Football
The Buckeye Watch
By Tom Orr
It wasn't pretty, but then again, good Tresselball wins
never are. The Buckeyes made big plays on defense and special teams,
and ground out just enough offense to win comfortably against a team
that a win against used to mean something.
That 21-10 win told us for sure that Penn State is not a good program
right now. Next week on the road, we'll find out if this two-game
win streak means something good about the Buckeye program, too.
But for now, the Bucks are 5-3, and one win away from being bowl-eligible.
And three weeks ago after the debacle in Iowa City, I bet a lot of
people weren't sure if OSU would get to this point.
11:30 am: Heading to the stadium, I say a silent
word of thanks for the noon kickoff. One of my good friends is getting
married at 6:30 this evening, in downtown Columbus. A 3:30 kick would
have presented a legitimate conundrum, trying to figure out how to
explain "well... have fun... but I'll be watching a 4-3 team
play a 2-5 one a few miles up the road." Frankly, anyone who
schedules a wedding on a fall Saturday in Columbus is putting their
event in jeopardy. You know what you're going up against. The Buckeye
football schedules come out years in advance. If you're having a wedding,
baby/wedding shower, bar/bat mitzvah, or anything similar, do yourself
a favor and click on the schedules link on the O-Zone front page.
If you absolutely have to hold your event between late August and
early December, there's at least off week in there. Do it that weekend.
The same thing goes for people in Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida,
Georgia, Tennessee, Nebraska, Alabama, Oklahoma and anywhere else
where college football has assumed its rightful place atop the list
of public priorities. If you live in New England, Montana, the Dakotas
or Alaska, you're probably fine.
11:50 am: I take my seat (again, sadly, that same
terrible spot in the first row of B-deck on the 48 yard line) and
immediately pick out former PSU quarterback and current assistant
coach Mike McQueary on the sidelines. This is not a difficult task,
as his orange hair makes him look like Michael Jackson in the middle
of filming a Pepsi commercial. I think you can see that guy's head
from the International Space Station.
11:55 am: Penn State's band takes the field. I always
look forward to the Penn State game every year, probably more than
any other except for the one against you-know-who. I've always liked
PSU quite a bit; from the fight song to Joe Paterno to the uniforms
to the fans and even the town. That does not, however, mean that I
will be happy if Penn State wins today. But if you get the chance
to go to Happy Valley next fall, I highly recommend it. They're easily
my second favorite Big Ten team. Now that the OSU-Michigan sponsorship
deal fell through, if the Buckeyes might have to cut their football
program to save money, I would probably become a PSU fan. I just hope
Andy Geiger can find enough loose change between the couch cushions
in the athletic department to keep this Buckeye program afloat for
another year.
12:05 pm: The flags on top of the stadium are blowing
hard toward the north. The flags on the north goalpost are just laying
limp. The flags on the south goalpost are blowing to the south. This,
ladies and gentlemen, is what swirling wind looks like.
12:11 pm: Mike Nugent squibs his opening kickoff
to keep it out of the wind and the Lions take it back to the 24. That
wind could end up playing a big, big role in today's game.
12:12 pm: Simon Fraser jumps offsides on the first
play from scrimmage and Michael Robinson scrambles for 13 yards. You
absolutely can not let him do that today. You have to take away the
PSU run game and force them to beat you though the air, because frankly
I don't think they can do it.
12:14 pm: A swarm of Buckeyes sacks Robinson, but
a 5-yard facemask on Fraser leaves 2nd-and-6 instead of 3rd-and-20.
This seems like a good time to take a moment to think of Zack Mills.
He's sitting this one out with a concussion, missing his final chance
to play OSU. For those that don't remember, he came to State College
in the early 1980's, redshirted as a backup to Todd Blackledge, then
made his debut in PSU's incredible come-from-behind win over the Buckeyes
in 2001. He ran, he passed, he looked like a Heisman candidate in
the making. This was arguably the high point in his career. He's put
up a lot of big numbers (many simply from sticking around for so long)
and will probably go down in PSU history like a Greg Frey-type quarterback.
