M*ch*gan State

I didn't do a recap of California or UAB because there wasn't a ton to say. I was shocked not to see Bri'onte Dunn in either game, save special teams play, but I have since heard that he hasn't performed up to standards in practice.
The return of Jordan Hall has restore the true "option" in the option play, as Braxton Miller seems to have great faith in the tailback and flicks it out to him more frequently than he would with Hyde.
And all-in-all, despite some dropped balls and quarters where the offense couldn't get going with much, I haven't been unimpressed with our offensive unit. They seem to be growing in confidence and ability. Devin Smith needs to work on  catching the catchable pass -- or maybe Braxton needs to stop improving on his accuracy and count of Smith to catch the uncatchable more often.

But the defense. Sigh. I am disappointed in the defense. The corners are young, but most have at least a year of experience playing, and they are playing such soft coverage and with such confusion that I throw my arms up in frustration constantly. But there is NO excuse for the rushing stats against us to this point. Poor tackles, dumb penalties, dropped interceptions. All that basic stuff that OSU usually prevails at -- NOT there. And I figured our defense would be our strong arm this season, covering for the inability of the offense to score. Not so much. Watching John Simon, Johnathan Hankins, and Nate Willliams can be a thing of beauty, but I have seen them get this close to the QB and not quite get him too many times. I was listening to the first quarter of the UAB game on the radio, and it seemed like UAB was gaining at least 5 yards on every play, if not more.

So in a nutshell, it hasn't been great or awe-inspiring, but they have won their games. I can recall another season like that where OSU went home with a crystal football. Granted, that can't happen this season, and it isn't likely that OSU will go on tp be undefeated, but I do like what I am seeing from Braxton Miller thus far, and so does Urban Meyer, so I won't dwell on the first four games too much more.

Now, looking to this weekend, I am EXCITED! The first game in the Big Ten schedule for OSU and the first away game, and it comes against one of the strongest teams in the Big Ten, despite their loss to Notre Dame. This might be one of the best defenses OSU will have faced so far and one of the better runningbacks in the nation. The QB isn't anywhere near the polished player that was Kirk Cousins (MSU's QB last season), and the receivers shouldn't be able to outrun the OSU corners. But Le'Veon Bell will provide a real challenge for the Buckeyes, so the defensive line MUST be stellar in this game and prevent long runs. The linebackers need to step up and secure the holes quickly. Andf the tackling needs to be EFFECTIVE. No missed tackles, no assuming Bell will fall down when he is touched. And NO penalties to keep drives alive for the opponent.
On offense, Miller needs to be quick in his decision-making. No running one way, then trying to turn, then "oh maybe I will pass, no wait I can run..." He won't have time for that. Those defensive linemen will eat him up, much like they did last season in Columbus. You remember that game -- it was atrocious. I believe the score was 10-7, but only because OSU got a cheap touchdown late in the game. They could barely move the ball all game, and the defense (the one that we are used to seeing at OSU) kept them in the game by limiting Bell and Cousins. So Miller has to be quick to make up his mind, find a receiver, or throw it away. His running plays have to be smart and timely. And we will see the return of Carlos Hyde, which is fortunate because it adds a new dimension to the running game in a true power back. So we can have Hall in there to run to the outside or catch a screen pass or execute the option, and then we can have Hyde in there to block for Braxton or pound it up the middle.
And the receivers really need to CATCH.THE.BALL. I will say I have enjoyed watching the relationship develop between Braxton and Philly Brown over the last couple of games. Miller has grown to trust Brown, and goes to him in the clutch situations.
It would also be helpful not to give up cheap points on blocked punts and special teams mistakes. We need to win the field position battle, because D'Antonio studied and coached under one of the best in that area -- Coach Jim Tressel.

College Gameday will be at the game tomorrow, so I have set my DVR to record. I am really revved up to watch the game, but unfortunately I will be watching alone. :( That tends to get very frustrating for me when things are going well. Look for me on Facebook and/or Twitter. I am trying to just make one status update and comment on that throughout the game, so as not to completely annoy people who follow me.

GO BUCKS!!

California Preview

I have been slacking on my preview research. You will have to forgive me. Balancing this whole single-mom life (granted I am not really single, because I am married, but my husband works two full-time jobs right now so I may as well be single) has taken a toll. With that and my own two jobs, caring for two children, and all the other stuff I do to maintain the house, not to mention exercising to keep somewhat sane, blogging is a luxury, so one a week may be all you get from me for a while. When I have time, I will do my very best to get you a recap and a preview each week. I think it will be easier when Big Ten season kicks off, because I am more familiar with those teams and their players.

Now, that being said, I have done a little bit of research on the Golden Bears of California. I think their talent is equal to or greater than that which the Buckeyes saw against UCF last weekend. After all, Cal is a Pac-12 team, so that helps their recruiting.

