Pretty vanilla in the run game. Shea did a good job of staying in the pocket and letting plays develop, and when he did have to break the pocket, throwing accurate passes on the run. WRs looked pretty good but there's room for improvement with contested deep balls
Amazing. Uche filling in a big way with Rashan down. Coverage was great all day and luckily Lewerke misfired in the rare opportunities a receiver was able to get open.
Such a good job getting first downs at the end of the game when everyone knew we were running.
Definitely left some points on the board but I think it was evened out by a couple tipped balls really working out in our favor.
Shae is such a talented deep ball passer and if he starts letting it rip downfield more often I think the offense can make the jump from good to great.
There's room for nitpicking, especially with all the failed trick plays, but I don't know how you could see all the struggles of other top 10 teams and Paul Chryst's game management and not feel pretty great about the guys we have
Also, I think one of the completions to Gentry in the middle of the field was an RPO. That, and the play action pass that got Wangler a touchdown seem like an effective way to punish overeager LB crews like SMU and Northwestern. Hope we see more of this moving forward
Shea missed a couple but continues to look like a difference maker that could swing some close games our way.
Run game wasn't explosive but was consistently able to at least grind out a few most carries, which is a big upgrade over the many TFLs we've become accustomed to.
Pass protection again looked pretty good, Warriner is earning his paycheck.
Ya he seems like a great deep threat but given his size and speed I thought he's be better at picking up yardage in the open field. A couple drives could've been extended if he could've put on a move or grind out a few more yards. Also poor foot placement on one play on the sidelines, but not sure if that'll be a consistent issue.
I think we had some nice deep balls. Tough to say without seeing the WRs downfield on the TV but it does seem like Shea could throw a few more arm punts when those plays don't break free
Tackles haven't been as big of a problem as we thought they'd be after the ND game. Shea missed a couple throws but ultimately he was the difference between Iowa in 2016 and Northwestern this year.
We outgained Northwestern 376-202. I think if D didn't get shredded first quarter and a few things had gone differently on offense - McKeon holds onto long pass, we score a TD on one more of our red zone opportunities, etc. - we'd be feeling much better about this team.
Dwumfour pressure led to the Paye sack late. He may not be living up to offseason hype but he could play a big role as a penetrator on obvious passing plays
Would've scored even more points if the refs didn't feel bad for Nebraska and ignore obvious pass interference. Pass protection looked promising for a second straight week.
Ya, a part of me thinks he was being vanilla because it's just SMU, but on the other hand would it really have revealed that much if he started taking some of those play action deep shots earlier in the game?
I agree. It looks like he's jumped Dwumfour on the depth chart and seemed to always push his guy back. It'll be interesting to see how he holds up against better competition
Shea is a huge step up from the last couple years of QB play. If we had good pass blocking I think this would be one of the top offenses in the B10. As it is, I think we're probably about as good or just a bit worse than our 2016 offense.
Agree that I'm projecting some growth we haven't seen in person yet, but since we have the benefit of hindsight for 2016 but not 2018 that's an inherent part of this.
Speight was a 3 star RS SO starting for the first time in 2016. I'll take the 5-star whose shown promise in his starting experience to date.
Wormley was great in 2016, but I'd say Gary was barely below his level last year and I'd expect a fairly big jump between his true sophomore and true junior year.
McCray was coming off years of injury in 2016 and was solid but always limited by his speed which is a big deal in today's game. From the camp chatter I've read sounds like we're loaded with athletes at LB and I'll take whoever comes out on top of that battle
Hudson was standing there too, but my guess is Hudson figured Metellus was doing his job on contain so he was staying in the lane he figured the QB would have to come up into
I don't think he had a Jadeveon Clowney type impact on the game we were all hoping he'd be having before the season started, but he still collapsed the pocket really quickly.
Hard to get the counting stats when Winnovich and Bush are getting to the QB almost immediately on a lot of snaps... Good problem to have :)
Ya, this was odd because it seemed like TE crossing routes were open all game for at least 5 yards, and a lot more when a TE could outrun whoever was guarding them
Seems like the pass protection has held up reasonably well to. I think with a better pass protecting line and an on-fire Speight we could've played with Bama
Given how much I loved this group of players and how deserving they were for some glory after all of their hard work.... yes, a very disappointing season
Our offense was just mediocre this year, speight is a middling but not great qb, o-line fell apart against top competition, backs and WRs were B+ but not enough to make up for other deficiencies.
Seems like every position group outside of ol, and maybe wr, has met or exceeded expectations given their natural talent, so I don't blame coaching too much, but I'm not sure what to make of Drevno's performance. Seems like a great coach could've got more out of all these highly rated recruits, but I guess their potential could've been mis-assessed by recruiting analysts.
The end of this year has sucked, but it makes me happy to think once Peters and McCaffrey come online, we'll have elite qb play every season. Even if OSU keeps recruiting like Alabama, elite qb play will be an equalizer in the game.
If Penn State wins out, OSU doesn't go to the Big Ten Championship even if they beat Michigan. This is all just Harbaugh preparing a masterful troll job in case they lose to Ohio State
Recent Comments
Ughhhh
Pretty vanilla in the run game. Shea did a good job of staying in the pocket and letting plays develop, and when he did have to break the pocket, throwing accurate passes on the run. WRs looked pretty good but there's room for improvement with contested deep balls
Glass half full take - If we're going to have a meh game might as well have it against Rutgers
Amazing. Uche filling in a big way with Rashan down. Coverage was great all day and luckily Lewerke misfired in the rare opportunities a receiver was able to get open.
Such a good job getting first downs at the end of the game when everyone knew we were running.
Definitely left some points on the board but I think it was evened out by a couple tipped balls really working out in our favor.
Shae is such a talented deep ball passer and if he starts letting it rip downfield more often I think the offense can make the jump from good to great.
Warriner turning in a coaching performance I think we'll remember for some time.
QB as a running threat really makes this a tough team to defend.
Feeling good about our O for the first time in a while!
There's room for nitpicking, especially with all the failed trick plays, but I don't know how you could see all the struggles of other top 10 teams and Paul Chryst's game management and not feel pretty great about the guys we have
Also, I think one of the completions to Gentry in the middle of the field was an RPO. That, and the play action pass that got Wangler a touchdown seem like an effective way to punish overeager LB crews like SMU and Northwestern. Hope we see more of this moving forward
Shea missed a couple but continues to look like a difference maker that could swing some close games our way.
Run game wasn't explosive but was consistently able to at least grind out a few most carries, which is a big upgrade over the many TFLs we've become accustomed to.
Pass protection again looked pretty good, Warriner is earning his paycheck.
Oooooo boy if Northwestern pulled out a miracle at the end that non-call on Winnovich would be driving me crazy!
Ya he seems like a great deep threat but given his size and speed I thought he's be better at picking up yardage in the open field. A couple drives could've been extended if he could've put on a move or grind out a few more yards. Also poor foot placement on one play on the sidelines, but not sure if that'll be a consistent issue.
I think we had some nice deep balls. Tough to say without seeing the WRs downfield on the TV but it does seem like Shea could throw a few more arm punts when those plays don't break free
Tackles haven't been as big of a problem as we thought they'd be after the ND game. Shea missed a couple throws but ultimately he was the difference between Iowa in 2016 and Northwestern this year.
We outgained Northwestern 376-202. I think if D didn't get shredded first quarter and a few things had gone differently on offense - McKeon holds onto long pass, we score a TD on one more of our red zone opportunities, etc. - we'd be feeling much better about this team.
Dwumfour pressure led to the Paye sack late. He may not be living up to offseason hype but he could play a big role as a penetrator on obvious passing plays
Haha, I think targeting is just called extremely inconsistently
Would've scored even more points if the refs didn't feel bad for Nebraska and ignore obvious pass interference. Pass protection looked promising for a second straight week.
First time I can remember the announcers openly hoping that the defense stops blitzing because they feel bad for the quarterback
Will Hart!
Ya, a part of me thinks he was being vanilla because it's just SMU, but on the other hand would it really have revealed that much if he started taking some of those play action deep shots earlier in the game?
OL aren't getting a ton of push but SMU is also run blitzing a ton. Michigan needs to make them pay with some more deep shots early in the downs
Yes! Play action early in the downs to punish stuffing the box and over-eager linebackers
Please do some play action deep shots on this drive.
I agree. It looks like he's jumped Dwumfour on the depth chart and seemed to always push his guy back. It'll be interesting to see how he holds up against better competition
Shea is a huge step up from the last couple years of QB play. If we had good pass blocking I think this would be one of the top offenses in the B10. As it is, I think we're probably about as good or just a bit worse than our 2016 offense.