He was a good player, was there forever, not spectacular, but won't
be forgotten.
12:15 pm: Anthony Schlegel stuffs the fullback on
3rd-and-1, leaving PSU about a foot to go on fourth down from their
own 46. PSU is lining up to go for this, but I don't agree with it.
I know they really don't have much to lose at this point, but with
the wind at your back and a good defense I think you have to play
field position football. You just got stuffed once; if it happens
again, you give up 40-50 yards in field position and put your defense
behind the 8-ball.
12:16 pm: They sneak it for the first down. I still
don't think it was worth that risk so early in the game. The Buckeye
offense has not shown they can sustain a long drive against a defense
this good all season. Why risk giving them a short field?
12:20 pm: What happened to the Buckeye defense?
They've given up 26 yards rushing and three first downs and just got
flagged for pass interference to give PSU the ball at the OSU 34.
The Lions have already run 5:30 off the clock. These guys didn't score
at home last week. What's going on?
12:21 pm: Hey! I found the Buckeye defense! Ashton
Youboty picks off a Robinson pass and runs it back into PSU territory.
That's the kind of big play at a big time that this defensive unit
lived off of for the last two years. And yes, that's why you want
to make Michael Robinson throw the ball.
12:24 pm: The Bucks come out in a four-wide formation.
Ted Ginn, Santonio Holmes, Devon Lyons and Roy Hall are out wide and
Maurice Hall and Troy Smith are in the backfield. Just to be clear,
that's three sophomores, two freshman and a senior. That senior will
likely split time with another true freshman today. That's a lot of
youth starting.
12:26 pm: The Bucks go 3-and-out on a surprising
variety of plays. A two-yard completion on a quick-hitter to Holmes,
a QB draw by Smith, and a slant pass intended for Ginn... that's certainly
more interesting than the normal run up the middle, run up the middle,
incomplete pass short of the first down markers. And for the record,
that third-down pass was slightly behind Ginn, but if he'd caught
it, he might have taken it to the house.
12:27 pm: Kyle Turano's punt goes out of bounds
at the 10. If the defense can hold here, the Bucks could get the ball
back with spectacular field position.
12:31 pm: The Lions go three-and-out, but OSU might
have just lost Nate Salley. He went down with what appeared to be
a shoulder injury. That leaves Brandon Mitchell back there instead.
12:32 pm: Touchdown, Buckeyes! Ted Ginn fielded
a punt around the Buckeye 45 and took off. Once he kicked it into
gear, barring a Dickie Moegle-type incident, there was no one on the
Penn State team that was going to catch him. He might be the best
athlete in this stadium today, and any gameplan that doesn't get him
five to 10 touches is a crappy gameplan. Incidentally, I subconsciously
set my notebook, cellphone, pens, etc. down before that punt. With
Ginn and Holmes back there, every punt has a legitmate chance of getting
run back for a touchdown and I have a tendency to lose my mind on
big plays and throw stuff up in air. I almost lost my cellphone after
the Buckeyes' defensive touchdown against Purdue last year. Now I
don't even have to think about it; I just completely empty my hands
every time Ginn's on the field.
12:35 pm: Nugent booms the ensuing kickoff out of
the end zone, despite having to kick into a stiff wind. How is he
able to do that, when a number of his other kickoffs have fallen short
of the end zone this year?
12:39 pm: Tyler Everett just read what appeared
to be a screen pass, raced in, picked it off and took it back to the
house for a 14-0 lead. Given the way PSU's offense has looked at times
this season, that might enough points to win this game and maybe save
a few for next year as well. Incidentally, the total yardage is 46-5
in favor of Penn State. With 3:41 left in the first quarter, OSU has
run three plays on offense and had the ball for just 1:01 compared
to PSU's 10:18. And the Bucks are still up, 14-0. That's just ridiculous.
