College Football Saturday Open Thread
September 12, 2009O-U-T-C-O-A-C-H-E-D
September 13, 2009Bulleted thoughts to make Craig proud:
Pryor didn’t give up on the first INT. SC score was inevitable that early.
Second quarter was complete reversal from first – SC controlled, OSU offense stuttered. Not going on fourth and 1 and taking the 3 has me worried, but team is playing well overall.
D-line and O-line both doing well. Definite edge in run game on both sides to OSU. Pass game is opposite. Playcalling seemed pass-heavy in 2nd for OSU, with a few botched throws by LiC.
Barkley is playing well, but hasn’t done anything to deserve the slurp-fest that is happening.
D-line was HUGE on second USC possession in second half. Led to safety on punt attempt from 10.
Drive to get FG after freekick was good. Good things to Saine out of backfield, if TP throws to inside shoulder Saine scores TD rather than out of bounds.
Pryor run on 3rd and 15 was huge, gave the offense a spark. Offense stalled but huge for field position.
Barkley still seemed hurt after hit by Nate Williams. Throw was high on series from 10, then he seemed rattled by crowd. Punt nearly blocked, good field position for Bucks with ~9 to go.
Boom didn’t have huge stats, but he played STRONG. A lot of people have questioned his toughness – he had plenty of tough runs.
SC drive put OSU’s D-line to shame. After playing strong all game they got gassed. The guy that won the game was Joe McKnight. Barkley didn’t do a lot at the end – it was all Joe McKnight.
The Buckeyes showed up. Playing not to lose ended up hurting the Bucks, IMO. Tressel is a big time coach, but playing super conservatively hurt the team once again.
For the entire game, OSU’s strength was beating SC’s strength, until when it mattered most. Great movement and use of McKnight’s athleticism out of the backfield and in the slot. SC’s O-line had false starts and seemed lost, until that last drive, and they really put it together.
That last OSU drive was a debacle. The only time all game Pryor threw to Duron Carter. That he was the guy to get the sure-hands look says a lot, but wow – the no-huddle offense looked terrible.
I’m just sad. I’m proud, but that entire last SC drive felt inevitable.
16 Comments
Call me crazy, but its time to fire Jim Tressel.
You are on drugs if you think Tressel is a big time coach. When was the last time he won a big game? He’s 2-9 or 2-10 against big time teams since they won the National Title. If that’s your definition of “big time coaching” you have a lot to learn about big time coaching.
Question: What would you say if Michigan lost two straight BCS title games (including one 41-14 to Florida), got embarrassed by USC, lost to Penn State at home, lost another BCS bowl game and then lost to USC at home? Buckeye fans would be piling on big-time.
Bottom line, a “big-time coach” can’t lose all of those games.
[…] Denny can be proud if he wants. I’m quite annoyed. […]
Yes, SC fan here. I was totally impressed by OSU tonight, the game could have gone either way. The almost blocked punt would have been the game breaker too.
SC rarely has so many problems on the line like tonight, and they only had one big time drive, which was the last one.
Hats off to OSU for playing better than anyone expected.
You are all asses and forget the mediocrity of the John Cooper era. We’re here, as long as we beat PSU, we get a rematch, which we’ll win. Don’.t forget that every offensive weapon we have is NOT graduating. How many championships combined do you dicks have combined? Tress has more. Don’t get greedy and don’t let SEC pressure get to you, since they and the Big 12 is a joke this year. Yes the coach gets some blame here, but so does the golden legged QB, and so does Dane, and so does the D. Lots to go around for a game we lost by 3. Take it easy. We’re a good team, and if we run it, we WILL have a place at the table.
i knew we were screwed the second we went up 5 points.
that 5 point lead was like christmas morning for Tressel. The second we got it was the second I knew we were going to lose by 3 points.
and hell, I’d rather start losing a couple to michigan than to keep playing with our no balls head coach.
I think this game proved USC isn’t that good more than it proved OSU isn’t that bad
Personally, I blame Pryor for the loss
had he looked around, and acted like a bloody quarterback then we would have won. Instead, he threw to covered people, and the only reason any were complete was that the WR dove for it
I agree with barga (post #10) the Plain Dealers Buckeye beat writer, Doug Lesmerises, gave Pryor an A- report card score for the game. What game was he watching?
You can’t blame Pryor for carrying out the plays that were called. Tressel needs to show more imagination and balls when it comes to play calling. You’re up 5 with the ball, you go for the throat, throw a deep ball, something. You don’t just throw 3 yard dump passes and runs up the middle. Playing not to lose costs us every year.
As with every Cleveland team through the ages that’s come up short in the big game, the players had opportunities to execute on the field in order to win the game, but could not make it happen. It was certainly nice to see the Buckeyes play inspired football though, at least up until that last USC drive, their energy on the field reminded be a lot of the 2005 team in their loss to Texas at home.
I can blame pryor for not seeing a wide open reciever STRAIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM and instead throwing an intentional grounding
Tressel called a great game, Pryor played like he was in junior high
so calling a great game means clinging to a 5 point lead against a usually potent offense?
like passing up an easily make-able 53 yard field goal to PUNT the ball back to USC for their game winning drive?
with that one call he instantly blew any chance to have called even an “average” game
SC drove 85 yards and converted the 2-point conversion after the punt. IF the Buckeyes get the field goal, they’re up 8. Kickoff for a touchback = SC has 80 yards to go. We know they can go 85, so surely they could have gone 80, got the 2, and tied the game. They’d have the momentum in OT. There is no way you can honestly say that of all the calls in the game, that ONE blows all credibility, when you say stupid things like the following:
“Easily make-able 53 yard field goal” – A 53 yarder is by no means easy. Don’t say stupid things that completely undermine your point.
Also, I wrote this article 15 minutes after the game was over, after personnel errors (mainly by Pryor) blew the game in my mind. I’m going to assume you’ve been brooding contempt for the past 4 days, and have heard lots of other people wailing and grinding teeth, so coming to debate something 4 days after the fact is silly.