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Are Pete Thamel's Criticisms of OSU Accurate?

+13 HS
buckeye phi's picture
December 21, 2016 at 8:20pm
111 Comments

While surfing for all the input I could find on Ohio State's upcoming playoff game, I stumbled across this article by Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated.   By the way, apparently, the article was originally published about a week ago.  So if this is old news to you - I apologize.  But I just noticed it today. 

I have generally thought of Thamel as a relatively reasonable sportswriter with somewhat well thought out opinions.  But this particular quote kind of jumped out at me: 

But as Ohio State enters the 2017 College Football Playoff with a weak offensive line, pedestrian wideouts and no game-breaking tailback, Meyer needs to rekindle the conservative ethos of his predecessor.

Does that seem a little harsh - to the point of being flat-out inaccurate?  Or, is he right - and I am just guilty of looking at my team through rose scarlet colored glasses? 

Don't get me wrong.  I realize the offensive line has had some "issues" with pass protection.  But "weak"?   This season's Slobs are also one of the nation's top run-blocking offensive lines - are they not?

While our wide receivers have certainly had "pedestrian" statistics, I'm not sure it's accurate to label the likes of Noah Brown and Parris Campbell that way.  The problems with the passing offense cannot fairly be laid entirely at their feet. 

For that matter, Curtis Samuel lines up as our slot receiver much of the time.  While he technically would be classified as an H-back in UFM's offense, his numbers as a receiver were actually pretty good.  To be completely fair, his stats should count as well before making such an assessment.  

And Mike Weber was only the third running back in Ohio State history to rush for over 1,000 yards as a freshman.  He was just named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, for heaven's sake.  His performance this season hardly qualifies as a reason to think the offense lacks explosiveness to such an extent. 

Again.  I usually appreciate Thamel's takes.  But this one lost me. 

Sure - Ohio State has a great defense and a great punting game this year - but in this day and age, "Tressel-ball" isn't going to get the Buckeyes where they want to go.  At least, not against the likes of Clemson - or certainly, Alabama. 

Besides, if we really want to give credit where credit is due - Tressel-ball is just a bit of an update from Woody Hayes' well known old philosophy, anyway.

I'd be interested to see what my 11W brethren have to say -  

 

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