Groundhog Day: “Don’t Throw Angry”
October 27, 2008Zoom LeBron Six: Limited Edition – Updated
October 27, 2008The Buckeyes have 2 losses on the season. As much as it pains us to say it, both were to superior teams. Penn State did exactly what the Buckeyes couldn’t earlier in the season- go into a hostile environment and play mistake-free football.
There is a question that needs to be asked. It is a fair question. It doesn’t call for the firing of anyone, nor is it meant to heap salt on a fresh wound. The question is whether or not the Buckeyes could have won that game with Todd Boeckman at quarterback?
We have seen the talent that Terrelle Pryor has. We know about the competitiveness and desire to win. Perhaps the most accurate analysis I’ve heard about TP came from Doug Flutie during the halftime show. Flutie said that right now all of Pryor’s passes look like hail marys. He’s right. Anything over 15 yards is a jump ball. It hurt the Buckeyes Saturday night. It hurt more than just the interception at the end of the game. (I really wish he would have tucked the ball and run on that play, he could have had 15 yards and scooted out of bounds instead.) Those throws hurt because Penn State didn’t respect them.
I mentioned during last week’s podcast that Pryor was going to have to make plays with his arm instead of his feet. If you were Penn State how would you defend the Buckeyes? I’d move as many in the box as possible to slow down Beanie Wells and contain Pryor on the read option. That’s exactly what Penn State did, and it was effective enough for the win.
Now put Todd Boeckman in at QB. How does Penn State defend the Buckeyes? Would they still try to take away Beanie Wells? More than likely, but I don’t think they could crowd the line quite like they did against Pryor. They definitely would have thought twice about some of the blitz packages they used with the more experienced Boeckman under center. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t honestly know if we would have won the game with Todd at QB. There would have been more sacks if Boeckman was playing. Pryor was able to elude some of the pressure, and Todd certainly wouldn’t have been able to do as well in that regard. He probably could have progressed through his reads quicker though.
In that same podcast I questioned Pryor’s confidence level. This is not a kid that is used to losing. Now, that can be a good thing- a motivator if used properly. I am concerned a little about Terrelle’s reaction to the loss. He will need to grow tougher skin as a QB.
With the second loss the Buckeyes’ focus will be a bit different. Things will be more personal. There are two games that the players will get amped about- the road game at Illinois, and of course the Michigan game. This is a team loaded with seniors that want to pay back Illinois for last season’s loss. It also is a class that has a chance to win four pairs of gold pants charms for beating the Wolverines. Don’t be surprised if Todd Boeckman isn’t under center for that one. Tressell loves seniors, and on Senior Day, it would really surprise me if Todd didn’t get the chance to leave Ohio Stadium on top.
18 Comments
Todd Boeckman would have gotten sacked like 27 times in that game. Just sayin’
Rick – the answer to your question is absolutely, positively, NO. There is no way this game is even close if Boeckman plays this game. As has been the case nearly all year, Ohio State offensive line was absolutely dominated by Penn State. On the majority of plays, Pryor needed to use his legs to buy time because Penn State was in the backfield so quickly. Boeckman would have been on his ass so much, he wouldn’t been able to complete any of his accurate passes.
And while Penn State was the superior team, with Pryor, the inexperience freshman QB who admittedly has some growing to do, the Bucks were still a fumble away from winning that thing.
Hmm….interesting question. I’ll be thinking o fthis one for a while.
@AMC- so you’re on the fence with this one huh?
There is no way they would have won with Boeckman because he would have been sacked about 10 times because the line was terrible (Bryant Browning). Pryor did under throw guys all night long, but TB never would have gotten those passes off. The only thing that really helps the case for Boeckman is that PSU wouldn’t put 8 guys in the box all game long.
Also, I’m only a casual reader of WFNY so I don’t know the joke- but in reference to a post a couple weeks ago: I walked out behind a guy in a red #15 jersey with the last name Utah on it
Danny – Where was this? I was amazed that there was one Utah jersey. There are multiple??
