So I was out of town and not able to watch this game. I was getting text updates and of course when I return home on Sunday read quite a bit about the game.
Last night I found the entire game on YouTube and watched it and then again this morning before work and specifically watched a number of plays repeatedly. Based on what I heard and read it wasn’t exactly what I expected when I watch the game.
Some observations: (if anything I say here sounds like an excuse, please disregard it because it is not intended that way at all.)
1. Ohio State ran the ball fairly effectively. I was under the impression they didn’t. With five minutes left in the first half and the score tied at seven Ohio State had effectively the same amount of rushing yards that Oregon did. Later in the game they ran effectively but chose or were forced to run less often. They averaged 5 yards a carry which is pretty darn good.
2. Stroud had a very solid game. He was mostly extremely accurate and pretty well protected until very late in the game when he received his only real sack and that was a coverage sack. Between the offensive production via the running game, which Oregon was focused on, and the pass protection which was excellent virtually all game, the offensive line had a very nice job on Saturday.
3. Much happened early that ended up being big plays in the game. Two long and good Ohio State drives ended with third down passes that were caught and then dropped. Each were great throws, would’ve been first downs, would’ve put Ohio State inside the red zone, but give Oregon credit because in both cases the receiver was hit after making the catch and did not hold on. That ended up being a big deal because it didn’t allow Ohio State to use their offensive calling card -which is the other team never knows if they’re going to run or pass and force them to be more pass focused.
One of Strouds few off target throws came at a critical time- On their attempted game tying touchdown Dr. he slightly over threw an easy touchdown pass to a wide-open Garrett Wilson.
4. So much criticism of the players on Ohio State’s defense but I have to be honest and say a lot of it is not deserved at all. Never have I seen that many plays run into the boundary side of the field, which Oregon did almost exclusively all day long. Joe Moorehead personified.
I don’t know what the percentage is but usually 60 or 70% of plays in the college game or run to the field side and I’m guessing that in this game 90% if not more were run to the boundary side. Why that’s important is that’s the weakness that got exposed early in the game.
Ohio State was not sealing the edge to the boundary side and four of Oregon’s five touchdowns came on either a run or a fake run pass to that side of the field. Contrary to what I read Ohio State did make one adjustment late in the second quarter. The defensive and had been crashing down all game and Oregon had been formation wise putting triple to the field. That forces the Defense to tilt to the field side. When you do that you need your defensive and to move up field and Seal - but they did not crash down and Oregon took advantage of the fact that Ohio State was not doing that.
It’s literally embarrassing that they did not make an adjustment until the second quarter late, and for a while it worked. But then they used that against Ohio State for the long 77 yard touchdown run in the third quarter by simply putting a tight end in motion and dragging the one linebacker who would fill the A gap with him. It left a hole you could drive a truck through.
It forced Ohio State to go back to their standard defensive scheme and then re-exposed that boundary side for additional yardage and big plays later in the game. Just a horrible coaching game and lack of preparation which is on Ryan day and the coaches. I can’t believe they didn’t move to a cover 2 or even a cover 3–but they didn’t.
With that one exception Ohio State was actually stuffing the run very well in the middle of the field. So because they did not make an adjustment Oregon just kept attacking the boundary side whenever they needed critical first down or decent size gain in the passing gain.
5. I have heard a lot of complaints about the lack of pressure on the quarterback for Oregon but after watching the game I understand it because he either rolled out or got rid of the ball immediately with very few exceptions. Later in the game he did have a few drop backs and they actually did get a little bit of pressure on him but by this time they were so off-balance because they could not stop that simple boundary side running play.
6. Despite the poor defensive showing particularly as far as scheme, Ohio state still had numerous chances to win the game late and there were several very questionable calls which may or may not have been accurate but certainly impacted the game. Both of them took away first downs for Ohio State and basically ended up being Dr. killers. The defense actually came through with some great performance near the end of the game when it counted the most.
As a fan of this team I actually feel better having watched it because there is good news and bad news.
The good news is despite playing poorly on defense this team looks like they could hang with anybody and the other good news is, they need a few tweaks to their scheme defensively and they need a few tweaks to their ability to disguise their scheme.
The bad news is I don’t have faith that the defensive coaching staff will make those tweaks. On the other hand Ryan day will look at this film and if the defensive staff does not make the necessary tweaks I think he will.
Lastly let’s take our hats off to Oregon. They were crisp, energetic, had fantastic execution and played hard from start to finish.
They had a fantastic game plan and even better in game adjustments even if it only required a few.
I think a really good defensive coach could take the existing players and their base defense and with a few small adjustments make them one of the better defenses in the country. The players are way better than a lot of the fans are giving them credit for but the coaching staff deserves all of the ripping that’s coming at them. It’s almost like they didn’t properly prepare for Oregon, well Oregon was very very prepared.
