Buckeye Blogger NetworkA bit of a different version of WDYWTSOS, since we all want to see the same thing- Awesomeness and no injuries.
So, we’ve polled our staff of experts for their predictions on the following aspects for “Getting Down At Paul Brown”- let’s see how much everyone’s been paying attention to the Spring Practice Updates:
Bombs Away
What player scores the first points of the game?
WVa: Braxton Miller will score first and it will be on a long run.
Ken: Devin Smith on a long pass play from The Brax
Jason: Rod Smith. My bet is they limit Hyde and with Brax wearing the black shirt his running is cut out.
Janelle: Devin Smith on a deep ball from Braxton
Eric: Might as well ask what your favorite color of M&M is based on the taste. I’ll go with Michael Thomas on a nice Brax pass.
Dexter: I’m going to go with Evan Spencer on a Bomb downfield from Braxton Miller. That is my favorite color M&M.
Charles: To be a bit different, I’ll go with Drew Basil
Mali: The obvious answer is Drew Basil.
Who’s the offensive MVP? Read More
Spring is finally in the air. Baseball season is underway. Saturday is the annual Scarlet and Grey game. Basketball has crowned its national champion. It’s Wednesday, let’s rumble!
Buckeye football
We’ve hit the stretch run of spring football and the Scarlet and Grey game is being held this Saturday at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Brown Stadium. The game starts at 1pm and you can hear it live on the flagship station for Buckeye sports 97.1FM or www.971thefan.com It will be shown on the Big Ten Network at 7pm Saturday night.
Braxton Miller
Student Appreciation Day
One of the highlights of the 2012 spring camp was the first ever Student Appreciation Day at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Don’t be cynical, the name implies exactly what it is: a chance for the football team to allow unprecedented access to the students who make up the body of this great university and support it so vehemently on Saturday’s in Ohio Stadium and even on the road in opposing dojos. Read More
Welcome to the calm before the storm… unless you’re an NIT junkie, then your Madness has already started. In honor of Coach Calipari’s fantastic coaching job on Tuesday night, today’s soundtrack channels the thoughts of Wildcat fans as they get to watch the rest of the tournament. Hey… you think they’ll have time to join our Bracket Challenge?
It’s What We Do
Buckeye 411
Vince Lombardi used to tell his teams that they would strive for perfection while knowing full well they’d never reach it. However, he knew that somewhere along the way in the pursuit of perfection they would end up being pretty good. By defeating (we can say the M word again) Michigan on Saturday, the Buckeyes achieved perfection. Along the way they faced adversity and doubters but still wound up being pretty good!
Celebrate!
The Reckoning: Mission Accomplished
The 109th rendition of The Game was more than an opportunity to finish a season unbeaten (only the 6th in school history) it was a chance to right a wrong. Heading into Saturday, the sting from last years game in Ann Arbor was still there. When Denard Robinson broke tackles for a 67 yard touchdown run in the second quarter all the emotions from 2011 came roaring back. It all finally subsided after seeing Carlos Hyde look to the Ohio State sideline and give Urban Meyer and his staff the “feed me” hand motion of spooning food into his mouth with around three minutes to play indicating he was more than prepared to finish off the game and that there wasn’t a thing the Wolverine defense could do to stop him.
Last week I introduced the idea of The Reckoning and wanting payback for the showboat antics, not to mention the loss in general, of the Wolverines in 2011. When Hyde motioned to Meyer and the Blue’s spirit and will had been broken, that indication and only then finally had The Reckoning been achieved. I didn’t want to see the Buckeyes win; I wanted to see Michigan broken and demoralized. It wasn’t until I read the stat sheet that I realized just how broken and demoralized Michigan actually was.
Silver Bullets to the rescue
Much maligned throughout the season, and rightfully so, the Buckeye defense stepped up huge and shut down the Wolverine offense almost completely in the second half. Luke Fickell and Everett Withers made adjustments at halftime that anticipated every move Michigan would make in the second half. They set up the Silver Bullet’s in a position to pin their ears back and fly around. The results were several big plays including sacks, fumbles and the eventual game clinching interception by CJ Barnett.
Early on in the game it’s easy to assume Fickell wasn’t sure exactly the extent of Robinson’s injury. Were they using him exclusively to run or did he have the treat to pass despite the injury to his right hand/wrist? Around the middle of the second quarter the discussions regarding Robinson abilities on this particular afternoon had to be compelling to listen in on. Ultimately the decision was made that in their opinions he wasn’t going to throw it and that they’d live with the consequences if he did. The gamble paid off, they were right, Robinson made zero passing attempts and his runs were completely shut down.
If you asked me before the game, I’d have almost guaranteed you that my vision of The Reckoning would have been realized by the Buckeye offense with an absolute onslaught of points and Braxton Miller dancing all over the Blue defense. I’m glad I would have been wrong as seeing the Silver Bullets intimidate and overpower the Wolverine offense was special and, in a way, much more satisfying. Read More
Microcosm of the last decade wrapped into one nice, neat little image.
Rattle the QB.He got rattled eventually. The couple of times he got hit and coughed up the football would have been enough, excluding the few times he got eaten in the backfield. Nice shot by Zach Boren, by the way.
Make Them Guess. They didn’t really have to make them guess, and I’m not certain they even tried. The game plan seemed pretty cut and dried, and was not excessively outside what we’ve seen in other games this season.
Take It Back. The Buckeyes clearly showed that the last year was an aberration. You have to wonder what was going through Brady Hoke’s mind as he stormed off the field in Columbus on Saturday. I’d like to think the shiver he got was Dave Brandon throwing away his resume.
