Unverified Voracity Beats East Plano Tech State

So Ohio State now has upcoming home and homes scheduled with Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, TCU, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina, and we've got a ND series that's going away for an indefinite amount of time, a home and home with Utah, and home games with Oregon State and Colorado. Let's start beefing these schedules up before all interesting teams are gone.

The Noll Report from the O'Bannon lawsuit is some interesting reading, to say the least. I can't help but think the NCAA has some radical changes coming.

I'm pretty sure that photo of Siberia was taken in January. The time stamp on that photo should be read "5th of January, 2006".

But yes, comrade, your observation still stands: Siberia >>>>>> Columbus.

/EasternEurop'd

quote from the helicopter video: "looking down at all the yellow pompoms was awesome"

lolbrian's seats

lolyellow

Don't mean to be that guy but isn't 5/1/2006 go by day/month/year over there? I had a chemistry professor from their and that was there way marking dates. If that's January 5, then that has nothing on the UP. Either way I would prefer he stays over seas but he did say Columbus was pretty much a hell hole so you got that going for him.

Aww, the MnB article was removed before I could read it...was it really that bad?

Anecdotally, listening to the hockey audio feed, it seemed to me that Selman's name was coming up a lot.  Sure is nice to be able to roll four lines.

Case may sound like a cupcake now, but Ohio State was only 11-10-2 against them and actually had a losing record against Western Reserve (Case's neighbor, combined as Case Western Reserve U in the 60s).

That a man experiencing a self-inflicted banishment to freakin' Siberia speaks of how miserable it is in Buckeye City, Buckeye aka Hell Incarnate aka Columbus Ohio aka We're So Gloomy People Would Rather Live in Freakin Siberia, OH.

Is there a distinction made that allows for the sale of images from team events?  If so, perhaps the sale of a pic showing Denard  posing with a horse or relaxing in a halter top caressing a trombone would be a violation, but him throwing a pass in a sanctioned NCAA game is okay?  I'm sure there is some loophole there, or any school that has ever sold a football related postcard is in violation.... 

@umichcompliance posted that same tweet a month ago and I asked them why U-M can sell a photo of a current student-athlete at the MGoBlue Photo Store.  Their answer:

"@MichiganHockey An institution may sell a photo of a SA in practice or competition as long as it is not part of another commercial item"

This was briefly mentioned above but I'll elaborate.

What's interesting about Case as a "regular Michigan punching bag" is that during a good chunk of the relevant period Case was the second best football program in Ohio, after Oberlin. OSU didn't really kick their program into gear until the teens--from 1907 to 1911 Case won five straight against them and after the 1911 win they held a 10-4-2 advantage all time. When the series stopped it was still only 11 wins to 10, OSU--I wonder if Case is considered a junk win when Ohio beats them, since they only did it half the time? And I wonder the same about Oberlin, which was beating Case like a drum during those very years OSU couldn't win against them (7-0-1 from 1906-1913).

In retrospect maybe it seems obvious which were the junk wins, but before WWI no one would ever have guessed that Case and Oberlin were destined for a century of D3 obscurity and Ohio State was destined to become a great football program.

What are you, a nature photographer now?

A column about the "junk wins" from CFB's early days could have been interesting, but Forde was too busy thinking his lame jokes were the wittiest japes of the season. "Something called Physicians & Surgeons of Illinois" is now known as the University of Illinois at Chicago. Case Institute of Technology (now part of Case Western Reserve) was a prestigious school - it was where the Michelson-Morley experiment was performed and, as Yeoman noted, a solid football program.

Worst of all to me, Forde abbreviates the California Institute of Technology as "Cal Tech." It is Caltech and always has been. He should get an editor and maybe do some research next time.

That all of our wins were built on turn of the century cupcakes.

I think the picture from Siberia was taken in January, because the date is probably Day/Month/Year.

Did anyone else catch that the video is 1:33 long?

That sounds exactly like what he'd say!

I think the only deep ball in this game was out of an I-Form to a double-covered Jeremy Jackson. Gotta loosen those guys up—yeah, you might turn the ball over if you bomb it deep but if you're just punting in three plays anyway…

By any definition of 'deep ball' the pass where Gardner was wide open and dropped was a long pass. They also ran a vertical to Gardner in the first half where the DB fell down in front of him.

On a looser definition of long pass, Dileo averaged 22 yards per on 4 catches with only YAC on one of those.

There was even another verticial to Jackson, again double covered, that may have been a throw away on the second to last possession.

I'd say, this criticism is therefore not accurate at all.

Perhaps my biggest takeaway from the game is this:

The bitching about Borges' playcalling is going to continue, no matter what.  

Looking at the picture pages referenced in this post, I see someone analyzing a play that either missed something, or doesn't know what they are talking about.  The post on BWS titled "Running into a brick wall" is flawed, and actually acquits Borges.

