Care: O-line Jekyll and Hyde
Our offensive line is excellent at pass blocking. They really are. They were great against ND and outside of one play they didn't have any major hiccups today.
But boy are they bad at run blocking. I do think play calling/coaching is a big issue (see below), but our guys just don't get it done on the ground. This is our Achilles heel.
Don't Care: Unexpected Roster Injuries
The Tre injury announcement before the game resulted in the most predictable reactions from fans. In the end, it doesn't matter. Tre isn't soft (broken foot all last year), nobody owes you any information (they literally do not have to tell us anything), and our RB room is stacked. Tre is excellent and will be back. Get off the ledge, stop calling him soft, and stop criticizing our staff because they know more about injuries than you'll ever know.
Care: Coaching and play calling.
This is a chicken or the egg thing, and is mostly about our run game/short yardage. Our play calling in short field situations remains terrible and the identity of the team does not include edge blocking on wide runs so our continuing to call those plays is no longer on the players. The coaches are responsible for putting our players in positions they are not currentoy capable of executing.
I believe Maryland said they were going to focus on stopping the run ahead of the game which may be a factor in why we couldn't run the ball today but our coaches are not making intelligent decisions knowing the ability of our team.
On the other hand: how do we not improve in this regard, and how has it been an issue year over year. It leads one to believe this is not a personnel issue when it occurs with completely different sets of players. It's coaching. We need to get it right or let the coaches go.
Don't Care: McCord's early issues
McCord looked bad early on, and off for at least the first half. Everyone knows it, especially him and our coaches. I don't think it's pointing to a larger issue.
As fans, we continue to have to understand that McCord is much more of a good QB instead of an otherworldly one. And we have had 5 straight seasons of otherworldly QB play. It's easy to get spoiled. And we are spoiled.
McCord is going to be a very good quarterback, but he is not going to be a 4000 yard, 40 TD QB this year (in terms of his quality of play). It's just a fact. It could happen next year but we have to be realistic. About 97% of schools would pay serious money to have McCord as their starter, and he's still that far behind what we are used to.
He doesn't turn the ball over. He has the ability to make every throw (the back shoulder drop to MHJr on the sideline today is a great example). He does not get rattled. He also has accuracy issues. He gets antsy and let's the ball go too early.
He will continue to improve. He had his best day as a QB today when all was said and done.
Be realistic and understand this team is going to be one that relies on the D and can put up enough points to win.
Care: Out defense is legit.
Maryland had 196 yards passing, for 4.8 yards per completion.
We gave up just over 300 total yards on a day where we kept giving the ball back to the opponent in the first half.
We gifted them 7 points in the first with a poorly called fake punt. And then only 10 points after their firdt series.
This defense is has held three straight opponents, who came in with different offensive strengths that were all VERY strong, to well below their averages in those strengths. And today they got sacks, turnovers, and points.
They are disciplined, don't let the offense behind them, and make plays when needed. It's exactly what we were asking for after last season.
Don't Care: guaranteed narratives of a "close win" against Maryland the media spins
It's going to happen. Talking down OSU because of the opponent (a should-have-been-ranked conference opponent) and how subpar we looked in the first half.
Don't care, not even a little bit. We are 5-0 and have the talent to keep this going awhile. We have weaknesses but literally every team does this year. We didn't narrowly escape an unranked Auburn by 7, have any losses, throw three picks to Bowling Green, or look like shit against Boston College. We played a good (not great) Power Five team, started slow, and dominated the second half.
Ill take it and look forward to the chance to go 6-0 next week.
