Regular reader, first time post...
First, this site is great. Thanks to all staff and fans who make it this way.
I've been thinking about Urban's essential offensive philosophy, namely, getting the ball into the hands of playmakers. This led to his selection of the power-spread as an offense.
From what we've seen so far, there's been more attempts to do that under this regime than under JT (great coach, but conservative). However, we all seem to be concerned about the wisdom of over-reliance on Braxton (even UFM is). Here's what concerned me about Saturday (however, I was pleased with a 31 pt. production vs. a decent opponent):
(1) We seemed to scheme away from getting the ball to receivers, even when plays seemed to be working such as a bubble screen and/or reverse. Where was the vertical stretch? It seemed like UCF was trying to take away the deep outside routes, but the middle of the field looked open a lot to me (Braxton's big runs were right up the middle). Which brings me too...
(2) I assumed the TE would be heavily targeted in this offense. So far, it's better than the previous offense, but only 2 catches for Stoney yesterday & one of those on broken play? From what I can see on TV - he's open a lot more than that.
(3) Hyde has no lateral speed. Perhaps this is why Braxton doesn't choose to pitch the ball to him. He really is a full-back or H-back IMO. Bri'onte looks big and shifty. Smith looks fast north-south (but he's got to get his head into the game).
(4) Boren. Love this kid's energy & work ethic. But help me see how he is a true "playmaker." He dropped a pass the first week that hit him square in the hands. He fumbled this week. We gave him the ball 7 times for a total of what, 16 yards? I'd rather give those carries to Bri'onte Dunn. Or Philly Brown. Or throw the ball on a bubble screen or stick to the TE. This might be a flaw in Urban (too early to tell, but I'm watching) - he's loyal to his leaders, guys who have the same mental make-up as him. But does this cloud his judgement? I can't imagine Boren as a starting TB. He's slow and not shifty. Again, love the kid and if all else is working in the O - I think having him as a threat in the passing game and using him inside to pound out short yardage and blocking is where he's good. Don't yet see him producing any "wow" plays.
(5) It seems the "pash rush" situation is the D's attempt to drop more people into coverage & create INT's. In that sense - we've made real plays in this - 3 per game. Can't remember production like this in recent history. I'd rather have turn-overs than punts....we get better field position. The problem seem to be that our DB's are out of position. If that's corrected, and we're creating turnovers like this - I don't care as much about the sacks as much. Guess I'm just wondering if this is part of the "playmakers" philosophy too. Having said that - I do think we need to rush more than three guys. At least bring a LB or safety on the blitz, or just rush 4 d-lineman. 7 in the back should be enough to get some picks.
Lot's on my mind. Love the new aggressive philosophy and priority on playmakers and playmaking. I want the ball to get to the best people. I'm glad I'm not frustrated that we're letting weak(er) opponents look better than they are (so far). Just not seeing the playmaking from anyone else but Braxton this past week. I don't think it's a talent issue. We are The Ohio State University - we have talent. What do you guys/girls think?
Go Bucks.
I absolutely agree. I've already stated in another post about how sick seeing only 3 DL rush the QB makes me. The zone defense can be used to create INTs, but you have to get a good pass rush out of your front 4, I just don't think they've found the right combinaton of players. I think we need to mix it up some as well, some zone, off-man, some tight man 2 man bump, and run. That "Leo" position is trash, and needs to either be done away with or use more sparingly to give it the element of surprise. I think it use to work quite a bit, but its being over used now.
FWIW: Stoneburner is no longer a TE. He is now (considered) a WR.
My thoughts on the team:
4 of our biggest playmakers, 2 on O and 2 on D, are injured. Williams and Bennett along with Simon and Hankins are proven commodities. You can say what you want about them underperforming, but all 4 of those have made big plays.
When you don't have 2 of our best 5 offensive players, the other 3 are gonna get more time. Hall is our best playmaker outside of QB and he hasn't even played yet.
Enjoy the ride; this team is young and will improve. MSU should be a great game
Boren can be a playmaker, but he'll be most effective when defenses kind of forget about him and he's the third or fourth "option." If the defense even semi-"keys" on him, I agree, he's not the guy that will two players miss.
