Bonus points, who won?
So now that the Oregon fans have found us, it’s time for some serious debate. We can go back and forth about how Oregon beat Purdue and USC and we didn’t. We can point out the development of the Buckeyes over the last five or so games. We can even review the finer points of the Oregon RoboDuck and ask ourselves again, “What we’re they thinking?” All that’s well and good.
The time has come however, to throw down, to put your cards on the table, to play the virtual prognosticator. Since we can’t play this game tomorrow, we might as well talk about playing it.
What are the three keys to this game? What three things need to happen for either team to win. (Feel free to give me more but three’s a nice round number)
Here’s my take:
Oregon offense, meet Ohio State defense (and vice versa):
Oregon has one of the highest scoring offenses in the country. They’ve pumped out an average of 428 yards and nearly 40 points per game. They’ve got a smart option quarterback in Jermiah Masoli who is quick, can read the play and knows how to hide the ball. The Oregon attack is different then anything the Buckeyes have seen this season.
And while the Oregon offense may be known for running the score, they haven’t faced anything like the Ohio State defense. The Columbus Dispatch reported this morning that the Buckeyes have only allowed 11 touchdowns in the last 43 quarters. They’ve limited offenses to 83 yards a game and have scored an average of 12 points per game. They’ve posted 22 sacks this season and they have not let a single rusher gain more then 100 yards all year.
And right there is the number 1 key to this game. They Buckeyes will need to pressure Masoli and contain him when he tries to roll out. The Buckeye defensive front are monsters and are known for their aggressive play. They need to hit Masoli early and hit him hard — put the fear in him. They need to let him know on the first possession that he will pay and pay dearly for his missteps. He may be hard to catch but if they catch him early and shake his confidence, get in his head, then they have the potential to shut down Oregon’s high scoring offense.
Threeyardsandacloudof
There’s a good chance the Ohio State offense and Oregon Defense will balance each other out. This means the game will hinge on how well the Ohio State offense stacks up against the Oregon defense.
The Buckeyes will need to slow the game and in order to do that, they will need to keep the Oregon offense off the field. The best way to do that is through long, slow drives. And they get to the red zone, they’ll need touchdowns, not field goals. Both have been problems for the Buckeye offense. However, the Buckeyes did well in the latter part of the season pounding it right up the middle
Look for the Buckeyes to capitalize on the short running game. Both Stanford and Boise State did their damage by pounding it right up the middle over and over again. Wear the defense down, not from chasing you but from running over them. The Ohio State offensive line played a completely different game second half of the season then they did in the first. I don’t know how many sacks they gave up second part of the year but there weren’t many. They’ll need to physically out play the Oregon defense.
On the pass, look for Pryor to continue with conservative, rolling plays and short connections. Get him to the outside, give him some open field and he’s dangerous. Make the Oregon D think twice and we’ll put up the yards.
Turnovers
This is big. Like the Buckeyes, Oregon has had their fare share of turnovers, especially fumbles. However, as the season developed, the Buckeyes got their turnover situation under control. Oregon gave up three fumbles against Oregon State. As I mentioned earlier, the Buckeyes also like to score on turnovers. I haven’t talked much about secondaries but the Buckeyes have picked off 23 passes this season for a total 317 yards. Kurt Coleman accounts for 129 of those yards himself.
Put the fear in Massoli, force him to throw under pressure (yes, I know he scrambles well) and the turnovers will come. There’s no room for mistakes in this game and turnovers could make the difference.
Open Thread
You’ve heard my thoughts. How bout it? What are the three keys to this game? I look forward to hearing it from both sides.
(In an attempt to make some of these longer strings more manageable, I’ve set up threaded comments so feel free to respond to individual comments as well)
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Beaver B – to answer your question look at OSU sacks – not many – containment more important, force the pass. I watched the USC game 3 times, they were easily fooled, they did not play the ball. Mental errors and lack of patients hurt them. It reminded of the bully that could not believe the little guy threw him, and they kept standing back up and saying bet you cant do that again, and again. It was like they were in shock and the defensive coach did not want to adjust. Any how ducks allowed the beavers 33 points were BYU held them to 20. Let’s hope its a great game and they may have a rematch next year. Do not count USC out they are a young team hurting very bad by the 5th game.
