DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Thee Ohio State Football Thread

Man, I've missed watching Ohio State football and even Big 10 Football. We kick off at Noon on Fox this Saturday. Should be a thrilling day for Ohio State fans.

I think we have a legit shot at winning the National Championship this year. We had an excellent team last year and this year's team might be even better. Losing the corners may hurt, but Shaun Wade is the real deal. Losing Dobbins will hurt, but Fields should be even better than last year at QB. I also think our OL is going to be dominant. Our DL always has a ton of talent.

Looking forward to it! Nobody in the B10, with the exception of MAYBE PSU should be close with this team.

Hoping for a run at a title.

I can’t wait!!

OMG, that was freaking awesome!!!

Ohio State always has the best game trailers!!!

Umm... Don't skip over this. ^ Hollywood has nothing on it.

Ryan Day is a leader. of. men. It's not an act, it's not a script - it comes natural to him. Not only that, but he is already two steps ahead of everyone else in this strange environment we're living in. Un-freaking-believable.

Need to go scrub the goosebumps off!

I think very highly of Ryan Day. What worries me is that he is so freaking good that the NFL will soon be calling. Dude is one of the best play designers and play callers I have ever seen. He rivals guys like Shanny, McVay, and McDaniels.

Hopefully, he will realize that Ohio State is a dream job if you win [he will win] and that it's a better job than anything in the fickle NFL.

Thanks for posting. That brought tears to my eyes, thinking of my late wife and father-in-law.

Hang in there, Dave. I'm still praying for you!

Couldn't paste the "link thing:.

Copied off of BuckNuts.....

Buckeyes will be without 12 players against Nebraska
ByDAVE BIDDLE 11 hours ago

Ohio State released its status report for its season-opener against visiting Nebraska on Saturday (12 p.m. ET; FOX) and the Buckeyes will be without 12 players. Most-notably running backs Marcus Crowley and Miyan Williams. Crowley is a sophomore who is recovering from a torn ACL last season. Williams is a true freshman and his reason for not playing against the Cornhuskers is unclear. Another player who is expected to help OSU down the line this season -- but will not play this Saturday -- is true freshman cornerback Lejond Cavazos (sprained knee).

Game-time decisions for the Buckeyes will be sixth-year senior linebacker Justin Hilliard and redshirt freshman defensive tackle Jaden McKenzie.

Notable omissions from the status report are defensive tackles Haskell Garrett and Taron Vincent. Unless this was a mistake by OSU, this would indicate both of them will play, which would be very surprising. Bucknuts will inform you about Garrett and Vincent as we learn more.

Ohio State does not specify why players are unavailable or are game-time decisions on the status report.

The Buckeyes are coming off a 13-1 season in which they won the Big Ten championship and advanced to the College Football Playoff. They are under the direction of second-year head coach Ryan Day and have 10 returning starters (6 offense, 4 defense). The Cornhuskers — led by third-year head coach Scott Frost — were 5-7 last season and return 15 starters (10 offense, 5 defense).

Ohio State won 48-7 in Lincoln last year, and the Buckeyes are 26.5-point favorites this season (according to William Hill sportsbook).

Here is the full status report for Ohio State against Nebraska:


UNAVAILABLE

* CB Lejond Cavazos

* DL Jacolbe Cowan

* RB Marcus Crowley

* OG Gavin Cupp

* LB Tommy Eichenberg


* WR Jaylen Harris

* WR Austin Kutscher

* LS Roen McCullough

* DB Alec Taylor

* QB Danny Vanatsky

* SAF Kourt Williams

* RB Miyan Williams

GAME-TIME DECISION

* LB Justin Hilliard

* DT Jaden McKenzie


Here is what our Steve Helwagen wrote about the Cornhuskers earlier this week:

Nebraska is in its third season under favorite son Scott Frost, a former Huskers hero as a quarterback. It has been a rough return for Frost, whose first two teams went 4-8 in 2018 and 5-7 in 2019. Nebraska is looking for its first bowl bid since going to the Music City Bowl after the 2016 season.

As game week begins, we have not heard definitively if two-year starter Adrian Martinez or redshirt freshman Luke McCaffrey will be at the quarterback spot. Martinez is a veteran of 21 starts over the last two years. He completed 59 percent of his passes for 1,956 yards with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions last year. McCaffrey threw 12 passes in spot duty during his redshirt year.

Nebraska returns all of its offensive starters from last year, but redshirt freshman Bryce Benhart will be the likely starter at right tackle. He is a former U.S. Army All-American Game pick.