My research tells me that California plays a couple of different ways on defense. They play what is called press coverage--meaning they press the receivers and push them around on the field. Some people say this isn't a big deal, but our receivers haven't been super impressive to date. Sure, there have been great plays, but I wouldn't say there has been great play, if you understand my distinction. Braxton carrying the ball 27 times attests to that somewhat. California also plans to play a lot of man coverage this weekend. This means they will use their safeties more at the line of scrimmage, rather than dropping them back into the backfield to protect against the pass. Translation: California is far more concerned about Miller taking off and running than they are about him beating them with his arm. And if you watch the first two games (or read my blog), wouldn't you feel the same way? So until Braxton makes a few long passes against this defense, expect to see Braxton getting chased around the field quite a bit.

My research also tells me that the Golden Bears have some impressive wide receivers, including a standout named Keenan Allen. Allen was recruited to go to Alabama, but chose California as part of an arrangement that included scholarships for both Allen and his half-brother. Alabama is obviously highly touted in the college football world of late, so if they were recruiting this young man, he must have some impressive talent. And being that he isn't even the receiver with the most catches through two games, Ohio State's defensive backfield is going to need to step it up this weekend and work out all those communication bugs from last week. Luckily, Bradley Roby should be matched up against Allen most of the game, and I have enjoyed watching Roby develop so far this season. He is all over the field, and I expect nothing less than 110% from him.
It might also help to put more pressure on the QB and force some errant throws. The return of the dinged up Nathan Williams may help with this. He sat out last week due to soreness from the Miami(OH) game. Unfortunately Williams is still recovering from his microfracture surgery -- this surgery is very difficult to come back from, and I am personally praying that he is able to do so, because he has a remarkable talent that could take him far if he can manage to get back in a rhythm. I am also looking to see more from John Simon and Johnathan Hankins this week. Urban Meyer has called for more explosive plays that will ignite the crowd, and I hope to see a response from the defense especially. Defense has carried OSU for the last few years, and I haven't seen a ferocity in them just yet. Storm Klein will also be available this week, after serving his two-game suspension as a result of disorderly conduct. The more options, the better.

On the offensive side of the ball, with Carlos Hyde out at least a week with an MCL sprain, Ohio State plans to start Bri'onte Dunn at tailback, but Jordan Hall returns from a foot injury, which offers a more experienced take on the running game. Combine that with Miller's propensity for the run, and Ohio State should give California fits in its run game defense.
But the run will only work if OSU can establish a decent passing game and keep those safeties honest. Miller will need to keep his eyes downfield while scrambling, and this may be the first time OSU fans see Miller go deep with any consistency, as California is susceptible to giving up receptions of greater than 15 yards this season. Given that we haven't seen Braxton go deep too often so far, this could be an exciting game to watch. And if the Bears stick to their plan and play man coverage (as opposed to zone), it may give Braxton a one-on-one look that he needs to get comfortable completing those longer passes.

I hope the stadium is loud. Of course, I will do my part to contribute. I should have at least one beer in me beforehand, so that always helps loosen me up a bit!

Central Florida Recap

I could write a very easy synopsis of the Ohio State v. UCF game:

UGLY, BUT EFFECTIVE

That sums it up nicely. Granted, UCF was a superior opponent to Miami of Ohio, but the Buckeyes did NOT play well on Saturday. I think the game plan was to run Braxton Miller 17 times. He ran the ball 27. I know not all of those were designed runs, but where are his receivers??

I heard three names during the first half of the game: Braxton Miller, Travis Howard, and Orion Johnson.

Miller played okay. I didn't see anything superior in his passing or running game. When Carlos Hyde went out with an MCL sprain, it was nice that Miller could fill that runningback role. But wait...Miller ISN'T A RUNNINGBACK!! If we intend to use him as a RB, why not play Kenny Guiton as a QB and put Braxton in the backfield? Because Braxton is a QB, and he has talent to be an even better QB, and we haven't gotten to see much of that talent yet because for some reason, the plays are not developing well thus far.

And while I am focusing on the offense, I will say that some of the receivers were decent in this game. It is obvious that Miller has taken a liking to Philly Brown. But Philly, here is my only note of significance to you. When your team is up by 2 scores in the 4th quarter and trying to burn some clock, please, oh please, STAY IN BOUNDS after you catch the ball.

Devin Smith continues to be impressive with most of his receiving capabilities. It is also nice to see Stoneburner step up and make some plays.

Now to the defense.

The question that has been nagging me for 2 weeks is, "Where is John Simon?" I was so excited pre-season because I heard John Simon had returned for his senior season, despite high potential in the NFL draft and the post-season ban imposed on the Buckeyes this year. And I think he made one significant tackle on Saturday. Granted, he is always there, behind the scenes, pulling blockers to him, being held on every play.

