Open Thread: 2009 Fiesta Bowl
January 5, 2009We Ask Jets Fans About Mangini
January 6, 2009While We’re Waiting aims to be the round-up of the recent WFNY-esque information for your morning viewing. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.
“You feel like it was all your fault, that you lost the game,” [Ohio State safety Anderson] Russell said. “That’s how I felt right then. Everyone has been talking to me and telling me to keep my head up, but it hurts. And the other thing is we don’t have another game until September. So this one will be lasting for a long time.” [Doug Lesmerises]
“Mack Brown’s got balls. The affair is never small. Playing Ohio State–the Big Ten’s last hope for a moment of redemption in a s***heap of a bowl season for them–and having to pull out a last second Colt McCoy touchdown drive out of their well-polished a**es for the win over a nine point underdog is dodgy enough. But immediately taking the mic after the game and using the moment immediately following your late gasp off the mat against a team incinerated by USC to say “We’re number one, and we can beat anyone in the country?” Balls, sir, and a sure sign that Mack Brown may be the next governor of Texas if he so chooses. The governorship of Texas awaits someone so capable of bulls***ting so effortlessly and spontaneously after surviving near-disaster.” [EDSBS]
“I sincerely hoped to see a little derring do from an offense with an exceptional athlete coming into his own at quarterback and absolutely nothing to lose. Instead, we got a heavy dose of Todd Boeckman. Once the Longhorns tightened the screws on Beanie Wells in the second quarter, OSU’s offense devolved into a flurry of bewildering Boeckman bombs and Pryor hardly throwing at all because he was too busy running for his life. The Buckeyes had no deep passing game with Pryor (I don’t think he had a chance to set his feet on a single throw), no horizontal passing game to keep Texas honest in the flats and seemingly no chance once Texas’ offense found a little life with time running down in the first half. [Dr. Saturday]
“It makes me sad that this is the last game Beanie Wells will play for Ohio State. I’ve really enjoyed watching him, however I think his career somewhat of a disappointment given the hype surrounding his recruitment. Obviously, when Beanie is healthy he is dominant. But preseason, Beanie was on almost every Heisman list – and in the end, he wasn’t even invited to the ceremony. I keep hoping a part of him can resist the money and return for his senior season, but I think the chances of that happening are as close to 0% as you can get. I just would like to see the full Beanie experience for one year because I know it would be great to watch.” [Cry Me a Cuyahoga River]
“You can still be upset with some of the playcalling, missed tackles, and other mistakes made during the game, but the bottom line is that the Buckeyes gave Texas a much bigger scare than many thought they’d get and came within a whisker of knocking off one of the nation’s top teams. Can a loss like this improve the program’s reputation? Doubt it. But at least it temporarily halts the slide it had been on for two years.” [Eleven Warriors]
And for a little bonus of yours truly, head over to Brian’s Thoughts About Airplanes (formerly of Yay! Sports – The Cavalier) for an eclectic interview. Good times had by all. Especially the gazebo.
9 Comments
Just some thoughts from my spot down here at the bottom of the Big 10:
1) I thought that was one of the best fourth quarters I’ve seen the Buckeyes play in a big game in awhile.
2) Sorry, guys, but that fourth down spot was correct. He caught the ball at the first down marker, and then reached it ever further forward before getting tackled. The second roughing-the-passer, however, is another story altogether. As for the double PI call on the 2-pointer, real-time it looked like Pryor pushed off big time; the replay looked like illegal contact on the DB followed by a push-off on Pryor. I guess I understand the double-call.
3) To that end, can someone explain the math of going for 2 up 21-17? For all it’s worth, lining up and punting the ball out of the stadium there has as much an effect on what Texas needs to do as a 2-pointer or a PAT. For the life of me, I didn’t get why they were bothering to go for 2. If anything, it increases the likelihood of an INT that gives Texas 2 points (much more likely than a blocked/returned PAT).
4) As a Browns fan, I renew my wanting nothing to do with Beanie Wells at the top of the first round. Sorry, but dude is Ki-Jana Carter waiting to happen.
5) I thought Alex Boone acquitted himself fairly well, even if the rest of the line struggled at times. After the holding call early on, I don’t remember hearing Orapko’s name called hardly at all the rest of the night. AB also made some nice pulls on blocks for Wells and Herron.
DP, Not sure if I’m the only one, but that wasn’t the fourth down spot that I feel they got wrong. I feel like it was ( the second time they went for it?) when they ran it up the middle on 4th and 2 and it really looked like they got stopped about half a yard short.
At any rate, a guy I work with completely blamed officiating and I had to turn around and walk away from him. They only thing that confused me was the double pass interference call. How can both guys be interfering with each other? Shouldn’t it be one or the other? I dunno.
Anyhow, It was a heartbreaking loss, but after recent history, I wasn’t really surprised at the outcome.
The spot I was angered with was on the fake punt. The two side officials ran in well shy of the first down marker, but then had to step around the pile of players to get the ball and decided that where he was was sufficient to place the ball.
I think the double-PI works like this: the DB interfered with Pryor, but the play is allowed to continue. Because Pryor caught the pass, but did so by pushing off, that affected the outcome of the play and therefore they have to call both. I didn’t think both penalties were happening simultaneously.
Also, my bad on the 4th down thing. I didn’t consult the open thread in real-time, and thought a lot of the complaining there was about the pass out to the right with under a minute left that was reviewed.
Just a quick point: Great game, but how great would it have been if there were more on the line than just another win or loss. What if that would have been a national semifinal or quarterfinal game? Talk about intensity. Ratchet the emotions at the end up another two or three notches.
But we wouldn’t want to ruin the “integrity” of the bowl system with a playoff.
Seemed like the first few years of Tressel O State won all of thier big games except one mishap to the school up north, but now O State is dissapointing me almost as much as the Browns… I mean they get to the National Championship or BCS Bowl (mostly due to the fact the Big 10 is pop warner compared to the SEC and this years Big 12) but can’t pull out a win! I was in shock after that missed tackle. The defensive scheme that we used most of the game was effective in limiting thier big plays and a lot of points, but in that situation late in the game to not have a strong safety over the top is not real wise and it hurt us, even though he should have made the tackle. Well at least they made it a great game and saved faced but I didnt want a moral victory in this game. They had a chance to win and didn’t, so now we can continue to hear that the Big 10 is a joke and is no where near the Big 12 or SEC… well there’s always the Cavs I guess!!
I think the idea of going for 2 was that we were already up by four requiring UT to score a touchdown. If we go ahead by six, they would have to make the extra point even if they scored a TD. Kind of odd thinking from Tressel, but the only thing that makes sense.
Still after the penalty on the TD we had the ball at the 40 with two timeouts and then Boeckman gets sacked. One or two first downs and we had a chance for a long field goal for the tie (for the win if we had kicked the PAT after the late score). Frustrating.
“I just would like to see the full Beanie experience for one year because I know it would be great to watch.”
umm like last year whjen he rushed for 1600 yards and carried our offense to the national title game? it was a lot of fun to watch
“…for the win if we had kicked the PAT after the late score…”
THAT’S why I didn’t get going for 2 up by 4. Because, if you get the ball back after a TD and are down only two instead of three, a FG wins you the game. Being down one versus down two makes no difference. Obviously, I’m kicking a dead horse, but it just struck me as odd.