The TV broadcast (visible from my seat) just showed the "Joe
Paterno move" where he sees something blow up, turns away from
the field and makes a move with his arm that looks partly like he's
throwing a right hook and partly like he's sidearming a baseball.
That's becoming something of a sad staple of PSU football broadcasts
these days. We're probably about two and a half quarters away from
the "dejected Joe" shot where he puts his hands in his pockets
and looks at the ground. I'm not going to lie, it gets me a little
depressed when I see it.
12:41 pm: Another Nugent kickoff into the wind goes
for a touchback.
12:47 pm: The Bucks get the ball back at their own
31 with 1:48 left in the first quarter. The offense really needs to
pick up a first down or two, not only to take the wind away from the
Lions, but also to let the defense rest for a while.
12:49 pm: The Bucks are going to go three-and-out,
after Tony Pittman got tackled before reaching the first down marker,
but that will run out the time in the first quarter. Penn State had
the chance to call a timeout and force the Buckeyes to punt into the
wind, but elected not to. That wind could make a 10-15 yard difference
on this punt. If you're willing to burn a timeout to avoid a five-yard
delay of game penalty, it stands to reason you'd think about using
one here to save two or three times that much yardage.
12:50 pm: It's 14-0 Bucks at the end of the first.
Right now, Penn State holds a 58-12 advantage in total offense and
a 12:11 to 2:49 edge in time of possession. That's just ridiculous.
12:52 pm: Kyle Turano uses the wind to boom a nice
punt, the PSU returner fumbles the ball and it bounces all the way
back to the 1 before a Lion covers it. That was very, very close to
being a Buckeye recovery for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead. Keep in
mind; this team does not have a first down yet today. Incidentally,
OSU walk-on defensive back Rob Harley looks like he's seriously hurt.
That's really terrible, considering that he was supposed to be taking
part in a halftime ceremony to honor his relative Chic Harley.
1:01 pm: The Lions have a good drive going, picking
up 44 yards, all on the ground. Let me get this straight; the Buckeye
defense can't stop a completely one-dimensional attack that's working
into a stiff wind? Even if they hold the Lions here, that's not a
good sign for the upcoming weeks when we face teams that can run AND
pass.
1:02 pm: Okay... apparently, all I need to do is
ask what wrong with this defense and they do something good. First,
the Youboty interception and now they buckle down, stuff an option
play for a seven-yard loss and then Youboty makes a big stick to force
an incompletion on third down.
1:06 pm: Two big runs by Maurice Hall give the Buckeyes
a first down (their first one of the day) with 8:56 left in the second
quarter. Now it looks like freshman TE Rory Nichol is seriously hurt.
That's not good; this team is already a little thin there.
1:09 pm: Maurice Hall rips off another big run for
a first down. He's now got 27 yards on just three carries on this
drive alone.
1:11 pm: And of course when you have a guy running
for nine yards per carry, you want to throw the ball on the next play.
Troy Smith holds it too long, the protection breaks down, he gets
blindsided and loses the ball. Penn State football in OSU territory.
Maybe the coaches figured they have a better chance to score when
the defense is on the field.
1:12 pm: Anthony Schlegel just got in the backfield
so fast, he interrupted a handoff. Schlegel ended up stuffing the
play for a six-yard loss, and is well on the way to his best game
of the year.
1:13 pm: Now Penn State's running back looks like
he's seriously hurt. What the heck is going on around here today?
1:16 pm: PSU calls a trick play and has the OSU
defense completely fooled. They run the "Michael Wiley Memorial"
halfback pass, but just underthrow a wide-open tight end downfield.
That would have been a monster play for them. Instead it's just another
near-miss, like the trick play Bowling Green had last year, where
the wide open guy dropped a ball in the end zone.
1:18 pm: Of course, PSU doesn't need any gadget
plays when they can just run through crappy OSU tackling inside the
five, and then take it in on the next play. It's now 14-7 Buckeyes
with 5:55 left in the second quarter. Penn State has outgained this
team 138-30 and they're losing.
