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It's always frustrating when our experienced staff gets outcoached by a newbie. I felt that way under Urban in the 2017 Oklahoma game and this last weekend against Oregon. Lanning seemed to be the one that had his team slightly more prepared and was able to master the last 30 seconds of the game. The 12 man thing was cheap, and I hate that it cost us, but up until yesterday it was a legal play. The onside kick was pretty clever, albeit exceedingly lucky. The only reason they tried it was because one of our DBs had a stupid 15 yard penalty on the play before.
With Urban Meyer, it was "the best I've ever been around".
>.<
Wherever he is, he's probably in need of a nap and a diaper change!
I understand that these grades need to take into account all games and not just the bad ones, or the games against cupcake competition. That being said, this is Ohio State, which is an elite program that judges itself based on championships and wins in big games. So I think its completely fair to weigh the results in those bigger games more heavily. That doesn't mean we discount the good things that were done against Iowa or Western Michigan, but those games aren't the measuring stick for the Buckeyes.
STL Buckeye, what did the defense do well in the Oregon game? Not being sparky, just asking. I legitimately don't recall anything positive aside from a couple of early stops and the 4th quarter stop on 4th and goal where Gabriel missed a wide open WR.
Yep, agree completely. Definitely a missed opportunity.
If you interpret my comment as being butthurt, you interpret incorrectly. It's simply pointing out how fruitless these coach interviews are. Yes, all coaches do this, it's not just Day.
Yes, all coaches do that. But Ryan Day is the current head coach and the subject of the article, which is why I mentioned him. :P
I really hate these interviews. It's literally exactly the same after every loss, lol.
"We were right there"
"This one hurts"
"We have to fix it going forward"
All of these things are true, of course, I just feel like you could copy and paste the same answers after every Buckeye loss since 2019.
In general I agree, but Oregon played a lot of quarters and was specifically trying to take that away. It's partially why we saw a lot of intermediate stuff and throws to the middle of the field to wide open tight ends.
Kyle, thank you for making this 18:30 minute video. Our offense was awesome!
Interesting that 4 of the bottom 5 from last week were OL players. I knew they struggled at times but didn't see it as being an abysmal performance (i.e. Mizzou last year). I would have expected the secondary and DL to be the lowest rated against Oregon. I guess there was plenty of "average to below average" to go around on Saturday, which might actually improve my view on how good the team can be, considering we only lost by 1 on the road to a top 3 team. Hmm.
This is basically like the recurring "Big Ten officials apologize for blown call against Ohio State last weekend" statement we always get. I know every fanbase probably thinks this, but good God has there ever been a team that gets more fucked over by shitty officiating/poorly conceived rules than Ohio State? It can't even be close at this point.
PFF grades are often at odds with what we see with our eyes, but this certainly lends credence to that fact that our OL was struggling BEFORE the devastating injury to Josh. Although the OL had appeared to be improving throughout the season through 5 games, there was a regression against Oregon. That or they aren't nearly as good as we thought they were based on a good game against Iowa.
Quite possibly the most punchable face in media.
When is the last time we were outside the top 12? We arent missing the playoff unless we lose more than 2 games. And I don't think we are losing another game.
I would have agreed with you before Saturday. Oregon was considered weak on the interior OL (so much so they literally just started a new center a few weeks ago), yet the DTs did little to impact the game. The inside run D was admittedly better than outside runs, which is where we got hurt the most, but I was shocked at how little disruption Liek and Ty caused.
Egbuka is the only lock. Jackson has struggled too much to be considered a guaranteed 1st, and our 3 "elite" DL and their constant disappearing act in big games is going to drop them into 2nd/3rd round status, IMO.
He's not wrong. And it's damn frustrating because it feels like we're so close. And maybe we are, but part of me worries that Day just is this coach and it won't ever grow beyond this. I'll choose to be optimistic, but the rest of this season will go a long way towards determining Day's future at Ohio State.
I agree with your last paragraph, but it's Ryan Day's team and his responsibility to fix it. I don't think it's fair to absolve Day because his defense/OL/etc. failed in critical situations (as has happened in each of these games).
These issues have been happening since the 2019 Clemson loss so we are pushing 5 years with nothing to show for it, aside from a 2020 B1G CG win and a beat down of Clemson. It's beyond time.
I think Day can still get it done, but he doesn't have another 3 years of struggling to hire the right coordinators. This will be his best chance.
Agree, we did get some stops early and then the late 4th and goal stop. But we again failed to get a stop when the game is on the line, just like Clemson 2019, UGA 2022, Michigan last year and now Oregon. The modern defense trend, especially in high level talent matchups, definitely seems to be "bend but don't break". Unfortunately our big game defenses have tended towards "bend then break repeatedly". I think it stems from the DL and lack of disruption, which allows elite playmakers to eventually get open, where elite QBs are then able to get the ball to them.
You are absolutely correct about the turnover and onsides. Even with the defensive failures, those would have made the difference. The margins are always miniscule in a game between these types of teams. Eventually we have to find a way to come out on top.
I'm less worried about the yards and points than I am in our ability to get stops in critical situations. Which is essentially what has happened in each of our several big game losses. Had we given up 500 yards and, say, 28 points, assuming there was at least one stalled Oregon drive, we are having a different conversation.
Yeah, that's pretty awful. Even worse than I remember it being in those situations.
He's also got a lot of energy and juice.
With the talent and resources at Ohio State, you need to be around 40-50%. Very few rational fans expect him to be 100% or even 75%. Day is closer to 30%. Even Tressel had a better record - not to mention the much longer leash that a natty deservedly provided him.
When Day wins a title, it will buy him another 4-5 years even if he never wins another playoff game. Which is how it should be. It's been 4 years since our last legitimate trophy or accomplishment and that's a long time at Ohio State.
