Around the Big Ten

[Jeff Buchanan]

The advantage osu had in the game against NfW was Carlos Hyde and the OL. That was it. The rest of the osu team is average at best. miller, while he is very good, is a high risk player very much like DG. He can turn the ball over and he did, 3 times.

I don't think osu has a "serious offense" as much as they have a pretty good running game that meyer leaned on Saturday in Evanston.

As far as NfW goes, they might have the best offense in the BIG so, I'll give you that one. The problem for them is that they are undersized everywhere which is why they field the kind of O they do field.

Fitzgerald's biggest accomplishment though as HC is getting that team to believe in themselves. He has them routinely playing at a high level not because of talent but because of energy and focus.

But they are going to get run-over by power teams ..... Wisconsin for example who they play next week, probably Neb and, yes, Michigan by the time that game rolls around. They are the same kinds of team, the likes of which Rich Rodriguez, Airforce and Georgia Tech field ..... up-tempo, built to finesse rather than take on bigger, more talented teams.

I like Northwestern but they have a disturbing incapacity to win pivitol games and they have blown four of those in the 2012 and 2013 seasons, osu being the latest.

[iam416]

Braxton torched Wisconsin with big passing plays. nFw refused to give up the big play and dared Herman to run Hyde to exhaustion. Herman and UFM were terrible in the first half against nFw.

Also, OSU's DL killed nFw and is really good. REALLY GOOD.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Braxton torched Wisconsin with big passing plays. nFw refused to give up the big play and dared Herman to run Hyde to exhaustion. Herman and UFM were terrible in the first half against nFw.

Also, OSU's DL killed nFw and is really good. REALLY GOOD.

Helpful observation.

All I saw was an effective offense being run against what Fickel put out there.

Despite what the Rodriguez critics said about his coaching skills while he was at M, he was and still is a terrific offensive strategist and play designer. You can finesse those big boys up front and NfW did this against osu as far as I could tell. But, if you're right about osu's DL being really good, teams that run power like M does, are going to be over matched.

Obviously, it's osu's back side play that makes them vulnerable. How is meyer going to go about fixing that? What is going on with Roby?

[iam416]

I don't know why Roby is underperforming. Losing Bryant hurt the secondary for this week. They're going to get young. And they were overall poor. That said, they weren't as bad as they were against IU last year when everyone chuckled and wrote off OSU.

M won't run on OSU. Gardner will have to win the game with his arm.

OSU will move the ball all day against M.

Though, I have to say, I'm glad you're talking yourself back into believing.

[Rob F]

F'n troll... get back to your pen!

:-)

[Jeff Buchanan]

Though, I have to say, I'm glad you're talking yourself back into believing.

Modestly optimistic. Believing? Not yet.

This staff seems to have a way of putting together a brilliant game plan, getting the players coached up, playing well and then stinking up a game or three after that.

My view is that some of that has to do with Borges overplaying his hand and Hoke not riding heard on him. Not sure how the Minny game plan evolved but it was good. Borges is a smart guy. Would not be surprised if Hoke just said, "figure it out" and he might have done that. Lets see how they do against PSU and MSU.

When the team can come out on the field and play consistently well for a streak, then I'll start to believe. Maybe.

[Rob F]

Ye of little faith!

[hack]

I don't think osu has a "serious offense" as much as they have a pretty good running game that meyer leaned on Saturday in Evanston.

Yeah fair enough. Maybe a better way to say it is that what they WANT to do is aligned with what they CAN do. I don't know. I would just love it if defenders weren't in our backfield on seemingly half of running plays.

[iam416]

I'm not exactly giddy about OSU's performance against nFw, but LOL @ the "they can only run" meme. You know you're measuring yourself against the elite when 450 yards and 27 points is no good.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, osu CAN run but by play selection it would seem they'd rather not pass. Maybe selectively.

You've said it yourself. meyer is a power, run first kind of guy. The stats demonstrate that too:

Rush attempts/pass attempt/ratio of run to pass:

M 201/124/1.62
osu 277/170/1.63
Wis 202/133/1.51

These three teams are your quintessential power, run teams in the B1G. They all have nearly a 2:1 ratio of runs to pass plays.

