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This was my after midnight attempt to calm down following the game. I didn't have internet so I couldn't post it until now:
Losses are always tough, but this was on another level. There are so many places you can look at and say “that cost us the game”, and I’ll probably get to a lot of them. Still, even after all of the catastrophes, we had this game. It was ours and we gave it right back to them, and I’ll doubt I will ever get over that.
I’m sure that a lot of the post game talk is going to be on how Russell blew it again. That is total and absolute bull shit. He played well when he had no receivers open. When he had to step it up, he led his team down the field twice to take the lead. He played another great game. I’m sure after his performance tonight, they’ll give the Heisman to Luck. I saw Lou Holtz say he never had more respect for Andrew Luck than when he rallied his team at the end. Well, Russell did the same thing twice and has better overall statistics. Russell should win the Heisman, but nobody’s going to consider him. That’s truly unfortunate.
The offense’s major problem was a fundamental planning problem. You can’t have 6’8 330 pound lineman covering a 210 pound linebacker. OSU stacked the box with linebackers all game, and our linemen couldn’t tolerate that. It pretty much eliminated the running game, which is a major credit to Ohio State.
That said, the passing game has to be your option when they try to stop the running game. Our receivers were not getting open all night. Yes, they had less time than normal, but you have to get open. Part of this is that lingering Nick Toon injury that no one is talking about. He’s been nowhere near 100% the last games, and it has had a huge impact. Abbredaris is a solid #2, but he has not been able to be a full game #1. That said, he made some great plays to keep us in the game. It’s just too bad nobody else stepped up before that.
The defensive line was god awful today. Seriously, they were getting pushed around all day. The linebackers were everywhere just like every other week. You can look at some missed tackles by them and get a little angry, but if we had 11 players as good as Borland, Taylor, and Claxton, we wouldn’t have a problem. It’s easy to get pissed at the secondary after that last play, but they played well the whole game (especially Aaron Henry). Cromartie getting beat at the end left a sour taste in the mouth, especially because he got beat by a guy named Devin Smith. I’d be fine if we went with Peniel Jean at that #2 spot. All that said, the defense was pretty good for most of the most of the night. They weren’t the biggest problem tonight.
That title goes to Special Teams. Yes, they recovered the fumble. Outside of that, there was nothing to be excited about. We weren’t getting beyond the 20 on kickoffs at all. We had a blocked punt that was in essence recovered for a touchdown. The last play never would have happened if we hadn’t let them return it to the 50. You’d have thought after costing us the win last week, the special teams would want to prove themselves. Instead, they lost the game for us again.
Finally, I can’t talk about the game without talking about the officiating. I hate to be the guy who talks about the refs costing us the game. That said, the refs were incredibly one sided in this game. They missed at least four really obvious holds or blocks in the back. By really obvious, I mean a hold where pulled jersey is clearly visible near the ball, and the blocks in the back where blocks directly in the back right next to the ball. The worst missed hold was on the deep run by Herron at the start of the second. The OSU player held us for at least fifteen yards right next to the ball. There was also a terrible no call on a really obvious OSU interference against Toon that ended a drive. I’ve seen a lot of games where a bad call here or there made a difference. This was one-sided officiating all day, and it was beyond frustrating.
The last question becomes “What Now”? I still think that we are a really good team. I’ll be pretty stunned if we don’t win out. Penn State’s a good team, but I don’t see us losing at Camp Randall. I guess Illinois could be a loss if the conditions were right, but it seems like a long shot. If we beat Purdue and Minnesota as well, we go 6-2 in the conference. We’d thus need OSU to have one loss in their final four (this seems likely), and we’d need Penn State to lose another game (to either OSU or Nebraska). This seems likely as well. Even after these two tough losses, we can still win the Big Ten. Hopefully, we can fix our issues and put ourselves in a position to win the conference.
Losses are always tough, but this was on another level. There are so many places you can look at and say “that cost us the game”, and I’ll probably get to a lot of them. Still, even after all of the catastrophes, we had this game. It was ours and we gave it right back to them, and I’ll doubt I will ever get over that.
I’m sure that a lot of the post game talk is going to be on how Russell blew it again. That is total and absolute bull shit. He played well when he had no receivers open. When he had to step it up, he led his team down the field twice to take the lead. He played another great game. I’m sure after his performance tonight, they’ll give the Heisman to Luck. I saw Lou Holtz say he never had more respect for Andrew Luck than when he rallied his team at the end. Well, Russell did the same thing twice and has better overall statistics. Russell should win the Heisman, but nobody’s going to consider him. That’s truly unfortunate.
The offense’s major problem was a fundamental planning problem. You can’t have 6’8 330 pound lineman covering a 210 pound linebacker. OSU stacked the box with linebackers all game, and our linemen couldn’t tolerate that. It pretty much eliminated the running game, which is a major credit to Ohio State.
That said, the passing game has to be your option when they try to stop the running game. Our receivers were not getting open all night. Yes, they had less time than normal, but you have to get open. Part of this is that lingering Nick Toon injury that no one is talking about. He’s been nowhere near 100% the last games, and it has had a huge impact. Abbredaris is a solid #2, but he has not been able to be a full game #1. That said, he made some great plays to keep us in the game. It’s just too bad nobody else stepped up before that.
The defensive line was god awful today. Seriously, they were getting pushed around all day. The linebackers were everywhere just like every other week. You can look at some missed tackles by them and get a little angry, but if we had 11 players as good as Borland, Taylor, and Claxton, we wouldn’t have a problem. It’s easy to get pissed at the secondary after that last play, but they played well the whole game (especially Aaron Henry). Cromartie getting beat at the end left a sour taste in the mouth, especially because he got beat by a guy named Devin Smith. I’d be fine if we went with Peniel Jean at that #2 spot. All that said, the defense was pretty good for most of the most of the night. They weren’t the biggest problem tonight.
That title goes to Special Teams. Yes, they recovered the fumble. Outside of that, there was nothing to be excited about. We weren’t getting beyond the 20 on kickoffs at all. We had a blocked punt that was in essence recovered for a touchdown. The last play never would have happened if we hadn’t let them return it to the 50. You’d have thought after costing us the win last week, the special teams would want to prove themselves. Instead, they lost the game for us again.
Finally, I can’t talk about the game without talking about the officiating. I hate to be the guy who talks about the refs costing us the game. That said, the refs were incredibly one sided in this game. They missed at least four really obvious holds or blocks in the back. By really obvious, I mean a hold where pulled jersey is clearly visible near the ball, and the blocks in the back where blocks directly in the back right next to the ball. The worst missed hold was on the deep run by Herron at the start of the second. The OSU player held us for at least fifteen yards right next to the ball. There was also a terrible no call on a really obvious OSU interference against Toon that ended a drive. I’ve seen a lot of games where a bad call here or there made a difference. This was one-sided officiating all day, and it was beyond frustrating.
The last question becomes “What Now”? I still think that we are a really good team. I’ll be pretty stunned if we don’t win out. Penn State’s a good team, but I don’t see us losing at Camp Randall. I guess Illinois could be a loss if the conditions were right, but it seems like a long shot. If we beat Purdue and Minnesota as well, we go 6-2 in the conference. We’d thus need OSU to have one loss in their final four (this seems likely), and we’d need Penn State to lose another game (to either OSU or Nebraska). This seems likely as well. Even after these two tough losses, we can still win the Big Ten. Hopefully, we can fix our issues and put ourselves in a position to win the conference.
