Eric Mangini’s Approval Rating Tumbles
September 21, 2009Did Josh Cribbs Lose “Pay Me” Points Yesterday?
September 21, 2009Watching the Buckeyes cruise to a 38-0 victory Saturday I wondered out loud how bad Colorado must be. Toledo opened the season by putting up 31 points against Purdue in a loss, and then beat Colorado 54-38. 85 points in 2 weeks, and then that disaster on Saturday? Perhaps the Buckeye defense is much better than we thought coming out of week 1. In fact, Navy put up more yards and points than either Toledo or USC. They shut out Toledo with consistent pressure on the QB pure and simple.
The difference in this one was an effective offense. Now I didn’t say perfect, as the Buckeyes were far from it, but they were effective. Pryor made several plays using his athleticism, and threw a few nice passes (and a couple ugly ones.) Several times he still locked on to one receiver from the snap, but was able to get away with it against a sub-par Rocket defense.
The Buckeyes tried to establish a running game in this one, handing to Boom Herron 15 times, but Herron struggled to find the right hole, or get away from his own blockers and finished with just 42 yards. The Buckeyes were able to get something going on the ground, though most of it was from QB draws or broken plays that Pryor made something out of. He finished with 110 yards rushing, a good chunk of it coming from a 44 yard run in the second half. Brandon Saine carried effectively in his limited carries, but the back that impressed the most might have been freshman Jordan Hall. He made his Buckeye debut in the second half and looked very good. He made very decisive cuts and went forward. There wasn’t any dancing in the hole, nor did he look like he was running with his head down. Hall carried 7 times for 44 yards. Not a bad debut.
Hall’s debut had me wondering about uber-recruit Jaamal Berry. It was Berry, and not Hall that was supposed to be able to contribute right away for this Buckeye squad. Is it possible they are trying to red-shirt Berry? Is there more fall-out than we know from his arrest? I know this, it is certainly more fun to argue about the 4th running back spot in a landslide win than to wonder about the defense after a shaky opening performance against Navy.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention two things. First, it really didn’t even feel good to see USC get beat Saturday night. Even if they were without a couple of key players they are supposed to beat Washington. That doesn’t make us look any better. Second, how in the world do we slip two spots in the polls after handling Toledo like that?
(Photo Credit- Gregory Shamus)
13 Comments
Hall is the kid that came from PA with Pryor right? I wonder if theres some sort of chemistry there that hasnt been tapped to this point.
We slipped two spots in the polls after beating Toledo because we beat Toledo.
From the reports from practices, Hall has been lighting it up at practice. And yea, he’s the guy from Jeanette.
Bucks dropped two because SC’s loss doesn’t help at all. Defense is solid, but Pryor still panicks under ANY pressure. Even from UT.
It’s understandable maybe dropping one spot, or not moving up and holding even. But getting dropped while Oklahoma rises is ridiculous.
Getting jumped by Oklahoma and Va Tech is just plain ludicrous. BYU got crushed at home, the same BYU that beat Choklahoma. How does that make their win over Tulsa any better than tOSU’s over Toledo?
Drop the polls until midway through the season. They’re pretty pointless except to hype up games for the EvilSPNs.
Transitive losses, of course. For possibly the first time ever, the voters are trying to keep teams that beat other teams in order in the polls — since USC dropped so far, and we found out last week that USC is better than OSU…
…regardless, everyone involved knows the polls are ridiculous, especially early in the season.
So then oklahoma would be behind BYU by that reasoning.
It only counts if the team that loses first is from the Big Ten.
“In fact, Navy put up more yards and points than either Toledo or USC. ”
i blame the navy game on anderson russell. jermale hines is the real deal
Right because Oklahoma wins all their big games…
@ Cameron # 8 – I think Navy was a combination of Russell’s poor play and the fact that Navy runs their offense extremely well. Mainly, IMO, it was Navy’s offense.
Any polls before the bowl games are meaningless. Who cares if you beat or lost to a top-5 team in week 2 if they don’t end up a top-5 team at season’s end. Logic tells me they were never a top-5 team to begin with. It’s all conjecture until ALL the games are played….and even then it’s a lot of crap since most of the top 25 teams don’t play each other anyway.
There’s got to be a better way.
WFNY any interest in a link swap?
Anyway the AP poll is, and always has been a joke.
(WFNY Edit: Will add you to blogroll today. Thanks!)
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