How THE Don Brown locked up OSUs offense early..
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/film-study/2017/11/8…
It looks like Brown used a Tampa 2 early in the game to stop OSUs man-beating crossing routes. I know some people are mad about the late game crossing routes.IMO I think this can be explained by two reasons:
1. We are a man press team, it is in our DNA now and it’s what we drill constantly. In late game situation you gotta do what you do best.
2. (See reason #1) Conversely, OSU runs a Wilson-inspired mesh concept offense now. That was their best passing play. It just so happens that they were able to isolate the weakest defender (Metellus).
November 27th, 2017 at 3:47 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^
Michigan stopped them because JT wasn't running. Once he started taking off it was just like the previous 3 years. Same as Miller and Smith. Same old story.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:00 PM ^
Except that OSU went three-and-out on its first two possessions of the 3rd quarter, with the score 14-14.
OSU's offense didn't exactly light it up against us in 2016 either, so I'm not sure about the "just like the last 3 years" comment.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:04 PM ^
First of those they ran Weber on 3rd and 1. Next drive no JT runs.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^
I think you're the first person to suggest that OSU is better off with Barrett getting a lot of carries. As a rule, the heavier his workload, the more they struggle.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:16 PM ^
In 2016 JT went off for some big runs that pumped his boxscore. At the time, it felt like we dominated the LOS. Especially when he handed to Weber.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:22 PM ^
Whatever the case, they scored 10 offensive points in regulation.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:36 PM ^
No doubt. All I was saying, based on the eye test Barrett didn't appear to have a good game. But he managed a couple decent runs in a 2OT game that game him 125yds.
November 27th, 2017 at 7:21 PM ^
Anyone that thinks we are going to just line up and shut down OSU completely, and by that I mean like hold them to under 20 pts or like 250 yards of offense, you're kidding yourself. Iowa held them to 24 and OU held them to 16. The game against us was the 3rd lowest point total. I'd call the Iowa game a bad game for them and an outlier. The OU game they got beat soundly, but it was also early in the season against a better team than UM. OSU is loaded with 4 and 5 star talent across the board, run a spread, and have an athletic QB that can run. You can limit them, but it seems pretty unlikely you're going to shut them down. If you keep them under 30ish points, I'd call that a win. We could have done better, but it wasn't terrible either. A few more plays on offense, a few breaks (Metellus int) and we do that. We're close.
November 28th, 2017 at 9:11 AM ^
November 28th, 2017 at 10:06 AM ^
I agree with you that one game against an opponent they have not played in a while is an unusual circumstance (hence why I said unlikely we are going to shut them down) and probably not something you can put a ton of stock into. On the other hand, we are their rival, they are very familiar with us, and they prepare for us all year.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:04 PM ^
JT had 97 total yards, a lot of it on one carry. Ohio St is S&P+'s 5th best offense and averaged over 500 yards a game this year. Michigan held them to 350 yards, 66 of which came on the final drive that was essentially a 3 and out or bust for the defense. Not really sure what you expect from the defense but there really isn't a whole lot more you can do against elite level offenses.
November 27th, 2017 at 3:49 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 3:52 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 6:09 PM ^
So you're saying we need a better DC? I'm not seeing it.
November 28th, 2017 at 12:07 AM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 3:57 PM ^
He held the Buckeyes to 350 yards total offense. This was their second worse performance of the year, same offensive output vs. Oklahoma to whom they lost by 15 points.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:03 PM ^
And with 2:47 to go, after they missed that FG, they only had about 290 yards and 24 points.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:08 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 4:25 PM ^
Still - 24 points and 290 yards in the first 57 minutes of the game. It's really hard to complain about that. Both are far below OSU's season averages.
On the two possessions before that, we held OSU to a pair of long field attempts, in which they went 1-2 as expected. I'm fine with our D holding a team to 3 points on a pair of 4th-quarter possessions.