Here is the true breakdown of that play--using the same frames--and why the play action passes that so many lemmings are calling for wouldn't have been as simple, safe, or effective as everyone seems to think:

• Frame 1.  State is has a standard 4-3 look with two deep safeties.  The claim that MSU's safeties are "cheating" is ridiculous.  The safeties are about 9 yards deep (one might be 8 yards deep instead of 9) which is standard on a first-and-ten unless you're playing an air raid type of offense, which we are not.  You might argue that 10 yards is more "standard" if you've been coached a lot, but the difference isn't huge, esp. considering our downfield passing ability.  The "cheating" simply isn't there...the LOLB is positioned a step back and a step wide to help cover Gallon if there's a quick pass to the slot and Kwiatkowski if he should ever run a route (which he did in this game and caught a pass for a first down--more on that later).  That OLB is also covered by a safety.  THERE ARE NO CHEATING SAFETIES IN THIS FRAME.  Just because you say something, doesn't make it true.
• Frame 2.  You'll notice that as Gallon motions, the safeties essentially switch roles; the safety on the side Gallon is running to steps back (to help cover Gallon's route behind the OLB) and the safety that no longer has a slot receiver in front of him takes ONE step forward; he's still 8 yards behind the LOS, and the other safety is 9 yards back.
• Frame 3.  The snap has happened.  Safety Isaiah Lewis is keying on Gallon and moving outside to cover; Denicos Allen is cheating outside in case Denard gives.  Fortunately, Denard reads correctly and does NOT give to Gallon.  There is absolutely no doubt that the LBs are moving toward the LOS, but the TE is blocking and covered by Drummond and Fitz is five yards behind the LOS--so there's nothing for them to cover over the middle.  The safeties?  They are NOT committed to the run yet.  Lewis is moving diagonally toward Gallon, but is definitely NOT committed to Denard.  The other safety (Drummond) is reading the ball and the TE.
• Frame 4.  This frame is key, because it shows that State is still ready for run or pass.  Drummond is moving to attack the hole, because the only cover responsibility he could likely have now is Fitz.  Kwiatkowski is engaged (and not much of a threat) and Drummond is still 8 yards deeper than him.  Roundtree is blocking on the outside and has Adams on him.  Dennard is on Gardner.  Lewis is on Gallon.  Yes, they are in one-on-one coverage, but everyone is covered.  While Lewis has moved up, he's still almost 10 yards deeper than Gallon, and can definitely cover if he needs to.
• Frame 5.  State's D-Line has gotten a yard of penetration.  Three of our O-Line plus TE Kwiatkowski are handling State's D-Line; Schofield has made a nice combo block and is on Bullough; Mealer has moved to the second level to block Allen, who is trying to get back into the play after cheating outside on Gallon.  If Fitz blocks Chris Norman, Denard is one-on-one with Drummond (who is highlighted in the red box).  You will notice (if you're being objective and not just trying to bitch about Borges) that Lewis and Dennard could still cover if this play somehow turned into play action; Dennard is maintaining his outside position, Lewis hasn't come back inside yet and could cover Gardner if Dennard took Gallon's wheel.  But Denard (our Denard, the one who can properly spell his name) has tucked the ball, and there won't be a pass here.
• Frame 6.  Denard sees Drummond coming down and cuts back into the trash.  This is where the play breaks down.  The play is designed to get Denard one-on-one.  The play achieves that.  If Denard can't beat the safety one-on-one, he should look to bounce outside and take his chances against a well-blocked Rush and/or an unblocked Adams (Roundtree is coming down to handle the safety).  If 'Tree had been able to get to Drummond, this play could have been a TD.  If Denard beats Drummond at the hole, this play could have been a TD.  If Denard bounces outside he could have been one-on-one with  Adams.  There are lots of good possibilities here.  Denard's choice didn't enable any of them, and State's defense is very assignment-sound, making Denard's job difficult.  But let's get back to the idea that a play pass would have worked here...Even in this frame, Dennard (MSU CB) is still cheating towards Gallon if Denard should somehow untuck the football and get into a position to throw (which is damn near impossible at this point).
• Frame 7.  Even in the final frame, where Denard is under a heap of felons, Dennard is still keying on Gallon.  There was no easy play pass here, folks.

The truth about this play is that it's actually well-blocked, and well read.  Denard's choice to bounce into the pile was a bad one.   Could he have beaten Drummond at the LOS?  I don't know.  Would bouncing outside toward 'Tree have worked?  I don't know.  But every defender is either blocked our accounted for except for one.  That's how a running play is supposed to work.  Denard should have either hit that hole or bounced outside.

As far as the play pass goes, there's nothing easy there.  Sure, I'd love to see an occasional shot downfield to Gallon, but that was covered and would have required a great throw by a QB who would have been under pressure from a safety coming free into the hole.  That is our standard recipe for disaster around here, and Borges knows it.

Sorry guys, the easy play pass just wasn't there.

On the other hand, I would like to have seen a few more passes to Kwiatkowski.  State clearly labeled him a blocker and didn't expect him to run routes.  And, quite frankly, it's not his strength, so I'm talking maybe one or two more targets the whole game.

The bottom line is that Borges gave his critics exactly what they asked for on this play: Denard is allowed to be Denard, and had a well-blocked play where he needed to beat one defender to score.  Unfortunately, that one defender did his job extremely well and made Denard's life difficult.  There is no magic formula to beat an assignment-sound defense.  Your choice is either have Denard throw the ball to WRs in one-on-one coverage while he's under pressure, or have him run.  The critics said he should run.  He ran.  It didn't work.

I'm 100% positive that if Denard bailed on the run here and tried to throw the wheel to Gallon and that pass gets picked by Dennard and returned for a TD that the same critics are bitching about "trying to make Denard something he's not" and "didn't we learn at ND" and "why don't we just run the ball, it's worked for two games!"

Let's also remember that we attempted 29 passes in this game, and that we only completed 14.  We don't have a throwing QB.

Borges can't win.  If he calls plays that emphasize Denard's strengths, he gets critcized for being predictable.  If he calls plays that require Denard to make decisions and throw good passes, we turn the ball over.  Either way, the same people blame him.  BTW, I am 100% positive that it's Hoke's job to determine our team's strategy, and that when people attack Borges, they should remember that Hoke has the final say and that's where the buck stops.  Strangely, the same people that worship Hoke also attack Borges...

I'm so glad Mealer turned out to be pretty good. Both on the field and in the press. That guy deserves some good stuff in his life.