What the Buck?
Oh where to start.
Lots of things have already and will be written about last night’s meltdown in the desert by Ohio State University.
They’ll be writing about the weird stuff that happened like Ted Ginn Jr. being injured in the celebration after his kickoff return for a touchdown to start the game to why the Buckeyes couldn’t seem to make many adjustments to stop Florida’s offense.
Hey, a team like Ohio State doesn’t go 12-0 through the regular season without a reason. They are a pretty darn good football team. But when we’ve followed sports for as long as most of us reading this blog probably have, we’ve all season occasions when a good or great team just doesn’t have it on a certain night. Last night the Buckeyes just didn’t have it.
What kind of shocked and disturbed me was that Ohio State didn’t even look well prepared for the game. That’s definitely not the hallmark of a Jim Tressel coached team. If there’s one thing I have learned about OSU football during the Tressel era it’s that they always seemed well-prepared -- especially for the biggest games on the schedule.
Florida had a great game plan on offense and stuck to it. They exploited OSU’s zone pass coverage and took everything underneath the coverage and in the seams that Ohio State was willing to give them.
And because the Buckeyes could never seem to get a consistent pass rush going they were able to pick them apart. Ohio State also gave their receivers maybe a 7 yard cushion most of the time on the lien of scrimmage and that was plenty of room for the Gators speedy receivers to get free.
Ohio State’s offense was a total disaster.
Troy Smith had an off day and without Ginn, the Buckeyes couldn’t stretch the field. Plus I think Florida’s defensive line was much faster than anything OSU saw during the Big 10 season.
But in the end give the Gators (and reluctantly) Urban Meyer a lot of credit. They were well-prepped and had a game-plan and stuck to it.
I’m not sure what they Buckeyes were doing during their 51 games off but it sure didn’t look like game prep was high on the list.
Your thoughts?
NOTEWORTHY:
Here is a list of suggested headlines from sportsjournalists.com
Urban myth: Ohio State No.1
Gators devour Buckeyes
Nuts Crushed
Roasted Nuts
Buckeyes can’t stop Leak
Leak of Faith
Buckeyes? Blackeyes
Suckeyes
Gator Bait
Urban Legend
Sunshine surprise
Swamped!
Chompions!
Quantum Leak
Buckeyes can’t take a Leak
My Personal Favorite: Gator Raid
NEWSWORTHY:
OSU fans stunned after great start
Wauford fills out UF football staff
OSU game coverage from the Plain Dealer
Ohio State game coverage from the Columbus Dispatch
Fostoria Review Times Tuesday Sports
Grove keeps Ottoville girls at bay
Ottoville boys rally to beat Minster
Elida girls survive Fort Jennings
Ayersville boys romp past Montpelier
Marion Star Sports Roundup
Minster falls to Ottoville late
Lots of things have already and will be written about last night’s meltdown in the desert by Ohio State University.
They’ll be writing about the weird stuff that happened like Ted Ginn Jr. being injured in the celebration after his kickoff return for a touchdown to start the game to why the Buckeyes couldn’t seem to make many adjustments to stop Florida’s offense.
Hey, a team like Ohio State doesn’t go 12-0 through the regular season without a reason. They are a pretty darn good football team. But when we’ve followed sports for as long as most of us reading this blog probably have, we’ve all season occasions when a good or great team just doesn’t have it on a certain night. Last night the Buckeyes just didn’t have it.
What kind of shocked and disturbed me was that Ohio State didn’t even look well prepared for the game. That’s definitely not the hallmark of a Jim Tressel coached team. If there’s one thing I have learned about OSU football during the Tressel era it’s that they always seemed well-prepared -- especially for the biggest games on the schedule.
Florida had a great game plan on offense and stuck to it. They exploited OSU’s zone pass coverage and took everything underneath the coverage and in the seams that Ohio State was willing to give them.
And because the Buckeyes could never seem to get a consistent pass rush going they were able to pick them apart. Ohio State also gave their receivers maybe a 7 yard cushion most of the time on the lien of scrimmage and that was plenty of room for the Gators speedy receivers to get free.
