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October 17, 2010Game 6 Open Thread: Browns at Steelers
October 17, 2010
The opening kickoff set the tone for an evening of frustration and disappointment for Ohio State fans who saw their 2010 National Championship hopes vanish Saturday night. Much of the anger and frustration over the past 12 hours has been directed at quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who was poor in his own right, but the Buckeyes were beaten in all phases last night.
The special teams lapse to start the game was a harbinger of a long night, which included a disastrous first half that put Wisconsin up 21-0 about 15 minutes into the contest. The defense had trouble stopping Wisconsin’s running game, led by massive John Clay who rushed for 104 yards and averaged 5 yards per carry. Clay’s efforts were supplemented by James White who went for 75 yards on 17 carries, including a 12 yard TD run in the fourth quarter to put Bucky back up by 10 and ice the game. The Badgers rushed for 184 yards total, leaving the OSU defense bruised and battered.
Despite the substandard performances from the OSU defense and special teams, much of the blame this morning is falling at the feet of Heisman hyped quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Pryor finished 14 of 28 for 156 yards and averaged just 5.6 yards per pass. He had one 22 yard run but was largely ineffective scrambling. He threw only one interception, which was thrown on the final drive in the mad scramble of a 2 minute offense. But he was inaccurate all night and his receivers did little to distinguish themselves and help him out , save for the really impressive effort put forth by Dane Sanzenbacher.
It was a demoralizing road loss. I think many Buckeye fans thought this would probably be the toughest test of the season with a possible loss. But the way this game went down was certainly unexpected. It’s extremely hard to go undefeated in college football regardless of your schedule or conference. Jim Tressel has had remarkable success in the Big Ten and now must get his team back on track with 5 conference games remaining.
The National Title chase is likely out the window, although what we have seen at the top of the rankings the past two weeks reinforces the volatility from week to week in college football. But the manner in which they lost likely erases any chance of a return to the top 2. The focus must now be on maintaining their dominant run of Big Ten championships.
Right now, that is out of their hands with Michigan State a surprising 7-0 and no matchup with OSU forthcoming. The Spartans play at Iowa in two weeks but have an otherwise soft remaining 5 games. Ohio State must go on the road to Iowa as well, but also has home dates with Penn State and Michigan. Wisconsin, who has the head to head tiebreaker with OSU, is also ahead of the Buckeyes in the Big Ten race, in addition to Iowa. The Badgers and Hawkeyes play next week.
The rankings should be out in a few hours and based on the margin of defeat, it could be ugly – they will almost certainly fall out of the top 10 altogether. If Buckeyes can win out, however, a date in a BCS bowl is likely with a good chance at sharing the conference crown once again. The schedule provides a good opportunity for the Buckeyes to lick their wounds and regroup as they finish the month of October against Purdue and Minnesota.
11 Comments
Disappointing but not unexpected I just wish they would have contended better for the entire game. The Buckeyes went on a little run to start the second half they got within 3 points unfortunately when they needed a defensive stop it didn’t happen and the rest was history. I thought they were #1 by default to begin with it just would have been nice for them to stay #1 for more then a week, heck six days.
Embarrassing as the performance was all around, it isn’t crushing to me, as it wasn’t terribly surprising: Camp Randall is always tough, and the Badgers are a solid team this season. Couple that with the consistently poor special teams play we’ve seen all season, as well as the less-than-impressive O-line that has hindered our ability to run the ball, and the resulting loss couldn’t have shocked anyone. The margin of victory, perhaps, but not the end result.
Now we take our lumps in the national media for a week (maybe two, just to ensure the horse carcass is thoroughly beaten), and drop off the radar for a month. At this point, the Michigan game is my main concern, as a win there cures many ills. The selfish side of me wouldn’t even mind a third-place finish in conference (which is quite possible at this point), as it would bring the team to Tampa against an SEC team for bowl season–something I’d like to see.
The Terrelle Pryor era got a big boost from that comeback win against Wisconsin in ’08, but last night’s loss might do more to define it overall.
B-bo just described exactly how it feels. I am amazed at the number of Buckeye fans decrying this loss as the end of the world. In my book, a finish near the top of the conference, a win against michigan, and a trip to a New Years Day bowl is still a very good season, ESPECIALLY after 5 straight Big Ten titles and a Rose Bowl win. GO BUCKS!
They will be lucky to beat Iowa with the way they played yesterday. I see at least 1 more loss coming this year.
Not surprised! As a lifelong Buckeye fan, I am and continue to be critical of Tressel. His game plans blow! In a big and critical game, don’t count on him to coach a victory. Yes, there have been few big victories and he has owned the Michigan game but the Wolverines are horrible. Tressel will never win the big games consistently because his play calling is as conservative and he takes his best weapons out of play all the time! Buckeyes deserved the loss and there are at least 2 more losses on the horizon.
You can’t throw this on Tressel for playcalling, except for one instance (that I’ll mention). The defense was uninspired and failed to get off blocks of any sort all night, Pryor was inaccurate, and nobody but Sanzenbacher could catch anything. Add in an opening deficit and that’s the game.
The only bad Tressel call was the one the finished the game. You’re down 10, on the road, against a good team, which is one of the best in the country at ball control, where your only success came with a 10 minute drive, with 6:40ish left. A punt on 4th down there is an admission of failure. It would take a miracle to win the game in that situation with a punt, even if it is 4th and 10. That one was an idiotic, imbecilic call. Besides that, though, it was an all-around failure of execution, not bad playcalling.
@Alex +1, giving up there was almost as frustrating as the first 3 & 1/2 quarters combined. At least recognize it’s 4 down territory and go for 7 yards and have a manageable 4th and 3 or something. Poor form.
HEY LET’S FIRE TRESSEL AND BRING IN ONE OF THOSE SEC COACHES AND THEY’LL WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP EVERY YEAR FOR FIVE YEARS UNTIL IT IS VACATED BECAUSE OF RECRUITING AND WE WON’T EVER GRADUATE ANYONE BUT WHO CARES THEY AREN’T THERE FOR COLLEGE ANYWAYS.
Derp.
Tressel’s game plan was lacking. The Pistol was a bad move and a team with a QB who runs as well as Pryor doesn’t need to use the Wildcat. If Tressel doesn’t hire a special teams coach in the off-season I hope the government bans sweater vests to get even with him. They have killed OSU all year.
This was a total team loss. Bad coaching, horrible defense (the secondary was exposed against Eastern Michigan and Wisconsin took advantage) and the front seven took a butt kicking all night.
Can the Pryor hype now end? He’s nothing more than a mobile Derek Anderson. He has no touch on his passes and after three years his mechanics are terrible. OSU should never struggle to run the ball like they have this year. Offensive line play has been terrible for a couple years now and that too is un-Buckeye like.
This was 99% Tressel’s fault.
As was our loss to Illinois at home.
As was our loss to USC at home.
As was our loss to Texas at home.
As was our loss to LSU in the ship.
I agree with Alex. This is not completely on Tress, the D-line was uninspired, and Pryor can’t throw an accurate pass from the pocket if he had to. Tressel’s call to punt while being down by 10 with with 6:50 to go in the game was the wrong call no doubt. I knew at the time it was over once he made that move… All that I can hope for is that we play up to our potential and win out…
@Bob Norris – Let’s not forget the importance of Tressel’s dominance over Michigan. Without it we do not have the Big Ten titles, Natl. Championship, or a Rose Bowl win. Tressel did send Lloyd Carr into early retirement!