I could just comment on Onearmed & Lloyds articles, but decided I might as well put my 2 cents out there.

I have said it before that we Buckeye fans are in the midst of a "Golden Era" of OSU sports. Of course I today feel the "Golden" aspect is tarnished, but.......

*Image*-Mr2Cents

The positive:

· We beat Michigan

· We win the Big Ten

· We have been good enough to make the Big Dance three times-winning one

· It appears Coach Tressel is an honorable man and does his best to run a program that positively reflects on the University and the State.

The Negative

· We fail in some big games-Boy, do we fail!

· We have trouble defending the spread

· Our Oline and our Dline were not able to compete in the Florida, LSU, and USC games

One of the problems with watching games on TV is the TV can not show you the receivers in the pass patterns. Can the Buckeye receivers beat man coverage? Again, there are those who know the answer to this question but not me. If the defense is able to man up on the receivers then we all know the Oline is in trouble. On this subject another problem we have is if we are playing the Sisters of the Poor are receivers are able to beat man coverage, but if you are playing LSU in the title game man coverage works. If our present crop of receivers can't get separation for the DB's then we need different receivers. Is there a coaching problem with the passing scheme?

The running backs Saturday night could not block. I don't know how well Beanie blocks, but if he can block, his not playing Saturday may have hurt us more in the passing game than the running game.

Field position killed us Saturday. As a matter of fact maybe being as critical of the defense as we are should be tempered by the fact of the position the D was always put into. I don't care about last year or experience, do we have another punter? While I am at it, we did also miss a field goal Saturday. The points would have been nice. We went from a touchdown to no points.

I am probably not as hard on Todd Boeckman as most, but his interception for a touchdown was a killer Saturday and that one was not because of pressure. I again don't know, but Todd seems slow on his progressions. Many throws seem late. I do not see Terrelle Pryor as the savior this year, but certainly would love to see the season continue using both QB's and their talents. Again, is there a scheme problem? Probably just me, but I thought the use of the QB's Saturday was neat, tendencies were changed, and we had some success until mistakes (i.e. penalties) killed us. After the wheels fell of we were toast and I don't think any QB was going to change that.

HYPE.

Part of my disappointment is my fault. As a college fan I digest anything and everything I can during the off season. I buy into the hype that so and so is the greatest. Concerning the Buckeyes just look at the hype we heard about the Oline, the QB, and Freeman. Look what we heard about Gibson at defensive end. Again, I am no expert, but I have yet to see him use moves. All I see is a speed rush. USC sure seemed to know how to take advantage of a defensive end who took himself out of plays. Look what we heard about the receivers. Is Hartline the greatest or is he a friend of the "insider" who is writing that he is the greatest. Re Hartline, not only has he been an average receiver this year, but we have missed some nice plays due to his lack of successful blocking. Again, please understand Hartline might actually be open on every play and make perfect blocks on 98% of his blocking assignments, but I haven't seen it. I have not only believed the hype, but pay for it. Note-a warning to our Michigan brothers re Barwis-how much is hype and how much is real. Believing the hype is my fault and certainly not the fault of the coaching staff, the players, or even the people who charge me to read the hype-it is my fault for being gullible.

I will accept the fact OSU will not appear in its third straight national championship game. Other than I live in South Florida and the game is in my back yard maybe I should be glad this monkey is off our backs.

I have no clue how we stack up against the rest of the Big Ten. I can not evaluate a team based upon how they beat up State U just as I couldn't evaluate the Buckeyes based upon how they beat up Youngstown State. I guess the truth is we will probably now be playing teams that are not in the elite of college football, so our receivers may get open, Gibson may make sacks, Boeckman may look like an NFL QB, and our lines may either dominate or hold their own. Regardless of how the rest of the season goes, based upon the last year and a half we know that although the Buckeyes are an elite college football team, they are not the elite of the elite and will not be until various issues are successfully dealt with.

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onearmedbandit said:

Interesting article JEH. I was at the OU game, front row, so I did get a close up look at the problem areas that have been harped on by myself and countless others. Boeckman missed a lot of open receivers downfield, appearing frantic when the pass rush got anywhere near him. The O line was not nasty. Far from it, in fact. I think that in order to be a good O lineman, you have to have a bit of nastiness. While I think several players on OU's defensive front are underrated, they had no business breaking through with the consistency they did. Robiskie and Hartline got separation on some plays, but considering they were playing inferior competition, it wasn't a very convincing effort. Maurice Wells still stinks. Bill Simmons wrote a good article about being a Boston fan and how he would almost rather be in the shoes of a Clevelander because the aniticpation and togetherness that losing brings make that first championship so memorable and so worth it. We got to the top of the mountain, and now anything less is unacceptable. I've been somewhat jaded by the success the program has had, especially since Tressel won a title so quickly. But recent embarrassments have forced me to re-evaluate our position in the college football landscape. Big Ten titles are great, but they aren't as special when you know how close (yet far) this team was from winning three titles in this decade. Right or wrong, expectations are at their max, and a performance like the one on Saturday is going to mean widespread criticism. I'll still be cheering the Bucks all season, but knowing that there is virtually no chance they make the big game definitely takes away from what this season could have been and what many, including myself, thought it was supposed to be. P.S. That picture of Tressel as DeNiro from Deer Hunter is fantastic

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September 15, 2008
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