Frost brought in a new offensive coordinator in Matt Lubick, who had previous stints at Oregon in 2016 and Washington in 2017-18. The hope is that side of the ball can return to a level of physicality and can dictate more to the opposing defense.

The Nebraska wide receiver group will feature a ton of newcomers to go with holdover Wan'Dale Robinson. Robinson (40 catches last year) was a back and wide receiver last year, but will be at receiver primarily this season. Gone is top receiver J.D. Spielman (49 catches), who transferred to TCU this off-season.

Defensively, five starters return as Nebraska will be youthful along the line and in the linebacker corps. That may not be a bad thing since Nebraska was 10th in Big Ten games in total defense, 13th in red zone defense and 11th in touchdowns allowed.

Nebraska’s special teams were atrocious last year. They will have a new punter and kicker this season and are hopeful their return units can be better.

It is ironic that Ohio State and Nebraska – who were scheduled to play each other in Columbus this season any way – will open the season against each other. They were the two schools that pushed and prodded the Big Ten the hardest to reconsider its decision to play football this fall.

Ohio State was originally ranked as high as No. 2 in the preseason AP and coaches polls. Some voters have left them off their ballots in recent weeks, preferring to wait until the Buckeyes and other teams in the Big Ten and Pac-12 have actually played games. It all figures to come out in the wash if the Buckeyes can run the table and win the Big Ten for a fourth straight year.

All of that will be discussed on another day as Ohio State approaches this season opener against what should be a hungry Nebraska team. Nebraska has been its own worst enemy during Frost’s first two years. The record reads 9-15, but we can tell you that nine of the 15 losses have come by a touchdown or less.

Nebraska fans will look for their team to avoid costly turnovers, mental mistakes and unforced errors that have cost them games in recent years. The Huskers need to coach and play smarter. They may, in some instances, lack the belief that they belong among college football’s top teams.

Ohio State is 7-1 all-time against Nebraska. The lone loss was in the schools’ first-ever Big Ten meeting in 2011 in Lincoln as the Huskers rallied from a 21-point third quarter deficit to steal a 34-27 victory.

Since then, Ohio State has won the teams’ five meetings by a whopping average of 34.4 points. That includes a 62-3 win in 2016 and a 48-7 triumph last year in Lincoln. Of course, Nebraska – with Adrian Martinez leading the way – gave OSU quite a scare in its last visit to Columbus in 2018. The Buckeyes rallied from a halftime deficit to take a 36-31 victory.

We outlined many of Nebraska’s unanswered questions above. Ohio State has a few itself with a tandem at running backs, talented freshmen at wide receiver and new starters on the defensive line and in the secondary.

The good news is Ohio State still has Justin Fields at quarterback and he should again be one of the best overall players in college football this season.

Hey, we have waited long enough. Let the fun begin!

Spread is what? 26?

Seems a bit high for a first game, but we’ll see.

Then again, I thought Wisconsin spread was too high and they drilled Illinois

Well, that start was not ideal.

Somebody needs to tell the Bucks that the game started.

We’ll win this game by 30 but the D has struggled a bit. Granted, Martinez is experienced and athletic

So much targeting in this game.

The last one was lame.

Observations:

--Fields has really improved his delivery and accuracy. I don't want him having to run that much. We're done if he gets hurt. I think he raised his pro stock, but he holds the ball too long and that is a legit concern.

--I think the RBs were underwhelming. I did not care much for the the transfer from Oklahoma. He goes down to easy. #22 flashed just a bit.

--We have at least 3 All-World WRs. All of those guys will be factors in the NFL one day. That catch #11 had in the back of the end zone was like watching a ballet move.

--The OL looked both good and bad at times. I think we're pretty good there, but I need to see more.

--We need the young DEs to play better. Number 54 did not maintain containment. The dude who got shot in the face made some plays.

--The DBs and LBers looked a bit too slow. It seems like we are back to thinking rather than reading and reacting.

--Good running QBs could give us issues.

--We should have an advantage on Special Teams all year.

--Conclusion: Other than Fields and the WRs, we were not sharp, but we won big anyway. Going to have to get better. Lot's of teaching points the coaching staff can address. Going to have to grow up in a hurry.

I don't think it was as lame as the commentator made it out to be. I think Nebraska was head-hunting all game. I'm not complaining about it, but it was pretty obvious that was their strategy.

