Good afternoon Dubbers. What a wild day of college football once again. With all of the frustration that comes along with being as passionate of a fanbase as we  (Buckeye nation) are, lets take time to pay homage and not take for granite the sacred college football Saturdays we have left in 2022. 

As many of us already know, Ohio st partook in a real stinker of a game yesterday. Depending on what side of the perspective you fall on, my intent is to put a positive spin on the information our fanbase has processed based on what we saw yesterday and the body of work for the Ohio st 2022 season leading up to yesterday. 

I along with many others (I am sure) were not at a loss of nerve racking outbursts and maybe even some foot stomping paired with contemplating the question "are we really going to loose to Northwestern?". As always, I go back and watch the film multiple times on Sunday after I return from my place of gathering. I also watch film on that team up north for the purpose of answering the question of "What is Ohio st's best path to victory against those pricks?"

I will begin by saying that I have taken obvious note of the critics in regards to offensive play calling and the argument of "execution" rather than play calling is the issue. In my humble opinion, both can be true. For the purpose of not rambling on for days with content that nobody will read, I will attempt to refer to yesterdays games as much as possible. That being said, here we go.

Ryan Day is a stone cold killer. He is an aggressive play caller. He wants to take your life and put you away before the band even takes their seat from the pregame routine. Not a bad thing. The issue with that is it also presents an element of stubbornness to abandon that mentality. This is why Ohio st often gets off to sluggish starts if the opponent (or the weather) is taking away Ohio st's ability to go downfield with the passing game. Against Northwestern, my dad text me early in the game and said "CJ will have to run today to win". I think all of Buckeye nation knew this. With the elements knocking the ball dead in its tracks into the wind, and making the ball sail with the wind at the back, Ohio st had to run the ball. Ohio st was stopped on 3rd and short (a few times) and 4th & short once. My question to Ryan Day here is that if we know we are going to run the ball, and the defense know we are going to run the ball, 1.) why did we wait so long to have CJ keep it? and 2.) why don't we utilize the "i" formation with Mitch Rossi as a fullback more often? Correct me if I am wrong, but Ohio st has used the i formation in a limited sample size this year. I can remember we did it against Rutgers, and yesterday against Northwestern. The results are favorable. Rossi is a devastating blocker, and Miyan walked in to the endzone running downhill each time we have used it. Why is Ryan Day to stubborn to use this more often rather than remaining in the spread or offset i with and H back? If we remain in the spread on short yardage then CJ needs to be pulling it and going around the edge half the time early and often. Just my opinion. I believe Ohio st stalls offensively not  because they do not have the pieces to execute a power run game, but simply because their is an element of stubbornness to our play calling as well as lack of execution. However, if there is an element of surprise to the play calling and or breaking tendencies, then wouldn't it be easier to execute? Yesterday vs Northwestern, I saw that Ryan Day possesses all of the necessary pieces to execute a power run game in the playbook because he showed it. It took until the 4th quarter for him to finally give in and call the game the way he should have from the start. Just my opinion. What is everyone's perspective on this? Please let me know in the comments.

I also broke down some film of TTUN vs Rutgers (as I like to do with common opponents). I do feel there are things on film that Rutgers, Indiana, and Iowa have done against TTUN that will aid in Ryan Day's game plan on November 26. I do feel that Ohio st does have the pieces defensively to present matchup issues. TTUN likes to throw to #7 a lot on wheel routes. I like Ransom to challenge that. They like to throw to the tight end #86 a lot. I hope Cam Brown is back for TTUN because OSU used him to cover Brian Mayer against ND and it worked out well. Burke will be matched up with Ronnie Bell #8 all day. One thing Ohio st will present that will give McCarthy more difficulty than he has seen, is Ohio st's team speed on the defensive line. Many opponents have had good coverage long enough to make JJ hold the ball, but did not have speed on the defensive line to get hands on him and get him to the ground. It will all boil down to how physical the Ohio st defense decides to be that day in stopping the run game of TTUN. If Ohio st holds #2 in check and makes TTUN play from behind, Ohio st has a good shot to win. Just my opinion.

In closing, the perspective of play calling that I speak of does not excuse the one pass that CJ had right on the money to Egbuka that was dropped. Emeka owned this in his post game interview as a leader always does. I truly feel that all the issues that are giving our fanbase and team anxiety are fixable. Bottom line, Ohio st won yesterday. Our problem as a fanbase is that we watch every game thinking about the product we see and how it stacks up to TTUN or Georgia. Thanks for your time. Thanks in advance for contributing good banter in the comments. 

Bonus Topic: TTUN 4th and goal from the 1 yd line. Who ya got on the Dline? I am going with JTT, Mike Hall, Tyliek Williams, and Zack Harrison.

Go Bucks!