If/when the offense is humming, Boren becomes the guy defenses forget about, all of a sudden he's rumbling 12 yards down the field, he trucks a corner who races over to help, and he carries a safety and a LB another five yards down the field, for a surprise 26 yard gain.
I wouldn't jump to conclusions based on one drop and one fumble, especially as he's just now getting used to handling the rock again on a more regular basis (not since h.s.) after being a glorified OG the past three years in the JT offense.
Boren has 3 receptions for 31 yards. Against UCF, when Hyde went down, he was asked to carry the ball a few extra times in situations that might not have been ideally suited to him and/or not what the offense had game-planned for last week.
Watching Boren, I've been impressed by his ability to put pressure on the defense. He carries the ball with bad intentions.
Hall is certainly going to make a pretty big difference.
Brown, Smith, Spencer is a pretty solid group at WR. I expect them to make more big plays with each passing week.
vacuuming sucks
All good points. I hear what you're saying - and I'm still just making observations - after all we did "win the freakin' game." We do have some inuries, to be sure. I'm not freaking out, just curious.
I would say, RUN_FIDO_RUN, that Boren is an ideal fullback/h-back in that sense...a surprise option...a 3rd/4th option. But from what I understood about Meyer's philosophy, is that coaches scheme to get the ball into the hands of the best playmaker/athletes.
Being a good 3rd/4th option does not make one a top playmaker in the snes of how I understood it. When Boren had to take on the role of the "featured back" he didn't show much. I know he was a glorified guard under Tress, but a bad drop and a fumble in two games is tough to take esp. when he's been preparing for this all off-season. In my mind, Bri'onte has shown already that he's got playmaking (1st/2nd option) ability. His yards per carry average ispretty good (5 ypc); he has power and speed. Maybe he doesn't know how to block or he misses assignmepost-gaments and Meyer doesn't trust him yet. But he looks like a playmaker.
I know Stony is called a WR but he lined up as much as a TE or H-back (as he said post-game) as WR. He's multi-talented. Would love to see offense designed more to highlight him. Then when opposing D's double him, go outside to Devin & Evan.
It's early. I think we look remarkably good for a new O and young team. Just think that so far, I expected some things based on Meyer's philosophy that don't seem fully consistent with on-field production.
You win with people.
Shawnee: I agree and I don't think Urbz will feed Boren 10 times this Saturday, either (didn't he pretty much confirm this?).
It wouldn't surprise me to see something like Dunn getting 15 carries, Braxton 15, Smith 7-8, Philly about 5, with Boren getting like 6-7 carries. Ideally, Boren would get 2-3 carries, but they probably won't want to force feed Dunn 20+ carries and they'll want to reduce some carries for Miller, who will probably throw a bit more against Cal, anyway.
The above guesses are not counting other "special plays" like reverses (not involving Philly).
I would be in favor of that division of run opportunities...which would put us around 50 runs. I think we'll pass a bit more this game, so that number is likely high. My guess it's going to be 40-45 run, 35-40 pass. Agree that Dunn isn't ready for 20 carries.
My order of playmakers on O would be this, FWIW (excluding Hall, who has lots of potential):
Braxton
Philly
Stoney
Devin
Hyde
Spencer
Dunn
Boren
Vannett
Heurman
You win with people.
Besides scheming for INT's, I'd love to see the defensive staff free up our top playmakers to make other big plays too...i.e., don't just let Simon & Hank get doubled/trippled all day.
I think defensive playmakers, in this order are:
Simon
Hankins
Roby
Shazer
Howard
Barnett
Washington
Spence
Sabino
Grant
Goebel
OJ
You win with people.
I love Zach Boren but only as a 3rd or 4th option. Sneak attack like what was said earlier with Boren. Personally, I'd rather see Dunn carry 20+ times than Boren carry 7-10 times. Boren is a beast but not a ball carrier IMO. Every time he carries the ball i wince hoping he doesn't fumble! He looks very uncomfortable with the ball in his hands. Dunn can carry 20+ times the next 2 weeks for sure and mixed with Braxton, would be a good 1-2 punch. I watched Dunn in HS and he carried every game 30-40x against good competition. ( maybe better than the B1G right now lol!)
give dunn the ball 20 to 25 times a game, he is a star waiting to happen.