WHF – As you said, USC is a young team. However, they’re still part of a great football program, and I don’t think you can ever count USC out. And I agree with you on how many points the ducks allow. As I said before, I don’t think Duck’s defense is going to be a huge issue in this game. The simple fact is their D isn’t very good, and they allow a lot of points. They win because they have an incredible offense.
I think if OSU sticks to their usual style of D though, they have a good chance of slowing the Ducks down. Everyone who faces the Ducks wants to rush the pass, and shake their QB. It hasn’t worked so far, and that just plays into his game.
I think the USC rematch next year will be a great game, and am looking forward to it. However for now, I’m looking forward to this game. I think whatever the outcome, it’s going to be great football, and a lot of fun to watch!
Most pick Oregon to win, ESPN experts and such. Very few of those guys are 600 in their pics. I just watched were both experts picked Oregon. Those same guys picked the Beavers over BYU, one said by 21 points.. The AV on the other hand has a 820 on picks, they give a slight edge to OSU. The AV does not account for national opinion of the weak conference, psychological edge, who ever that goes to. Its simply a math program and yes it accounts for SOS.
Jim Tressel has the edge of experience. having shown a improvement, after losses to FLA, LSU, TEXAS. He knows that its the last game of the year. He knows he may never have another chance to win a Rose bowl, the kind he grew up watching as a child. He knows how important it is to OSU and as well the Big 10. This gives OSU a advantage as it makes JT less predictable, he hinted after the MICH game that we will need to pass to win.. Personally I would have taken TP to a trap range last summer and taught him to shoot. We need a deep threat, we have the receivers, great ones who rarely get a chance to show that. He is going to throw it deep, if Posey can get under it fine, if he can’t it hits the turf.
WHF…Agreed, Tressel does have the coaching edge here. He has the tradition, understands big games, and all-in-all is a great coach.
However, don’t under estimate Chip Kelly in his first year (as head coach) at Oregon. He is a creative thinker. In his first game had to go against #6 Boise State…who by the way, is the real deal. He wasn’t ready for smurf turf….a Boise State Home game (which btw, they can’t schedule in the future with any top bcs 25 team)…dealt with the LB incident (a nation-wide tragedy)…and started 0-1. Nice comeback, huh?
He is an offensive coordinator first who can adjust an offense to different key reads on the fly. Watching films for an opponent is confusing as the schemes change according to what the defense does on the field.
Expect a lot of set – audible – set go. Then once they find what works….go, go, go, go,go,go.
This is classic old school (I’m not saying this is bad) vrs. new school. Problem with new school….it’s relatively new and untested
Well, Tony’s been shouldering most of the load here from the Duck side, and I’ve been away from the scene enjoying the holidays. Most of the pertinent points have already been made, and re-made. I would like to add my keys, a slight change from a post I made a few weeks ago, which I believe may have sparked this thread for Jim.
For a ducks victory, they must…
1. Limit (costly) turnovers… Limit points by tOSU off of their own turnovers. I think Oregon will commit turnovers. They themselves classify their offense as “high risk”. Seldom have turnovers (especially late in the game) cost them momentum. This duck team thrives on momentum. If they can’t get on a roll, or there are mutliple points in the game where it is broken, Oregon sometimes takes a while to get going again.
2. Bring their (normal) offensive game… I’m pointing to the experience factor in bowl venue games. Long layoff, non-pac 10 opponent, New Year’s day. There have been a lot of local articles suggesting that O must stay loose, play their style, take the normal risks they usually do. All the outside factors of the game will have a tendency to take this away. We should know shortly after kick-off. But take note. Masoli’s first pass is usually a short throw, about a 100 mph + (and not necessarily on target)
3. Make tOSU defense guess (incorrectly)…There have been great comments here, that i tOSU justs sits, waits, and plays at home, they will have success. O must make enough key gains early to make tOSU defense start adjusting. If that happens, I think O can succeed.
