Tag: ohio state

Rant – 2015 Buckeye season, cut Zeke some slack
Courtesy of Flickr Creative commons

For the last few weeks, as playoff rankings came out, as I looked at other top teams, I found myself thinking “Alabama is playing the best football.” I thought about the prospect of Ohio State having a rematch with the Crimson Tide and thought “I don’t think this team can beat them, not the way Derrick Henry runs.” Because Ohio State has been awful on the run defense this year. We saw it again on Saturday, against what’s a fairly average running game in Michigan State, playing power football, they were able to dominant Ohio State up front.

Throughout these underwhelming losses, we would hear “well we have a great defense.” But Buckeye fans can compare to previous teams. 1996. 1998. 2002. 2005. Those were great defenses. This was a good pass defense that struggled to tackle powerful running backs. And they never really improved on that.

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November 23, 2015
Sugar Bowl preview
12 years ago this week, Ohio State played the national championship game against a Miami team that everyone thought would win. The Hurricanes looked invincible, coming into the game on a 34 game winning streak. The Buckeyes were 13 point underdogs but managed to be competitive where they pulled it off in overtime.

When a team spends weeks hearing that they can’t win a game, I think that it can be helpful to the psyche of a team (especially a team who is unfamiliar being an underdog). Ohio State has as much talent as Alabama, they’ve won 12 straight games, have one of the best offenses in the country. And yet, people talk about this game as if it’s a foregone conclusion that the tide will roll. (more…)
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January 1, 2015
Thoughts on Ohio State and the Big Ten Championship
So excited to be in Indianapolis to see the Buckeyes play in the Big Ten Championship game tonight.

Regardless of what happens, I’m so proud of this team. In my lifetime as a Buckeye fan, from start to finish, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one team improve so much. They’ve been a fun group to watch and it’s exciting that they’re still so young.

Defense has given up too many yards the last few weeks. I think that they’ll have a defensive game plan setup to stopping Gordon. He’ll still get his yards, but as long as he’s not busting huge plays on them, I think they’ll be fine. I could see Ohio State doing a lot to load the box which will create one on one matchups in the secondary. But it’s crucial to focus on what Wisconsin does best and doing your best to slow that down. Another key is simply wrapping Gordon up. Might seem obvious but I feel defensive backs often times try to just knock a guy down. That won’t typically work on Gordon. He has great balance, speed, and power. (more…)
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December 6, 2014
Ohio State – Miami: 10 years later
It’s probably the best BCS bowl game ever played. It might be the best game of the last decade. For football fans, it should even rank among the best games of all time.

For me, it is THE greatest game ever. And it will always be the greatest. No game will ever compare. No game will ever be as special. If it had been in the regular season, it would have been a great game, but it was so much bigger than that. It wasn’t just a great game, it was a great national championship. The only way a game could compete would be if it were of the same magnitude. Such a perfect match up of David and Goliath. And it was the first Ohio State championship in my lifetime. No matter how many championships I see, the first one will always be special. Dramatic. Compelling. Suspenseful. It was a game that had everything. It was a decade ago today but I remember that Friday evening as if it were yesterday. (more…)
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January 3, 2013
Bielema to Arkansas: poor career choice?
It has been announced today that Bret Bielema is the next head football coach at the University of Arkansas.

I did not see that one coming.

For Bielema, from a football perspective, I feel that this move makes no sense. He has led the Badgers to three consecutive Rose Bowls and has led a respectable program. With Penn State irrelevant due to NCAA sanctions, the only major competition in the near future in Wisconsin’s division is Ohio State. (more…)
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December 4, 2012