LOL.............I came back to post a YouTube video of that catch. It was a different video, but the very same catch. Incredible catch.

Ohio State Buckeyes coach Ryan Day apologizes for not taking knee late against Nebraska Cornhuskers

espn.com

Ohio State coach Ryan Day apologized to Nebraska for the Buckeyes offense not taking a knee in the final seconds of Saturday's 52-17 win at Ohio Stadium.

Leading 45-17 in the final minute, the Buckeyes reached the Nebraska 2-yard line. Rather than take a knee, freshman quarterback Jack Miller ran into the end zone.

"I feel bad about that," Day said. "I had a younger quarterback in the game, and I didn't feel like we had the personnel to take the knee, and I probably should have done that. So I just want to publicly apologize to them, to [Nebraska coach] Scott [Frost]."

Frost did not address Ohio State's final touchdown after the game. He did take a timeout with three seconds left to run a final play.

Day said he would contact Frost to apologize. The two coaches have a good relationship, and Frost on Monday praised Day and Ohio State for joining Nebraska in the fight to reinstate the Big Ten season. Asked about several Nebraska hits in the second half, including targeting fouls by corner Cam Taylor-Britt and safety Deontai Williams, Day said, "I would be shocked if there was any malintent there."

EDITOR'S PICKS

Indiana stuns Penn State, a missed field goal for the ages and more from Week 8
Day was pleased with Ohio State's opening performance, especially in the second half, when the Buckeyes outscored Nebraska 28-3. Quarterback Justin Fields, a 2019 Heisman Trophy finalist, completed 20 of 21 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns, with his lone incompletion a near touchdown grab by wide receiver Chris Olave.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Fields recorded the second-best single-game completion percentage (95.2) in league history, tying with Wisconsin's Graham Mertz, who also completed 20 of 21 passes Friday against Illinois.

"It was great to see Justin, going into his second year, looking so comfortable back there," Day said.

Day, Fields and others said an empty Ohio Stadium provided an odd setting for the opener. The Big Ten has prohibited all fans -- other than families of coaches and players -- from games.

"It was definitely weird," Fields said. "I was looking up to celebrate with some fans, but nobody was really out there. It was a little bit different. We just tried to bring our own energy to the game."

It was weird because some of the lines went to 28. I also wondered if Day didn't down it because of all the head-hunting that went on all day long by Nebraska's DBs.

As a coach, I always thought that the best way to counter that crap was not to resort in dirty play, but beat the living crap out of them legally.

I'm glad we scored the last TD. Dudes were definitely head-hunting all day long.

Toe tap and a beauty. He looked like a gd ballerina.

Time for PSU. They will be focused after losing for sure, thought I think OSU is much better

No Script Ohio, no skull session, no cheerleaders, No "Many, Mony" , dotting the I, no Brutus.
::sigh:: Guess we settle for a kick butt win!

Go, Bucks! O—H. . . !

Loved it.

Did they coach shoulder to the head for Nebraska? Not crown of the helmet, but dropping the head on these targeting reviews. Easy enough to be legal and still punish their target.

I don't want to see neck injuries for this gamer any other. Accidental is one thing, but these looked intentional.

It was bad technique all around. Ohio State was getting those kinds of flags for the last few years. They have slowly learned you can't play like that. I was really surprised to see Joel Klatt defending those plays.

It was something like, 4th and 1 from the 2 yard line.

YOu can't take a knee there, because of the game clock, the situation, IIRC this is from memory,
there was no way to run out the clock, there were more seconds in the game than taking a knee would run off, so not as many seconds on the play clock.

If they take a knee, then why not kick the field goal.
There really was no right answer,
Aww screw it, just run it in for the touchdown, best case scenario happened.

And Nobody can complain, because they ran it, and up the middle,
They didn't try a reverse, or a play fake, or a play action pass, or even an option play,

They just ran it up the middle. That's the easiest thing for the Nebraska team to defend.

It was not like, you take a knee and the games over,
It was, if you take a knee you get no points out of being on the 3 yard line,

and if you try a field goal, that looks even more like piling it on than just running up the middle like they did.

Never should have apologized, should have called out the Nebraska team as, "just make the tackle, it's a run up the middle."
(I say)

Really I don't care because the whole year is shot, because they started games so many weeks after the rest of college football. (Nevermind me, the Bucks will be in the BCS.)

Good post, but the BCS ended in 2013, if I am not mistaken. I think you are referring to us being one of the 4 NCAA Playoff teams.

Agree about the last TD situation. