Also- you seem pretty sure that Ohio State wont sling it around? Evidence might say otherwise.
what I've seen in BIG games, for the most part, is Urban will play it close to the vest. He'll run JT barrett 15-20 times, most likely forget about his RBs for 2 quarters and only throw if he's forced into it.
This year there's only been a handful of games where I would say it looks like we gameplanned to throw a lot. Indiana, but we had to abandon it and we were gonna win or lose on JK Dobbins legs, which is why he had like 29 carries. JT's numbers look good in that game, but he had 2 long plays late that inflated the numbers.
OU and Iowa we came out ready to throw, and both were utter disasters.
Penn St he threw, although that might have been more due to the fact we were down huge in the game. JT played lights out. Nebraska we threw a ton, he was lights out, but Nebraska sucks.
the offense, much like the defense has been wildly inconsistent. Urban won't say it because he loves JT, but I don't think he trusts the passing game.
and I'm a JT fan, I think he's a great college qb albeit up and down like most college qbs. I think we have a nice set of WR's, no all pros but a very nice bunch. I think it'd be wise to sling it at least the first couple of series to get Wisconsin's D loosened up a little bit. but if you look at our last 2 BIG games, MSU and UM, it's clear Urban's all about running the ball now to win. which, if he gives those carries to RB's might not be a horrible idea.
but lets not confuse this OSU team with OU, or Oky St, or something of that elk. Kevin Wilson might be calling the plays, but Urban has his hands all over this offense, for better or worse. This is not Indiana's offense at OSU
Thank god they are not OKIE State or Oklahoma! Those teams are not balanced enough to win in the Big Ten.
and- wildly inconsistent? Oh my. Some great games and some poor games..a little up and down perhaps, but far more consistent than most teams.
you don't play a full 12 game schedule, including the East Division in the Big where you beat great defense at MSU/UM/PSU , and end up with the results they have.
Being #1 in Offense, scoring, Rushing, First downs, pass efficiency, total yards, etc.. they are in the top 3-10 in the nation in all of those categories except one. In fact- it would be hard to argue that they are not the most balanced, high output offense in the nation. Nobody I can find comes close.
and the old "what about the big games" mantra is hilarious. Yeah, because all other units in CFB do their best against the best teams (DUH) and Big games are not defined that way until a team loses.
yes, lets talk about JTs 4 pick game. so the most prolific TD producer in the history of the conference, and the most prolific and efficient passer in the conference by a wide margin this season,(Most TD passes by far with best interception ratio) had a bad game. who didn't? The defense didn't even show up for the game- a classic case of emotional let down after the previous week which was the one the pointed to since last year.
Also- the Urban calling JT runs "thing." You do realize that 95% of those are zone reads, where the other team has chosen to defend the RB right? And yes- that's the kind of offense that Urban runs- the one listed above with all of those national leading stats. A big part of that is because they make the defense account for the QB-
Now- I do wish they would have called more straight up power runs for the RBs- it was driving me crazy in the first half Saturday.
But then again they have to take advantage of Barrett's incredible accuracy of the proper read on zone reads. They called several for Haskins and he made the wrong read pretty much across the board.
