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Title: Tuesday Night Ramblings
Category: dont know
Blog Entry: [br] This week is very strange for me.  I completely know that we can go into Champaign this weekend and take care of business but I have a definite uneasiness about the whole deal.  I think it is because of the all the other Buckeye reading that I do during the week - espn, a couple of different forums and blogs, the dispatch - it can make for some maddening hype and strange undertones.  Couple that with the blown game last year and it makes for a serious weight on my nerves. [br] [br] [hr] Even though last week was a complete blowout - there were aspects of the game that did raise some concern.  Yes - Beanie went huge, but the long run in the first half was because of an amazing individual effort - a lesser back would have been stopped for a three yard loss.  Also true that we went an amazing 8/13 on third down conversions - but we had thirteen third downs - if we had really dominated them up front we should have had to make that many conversions.  It has been crazy what I read this week - Herbstriet, Speilman and even Mike Lanese even got on the O line in a public fashion.   [br] [br] Herbstriet - called the line "pathetic and soft" and regarding Boone's late hit said "that's as hard as he's hit anyone all year."   [br] Spielman - "The line of scrimmage never moves with Ohio State's line. It either stays where it is or it moves backwards. That's the truth."   [br] Lanese - “I won’t continue to beat up the line because I’ve concluded that they simply don’t have the athletic ability or attitude to play any better than they’ve been playing. If the rules didn’t require the offense to have seven men on the line of scrimmage, I’d recommend that we just line the guards and tackles up four yards deep in the backfield. That’s where they end up anyway. Only because of Pryor’s escapability are the receivers starting to make a contribution downfield.”   [br] [br] That is some tough love there - and I partially agree.  I thought the pass protection was good but the run blocking needed some improvement, eventually they wore down - it was Northwestern after all.  But it is concerning the line is now being called out publicly by former players.  How can they have digressed so far?  The below article from the Columbus Dispatch blog makes some strong statements -   [br] "More than once I heard "They don't even use the blocking sled in practice anymore." The sled, as any back-in-the-day player will recall, taught linemen to fire off the line while keeping their legs moving. Today's blocking techniques are more in line with zone blocking, which basically is the concept of taking up space rather than physically engaging the defense." [br] Link - http://blog.dispatch.com/buckeyesblog/2008/11/was_boeckman_situation_mishand_1.shtml [br] I am not sure how much to read into it but if our guys are not using a blocking sled then without a doubt something needs to change.  I played line in high school and the sled is the most effective means to teach proper drive blocking.  Period. [br] Remember that Illinios game in 1995 when Eddie ran wild over them?  Check out this video from that game - notice how big the seams are that Eddie can run through, on some of them he never even gets touched until the secondary.  Imagine if Beanie had those same holes. [br] [br] http://www.youtube.com/v/CjtIU6TqD3c&hl=en&fs=1   [br] [hr] The second area of uneasiness for me this week is that in Champaign we face a real running QB.  Last week second string Kafka, with a third string running back behind him, managed to gain 80 yards and score a TD.  He was their only offensive option really and he still had some nice runs.  By comparasion - Illinois quarterback Juice Williams has 3,346 yards of total offense while throwing for 20 touchdowns and running another five into the end zone this year.  Oh yeah - last year he sealed the game because we had no answer for him.   He leads the Illinois offense that put up 42 poiints against Missouri in the season opener, scored 24 in a loss against Penn State and blasted TSUN 45-20.  Then again then also lost to Wisconsin and also fell to Western Michigan last week.  The offense clearly misses Mendenhall - his replacement Dufrane is only averaging 60 yards a game and has no TDs.  It all depends on which Illinois shows up, but if it is the one that likes to score alot of points I hope our offense is ready to repeat last week. [br] [br] I hope I can stay sane until Saturday. [br] GO BUCKS!!