Bring the noise. I was all the way up in 28C (only a few rows from the top), but it still seemed pretty loud overall – especially at the end.
Line dominance. Boy, the way they were blocking for Carlos Hyde on offense, you’d think Michigan wasn’t even there. Hyde busted run after long run and seemed nigh close to unstoppable – give the hog-mollies some of the credit for that.
Feed Carlos. 26 carries, 146 yards and a touchdown. Not a bad day of work.
The Reckoning. Carlos Hyde made Denard Robinson “eat” that gesture by mimicking it himself.
Focused on the goal.
Rattle the QB.No matter who is under center, turn the Silver Bullets loose early and get them rattled. Neither has faced a D, save for Alabama, that will provide the pressure and coverage the Buckeyes will. John Simon tied an Ohio State record for sacks in a game last week, and he’s hungry for more.
Make Them Guess. Here’s to the coaching staff coming up with a great game plan. I want TTUN guessing every play, where we are going with the football. Maybe Braxton’s bad day in Madison was due to sandbagging or by him thinking about this weeks game. Hard to avoid looking ahead to an opportunity to right a previous wrong. Buckeyes kept up with a better Wolverine squad last year and just fell short. Time for The Reckoning II(Thanks Jason L.)
Take It Back. It being the Rivalry. Remind them who has been in charge in recent history. The Buckeyes have an opportunity to show the world that last year was a one year event. Most thought it may have been a couple years before things got back to normal with respect to the Buckeyes being in charge.Urban Meyer has let everyone know just how important this week is to him.
Bring the noise. The Buckeyes are 11-0. This is the last game of the season, our bowl game. It is The Game. It’s TTUN. If you’re there, make the floor vibrate.
Line dominance. Offensive and defensive lines can win this this game. Defense move the line of scrimmage, offense move some people.
Feed Carlos. Get Carlos Hyde involved early and often. Let him soften that defense up and create options for Braxton Miller.
The Reckoning. Last season we took their best shot with one of our weakest teams and still almost pulled out a win up in Ann Arbor. All the while Denard Robinson pranced around arrogantly and made his “eat” motions. It’s time to ease the pain of that afternoon and get some payback.
Staying undefeated in November is a tough task. Just ask the Ohio State Buckeyes, who needed overtime to take care of business in Madison, Wisconsin against the Badgers on Saturday. Credit the Badgers for fighting to the end. Credit the Buckeyes for overcoming adversity and making plays to keep the dream alive.
Bert and the boys
It really seemed early on that the Buckeyes were going to run away with the game against Bert Bielema and his Wisconsin Badger boys. When Cory Brown’s punt return for a touchdown put the Buckeyes up 7 followed by a machine-like high tempo drive early in the second quarter that resulted in a Carlos Hyde touchdown giving the Bucks a 14 point lead, the Camp Randall crowd seemed uninterested and it looked like the good guys were going to have their way. We certainly didn’t see the dramatic ending that put this game in line with the recent history of classic endings in Wisconsin-Ohio State games on the horizon.
Both teams showed great perseverance and battled through the highs and lows of the game. For the Badgers it was facing a 14 point hole. For the Buckeyes, it was a stalling second half offense that couldn’t get things going. For the first time this season, Braxton Miller was contained.
Bielema and his staff devised a great scheme that slowed up Miller: Set the edge and force him to show his hand early on as to where he was going along with spying him with a corner and a safety. It is similar to what we saw Stanford due to Oregon later that night. They are daring the quarterback to stay in the pocket and beat them with his arm. They are also running the risk their spy’s can make a tackle one-on-one with one of the most elusive players in college football. The Badgers I’m sure are aware he hasn’t earned the name “XBrax360” because he lacks shake and spin. Bert’s gamble paid off and Wisconsin held Miller to his lowest yardage totals of the season and kept the Buckeye offense stammering to the end result of (even with overtime) a mere 21 points.
Fortunately in the overtime he offense got on track. Better late than never, I guess. Carlos Hyde’s seemingly easy touchdown gave the Buckeyes the coveted overtime edge of 7 points and put it on the shoulders of their defense. Four plays later, the Buckeyes were 11-0.
Last week we spotlighted the Wisconsin-Ohio State rivalry and how it was blossoming into a true “second tier” rivalry for the Buckeyes. Saturday’s game added to the burgeoning legacy. It was definitely one for the ages. Read More
You need to ask?
Child's play.
Don’t fall into Wisconsin’s revenge plans. It was a close run thing, but the Buckeyes definitely avoided the revenge trap. Deal with it Badgers. Deal with it.
Take two steps forward in the passing game. 10/18 for less than 100 yards is not 2 steps forward. There were some bright spots in the passing game, but the Wisconsin defense did a good job of stifling the offense.
Carlos Hyde with 150 yards running. He could have, if we had run them as often as the fans – and later Miller, Hyde, and Meyer – had wanted. Unfortunately, he only picked up 87 yards on 15 carries.
Etienne Sabino on fire. 6 total tackles and 4 solo isn’t exactly on fire (he had 12 against UAB), but it’s not a bad job for his first day back.
A Wisconsin loss. It’s great to see ‘em lose. Glad the Bucks made it happen.
New wrinkles. Seemed pretty plain vanilla all day long. Perhaps that was by design? Just random speculation after all.
Offense on speed. We definitely saw that in the OT when the Buckeyes carved up the Badger defense like it was standing still. The rest of the game was less than speedy.
Buckeye defense bringing the House of Pain. It’s doubtful that there is anything more painful than that forced fumble near the end of the game. They may have come back from it, but that had to be devastating.
20+ point victory. …Not so much.