Ohio State’s offense was a total disaster.
Troy Smith had an off day and without Ginn, the Buckeyes couldn’t stretch the field. Plus I think Florida’s defensive line was much faster than anything OSU saw during the Big 10 season.
But in the end give the Gators (and reluctantly) Urban Meyer a lot of credit. They were well-prepped and had a game-plan and stuck to it.
I’m not sure what they Buckeyes were doing during their 51 games off but it sure didn’t look like game prep was high on the list.
Your thoughts?
NOTEWORTHY:
Here is a list of suggested headlines from sportsjournalists.com
Urban myth: Ohio State No.1
Gators devour Buckeyes
Nuts Crushed
Roasted Nuts
Buckeyes can’t stop Leak
Leak of Faith
Buckeyes? Blackeyes
Suckeyes
Gator Bait
Urban Legend
Sunshine surprise
Swamped!
Chompions!
Quantum Leak
Buckeyes can’t take a Leak
My Personal Favorite: Gator Raid
NEWSWORTHY:
OSU fans stunned after great start
Wauford fills out UF football staff
OSU game coverage from the Plain Dealer
Ohio State game coverage from the Columbus Dispatch
Fostoria Review Times Tuesday Sports
Grove keeps Ottoville girls at bay
Ottoville boys rally to beat Minster
Elida girls survive Fort Jennings
Ayersville boys romp past Montpelier
Marion Star Sports Roundup
Minster falls to Ottoville late
posted by --J-- @ 12:14 PM
4 Comments:
At 4:54 PM,
Anonymous said…
The Bucks have been over rated all year long. Sorry to say that. Yeah, the D gave up only 10 points a game this year, but against who? Big ten teams? How many of them did well in bowl games? They did beat Texas, Texas minus Vince Young. Other then Texas, what quality team did OSU face? Michigan? The team that rolled over in Rose bowl? BG? A MAC school? Oh yeah, there is also the Bear Cats of the university of Cincy. OSU played a average to weak schedule, Texas being the exception. We all were excited to beat Michigan, but it was bythe skin of our teeth. Michigan then went on to get their butts handed to them by USC. OSU staying at #1 is a prime example of why we need a playoff system. Boise state is screwed. I doubtOSU would have beaten them.
At 5:39 PM,
Anonymous said…
The offense s..ked. At the start of the second half the D gave them great field position on Florida's first two series. If they had been able to convert those into points I suspect we had a game. But the offense did nothing....
I think they borrowed Michigan's play book or something.
I would've voted Boise 2nd in the poll.
At 11:23 PM,
Anonymous said…
First off, I coudln't believe how close OSU was at the end of the first for how horrible they played. They went against there season long gameplan of run the ball down their throats the PA pass long. Florida played there best game of the year and OSU played there worst. For those who say the big ten is down, look at PSU beating Tennessee or Wisconsin beating Arkansas. Every team has there bad games, for Florida it was South Carolina, Auburn, and the prayer against Arkansas. For OSU it was Penn State, MI, and Florida this year. Congrats Florida but I hope you get knocked in the teeth next year. It doesn't matter who you are, but for your starting defensive end and starting QB to bash your opponents in the face after the game is poor sportsmanship and poor judgment. OSU had a good season and blew it at the finale, but they retained class!
At 6:57 AM,
Anonymous said…
It usually seems to happen this way, but in no way do I want to make excuses. The team with the Heisman winner and an undefeated record that is supposed to blow their opponent out of the water in the championship game usually seems to play like Michigan's helmets look (that's bad if you didn't catch that). OSU just got dominated up front. UF's O-line handled OSU and their reluctancly to blitz and change things up. Being a coach of a team that runs the spread, if you drop nine guys off deep in zone, we'll pick you apart. Three guys isn't going to get a good pass rush. On top of that, UF's d-line was dominant as well. Big, fast, and physical are the only words I have for them. They played well and I was real impressed. UF had something to prove and OSU didn't have an answer. Congrats to Urban Meyer and the Gators, as much as I hate to see OSU lose I like to see Urban win.
Rob
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