1:22 pm: Maurice Hall takes the ensuing kickoff
all the way back to the PSU 35. Not only does that give momentum right
back to the Buckeyes, it also gives Mo the all-time OSU record for
career kickoff return yardage, passing Ken-Yon Rambo. And if you have
spent any time at all around this program over the last five years
or so, you know that those two guys couldn't be more different. Maurice
Hall has really battled through some adversity and injuries and been
a tremendous team player the whole time. You never hear him complain.
Even going back to his time at Brookhaven High in Columbus, he has
always had a big smile on his face. He's easily up there with Joe
Montgomery as one of my favorite OSU football players ever. Incidentally,
the offense is already in Nugent's range, especially with the wind
now at his back. Just don't turn it over or take a stupid sack or
penalty.
1:24 pm: Troy Smith hits Ginn on a quick slant route
for a first down at the 21. Give the coaches credit, they're trying
to get him the ball in space when they can.
1:26 pm: I think freshman LT Steve Rehring just
pancaked someone. Troy Smith scrambled down to the PSU 5, and this
team is on the doorstep of a big, big answer to that Lion touchdown.
1:28 pm: Branden Joe takes it right up the gut for
a score. It's now 21-7 Buckeyes with 1:57 left in the first half.
Incredibly, that's Branden's first career touchdown.
1:29 pm: Not surprisingly, Nugent's kickoff goes
for a touchback with the wind at his back.
1:35 pm: The 2004 Buckeye defense personified; Robinson
rolled out on third down, A.J. Hawk tried to lay a big stick on him
short of the first down marker, but didn't wrap up. Robinson spun
off it and picked up the first down. I'm sorry, but crappy tackling
is going to get this unit killed against a back like Michael Hart.
There's Biakabutuka potential unless this team starts wrapping up.
1:37 pm: Simon Fraser is just killing the Penn State
line right now. He drilled Michael Robinson on one play and got held
blatantly on the next. No call. But I guess it's easy to understand
how a legal block would turn a defensive end sideways and have him
looking like he was miming "walking against the wind" while
going around the corner. That wasn't right in the middle of a scrum,
it was on the outside, plain as day, right in front of the official.
They let that go, and you just know some stupid hold will get called
later in the day.
1:38 pm: Quinn Pitcock picks up a sack to force
a punt. The Buckeyes call timeout to force PSU to actually kick it.
1:39 pm: They're lining up without anyone deep,
going for the block... nope. Punt downed at the 10. Now it's "take
a knee" time to get to the locker room.
1:41 pm: Halftime score: OSU 21, PSU 7. So far,
Penn State has run 47 plays on offense compared to 18 for the Buckeyes.
Here's the good news: the Bucks look like they're running the ball
okay and the special teams have been awesome. Here's the bad news:
the rush defense has been lousy against a team that hasn't moved the
ball all season. Also, the offense needs to sustain a drive for 50-60
yards at some point to give the defense an extended rest. If the coaches
can figure out a way to get the ball to Holmes and Ginn a couple times
and really jam the box and make the Lions beat you through the air,
you'll be fine.
1:55 pm: I know Chic Harley wore a couple different
numbers at OSU and didn't wear a number at all quite a bit. Why not
just put his name up there without a number? Off the top of my head,
I can tell you that the San Francisco Giants retired Christy Matthewson's
jersey without retiring a number because he didn't wear one. In the
old Candlestick Park, they had a bunch of logos on the outfield fence
that said "Mays 24" and so forth, but the Matthewson one
just had a New York Giants logo beneath it. Regardless, it's nice
to see Harley getting some long, long overdue credit.
2:06 pm: So far, so good on the first Buckeye possession
of the second half. Troy Smith just took an option keeper to pick
up a 3rd-and-1. Just the threat of that will be enough to worry opposing
defenses.
