Eleven Warriors

where is our vaunted pass rush? last week they had an excuse, 3 step drops by the miami qb, wonder what excuse we will get for this game?

Too many 3 man rushes. Too much expecting the secondary to cover for 5-6 seconds. Too vanilla defensive calls. Fick needs to call a better game.

Im starting to worry about Fickell myself. It just seems like hes not very good at playcalling. I know Urb has zero tolerance for lackluster coaching so Fick better turn it up and unleash the D.

I wouldn't worry about it just yet. We've played two teams that throw pretty much only quick passes. We got good pressure when they tried to throw the ball down field.

Also, we were playing some vanilla defense and never blitzed. I'm sure we will blitz more once we hit big ten play and need to run some more exotic defenses to be successful. Good coaches never show everything they've got in the early season.

@ buckeyejason, vaunted pass rush indeed, better coaching is suppose to be the main theme this year. so again, where is the vaunted pass rush?

Early in the game spence was getting pressure. Towards the end it seemed to disappear. 

Its interesting because It seems like Washington followed by Spence are getting the most pressure on the QB. Didn't see a whole lot of Hankins and Simon today. I believe Steve Miller had the only sack at the end of the game

i think hankins and simon need to step it up, simon was getting doubled all day though but hank had a few plays but was outperformed by goebel. i thought washington spence and miller were the 3 best pass rushers. miller needs more time on the feild

BuckeyeJason I saw his play on the goaline which was awesome and one or 2 Qb pressure other than that didn't see much from him. Definately expect a lot more out of him  

That Service guy for Air Force is pretty good. 

UCF had a lot of quck passes. There were some mental errors and blown assingments, which is bad. Thankfully, its happening in weeks 1-4 and not 5-12

Yeah I dont know how the hell they gave up that 3 & 21!! YOu know they had to go deep and you still let a guy get behind you??!! But the dline isnt helping with the lack of pressure!! Man our D needs to step up!!!

My first time posting to elevenwarriors, so I'm a bit intimidated, as I haven't quite memorized all the names of the defensive players... but, I will add this... wasn't Fickell the LB coach from the previous like 8 years?? Did he not coach Laurinitus and Hawk??? What happened to the star-studded LB's that OSU has sent year after to year to the NFL?  I will add this... I hate that the secondary only showed some commitment and excitement in the final seconds of the game.... compared to previous years... I think the corners have gotten smaller, but they did seem to have much better conditioning... I didn't see then panting and bending over huffing.... their speed seemed better, but no intensity or aggression whatsoever.  And, although it's not really the point of topic here... I would really like to see Miller throw the ball more and be less dependent on his feet, no way this kid can resort to his feet 20 times a game playing big opponents, I can live with him throwing a few interceptions this year, as long as there was improvement....

Jessica Doley:

Yes Fickell was the LB coach those years. We just don't have those type of players I guess..except for Shazier. Can't have them every year I guess.

I don't think the size of the corners are relevant. I mean Howard is 6' 190..Roby is 5'11. Not much difference from Jenkins(6') or  Chekwa (5'11). Roby plays with great intensity and passion and will be one of the "great ones" I think.

Simon has been getting doubled..and when he doesn't, he is getting in there to hurry the QB. I think people are expecting Simon to be Mario Williams or Von Miller..he's not people. Hes a hardworking player with a great motor who has maxed out his potential. He goes 100 percent on evey play!

Not to mention he had guys like Heyward, Gholston, Kurt Coleman..

Heacock calls moore safty bliztes

Coleman blitzed a TON. Man, I miss Jermale Hines, dude could lay the wood. That hit he put on Adam Robinson two years ago at Iowa was insane. 

Man, I miss Jermale Hines, dude could lay the wood.

I feel like Barnett has that deep down somewhere.  I watched him in person against Miami, the game that ended his season 2 year ago, and he hit hard.  CJ and the rest of the secondary can definitely hit somebody hard when they want to.  I've seen glimmers this year but the whole group needs to dial it up a lot more, a lot more often.

Did anyone else question when Urban accepted the penality in the 3rd qtr that gave UCF an extra down?  I like his aggressive calls on offense, but I didn't like this one.  Would have put them in a 4th and 6 and a field goal attempt.  OSU was up 31-10 at that point. 

3rd and 6 at OSU 21UCF penalty 15 yard Illegal Block on J.J. Worton accepted.

3rd and 21 at OSU 36Blake Bortles pass complete to J.J. Worton for 27 yards to the OhSt 9 for a 1ST down.

4 plays later they got the TD. 