Lastly, I will thank all the fans providing their comments to this blog, and tOSU fans for tolerating our fowl posts over these last few weeks. It has been enlightening, and I have a whole new viewpoint on who to watch, what they can (or should) do on the tOSU side.
I wish you all a happy new year, and here’s hoping the game will be played by both teams at their highest level possible. If so, we can find out what the true merits of the discussion we had. Also, if that comes to bear, this might likely be the bowl game of the season, something we can discuss for decades, not just weeks.
I for one will be back after the game to either offer my condolences or congratulations as the case may be, and maybe throw in a comment to stir the pot so we can do this again next year!
I think the ducks have a good chance. However, like WHF pointed out, I think the coaching could be a big factor. OSU is a team that is used to playing in the big games, and UO isn’t. Ithink that in this game, possibly more than most games, the coaching is going to be extremely critical.
Dear Miami Fan,
I hope you find some use for this URL after your precious “U” proved to be unworthy against a middle of the pack Big Ten school.
http://www.indoorclimbing.com/Slip_Knot.html
Hubris is a bitch.
@ “The Peoples Buckeye” …….. I would expect a comment like this coming from you.
Although, as a climber, I do see the analogy in the slip knot and the “U”…
I would expect you to choke on some nuts. GO BUCKS!
Wow UCLA evens the bowls at 2 – 2 for Pac 10. They now have wins against Boston College and Timple. Can you consider wins from teams that end up not ranked or poorly ranked “marquee wins”, Chip does, I think not. Just because early in the season Cal was 4 – 0 they did not deserve their rank, nor did USC. Minnesota was 4-0 this year also. If Arizona was to lose to Nebraska then Oregon’s best win will be Utah # 20. OSU has wins against, Penn State # 13 Iowa # 10 Wisconsin # 25 who just beat the 15 ranked Canes. If I saw a 50-50 split on who the winner would be, you might trust what they are saying. But 67 % tells me the dog is being wagged.
Congrats, Big 10 on a good bowl win. I actually found myself routing for Wisconsin. Power running and pin-point passing. Way to go W
However, if you think this is prototypical Bog 10 (‘cuse the typo) versus a flashy high-potent offense (Sorry Miami is a drop back passing team with no running game) the similarities between this game and ours is non-existent. Well, look for the Pac 10 to go 5-2 this bowl season.
How ’bout U
At this point…
Pac 10 – 2 Bowl wins
Big 10 – 1 Bowl win
And if memory serves me right…Wisconsin had you beat ‘cept for two pic-6′s and and punt return for touchdown. Hope you’re not relying for that as your offense against the O
goduck – does that mean to say that it is not possible for a defense to score points on oregon
I’m not saying that. But good luck with relying on that for your offense. As I recall, O scored one defensive touchdown in 4 of the 5 first games. Then we lost our 2 best defensive backs to injury.
Hi Jim,
Ok, everything has been hashed out. Stats grinded and re-grinded. I say it’s time to put out our predictions on the line…for all the world to see. Let’s put up or shut up…
Just the facts…nothing else!
Oregon 34
OSU 27
O—- 7-3-14-10
OSU- 10-7-3-7 (That’s right, tOSU leads at halftime…)
Oregon- 360 yds total offense, 3 turnovers
OSU- 275 yds total offense, 2 turnovers
hi…sorry, it’s late. Last post should have been “grinded and re-ground”….goducks
This defense is better than the 2006 – 2007 – 2008 teams. Vegas says +3.5, if they are wrong they lose allot of money. The computers and AV give about a 2 point edge to OSU. But almost everyone else says Oregon will win. Tressel clearly said Pryor was 100%, then we hear he is injured. Losing Small hurts as he really was the key to PSU win, he set us up for 2 TD’s. I really do not know who will win. Win or lose OSU will get no respect. Our only chance is a NC against a undefeated team. So with 2 losses it really does not matter. That is why I was disappointed to go to the Rose Bowl cause wins against Florida, LSU, would have been more meaningful. I never expected to lose to USC or Purdue, this year. I expected to lose to PSU just like Herbstreit did. But Iowa turned out to be better than PSU. I think Georgia Tech is best two loss team on the nation. losing to a very good VT and we all know hard it can be to win your rivalry and Georgia beat them. I am a true fan and as long as they play well, I am happy. The loss to Texas last year was fine with me. The one loss to USC 35 – 3, Florida 41 -14 and LSU 38 – 24 are really the only losses in 9 years I was disappointed.