But between John Simon and Big Hank (Johnathan Hankins) on our D Line, OSU was supposed to be dominant this season. Against two relatively weak opponents, OSU has failed to be impressive, and I have seen so little pressure on the opposing QBs that I can't help but wonder what is wrong there.

But the D-Line is the not the biggest of the offensive woes. No, that honor goes to the secondary. Travis Howard is much improved from last season, and he only made one critical mistake on Saturday that I could see (when he committed a lazy and blatant pass interference penalty), but the secondary often looked confused and was almost always out of position. Later, the coaches made comments about lack of understanding and communication on the field. That is a problem, if you are having trouble communicating the plays to the players AT HOME. What happens when you go to MI State or, gulp, Wisconsin?? Noah Spence was out of position most of the game, but most notably on the play that sticks in my brain now:

The Buckeyes accepted a penalty on what would have been 4th down, in an attempt to get UCF out of field goal position. This made it 3rd and 21. I thought to myself, "I hope this is worth is Urban, and they don't convert this." But then of course, how often does a team convert on 3rd and 21?

Well on Saturday, UCF converted 3rd and 21 once. Because THREE of OSU's secondary players were out of position on that play. There were THREE Buckeyes in the middle of the field surrounding ZERO UCF players. Because the UCF players were too busy catching the ball on the side of the field, thus converting the down and setting themselves up for a touchdown.

Travis Howard and Orion Johnson were key to OSU's victory, both making key interceptions at critical moments and swinging the momentum of the game. Gameball to Braxton for his rushing and minimal passing efforts. He stepped up and figured out a way to win.

All-in-all, I can't say much more than the game was sloppy and ugly. There are so many examples of this that I could go on for paragraphs more. And I would really rather not. In a nutshell, OSU needs to run Braxton less to prevent injury and to develop a real passing threat; pressure the opposing QB more; and figure out what the heck is going on in the secondary.

But on a weekend where most of the Big Ten teams fell to inferior opponents, OSU came away with a win, and it was a 2-score win at that. So that can't be all bad.

Going forward: CALIFORIA. I have been invited to this game by my #1 fan. He looks forward to learning more about football from me. He tells me I can stand when other people are standing but I have to behave myself otherwise.

I will fill you in on how that goes next time. :)

Miami(OH) Recap

I didn't do a preview of the Ohio State vs. Miami (OH) game, because I honestly didn't have much to go on. I heard prior to the game that Miami's QB is on pace to break Ben Roethlisberger's records at Miami(OH). So I guess it shouldn't have come as a great surprise that 90% of the plays (at least) Miami ran were without a tailback of any kind in the backfield. The sad thing is that it took the defense almost a quarter to figure out how to handle that kind of an offense.

I must admit, I was sitting in the stands a little bit concerned. I wasn't concerned that we would lose the game. I never felt like that was a true scenario that would play out. I was concerned that when we got to the meat of our schedule, we would start to relive last year's disaster of an offense.

The start of the game seemed to be a test for Braxton and the new offense. Obviously, we have all heard that this will be a fast-paced offense, without many huddles, meant to keep the game moving and wear down the opposing defense. So that part didn't surprise me. I was really surprised that we lacked a running game (outside of Braxton pulling down the ball and taking off) for much of the first quarter. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised...it is just such an adjustment to go from a power running team to one that uses the run as a supplement to the pass more than a key to the game.

The next thing I noticed (and appreciated) was that Urban made adjustments. And when I say he made adjustments, I am not talking the adjustments the man next to me predicted ("Oh, they will fix it in the locker room at halftime...). No, he made adjustments after the first quarter! Maybe part of it was that our fast pace was wearing down the Redhawks defense. Maybe our offense started relaxing and clicking. Maybe Urban called everyone over and said, "Hey this isn't working, we need to do this, this, and this." I don't know. But the adjusting happened in the 2nd quarter, and you could see that by the halftime score of 21-3 (versus 0-3 at the end of Quarter 1).

Speaking of that halftime score, the final offensive drive by the Buckeyes in the first half intrigued me. With 3 seconds to go in the half, leading 21-3 from the 1 yard line, with an almost guaranteed 3 points from the leg of Drew Basil, Meyer elected to go for the touchdown. If you have watched Meyer coach before (and most Buckeye fans have [insert groan here]), you know that he would go for it in this situation. From the 1 yard line, an offense like OSU's should be able to punch it in against an inferior defense. But the Buckeyes didn't quite make it in, and they had to settle for their 18-point lead at the half as well as a likely butt-ripping from Coach Meyer.
But the whole offensive drive was a new experience for fans, wasn't it? The Buckeyes got the ball with less than 2 minutes to go in the half, and they could have easily burned the clock down and run into the locker room for rest and recuperation. When I was trying to convince my mom that Tressel would have taken the field goal from the 1 with 3 seconds to go (mom didn't seem to believe me at first), a woman behind me remarked that he would never made it that far down the field -- he would have run out the clock and taken a knee! All that to say -- I think it is going to take Buckeye fans some time to adjust to the way our games are going to be called from now on!