2:07 pm: Smith takes a quarterback draw for another
first down. This drive is already off to a great start. A touchdown
would probably put the final nail in PSU's coffin today.
2:09 pm: There it is! The end-around to Ted Ginn!
He got around the corner like he had a rocket up his rear end, then
turned it upfield for a 30-plus yard gain. It's all coming back, however,
on a hold. We've been waiting for that play all season. The one that
REALLY has me giddy is the thought of giving it to Holmes on an end-around,
then having him give it to Ginn going the other way on a reverse.
That'll break every defender's ankles on one play. But that's probably
going to have to wait.
2:11 pm: The left side of the Buckeye offensive
line throws an award-winning "lookout" block, giving up
a sack. Doug Datish and Rob Sims, take a bow.
2:12 pm: Troy Smith converts another first down
with a brilliant scramble... and it's coming back once again on a
holding penalty on Nick Mangold. Okay, look... I don't doubt that
there was a legitimate hold on either of those two plays. But there
was very, very legitimate holding on a number of other plays today
and those were all let go. Now twice in a matter of three minutes,
the officials call back huge OSU plays on holds.
2:17 pm: Penn State goes three-and-out, and Holmes
hauls another nice punt return back to the Buckeye 41.
2:20 pm: Smith throws a pass for Ryan Hamby and
PSU gets flagged for pass interference, sending Paterno into a rage.
I have no idea how legitimate the penalty was, but you're not going
to get EVERY call on the road. You just got two big ones in a row
in Columbus. You should be sending these guys a fruit basket after
the game or something.
2:23 pm: Smith hits Ginn for a first down to the
Penn State 36.
2:25 pm: Tony Pittman coughs it up and Penn State
recovers. I'm going to preface this next comment by saying that I
didn't get a great look at it, and couldn't hear the audio to listen
for a whistle. However... the replay on TV made it look like Pittman
hit the scrum... pause... pause... ball comes flying out. Now you're
telling me that a back was in the middle of a scrum with his forward
progress apparently stopped and not ONE of the officials blew his
whistle? Maybe the ball was loose before it came flying out. Like
I said, I didn't get a good look at it. But that seems unlikely.
2:27 pm: The replay confirms the call on the field.
The Lions get the ball at their own 20 with 5:09 left in the third.
If nothing else, that last Buckeye drive chewed up a lot of the third
quarter (when the Lions had the wind).
2:30 pm: Another ugly three-and-out for PSU as another
open receiver can't hang on to a pass. They've killed themselves somewhat
today.
2:31 pm: Unreal. The Buckeyes should have gotten
the ball back in decent field position around the 30 or 40. Instead,
the punt skipped past Holmes and was downed at the 1. That's a 78-yard
NET punt. Now the offense has to concentrate almost entirely on not
turning the ball over.
2:36 pm: They don't turn it over, but they don't
do much else. Run, false start, run and an incomplete pass that Holmes
probably should have caught. Turano gets off a 46-yarder into the
wind with no return.
2:38 pm: A squirrel runs out on the field and crosses
the goal line to a tremendous roar from the crowd. He's now matched
the productivity of the OSU offense.
2:38 pm: PSU gets flagged for holding to call back
a first down. First the Red Sox win the World Series, now this. It's
been a remarkable week.
2:39 pm: It's still 21-7 at the end of the third
quarter, and now the Buckeyes will get the wind back.
2:44 pm: Someone please tell me that I shouldn't
be worried that this defense is struggling to stop a one-dimensional
offense, playing its backup quarterback, and going into a stiff wind.
Please? I'm officially nervous about the possibility of watching a
really ugly performance at least once, and perhaps more during the
next three games.
2:47 pm: PSU picks up a 3rd-and-9 thanks to a short
pass and more lousy tackling. It's 1st-and-goal at the 6.
2:49 pm: Facing a 4th-and-goal at the 3, Joe Pa
elects to kick a field goal. I REEEEEALLY disagree with that call.