WHF …… OSU has more to lose in this game than Oregon. I think a win over Oregon will give the Buckeyes some respect. Oregon is the highest ranked 2 loss team in the nation. This will be a good match up between two very good teams. Because of the Buckeyes recent trips to the NC …… I think they need to win this game to stay in the “championship caliber” discussion. I am sorry to hear that you think the Rose Bowl is meaningless. I personally think that all of the Bowl games are important. I will use Oregon State as an example. They had the Rose Bowl ripped out of their grasp for two years in a row. They entered the BYU game sulking and discouraged……and got blown out. This loss reflects upon the entire Pac 10 conference. It is the coaches job to refocus his team and get them to play with a chip on their shoulders. This did not happen with Oregon State. In order for any team in the Pac10 to get any chance at next years championship game …… it starts with the entire Pac10 having a very strong Bowl season. I am not happy with what I have seen so far though.
As fas as the NC is concerned…..Until we have a playoff system ……. I am shooting for roses. If it puts us in line for a NC ……. great. But I would look forward to playing the Big10 on Jan 1st every year.
Enjoy the game.
So I’ve obviously been away from the blog with family, holiday, etc. Haven’t had a chance to go through all 120 or so comments but I will.
Great thread though. What makes this game so great is that these two schools play such differing styles that what will happen is anyone’s guess. Of all the bowl games, this is easily the most interesting matchup.
I would think duck fans would want to watch Nebraska defense tonight. Pelini brothers once OSU players have Nebraska playing great defense. I think Pelina was a player when Tressel was a assistant. They almost beat Texas without scoring a TD. BG and Idaho are exchanging TD’s. I picked BG and Nebraska. I’m 9-4 picking to many underdogs caught up with me. Does any here know what happened to Nevada’s RB’s, sure glad I do not gamble.
BG just scored 32 secs left.
Win or lose Oregon wins. If OSU wins they gain nothing in the eyes of the overall national picture. If the lose we will be the disgrace of football till we win a NC.
Watching the game…….now. Arizona is off to a very slow start.
AND to all who said the BCS is stupid they sure have set up some fantastic matches.
WOW – congrats to Idaho BGSU(Ohio) loses 9-5
I knew the Nebraska would be educational – 2 first downs going into 4th quarter. The # 2 PAC 10 team shutout. I have never called the PAC 10 a weak conference, but I knew going into the bowl season they were highly over rated. 2-3 in post season play with two games left. This also means that Oregon’s marquee win was against UTAH. Tomorrow is another day, Houston, Oklahoma, but all these games could either way. I really feel Navy will win for sure.
WHF…Well, so far you would have been right to call the Pac 10 weak. Oregon St., Cal., and Arizona were no shows. For my sake, I’m hoping the trend doesn’t continue. None of these teams looked like what I watched most of the season.