And even halftime brought a new atmosphere. TBDBITL is under new leadership as well, with the retirement of Dr. Woods, and they were SPECTACULAR. They did a Beach Boys arrangement that was lively and enthralling, complete with formations that kept the crowd far more interested than I have seen them in a while. But then again, when have the Beach Boys ever been dull? =)

The third quarter brought more offense, with a big run from the legs of Braxton Miller for a score, but my mom had just told me how she was beginning to feel sorry for Miami when they ended up driving down the field for a score. There were 11 minutes or so left in the THIRD quarter. Plenty of time for Miami to mount a comeback, however unlikely. Plenty of time for Mark May to sit and salivate about how Ohio State wasn't winning by enough points to be taken seriously (more on that later). I told mom she was not allowed to feel sorry for Miami until at least the fourth quarter. They came to play -- I doubt they would want anyone's pity.

I did become concerned watching Braxton's runs in the second half. He needs to learn to throw the ball away more often instead of trying to force plays. It is exciting to see him make something out of nothing, but there are times when he needs to toss it away and not risk a major loss of yards. He was very lucky to get called for intentional grounding in the third quarter, rather than a fumble recovered by Miami. I know I am just a girl, but if you are going to ground the ball, I recommend throwing it directly into the ground, rather than throwing it up for grabs in a flailing attempt to make something happen.
Also, all those hits Braxton incurred (while also inspiring) throughout the game made me very nervous. When he went down with cramps after taking a hit running out of bounds, I would have been happy to see him rest for the remainder of the minutes. I know, I know -- we have to build up his stats and get him playing time. But when he returned, he was obviously still not feeling 100% and it risked injury to him if he was uncomfortable out there. Plus, it was great to see Kenny Guiton's improvement from last season. Urban has said he wasn't impressed with Kenny G when he arrived on campus but has since changed his tune -- and Guiton didn't disappoint with his performance. The first two series were not awe-inspiring, but from that point on, Guiton played with control and composure, completing passes and keeping the ball (and the offense) moving. Again, bear in mind that he was playing a tired Redhawks defense, but it was nice to see a backup QB whose philosophy on being a backup doesn't center around which band member will be the target of his next pass.

As the game wound to a close, and OSU was winning handily at 49-10 with very little time left to play, we once again saw a controversial (at least in Columbus) decision to keep scoring against an obviously outmatched opponent. Late in the fourth quarter, Zach fell just short of the endzone after an impressive run. I have always been impressed by Boren's blocking skills. Now I am impressed with his running skills. And on the very next play, they gave the ball to Boren to finish it out, putting the Buckeyes up 56-10. There is no way Tressel would have taken that score, and I am sure it left a bad taste in the mouths of many Buckeye fans who remember the era of Jim Tressel and his "classy" ways. I liked being a classy team too, actually. But I also know that there are a lot of people out there who weren't watching the OSU-Miami(OH) game to see whether OSU was going to be classy late in the game. People who just check the score to see whether the Powerhouse thrashed the Underdog like it was supposed to.

Which leads me back to the idea of Mark May and what his opinion represents. We all know that May doesn't exactly care for OSU. Too many times I have seen him break in at halftime and question why the Buckeyes are only up by 2 TDs or at the end of the game when he criticizes the Buckeyes for winning only by a fractional margin in comparison to Wisconsin's drubbing of their opponent. Unfortunately, in the college world nowadays, you have to earn what are called "style" points. You have to make a statement for people to take you seriously. You have to develop a killer instinct. And quite frankly, it isn't your job to make your opponent stop you from scoring either. Miami(OH) showed up Saturday to play a football game. I doubt they were surprised that they didn't win. I doubt the players were astounded that Coach Meyer gave the green light on scoring when they were winning 49-10. I am sure the Redhawks defense wasn't happy that they couldn't stop OSU from scoring. But I also doubt any of them are outraged that Meyer "ran up" the score on them. It's another adjustment a lot of OSU fans will have to make over the coming years.

A couple quick thoughts on individual performance:

• Bradley Roby changed his number this season from #25 to #1. From the way he was playing Saturday for the majority of the game, this is a fitting change. I felt like there were few plays where Roby wasn't involved, and he nearly had an interception to boot. He flew around the field, and I was thoroughly impressed with his individual performance.
• Carlos Hyde may not be a back who breaks out for long runs often (yet), but watching him run sure is fun. He bounces off defensive tackles and linebackers like a pinball, often shaking off the first tacklet and gaining a few more yards before he is brought down. His effort is remarkable.

Until next week!