Here's why; their kicker has been dreadful this season. Plus, even
if you make it you still need to score twice to win and they haven't
thrown the ball well all day. So any scoring drive will have to come
on the ground and chew up a ton of time. Besides, the way OSU's kick
return unit has been today, you have to assume they'll take it out
to the 30 or 40, compared to leaving the Bucks pinned inside their
own 5 if you don't make it on fourth down. I have no idea why they
think kicking it is a good idea here. It must be a fake, right?
2:49 pm: Nope. He kicked it and made it. It's 21-10
Buckeyes with 9:31 left, and I think Joe just gave the Buckeyes a
big boost.
2:53 pm: Branden Joe fields a low line-drive kickoff
and takes it back to the 40. There's that field position,
2:55 pm: Smith hits Holmes on a 15-yard out to pick
up a surprisingly easy 3rd-and-12.
2:58 pm: Smith hits Joe with a play-action pass
to pick up another first down to the PSU 30.
2:59 pm: On 3rd-and-7 from the 27, Smith doesn't
see a blitz and gets sacked, turning a 44-yard field goal into a 49-yard
kick.
3:01 pm: Nugent's field goal gets blocked. It's
still 21-10, but now there's only 4:42 left in the game. I know the
Bucks didn't get any points, but they did run about five minutes off
the clock. That was the biggest thing they needed to do.
3:05 pm: Hopefully the OSU equipment guys have another
jock in the store room, because Anthony Schlegel just lost his. He
was in position to stop Michael Robinson, who made a move that basically
turned Schlegel inside out. He picks up nine yards and gets out of
bounds.
3:07 pm: Fraser pressures Robinson and forces a
lateral that goes out of bounds, turning a 2nd-and-1 into a 3rd-and-7.
On the next play, the Lions "pull a Buckeye" and get up
to the line with five seconds left on the playclock, forcing them
to burn a timeout.
3:10 pm: Bobby Carpenter just drilled Robinson,
leaving 4th-and-9. The only way I can describe Robinson right now
is "wobbly." If the Lions had a healthy backup not named
"Ganter", they'd be playing him right now.
3:11 pm: Robinson gets drilled again on the next
play, and the Lions turn the ball over on downs. I just feel awful
for him right now. He played his heart out today and just got killed.
This PSU team just isn't talented enough to play with the top half
of the Big Ten right now. Was 63-14 really just 10 years ago? It seems
longer than that.
3:15 pm: The Bucks go four-wide on 3rd-and-7 and
Smith takes a draw for a first down.
3:18 pm: Mo Hall picks up another first down, and
that should just about do it.
3:19 pm: Ballgame. Bucks win, 21-10 despite getting
outgained 246-202 on offense, and throwing just eight passes all day.
OSU improves to 6-0 at home against the Lions in league play, by a
combined score of 14,372-38.
There's really not much joy in beating Penn State these days. It's
really tough to see such a proud program fall so far. Frankly, I didn't
give a crap when Alabama, Oklahoma or Miami hit their rough patches
a while back. But this is Penn State, a program that represents an
awful lot of what's right with college football. Now they're going
to miss a bowl game for the fourth time in five years. I would be
quite happy to see them go 10-1 every year. Now, it's looking like
a real shame that Joe didn't go out after the nine-win season in 2002.
He looks like he's hanging on, hoping for one last great team that
might never come.
I also can't help wondering if this is what Woody's 1984 or 1985
team might have looked like. Maybe not, but I don't think anyone saw
the Lions' slide at the end of the 1997 for what it really was at
the time. Maybe the Bucks' (relative) decline in the post-Archie years
could have turned into something along the lines of this kind of funk.
But that's an issue for another day. The 2004 Buckeyes used their
two-game homestand against questionable competition to do what they
needed to; turn the season around. Now, the once 3-3 Buckeyes are
5-3 as they head out on the road. None of the three remaining games
is anything close to a sure win, but none is a certain loss, either.
And considering where this team was three weeks ago, that's big progress.
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