It might be correct to say that the Pac 10 is weak defensively this year. One year does not mean much. So it would be probable that if you had matched up to ACC or Big East teams who like big offense and not so much defense, you probably would have done better. In reality USC only scored one offensive TD against OSU. Terrell gave them the other. OSU was a mess first 7 games, even their wins were awful. But the 5 teams, IIRC with 8-4 records was a sign. But if Oregon wants a NC then they must have great defense, and good offense. Think about it, since the BCS began has a team with a weak defense ever won the title. AM scoring on Texas was a fluke, and their defense followed up to hold Nebraska to 4 FG. OSU will have similar plan against Ducks. The ducks have a advantage over the Cats, a real running game. The real upset may be on the 7th, I think McCoy deserved the Heisman, but they did not consider his 4 years. He wants to make a statement on the 7th. As far as what you saw this year was conference play and since the whole Pac 10 was defensively weak it’s hard to judge. If Oklahoma plays like they did at season end, expect Stanford to lose. Oregon and OSU have three threats in the backfield, Stanford has one. Oh and Navy is for real, I was surprised to see them lose 4 games this year.
So if the Pac 10 is weak defensively this year, what does that mean in terms of this Oregon high scoring offense? It takes us back to where I started when first looking at this matchup — Oregon has never seen a defense like Ohio State.
Something else about the USC game that doesn’t get mentioned is that USC didn’t make it past the 50 until late in the second half. The Buckeyes fell apart in the last 3 minutes or so of that game.
Aside from my Annapolis connection, I love watching Navy. If they could work a passing game into that triple option, they would be seriously dangerous. Although they’ve struggled in bowl games, I’m pulling for them today. A bowl win will give them only their third 10 win season and will be the first bowl win for this graduating class.
It’s more than that Jim, The announcer clearly states that USC is missing their starting WR’s and a TE. That spells doom for a 1 dimension freshman QB. They also mention the 2 or 3 IIRC defensive players are out. McKnight was there but his counter part was not, the back who scored on OSU. We will learn more today.
Masoli is peaking and Pryor is still growing, we have seen Masoli at his best this year. Now we wait to see Pryor’s best, if not against Oregon then next year.
.
Forums all over the net have run the big 10 down all season ,not all fans, just 10 or 20 thousand, along with media morons. We, the Big 10, are the weakest, most over rated conference has burned in our ears for several years now. So expect some retribution this year. This year fans and the media claimed the Pac 10 the best, strongest, top to bottom some said. Well welcome to our world, my how the worm can turn. When I saw the bowl line ups, I smiled, once again the BIG 10 clearly got tougher teams, cept maybe Minnesota. I knew the PAC 10 was over rated as I watched as many games as I could. Here they are with only 2 of 6, 2 wins against Temple and Boston College. Pac 10 fans be glad USC or UCLA did not get Rutgers or you would be 1 of 6 going into the Rose Bowl. Well I will not going run down any conference, or school, cause in my eye’s, they are all winners. They all work hard to play these games and deserve our praise, win or lose.
I am not excluding any BAD fans, hurts more when they are Buckeye fans. I recently read on the net a article that claims a Michigan man with a 4 yo boy was surrounded in a parking lot in Columbus by dozens of Buckeye fans. They were verbally assaulted to the point the child was frightened terribly. If by some coincidence one of you buckeye fans that happened to be involved in that are reading this, and I am sure you would remember this. You are pathetic vile garbage, and should have been arrested and prosecuted.
Around Dec 7 I did the math and picked OSU by 2. I was surprised when 70% of the country picked the Ducks, 30% by 30 or more points. I figured I better do more research. I did and still found a tiny edge for OSU. Anyone notice as of the last day or so the media articles have started to flip. Could it be they saw that BYU was not a fluke.
To all the sensible Duck fans who’s posted comments with respect, good luck. I’m sticking with the Bucks by 2.
WhF…all good points, well researched. At this point, the pac 10 has for a large part not shown up. Many posts by buck fans are no showing the experience of past NC’s and numerous bowl appearances.With the new year, I wish the Bucks / Ducks (that has a nice ring for a new tradition) the best. Who knows what may happen tommorrow, that’s why they play the game. Here’s hoping both teams show up and play their best. Can’t wait for game time…
goducks – I really hope that the best team wins – see you game time – and prior when i was talking rematch i was not thinking USC Oregon – I was thinking Bucks vs Ducks Jan 7 2011
No question these bowl discussions have been the best to grace the presence of this blog. As I’ve pointed out before, the comments from fans of our SEC opponents are usually filled with little short grunts and four letter words.
