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Title: Getting Back Up Again
Category: dont know
Blog Entry: [br]   It is easy to have knee jerk reactions about the games the Buckeyes don't win but most of the time nowadays I try to let the emotion pass and think about the game over the next few days after to really get a sense of what really happened during the game and how I feel about it (operative word being try ).  This past weekend in the loss to Penn State at the Shoe appears to have cut loose hellfire and brimstone from a lot of sport writers and members of the Buckeye Nation about several things - among them being our offensive line, play calling, Penn State's team, the Big Ten conference, Penn State in the NC game, and most certainly the fumble felt around the world by TP.   While I do see where most of these opinions are coming from I have to say that what I saw Saturday night was a smash mouth football game between the two best teams in the Big Ten with defensive units that put forth an incredible performance.  Sure - I would have rather the Buckeyes won and seen more scoring - but if you were not on the edge of your seat appreciating the level of play and the ferocity of the hitting then you are not a real football fan.  [br] [hr] That being said I offer the below five things that I feel are worth mentioning in summing up the game: [br] [br] 1)  The Buckeye D came ready to play and brought it all night long. [br] For real - even the D line showed up nasty and shut down a very prolific offense.  Only surrendering 13 points to a team that averaged 45 PPG is damn good, especially when you consider that seven of the points came after the game changing fumble left them with just 38 yards to go.  They held a running back that was averaging over 7 yards per carry to 77 total yards, constantly pressured and eventually knocked Clark out of the game, and aside from the two PI penalties on D Washington - pretty much shut down the three senior receivers.  Gibson was everywhere in the second quarter, then the Lions adjusted to him. Hell - we even had good special teams coverage - Williams was swarmed on all the punts that he fielded.  The D followed up the domination of the Spartans with an emotional, physical effort against a talented opponent.  There were some missed plays and mistakes but if we can keep that same level of intensity we will be in great shape on that side of the ball for the rest of the season. [br] [hr] 2)  The Buckeye Nation finally showed up in the Shoe. [br] The stadium even sounded loud through the TV and through the phone when my sister called me - that is what I am talking about.  Finally it seemed like the Shoe that I remember.  However I did read in some forums that I heard there were some boos when Cooper was honored at the beginning of the game, but it was also written that it was not booing it was people saying "Coop"; and that it was also the same time that Penn State came out of the tunnel too.  Not sure what that was all about - I didn't hear that part.  For what it is worth though I don't think Coop should be booed - regardless of the whole 2-10-1 thing he did win alot of games and had some amazing players on his teams.  Either way though - when the game was on the crowd was in a frenzy and it definitely helped our players.  The D rode that emotion all night long and really faded during the short field post fumble drive - when the crowd and Buckeye fans everywhere numb with disbelief of what had just happened.  But even then the Shoe woke up again and got loud for the end of the game. [br] [hr] 3)  The fumble felt around the world. [br] Wow - have to feel for TP.  Seeing him on the bench and then crouched over in agony behind his teammates while they sang Carmen Ohio to TBDBITL was painful.  In some forums I am seeing people call it a stupid play, but the crazy thing is that I am not sure he would have had the first if he had gone straight ahead - the Lions D line had good penetration on the play and the outside was wide open.  TP even had it tucked fairly well, the tackler just got a had right on the ball.  Yeah it sucks, because the game really hinged on that play - and everyone with any sense at all knows that TP feels worse than anyone about it.  Can you imagine how hard it is for a 19 year old with superhuman abilities to get a king size dose of humanity on national TV with a Big Ten championship on the line?  And don't even get me started on how we should not have even been at 3rd and 1 since Beanie already had the first on the previous play and the zebras shafted us on the spot of the ball. [br] The great part is that TP will bounce back and be stronger - he is getting better each week if you consider that he had his most yards through the air this week.  Probably should have had more if we would have thrown more on early downs.  Even though he does need to time his throws better to hit guys in stride, receivers are having to wait or come back for jump balls on several plays.  But is there a reason why we didn't when even Herbstriet is telling the world that Penn State has eight in the box?  Why are we not letting TP air it out over the middle?  Seems like we are only letting him play with part of the playbook.  [br] Oh yeah and TP - I know some other tOSU players that as freshman had a case of the fumbles - one went on to win the Heisman trophy in 1995, I think he was from Pennsylvania too.  The other one you probably know as well - he followed up his freshman year with a sophomore season of 1600 yards rushing - you share the backfield with him.  They both will always live with the fumbles of their past, just like you have to live with yours - but both of them went on to do many more great things, just like you will. [br] [hr] 4)  What the hell is going on Bollman? [br] Okay so he is our offensive coordinator and our offensive line coach.  I would imagine that he has some hand in how we play from an O line standpoint and that play calling or at least offensive strategy for the game is somewhat his doing.  With that said I am at a loss for what we did on Saturday because I would totally say that the Penn State defense put forth a great effort but I am not convinced that we were not able to move the ball on that unit.  For crying out loud TSUN put up 17 pts on them, Illinois scored 24, freaking Coastal Carolina scored 10!!!  Beanie only got 55 yards because we were going against eight in the box.  The way you loosen that up is to test the defense vertically in the weak spots behind the safeties - when we did this we had success.  In fact one of the long passes to Sanzo could have been a TD if Pryor hits Ballard who was wide open in the deep center of the field.  If this area is so open why not run stuff to that area until the safeties respect it - then hit them with Beanie.  Oh yeah - no Pistol formation this week with Boom?  Why not? [br] The O line seemed to regress from the performance last week.  Play calling did not help but they were not doing great at run blocking anyway.  And although pass protection was decent most of the night I got very tired of seeing Maybin make Browning look like he was wearing concrete shoes.  I am over the slow heavy tackles that can't keep up with speedy DE's - now it is not just during bowl games.  Whatever we are doing in practice needs to change, the weight workouts need to change, attitude needs to change - we seem to recruit well and only lost one starter - so what has happened to the line that powered Beanie to 1600 yards last year? [br] [hr] 5) A serious ass whoopin on TSUN. [br] This year has obviously not turned out how anyone expected.  Reminds me alot of 2005 when we lost our big out of conference matchup and then also dropped the game against Penn State (ironically a late fumble played a role in both games).  But unlike 05 when we went up north and Troy and the boys won a tight one - this year Dick Rod brings his squad down to the Shoe.  And after all that has happened this year we can count on Tressel to understand that our fans need a big win.  Also know that it will be the last game in scarlet and gray for Laurinaitis and Jenkins - so expect the defense to come out with something to prove.  I guess what I am hoping for this year is that we get to see a big time beat down of the blue come Nov 22. [br] [br] GO BUCKS!!