Many freshmen are playing. It is the second game of the season. Give it some time. Meyer ripping Vrabel should tell you a lot. They will not continue what doesn't work. If the LBs that are in there now aren't doing it the freshmen, Marcus, Williams, Perkins may get PT. Personally think they are still looking for who to play and how to play them. Give them four games. If the trend everyone's talking of continues, then they may have some issues. Until then, consider it tweaking the scheme and who they want in it.

Curtis Grant is actually doing alright when he's on the field. He's filling the correct holes and hasnt really been out of position. 

As for the D-line, UCF doubled both Hankins and Simon regularly. On obvious passing downs, Fick only rushed three more than half the time. So on these plays, he is allowing Hankins and Simon to be doubled, Goebel to go one on one, and dropping Miller or Spence into coverage. That's what happened on the 3rd and 21 play. Spence was 15 yards downfield. For all of you saying our D-Line is not as good as billed, it's hard for them to prove it when Fick is calling that crap. Not to mention that on those plays where 3 are being rushed, the other team is often keeping a TE or RB to help chip block. So we are rushing 3 against 5-6 blockers and expect pressure. This is stupidity. Any half decent receiver and QB will find an opening in zone if you give them 5-7 seconds. Especially when 3 of the guys playing the zone are LBs and a DE.

Mike Bennett will be a difference maker once his groin gets okay. This I believe.

Who called the plays in the past?  There's been Pagac, Dantonio, Heacock, Fickell all listed but who specifically was dialing up the plays?  Right around '04/'05 maybe there seemed to be a change - hard to tell how much was scheme and how much was talent and then the floodgates opened with the end of the '06 season, '07 title game, '08 USC, etc.  I mean we NEVER saw opponents score much more than 24+ in our worst games prior to all that.

I think the difference is we don't blitz as much and we don't currently have linebackers that are all over the place. Christian Bryant is always a half step away or out of position but looks like he has so much promise (we've been saying that the past 2 years though). I don't think this is a lack of talent. These guys are every bit as athletic and touted as the prevous players that came through. The secondary seems confused at times and has had too many blown coverages already. Hank was a beast in the second half and Orhian Johnson had himself a fantastic game. I think this defense has boat loads of talent it just doesn't seem to be translating. I was expecting a lot more out of Shazier to this point to be a playmaker and to be that guy that's all over the place but we haven't quite seen it yet. I think that's what we're really missing that we're used to having is smart, quick linebackers that are just all over the field. We seem to be lacking that at this point. It's only two games in and I'm sure there'll be plenty of improvements.

Yes I did and it seemed as if he said to get more pressure to me too.  I can bet you that they'll dial up more next weekend and it will show a huge difference.  It's lack of movement with front 4 that Meyer was talking about (as well as lack of LB blitz as well I would think).  They've been playing base up front or may be slanting here and angling there(but not much pressure).  Spence got pressure on one delayed blitz.  Other than that...I can't think of ONE play that the Dline stunted and got pressure.  Heacock lived and died by the blitz...these guys seem afraid to make a mistake...but unless you have em put their ears back and go, then the QB has all day which Dysert and UCF's guy had...and it's getting to be to blatantly obvious Meyer won't let it happen again...he's going take over or have Withers.  I'm not getting out the fire Fickel and Vrabel signs just yet...but they'd better improve or it won't be the "family" vibe for long.

Shazier needs to be the one they cut lose and send him to get the QB! I would let Shazier be the hellian and run around with his head on fire! I wouldnt even be as mad if we got beat in coverage becuz we were too aggressive but getting beat deep and not even putting any pressure on the QB has got to stop.

I would really like to know what Meyer's philosophy is on defense....does he like soft coverage....or does he want a aggressive defense?  I think by his comments he at least wants and aggressive d-line.

They do not need to run any chocolate (opposite of vanilla) plays on D yet.  Blitzes will come, especially in that MSU game.

New coordinators, new schemes.  They have to master the basics before you can expect exotic play calls.  Same goes for the offense.  But yeah, I had higher expectations for the front 4 getting pressure this year.  Is it mental? 

I agree with Zach - patience.

When they do start generating lots of pressure, the reliance on zone will pay off. Besides, they need to get ready to play almost exlcusively zone against the likes of Nebraska (Martinez), Indy (although Roberson now out for year), possibly Purdue (Henry or Terbush), ILL (Scheelhaase), and most important against TTUN (Denard).  

Mark Snyder was an excellent D Coordinator for the Buckeyes before he left for Marshall. He was here from 01-04, and a huge part of our national championship defense in 02. He is now the DC for Texas A&M. I wouldn't mind seeing him in Columbus again. Fickell has always had Heacock by his side, he no longer has that support and it shows a little I think. Our front 7 should be so much better, especially our D line that is loaded with depth. Go Bucks!