My father used to say that it doesn’t matter who’s No. 1. We should throw out all this BCS stuff and go back to the day when there was only one bowl game that mattered and that was the Rose Bowl. I tend to agree with him.
Thank you Oregon fans for visiting and for providing a worthy foil.
Although my plans are to join fellow Ohio State Alumni for a game watch this afternoon, I will post a portal for the live chat run by Men of the Scarlett and Gray.
Here’s to a great game and Go Buckeyes!
Ok sports fans, here is the challenge.
Games are won and lost but impact from truly great players and coaches live on for the rest of us to learn from.
What prominent Coaches and Football talent in today’s football universe were influenced by The Ohio State University or the ‘Ohio Football’ gene pool?
Yes, I am a Ohio State Buckeye, and yes, I get tired of hearing all the crap about how we are not a real team year in and year out. I would like all of you yappers to pony up with your best game in answering the challenge here I put forth.
What is the challenge you say?
I say Ohio State has produced more quality football talent and coaches than any other school in the country, all time. You might at first wonder if I have a bet here, but I will offer a few thoughts for you as you start sucking wind on who you will list from your competing colleges and universities…..This is BESIDES our 7 national championships and 16 big ten championships
OSU Dates Coach Current Annual Salary
’58-62 Bo Schembechler Deceased (Michigan)
1979 Peter Carrol USC 4.4 million
’86-87 Urban Meyer Florida 4.0 million
’01-03 Mark Dantonio Michigan State 1.8 million
’87-90 Bo Pellini Nebraska 1.85 million
’88-90 Ron Zook Illinois
’68 Lou Holtz Notre Dame Retired
’80-81 Nick Saban Alabama
1995 Lovie Smith Chicago bears
’93-95 Larry Coker formerly Miami U
’84-90 Gary Blackney Central Florida
’75-78 Alex Gibbs Houston Texans
’79-81 Dennis Fryzel Univ of Tampa
Ohio State Announcers/Key commentators/ Color
Eddie George
Kirk Herbstreet
Robert Smith
And of course, we don’t need to remind you of Woody Hayes. One of the greatest coaches to ever be associated with football or Ohio State.
Note, many people in Ohio believe that football greatness had ‘loins’ in Ohio. Specifically, Youngstown, North of Columbus, and several other hot spots. Note, Paul Brown was at Ohio State in 1942. He went on to form the Cleveland Browns, sell it and move on to the Cincinatti Bengals. What other former college coach started TWO NFL teams? Some feel the Cincinatti Moeller, Cleveland Glenville, and many other High School programs still have a presence of Paul Brown recruiting their kids to the pros, after he got them to a reputable college program. The old school work ethic gives you goose bumps.
Proof that other Ohio influence is in the coaching ranks healthy in college:
Bob Stoops Oklahoma Yougstown, OH native
Les Miles LSU Elyria, OH native
’93-95 Kirk Ferentz Iowa Cleveland Browns
Don’t forget that Art Model, former owner of the Cleveland Browns is credited for starting Monday night football. Where would we be without that?
Jim Tressel is 88-20 as Ohio State’s head coach (81.5%). He is 223-77-2 overall (74.2%) including his Youngstown State career. The last several years Tressel has been accused of losing big games, not being tough enough yadda yadda. What the media does not say is that Ohio State has chosen a lot tougher schedule. Who else voluntarily plays USC, Texas, and Miami? We do it to improve to be the best. Other teams choose easier schedules to have unbeaten records, and sometimes that still does not work.
And for all the SEC crap we get up north here in big ten country, when was the last time one of your ‘fast teams’ played THREE (3) number two (#2) schools in a single year? Ohio State did it a few years ago. We played #2 Texas the second game in the year when we were #1 and We won. We played the last regular season game against #2 Michigan, and we won. We lost the third game against Florida for the national championship. Does your team have a 66% winning percentage against #2 teams? In ANY single year in your school history?
