About Last Night
January 08 2008 09:41 PM -- Filed in: Football
A night's sleep and I've decided to start with the
positive. Beanie Wells was the best player on the
field. I guess we can be happy about that but really
it provides little comfort. His touchdown run
actually short circuited my thinking process at the
time because he scored on a Power play which is the
most basic staple of all plays Ohio State runs. My
goodness, if LSU can't stop what they know is coming,
what will happen when we mix it up? We found out.
The staff had over 50 days to prepare a gameplan that would show diversity and break tendencies. It did neither. The Brandon Saine wheel route and offset tight end formation was a nice throwback but we've done it before. LSU had it charted, they just busted a coverage on the one long completion to Saine. Apparently, the other variation we attempted was lining up Beanie wide and about 5 yards off the line of scrimmage. This too did nothing. The Fox announcers were correct, LSU pressed up our wide receivers and dared us to get separation. We couldn't. This put pressure on the offensive line because manning up our wide receivers allowed LSU to attack with their front seven. In some ways, the offensive line is to be commended for holding up as well as they did.
But, If a person ever decides to go back and chart all Ohio State games under Jim Tressel, there'd be little surprise if last night comes out on top for the most undisciplined play. Five personal foul penalties including a spine breaking roughing the kicker infraction. Two LSU touchdown drives were each aided by two personal foul penalties. We still have yet to cover the TE - not that we can't - our entire defense just thought someone else was covering him. The result was nobody checked him on either of his TD receptions. The Robo touchdown drop was rather critical as well seeing as it was one of the few perfectly thrown passes by Todd all night. And, I'm not even going to get into the blocked field goal and the 4th down fumble that went the other way for 20 or 30 yards or whatever it was.
Losing always exposes weakness and offers time for self-evaluation. There was much made about the speed factor. It didn't materialize. When safety Craig Steltz can't close the gap on our 240lbs running back, you know speed isn't the problem. But, straight line speed is only one component. We were lacking and clearly deficient, when compared to LSU, in the quickness department. The ability to sink a foot in the ground and change direction ultra fast isn't our strong suit. This goes for both sides of the ball; wide receivers getting in and out of their breaks without loss of speed and defensive backs and linebackers breaking on routes and thrown passes. We're good at it. LSU is great at it.
As bad as it was, it's damn near amazing chances still flickered in the fourth quarter. That light was blown out by an LSU defense which impressed me. Glenn Dorsey is tremendously gifted player - the quintessential defensive tackle. The Tiger secondary lost one of their best players in Steltz and may have actually gotten stronger with the replacement. And I tip my cap to Les Miles and offensive coordinator Gary Crowton for using a slightly spiced up attack and just the right amount of Ryan Perrilloux. Refreshing to see what a staff can do when they let loose and think positively.
So here we are again with the same feeling and disgusting memories. Memories are a funny thing. A few years ago, Jim Carrey starred with Kate Winslet in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MInd. Yeah, if only the procedure highlighted in the movie actually worked. Instead, the closest I could come was aborting my dvd recorder and throwing the discs in the trash. There will be no game breakdown.
The staff had over 50 days to prepare a gameplan that would show diversity and break tendencies. It did neither. The Brandon Saine wheel route and offset tight end formation was a nice throwback but we've done it before. LSU had it charted, they just busted a coverage on the one long completion to Saine. Apparently, the other variation we attempted was lining up Beanie wide and about 5 yards off the line of scrimmage. This too did nothing. The Fox announcers were correct, LSU pressed up our wide receivers and dared us to get separation. We couldn't. This put pressure on the offensive line because manning up our wide receivers allowed LSU to attack with their front seven. In some ways, the offensive line is to be commended for holding up as well as they did.
But, If a person ever decides to go back and chart all Ohio State games under Jim Tressel, there'd be little surprise if last night comes out on top for the most undisciplined play. Five personal foul penalties including a spine breaking roughing the kicker infraction. Two LSU touchdown drives were each aided by two personal foul penalties. We still have yet to cover the TE - not that we can't - our entire defense just thought someone else was covering him. The result was nobody checked him on either of his TD receptions. The Robo touchdown drop was rather critical as well seeing as it was one of the few perfectly thrown passes by Todd all night. And, I'm not even going to get into the blocked field goal and the 4th down fumble that went the other way for 20 or 30 yards or whatever it was.
Losing always exposes weakness and offers time for self-evaluation. There was much made about the speed factor. It didn't materialize. When safety Craig Steltz can't close the gap on our 240lbs running back, you know speed isn't the problem. But, straight line speed is only one component. We were lacking and clearly deficient, when compared to LSU, in the quickness department. The ability to sink a foot in the ground and change direction ultra fast isn't our strong suit. This goes for both sides of the ball; wide receivers getting in and out of their breaks without loss of speed and defensive backs and linebackers breaking on routes and thrown passes. We're good at it. LSU is great at it.
As bad as it was, it's damn near amazing chances still flickered in the fourth quarter. That light was blown out by an LSU defense which impressed me. Glenn Dorsey is tremendously gifted player - the quintessential defensive tackle. The Tiger secondary lost one of their best players in Steltz and may have actually gotten stronger with the replacement. And I tip my cap to Les Miles and offensive coordinator Gary Crowton for using a slightly spiced up attack and just the right amount of Ryan Perrilloux. Refreshing to see what a staff can do when they let loose and think positively.
So here we are again with the same feeling and disgusting memories. Memories are a funny thing. A few years ago, Jim Carrey starred with Kate Winslet in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MInd. Yeah, if only the procedure highlighted in the movie actually worked. Instead, the closest I could come was aborting my dvd recorder and throwing the discs in the trash. There will be no game breakdown.