Have you ever watched Boeckman play? All it takes is one hit on him and he gets happy feet. He will take a 3 step drop, look at his primary and if he is covered he tucks it and tries to run. Boeckman doesn’t win this game for the Bucks
I would tend to say that Boeckman was benched for a reason. I think Pryor gives OSU the best chance to win in every game. Sure, he’s going to make some mistakes because he’s a true freshman, but that’s all part of the process. Boeckman had his shot, and now it’s the Terrelle Pryor era.
Very unimpressive game from Pryor. Freshman or not those mistakes were HUGE. He had the first down…dumb mistake with careless handling of the ball. That interception was absolutley horrible. Into triple coverage he throws a jump ball. Pryor has a lot of work to do with his passing game. I don’t know if the outcome would have been much different with Boeckman in just for the fact that the O-line cannot block anyone. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.
Scott, I was walking out of the stadium around section 28 entrance right after the game. He was texting someone on a Blackberry
I think after the WR’s got exposed as overrated, Tressel just decided it was time to move to the future. There was no future in Todd Boeckman unless the Buckeyes were in danger of going undefeated. Tressel just realized early that he didn’t have the horses overall, I think. That’s also why he stuck with that true frosh at center, right?
I won’t second guess him on this one. I am hoping that Pryor’s playing time this year pays huge dividends for the rest of his Ohio State career.
Here’s hoping that James Jackson (he of the 4.31 40-time) keeps to his verbal commitment…
It’s really time for Bollman to go. There is no excuse for an tOSU team to have such an unproductive offense. Crappy offensive line or not. There are MAC teams with less talent that have better offensive schemes than tOSU. True freshman at QB or 6th year starter. It doesn’t matter. The offensive game plan is just terrible. I’m tired of Tresselball. Let your team play to win instead of not to lose. So what if TP makes a mistake trying to make a play. Let him make the play. He’s got the talent, and he’s going to make the play more often than not. They never should of been in the position that 1 t/o cost them the game.
How can Big 12 teams be putting up 48 points in the first half of game, yet we barely managed a field goal? Open it up. Let TP throw the ball 30 times. So what if he throws 3 interceptions. He’ll never get his confidence or his timing, if he’s too afraid to screw up.
Boeckman sucks. I’m out.
Buckeyes – Bollman – Heacock = good?
I miss the fire of the Snyder and Dantonio defenses. We don’t see that anymore.
Playing Boeckman wouldn’t have helped… this game or the future of the team. The Bucks weren’t going to the NC anyways, so let Pryor get the kinks out now and let him grow as a QB. This way he learns what it takes and can come out strong next year with renewed hope at OSU.
@R Burgundy : I think it’s more of the players than Heacock. Couple years ago we were flying around making plays and getting to the QB. I think Heacock is adjusting to his personnel. Laurinitis is good in coverage so they like to put him back than blitz him. Now I don’t agree with OSU sitting back and not taking advantage of our talented CBs on the blitz… but with better DTs this could be a whole different D
But I am not totally sold on Heacock. I think I’m just trying to make myself believe we’ll be able to restock like always and he’ll be able to get us back to that D we’re used to having.
And while I’m ranting… I know this will never happen, but Tressel needs to let his ego down a bit and get someone to atleast help with the O. His play calling is terrible, but he’s too full of himself to get anyone else in there. I’m sure Bollman has 0 say in what happens, plus he’s doing a terrible job with the O line, so why would we listen to him about the whole O?
Open the playbook up like we did w/ Heisman couple years ago. Let’s make the other teams fear the pass AND run, not just letting them stack the box. Then we can fully use Pryor and whatever talented backs we have that year.
Boeckman couldn’t move the ball without Beanie Welles. Pryor could move the ball with Welles. I never saw Pryor win the job.
They could not run the ball against Penn State, or at least not very well. Still, they were very close to winning the game. Pryor’s fumble and the terrible, heartbreaking, face mask by a player who wasn’t needed to make the tackle on Penn State’s last drive were the death knells of this season for OSU.
I think it is very debatable whether they started the wrong QB. It was clear that they started the second half with the wrong QB. What did Boeckman ever do that Tressel would treat him like that? The guy did his best for this team for years and they don’t let him play at all?
He could not have done worse.
So the Tiny Ten title is decided and the mdia gets to fawn some more over Paterno.
Roll, Tide, ROLL