an OSU basketball game before he ever coached a game for the Buckeyes. Almost a year later, he delivered, and found his place in OSU lore. But in this instance, I think reviewing the tape would be pretty helpful.

Several costly penalties, bad turnovers, dropped balls, and execution errors all took place in Saturday’s game. While the team needs to focus on beating that team up north, it also might be worth reviewing the tape to try to ensure that these correctable errors don’t happen again.

Regardless, here’s to hoping for another Michigan win, and another Big Ten Title.

Maybe this is old news, but you have to hand it to Fox! I assume this is purely because of Troy starting???

http://the506.com/sports/?tag=2010-week-11

Notice the one outpost of blue on the last map with Cbus at the epicenter. Has anyone ever heard of an NFL game being broadcast based on the home state or alma mater of a particular player playing in that game? I wonder how they go about making a decision like that. Someone must be good at their job! I only wish I could turn in to see it. Hopefully Troy continues his great play and can win another one for the Ohio audience.

Also, does anyone else call him T-Roy? As in "Tee - Roy"? I went to high school with Troy Murphy, and he used to call himself/we used to call him Tee Roy. Just like my OSU buddies call Kroger "Kay Roger". 

This choice line from Newton's lawyer, George Lawson, is not exactly confidence inspiring:

"I am a million percent confident that Cam Newton took no money from no one," Lawson said Thursday. "I would suggest to you he knew nothing about any solicitation of any money from anyone."

Let me get this straight, you are 'a million percent confident' that he didn't take money from nobody? Or is it that he didn't not take money from somebody? The fact that you chose to phrase it that way does not make me a million percent confident that you are capable of convincing no one of nothing.

Also, are you suggesting that "he knew nothing" or you "would suggest if...". Why not just state that Cam has no knowledge of money being either solicited or transferred in any way connected to him?

If Cam Newton were to end up being innocent of any wrongdoing it would be a shame to see him go down due to clumsy lawyering.

Nationally, people seem to recognize how good OSU basketball is. Locally, it will always play second fiddle to football. That's fine, and it's understandable. I just wonder when people will recognize that OSU has premier talent and premier coaching. Thad Matta has never won fewer than 20 games in a season. Dean Smith can't say that. Mike Krzyzewski can't say that. Billy Donovan can't say that.

In the heart of football season, OSU smacked down Florida on the hardwood 93-75. It seems to be attracting little attention outside of great sites like this one. This is not meant to be an indictment on the fans or university – after all football is king in Ohio and always will be. Basketball hasn’t always been this good.

But I think it would be great if we gave the love to our basketball team that OSU fans are capable of giving. After all, when there’s a party going on (and Thad’s throwing a great one) it’s better to be late than never show up.

Go Buckeye Hoops!

There are more than a few Terrelle Pryor detractors out there, but consider the numbers:

According to ESPN.com, Pryor is on pace for:

2,563 yards passing with 26 TDs and 10 interceptions, and a completion percentage of 67%. That would put his QB rating at 166.4. Additionally, Pryor already has 512 yards rushing with four rushing touchdowns, and one receiving touchdown.

The year Troy Smith won the Heisman Trophy (2006):

2,541 passing yards with 30 TDs and six interceptions, and a completion percentage of 65%. His QB rating was 161.91. He had 204 rushing yards for one touchdown.

Troy Smith had Tedd Ginn Jr. Beanie Wells, Antonio Pittman, and Anthony Gonzalez.

The numbers are close, and in some areas, Pryor will pass Troy Smith (or already has). Everyone considers Troy Smith a hero, while people constantly criticize Pryor and say that he should switch positions and play wide receiver.

Are people too tough on Pryor?

Completely ripped off from MGoBrian.  He explains his terms here http://mgoblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/hennechart-legend.html

Terrelle Pryor

Not a lot of throws this week, the defense scored twice and Boom had the game of his life at the collegiate level.

Pryor started off the game hitting Posey right on the money into tight coverage.  He followed that up by throwing one away after avoiding pressure on second down and then dumping off a two yard pass on 3^rd and 9.  The next two possessions included two incredibly overthrown short passes and Herron dropping a 3^rd down pass after Pryor avoided the blitz and rolled out to his right.

Three bad reads, the first is on 3^rd and 5 with 8:25 left in the first half.  Ohio State goes with a 5 wide formation, Penn State countered with a linebacker blitz that Pryor fails to read as Sanzenbacher is wide open in the middle of the field at the first down marker.  The defensive end coming inside and linebacker looping outside leads to confusion at the line of scrimmage and a sack is the end result.  The second bad read is on 2^nd and 12 from the Penn State 25 yard line, Sanzenbacher is open for 6 early, Pryor delivers late for the interception.  The third bad read is the first bad read for a touchdown that I have seen this season.  Pryor throws deep into double coverage (this is actually the middle and short side deep coverage in the cover three).  Pryor has two short recievers he could have taken for a safe 4-8 yard gain (It was 2nd and 23).  The third deep man for Penn State (the one on the wide side of the field) is even with Sanzenbacher but is closing on Brown short of him to the sideline.  Throwing to Sanzenbacher wide of the opposite hash towards the endzone is most likely the correct read here if you are set on the deep throw.  An excellent effort by Posey who still manages to jump for the tip even with the Penn State defender climbing his back is matched by the effort by Sanzenbacher chasing a pass that is not intended for him.

Pryor had an additional big gain on a designed run taken away on a holding call, one of the scrambles was for 7 yards and a first down.

Not a lot of targets to go around, but Sanzenbacher getting one target that is late when a good throw gets him a touchdown has to be frustrating for all involved.

Pryor put it in the air 13 times, with 8 catchable or dead on, and gets bailed out in a big way by great effort from his top two wideouts on a game changing play.