Agree that I'm projecting some growth we haven't seen in person yet, but since we have the benefit of hindsight for 2016 but not 2018 that's an inherent part of this.
Speight was a 3 star RS SO starting for the first time in 2016. I'll take the 5-star whose shown promise in his starting experience to date.
Wormley was great in 2016, but I'd say Gary was barely below his level last year and I'd expect a fairly big jump between his true sophomore and true junior year.
McCray was coming off years of injury in 2016 and was solid but always limited by his speed which is a big deal in today's game. From the camp chatter I've read sounds like we're loaded with athletes at LB and I'll take whoever comes out on top of that battle
TL:DR - Offense will be better - OL slightly worse but I'm guessing some breakouts from skill positions.
Defense will be about same - Slightly less depth on DL and safeties aren't as good, but CB group and LBs are better.
Offense
QB - Shea>>Speight
RB - Higdon>Smith
WR - DPJ, Tarik, Perry > Darboh, Chesson, Perry
TE - Gentry, McKeon = Butt, Asiasi
LT - JBB/Hudson << Braden
LG - 2018 Bredeson > 2016 Bredeson
C - Ruiz = Cole
RG - Onwenu/Spanellis > Kalis
RT - Runyun < Magnuson
Defense
SDE - Gary > Wormley
Nose - Solomon < Glasgow
3T - Dwumfor < Mo/Godin
WDE - Chase = Taco
Will - Ross (?) = McCray
Mike - Bush > Gedeon
Viper - Khaleke = Peppers
CB - Hill + Long > Lewis + Strib
FS - Kinnel < Thomas
SS - Metellus < Hill
Instead of replacing our senior captain on the defense, just let him play to his strength and don't play him in man against the Heisman frontrunner
We were one inch away from going to the Big Ten title game, and perhaps playoffs. It's college football, shit happens
Hudson was standing there too, but my guess is Hudson figured Metellus was doing his job on contain so he was staying in the lane he figured the QB would have to come up into
I don't think he had a Jadeveon Clowney type impact on the game we were all hoping he'd be having before the season started, but he still collapsed the pocket really quickly.
Hard to get the counting stats when Winnovich and Bush are getting to the QB almost immediately on a lot of snaps... Good problem to have :)
Yes, Speight had his fingerprints on some of the offense sloppiness, but he certainly wasn't the only one
Yes, Speight had his fingerprints on some of the offense sloppiness, but he certainly wasn't the only one
Ya, this was odd because it seemed like TE crossing routes were open all game for at least 5 yards, and a lot more when a TE could outrun whoever was guarding them
Wow, a couple awful calls and an improbable three after great D really turned the tide of this game.
Ughhhhhhhh
Clemson's run-game has been shut down, but overall I'm really impressed with their o-line play
Seems like the pass protection has held up reasonably well to. I think with a better pass protecting line and an on-fire Speight we could've played with Bama
o cool another alabama championship...
Our defense could keep us in it but we'd need a big special teams play and an unreal game by Speight to keep us in it
Except for his only two years so far, when we went 10-3 both times...
Given how much I loved this group of players and how deserving they were for some glory after all of their hard work.... yes, a very disappointing season
For the most part we bottled up Cook... except for when we didn't
Our offense was just mediocre this year, speight is a middling but not great qb, o-line fell apart against top competition, backs and WRs were B+ but not enough to make up for other deficiencies.
What a gut-punch for the game to end on Lewis not making a play.
Seems like every position group outside of ol, and maybe wr, has met or exceeded expectations given their natural talent, so I don't blame coaching too much, but I'm not sure what to make of Drevno's performance. Seems like a great coach could've got more out of all these highly rated recruits, but I guess their potential could've been mis-assessed by recruiting analysts.
Who would've imagined after the Michigan PSU game that PSU would be the Big Ten Championship....
Watching Franklin win one before Harbaugh feels like a Twilight Zone episode
Ahhhh.... so now Big Ten decides to put a camera at the first down line...
Seems like something weird would have to happen for Va Tech to pull this out, their offense looks awful
The end of this year has sucked, but it makes me happy to think once Peters and McCaffrey come online, we'll have elite qb play every season. Even if OSU keeps recruiting like Alabama, elite qb play will be an equalizer in the game.
If Penn State wins out, OSU doesn't go to the Big Ten Championship even if they beat Michigan. This is all just Harbaugh preparing a masterful troll job in case they lose to Ohio State