Buckeye Blogger NetworkCoach 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
Welcome Home
The debut of the Urban Meyer offense everyone was hoping to see took a little longer than most would have liked.
After trailing the Miami University 3-0 after one quarter, Ohio State cruised to a 56-10 victory today at Ohio Stadium.
The offense struggled in the first quarter, out gained 172 yards to 48 by the Redhawks, but thanks to the tough running of Carlos Hyde and a highlight catch by wide receiver Devin Smith, the Buckeyes found their rhythm in the second quarter.
Several things caught my eye from the game today, both good and bad. I will start with the good, though:
Just... wow.
In a 46 point win, it may seem difficult to pick out bad things, but even Meyer described the first quarter as “ugly.” So, here are three things I would like to see OSU address:
Overall, though, Meyer’s debut was a good one. After a shaky start, Buckeye fans were able to see the Urban Meyer offense they were hoping for. Next week will be a bigger test, though, as Central Florida is a much better team than Miami.
We’ve got you covered all week here at The Buckeye Battle Cry.
Several Big Ten teams played bowl games today at around the same time, and nearly every one of them struggled . Ohio State joined that club in their game against the Florida Gators, losing 24-17. The Buckeyes valiantly attempted to stage a comeback in the game down 14 with 3 minutes left, but were unable to secure the onside kick with under a minute left. Braxton Miller showed some impressive passing at the tail end of the game, ending the game 18/23 for 165 yards and 2 touchdowns.
This is the first time since 1897 that Ohio State has had 7 losses in a single season, and the first time since 1946 that the team has lost 4 games in a row. It is the first time since 1988, John Cooper’s first season, that the Buckeyes have suffered a losing season.
The Florida Gators started the game with the football in excellent field position. Drew Basil was unable to keep the ball from going out of bounds at the one yard-line off a bounce on the opening kick. The error gave the ball to the Gators at the 40 yard line, where Florida quickly built a big head of steam running the ball to the left edge. Surprisingly, showing an early aggression that they haven’t been able to find all season, the OSU defense managed to respond quickly and force Florida into a fumble.
Boom Herron started things off for the Buckeyes going the other way with a couple nice runs up the middle. The Bucks were also helped by a Florida late hit on Braxton Miller as he was going out of bounds, eventually allowing the Buckeyes to work it down inside the 40. Unfortunately, the Gator defense stiffened and got a pair of sacks to put OSU in a 3rd and 18. Jim Bollman chose to go conservative and run a QB draw, hedging on the punt and the field position battle.
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Today’s the day. The Buckeyes finally get a shot at a little payback against the Florida Gators at 1 PM in the Gator Bowl.
Our Buckeye Blogger friends will be joining us at 12:30 pm today to enjoy the game. You should go see what they’ve had to say about it! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Scarlet and Game, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, and Fox Sports Ohio.
Go Bucks!
Well Buckeye fans, we are halfway home to the end of the 2011 season. Standing at 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the B1G, this year has been some dizzying highs (winning the Sugar Bowl) and far too many lowest of lows. The real question is where the Ohio State Buckeyes grade out for the first half of the season and keys to improvement. Players and coaches will be broken down and evaluated on their performance so far. So, listen up scarlet and gray clad coaches and players. Professor Schmidbauer is here to hand out some first half grades.
Quarterback
Breakdown: Anyone wondering what kind of faith the offensive coaches had in Braxton
Still Learning
Miller got a pretty good idea as to how much last Saturday in Champaign. The play as a whole has been pretty poor sans two games for the Buckeye signal callers. Joe Bauserman’s initial start against Akron was a solid debut for the resident geriatric of Ohio State. Braxton Miller’s first start against the Colorado Buffaloes was a nice debut as well. The rest of the performances have been lackluster, and I think we would all agree that is putting it kindly. Now the team is officially Miller’s and it seems like the Buckeyes can ride him as far as the freshman can carry them, well assuming there is not a strong wind anyway.
Area to Improve: If there is one key to the Buckeye season reaching eight or, dare I say, nine wins, it has to be the passing game. Ohio State proved you can win a game by only completing one pass, but it goes without saying we don’t want to see if the team can accomplish that feat again. Braxton Miller has not been able to consistently make throws in big spots in games yet, and opponents know that. You can believe that a serviceable passing will be a necessity to reach a New Year’s Day bowl game. Read More
For once, SBP could serve as a public service announcement, particularly for the folks in the Zanesville area.
No afternoon presser today, so here’s all the non-exotic animal related news… unless you count John Simon as his own overly evolved species of critter.
Buckeye 411
Eric is joined by Malibuckeye, Joe Dexter and Michael of Our Honor Defend to discuss the Ohio State 17-7 win over Illinois today in Urbana-Champaign. They focus on the excellent running game displayed by Boom Herron, Jordan Hall and Carlos Hyde (who retracted the twitter statement discussed in this podcast after we recroded). We also discuss the non-existent passing game, and the state of Fickell and Bollman’s employment at Ohio State.
All this and more – including some allusion to the upcoming Basketball Season – on the latest BBC Postgame Show!
Coming into Saturday’s action against the Illinois Fighting Illini, Buckeyes fans knew that it was going to take an ugly game for the Buckeyes to win. Nobody would of ever guessed it would of been that big of a possession and turnover battle with just one completed pass for the Buckeyes all afternoon long.
Wait, that’s right. Jim Bollman is the Buckeyes Offensive Coordinator. Nothing at this point should be surprising on the offensive side of the football.
The Buckeyes got the ball first and quickly got the running game going. Daniel “Boom” Herron got the start, and early used his patientce alongside fellow running back Jordan Hall to put together a methodical drive out of the I formation. After 9 straight running plays for 45 yards, Drew Basil was called upon to put the first points on board, by making his 8th straight field goal from 43 yards out as he played the wind with the hook to make it 3-0.
The rest of the first quarter would be back and forth with little or no forward progress from either team. After forcing a three and out on the opening drive for the Illini, The Buckeyes were shut out on their second attempt to get on the scoreboard. After two short runs and a Whitney Mercilus sack of Braxton Miller, The Buckeye defense took the field and got the football back. Illinois ended the first with the ball, gaining their first true offensive momentum into the second. After a solid catch by A.J. Jenkins down the sideline for 21 yards to the Ohio State 38, the Illini worked into a 4th down and 4 situation, where Ron Zook had his special teams pooch the football inside the 10 yard line.
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