Buckeye Blogger NetworkThe BBC continues its look at bowl season, this time with some appropriate theme music. I feel fine – don’t you?
Coach Meyer’s comments following the win over the Central Florida Knights, courtesy of Fox Sports Ohio: (transcription provided by the Ohio State Athletic Department)
As always, I like to give credit to a very good team we faced in Central Florida. We knew going in they would try to run downhill on us.
I think this is the second week in a row we held a team under 100 yards rushing. However, pass defense, we have a long way to go. Getting pressure on the quarterback.
Offensively, we’re down to our third tailback, and it looked like it. We have to get better. The guys carrying the ball are talented, just terrible mistakes. Penalties and turnovers are not ‑‑ in the first game, very minimal penalties and zero turnovers.
And then this week was not good. So just gotta fix it. We’re going to have to really ID who is going to touch the ball. We have to go back to the drawing board and make some decisions on who is going to physically touch that ball and they have to take care of it, obviously.
So I would also like to thank our fans and our student body. Tremendous. And also the weatherman did a nice job for us. So appreciate his effort. And got a big one next week, but we’re going to enjoy the win. Winning major college football games is a tough duty, especially when you face a quality opponent. Read More
For this week’s views from enemy lines we travel down south to Florida… No we didn’t ask Mike Bianchi any questions. We did stay with the Orlando Sentinel though, and their UCF writer Iliana Limon. Check out Iliana’s answers as she gives us some insight on UCF’s program, and take a listen to her visit with our BBN bros at The Empire.
Huh. A bit loud in here...
1. How does George O’Leary like to attack his opponents offensively? Is he primarily a ground guy, air guy, or is he more flexible depending on the defense?
UCF coach George O’Leary definitely prefers to use a tough rushing attack to establish pass plays. He believes in ball-control offense, which tends to set up his defense for success when his offense performs well.
2. We’ve seen UCF oscillate between good seasons and mediocre/bad ones on about a three year cycle since O’Leary arrived. Do you see that continuing into the future? How do you envision the future of the program under O’Leary?
Like all coaches, O’Leary aspires to win on a consistent basis. The key to his success is sustaining depth. He has struggled to string together back-to-back strong senior classes, who are expected to be the leaders of his program. When reserves don’t see early playing time and have other options, they tend to leave UCF and erase key components of what will one day be a senior class. It appears the program is finally starting to turn a corner with some well spaced out classes that could provide consistent leadership year after year.
3. What type of defense does UCF employ? Do you think it will be up to the task of facing Urban Meyer’s offense, albeit imperfectly run?
UCF runs a multiple or 4-3 defense. The Knights prefer to get pressure on the quarterback without blitzing. The emphasis is on playing assignment-sound football and being as disruptive as possible. It’s hard to say how successful UCF’s defense will be against Ohio State. The Knights have great depth and talent, but some fundamental mistakes — including poor tackling form — popped up last week against Akron and could be a much bigger headache for the Knights at Ohio State.
4. With Latavius Murray possibly out for the game, do you think the Knights change their offensive philosophy at all? Read More
As hard to see as a laser pulse, and not much easier to catch.
Passing, passing, more passing. I asked for 350 yards, and came up 106 yards short. I’ll ask for 300 this time and hope that’s easier for the Buckeyes to match. If Braxton gets his footwork under control, it might be possible.
A sack fest. We’ve been told that OSU might have the best defensive line in the country. I’d like to see some backfield punishment of the UCF quarterback to prove it. Remember, Urban Meyer believes that a quarterback should pay for trying to pass. I want to see that philosophy in action.
A 100 Yard Game from Carlos Hyde. I think this is pretty self-explanatory. Lets get him his first century of the season.
Ultra-short laser pulses. Wait, what? That’s right, a physicist at UCF just set the world record for the shortest laser pulse at 67 attoseconds. For the uninitiated, an attosecond is merely a millionth of a billionth of a second (or 1/1,000,000,000,000,000). A thousand of these are also known to their friends as the amount of time it takes a photon to travel the average width of a human hair (about 100 micrometers). Let’s just say that’s really, really short. Now back to your regularly scheduled football coverage.
Plug the gaps. We’ve heard how UCF brings a straight forward running game, I want to see the defensive line plug the gaps and force the back to make other arrangements for finding positive yardage. So along with that…
Seek and Destroy. When the defensive line plugs the gaps, I want to see the linebackers fill and crush the back. We know Shazier is a sure tackler, despite being a true sophomore. How about Sabino and especially Curtis Grant? Be physical!
Should they sneak through. Attention CJ Barnett and Christian Bryant: let’s light some people up!
Lock down. If the run is being punished, the corners are often alone. Lock’em up!
Brax-tacular and Mr. Hyde. I’m excited to see week 2 of Braxton Miller in Urban Meyer’s offense. He had a breakout game of sorts against Miami, how will he follow it up and keep the train rolling? Carlos Hyde ran hard last week. Meyer all but called him the workhorse. I started the hash tag #FeedCarlos during last weeks second half, will they oblige again this week?
Lurking, Waiting to be stepped on
Midweek review of all things Buckeye and from across college sports, including thoughts on the newest in controversial rule changes.
Buckeye 411
Fast approaching.
Yesterday was the official one month mark until the start of college football.
Ohio State may not be eligible for postseason play in 2012, but that has no impact on the anticipation for Buckeye fans.
Urban Meyer is one month away from his debut as Ohio State’s head coach, and that is the main reason OSU fans are excited.
The Buckeyes begin the 2012 season with four non-conference home games—only one of which is against a team from a BCS conference.
While OSU may not have a big-name program on its non-conference schedule like years past, playing four games under coach Meyer before the Big Ten schedule will be extremely important for the team to get comfortable in a new system under a new coaching staff.
Here at The Buckeye Battlecry, we will have in-depth previews of each OSU opponent during the week of the game. This, however, is the first in a three-part series briefly looking at the 2012 season a month out. Read More
Yosemite = Buckeye Nation
On Tuesday, I was impressed by Danny from 11W posting his “OHIO” photo from the top of Mt. Baker, for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve lived in WA and skied at Baker all the time. Second, I was hoping to have a similar photo from the top of Mt. Whitney under my belt by the end of this summer, but a couple of family issues prevented me from enhancing the highest peak in the continental US in such a glorious way. Finally, I love shots of the outdoors, and just got back from a week long trek as well- the photo on the right is much lower than Danny’s, but includes at least one Michigan fan. Always good to spread the gospel, right?
It’s good to be back… right before the team goes camping as well. And here… we… go…
Buckeye 411