If you want to bash the D for finally cracking and giving up that last TD, OK. They're not the 1997 unit all over again. But they did their job until then.
November 27th, 2017 at 6:09 PM ^
This is a silly way of looking at it.
Like this post states, this was a game of 1 quarter vs. 3 quarters.
In the 1st quarter, Ohio State had -11 yards and 0 points. The defense was great!
The rest of the way they had 361 and 31 points. Extend that over a whole game and its 480ish yards and 40ish points. The defense was bad! Especially if you include one drive was stopped by a bad snap.
And that's without mentioning they lost Barrett!
November 27th, 2017 at 4:02 PM ^
Offensive output was the problem, really.
O'Korn played as well as he could (which is not usually going to be enough vs. tOSU).
The Oklahoma outcome was what happens when a quality offense and decent defense runs up against tOSU at this point (see Clemson, Oklahoma). Iowa obviously an outlier with lights out QB on that day.
I try not to think what this team (with Don Brown defenses, Greg Mattison coached lines and Mike Zordich secondaries) would look like with even average to better offenses.
One hopes this is our future with Peters/McCaffery/other guys.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 4:30 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 4:38 PM ^
Just another reason we shouldn't play them last every year.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:54 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 3:58 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 4:04 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^
I said earlier today that Haskins was an upgrade over a hobbled JT.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^
I give kudos to the kid. That was an NFL level throw he made on 3rd and 13. I don't expect him to hit those throws very often because very few QBs do at this level. But he threaded the needle beautifully there.
November 27th, 2017 at 5:24 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 8:26 PM ^
Didn't seem to miss a beat with JT going down. But that throw seemed more luck than skill. The coverage was pretty tight, I certainly would have advised against tossing that one up and risking an INT at that point in the game.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 4:11 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
I'm sure someone more knowledge could explain it to me but I hate seeing us play man-free, it never seems to work. The downsides of playing man without the advantage of pressure.
November 27th, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 8:17 PM ^
,,,fewer INTs
November 27th, 2017 at 6:12 PM ^
Yeah, but that was 94 yards on 7 attempts. Not to mention he picked up some yards on the ground in a quarter and a half. And of course never forced his team to punt.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^
And what happened when Haskins came in? A kid who could actually throw the ball? They lit the defense up and scored on three of four possessions. It's easier to defend Barrett because his only real threat are his legs. His passing skills are great against shit teams and anywhere from bad to so-so against good teams.
No one can contain OSU's offense forever (except if you're Clemson), so I'm not saying we should've shut them out or anything like that, but the defense just could not hold up against a legitimate passing threat.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 4:45 PM ^
November 27th, 2017 at 8:40 PM ^
My wife and I went to the game and we had the same exact conclusion as you. If Barrett stays in the game, M wins.
November 27th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
This wasn't really a tendency breaker. It is probably Brown's primary zone coverage. He used it a ton on early downs, and then went more to man in passing situations because it allows for more of his pressure package. I thought for the most part Michigan's defense did what they needed to do on early downs but struggled to get off the field. May have benefitted from a bit more zone in passing situations, but that wasn't Michigan's strength all year (I would argue Michigan struggled more in zone coverage on third and long situations).
November 27th, 2017 at 4:56 PM ^
I'm surprised at how we continually rushed past the QB, allowing him to break the pocket. It killed us last year and again this year.
One thing Iowa did well was keeping him in the pocket by not doing too much and making him throw. Our lack of discipline in those situations costed us.
November 27th, 2017 at 6:33 PM ^
"Our lack of discipline in those situations costed us."
My concern as well and if you watch the losses again you will see players regularly caught out of position. I mentioned it several times in the PSU meltdown thread.
I hope it is something that gets corrected with coaching and being a year more experienced.
November 27th, 2017 at 6:46 PM ^
We could have won but we didn't because we couldn't make plays when we needed to and they did.
November 27th, 2017 at 10:44 PM ^
November 28th, 2017 at 3:34 AM ^