yeah, there was nothing simple about that pass from JJ. He threw it on a 3rd and 9 while he got lit up off his back foot and let it rip from his own 20 yard line and threw a laser on a rope on a dime roughly 26 yards across the field and 20 yards down the field - that takes serious arm strength to be able to make that throw without having your feet set. JJ got a cannon.
OSU DB whiffed on the tackle baaaaad and it's a TD. But that's what happens when you play cover 0 all day long with no safety help. Someone misses a tackle after the catch or gets in the wrong gap on run D- house call.
Knowles never got out of it. Kept playing it like a stubborn bastard. Shades of Don Brown for sure. Looking for a scapegoat, I think it's him. Probably a bad idea to hire a defensive co-ordinator for the Big 12, a conference known for playing absolutely no defense. If I'm Ryan Day I am trying to go all in through back channels to snag Jim Leonhard to be my DC in 2023.
Yes- not taking anything away from the actual pass. It was well done and not easy.
what I am saying is that if Cam Brown plays the technique he was taught and has executed all year ( soft coverage man or bump/press) it’s an easy tackle and at worst- a first down. He played bail- because he was panicked.
Also- other than being aggressive in nature- Knowles defense is nothing like Don Brown’s. They called him Doctor blitz for a reason. Knowles is based on disguise- giving the Qb hesitation in reading it.
In my opinion it is an excellent scheme for the modern offenses of todays college game, because it is very flexible, usually well disguised and can be run, pass or balance focused.
It’s weakness is if you tilt it too much toward run or pass, it can be susceptible to big plays. Also, it is hard to disguise cover zero.
I do agree with you that Knowles should have run it much less once UM established the clear ability to complete the deep shots.
You mentioned the other day the biggest point- that the OSU DBs fail to turn and look for the ball. You were right on with that/ and that was a pattern all season. The difference this weekend was even though they struggle to turn and look for the ball a lot this season they were usually at least in a good position to break up a pass or make a tackle. Against UM, they got pretty panicky and were not even on position.
many examples here but think about this. When Loveland, a TE, got 15 yards behind the guy covering him (Latham Ransome) how did that happen? Ransome had not been beaten deep all season and was playing at an extremely high level leading up to this game. I assure you he’s substantially faster than that TE. If you watch the film it’s easy to see, once again he abandoned his training on the out cut and way overplayed it.
I think they will keep Knowles and the defense will continue to improve. They helped them win a lot of games this season when the offense was bogging down, games they may have lost last year. They just laid an egg Saturday in the d- backfield and literally panicked.
lastly, I give Harbaugh a ton of credit here. He knew they were going to be intensely focused on the run with or without Corum. That’s all anybody at Ohio State has talked about since last year‘s game. He knew if he could hit a couple deep shots that his guys would gain momentum and he suspected, correctly, that the buckeyes would not respond well. It was obvious, yet brilliant.