Yes, we are getting tired to going to the National Championship dance every year. 4 out of the last 9 is pretty bad….there were two other years we should have gone to ‘get our numbers up’ to that 66% level. We actually thought we would three peet after 2002. Keep in mind this is a realistic possibility because of only one loss in two other seasons that would have put us squarely in the hunt for the national title game. One was when Illinois beat us late in the year, as an unranked team the other was the year we lost game #2 to Texas. Both years had a lot of promise.
YOU should celebrate Ohio State Football. Look what the experience has done for college football all over, professional football, and more importantly, look at the quality of the people this great university has delivered to the sport you love. So, the challenge is on….you think your college or university is so great? How do you measure up?? If you have such a great story to share from your university or college, measure up and we will toast to your success.
Bring it!!!!
Rod Tyler
Medina, Ohio
Well stated Rod.
Hard to find a good college football coach without Ohio State somewhere on his resume.
Just quick, don’t forget Chris Spielman and Chris Carter in the commentator column.
(and he didn’t even get into Massillion where boys are held back in 8th grade so they will be physically bigger during their senior football season).
I went to high school with Les Miles. That was when EHS was a power. My senior year we AP # 1 athletic high school in the USA. Then came the first oil crisis, the Japanese car, and a end to Elyria’s great high school. 1 Heisman winner was 1950. I doubt that they will ever be like the great Cincinnati schools. Les was a very nice person, popular, and Elyria is very proud of him.
This is the best duck defense that I have seen – very good – and the can run on offense wow- they may not be able to repeat this next year – this may have been there NC team but a lack of defense early ” what if ” they are in the wrong Rose bowl
Goducks u were right OSU leads at half – hope your wrong about second half
Dear Duck fans you have a great team – you had a great year – you got beat by one of the best teams in the country. The perception of conference weakness is not true. Your ducks did things tonight no other team has done to OSU in years. Go undefeated and meet us next year for all the marbles. Watch Texas
Well, I’m back….to offer congratulations. Duck fans faced some realizations today. JT coached a great game. Who thought Pryor would attempt 37 passes? Brilliant. I’m sure the Ducks spent 75% of their prep time on stopping the 3 yrds and a cloud…
Pryor… what a stud. The guy is “big game”. I’m sure tOSU’s future (and game plan) has been changed for the next 2 yrs. by this outing. We contained, but never shut the dooor in a clutch situation, therefore our O never got the momentum they needed to sustain any lasting high 5′s. I even saw some moments from tOSU where hurry up was used against us, effectively. Another great JT coaching moment.
The game pretty much went as I had suspected tilll mid-way 3rd quarter. The LB fumble was a momentum turner that I suppose was poetic justice of the early season event that provided such an NCAA media fiasco. All-in-all, the Oregon offense never really had a chance to establish anything close to what they really do well….ball control was well established all day by tOSU.
In the end, it was a pretty fair representation. Both teams showed up. There were certainly times when the balance was in question. However, tonight the best team won.
For those who say this was a meaningless game for tOSU, I disagree. Sure not NC, but I’m sure this performance will weigh heavily in the pre season polls next year. And there is a new wrinkle for tOSU, a new confidence in Pryor, and a new game plan priority.
For the Ducks, let’s hope this will make them hungrier. Their small senior class will be missed, but most skilled positions will be back, and if tOSU hasn’t progressed to loftier bowls, there is a good chance we could repeat this game sometime in the future.
It has been a pleasure to go back and forth with you this year on this game, and you deserve the accolades that all the tradition that exist at tOSU has produced. I’m sure that O knows (as do I) that we will have to step up a little, if we expect a better outcome. And of course, we do next time!
And lastly, this time will cause me to have a look at the game by game progress of tOSU next season, if only to be prepared for the banter in some upcoming year…..Good Luck tOSU!!
Thanks Go Ducks. You guys have been a great addition to The Buckeye Blog during the past month.
I’m writing my post-game thoughts now but for the moment, a hard fought game by two talented teams.
We’ll be watching for you next year.
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