So, maybe osu can pass, and I think they can but its not their strong suit by any means. miller gets involved in the same risk reward discussion that Gardner does .... they both are improvisers and on the down side both are prone to high risk plays. I think that both coaching staffs/OCs are aware of this. Of course then there is the upside. But I don't see meyer having miller throw the ball anymore than Hokeorges has Gardner throwing it. meyer would rather ride Carlos Hyde and in M's win over Minny, it was pretty clear that Hokeorges wanted to ride the run game with Fits and Green getting 100+ yards combined.

[iam416]

Ohio State has also played a lot of meaningless quarters. Whereas M has managed to make what should be meaningless quarter into do or die quarters.

And your analysis is inconsistent with the Wisky game where they whipped Wisky passing.

Anyway, OSU is sitting at 19 passing TDs and 4 INTs for the year. If that's high risk and "not their strong suit" then OSU is even better than I thought.

But, honestly, you have to watch the games. The thing with OSU's offense is that it can hit on all fronts. Wisky tried to take away the run and OSU baked them until UFM/Herman went all Tresselball in the 4th. nFw dared them to run Hyde 40 times. They took what nFw gave them and amassed nearly 500 yards. Against Cal, they aired it out a lot.

I'm pretty happy with OSU's offense. It may not be as good as Hokeorges, but it will do.

[THE_WIZARD_]

You better hope nFw doesn't make the CCG...or you will go down.

[entropy]

Wisconsin to play LSU at Lambeau in 2016
October, 11, 2013
4:40 PM ET

By Brian Bennett | ESPN.com

It's official: Wisconsin and LSU will open the 2016 season by playing each other at Green Bay's Lambeau Field.

The Wisconsin board of regents approved the contract for the game on Friday, clearing the way for the Badgers' first-ever game at the home of the Green Bay Packers. The game will be played Sept. 3, 2016.

"I'm very excited about this game and I hope our fans are, too," Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said in a statement. "It is a tremendous opportunity to showcase our program, a great experience for our players to play in one of the most revered stadiums in the country and a terrific chance for our fans to see us play a quality opponent in the state of Wisconsin."

[Rob F]

Very impressive bit of scheduling by Alvarez and Wisky. I like the matchup and love the fact they're finally making use of one of the most famous stadiums in all of football.

Shocking change of strategy though at UW, this being the same school that has historically scheduled much easier non-conference opposition than any of the other top B1G contenders over the last decade or two.

[Ghengis Jon]

A pretty harsh self assessment from a PSU writer about the state of affairs in Happy Valley. What caught my eye was that Brand-On! gets called out. Terrific, DB's well earned rep as a parasite is officially recognized outside the state of Michigan. It saddens me that mo' money for declining quality of presentation is now the driving theme for college football.


"About 15-to-20 percent of the fan base seems to have abandoned the program for one reason or another. I think there are many reasons. In 2009-10, a new seat-licensing and season-ticket model really disillusioned many of the loyal older fans who felt priced out of the new arrangement. They had been paying into the program for decades to keep their seats on a legacy basis, then the rules all changed to reward big donors. Sort of Brandon-esque, you might say. Rightfully pissed off many loyal fans. Then, there's a faction of fans who were devoted to Joe Paterno whom you could compare to any followers of a legend -- Woody Hayes, Bear Bryant, dare I say Bo Schembechler. To these people, no one will ever compare. Not a new story but new at Penn State. Then, I think the "game day atmosphere" crafting has been taken over by rank amateurs. The old orchestrator, Guido d'Elia, while he took heat from some quarters, had a real sense for the moment and how to punch up certain tunes and music when they were called for. The current guys just blare crap out of the speakers at deafening levels constantly with little rhyme or reason. They actually have begun handing out earplugs to people who want them. It's like Chuck E. Cheese at 110 decibels now. Lots of clueless noise with no ebb and flow to it. I think some people just have had it with that and are staying home."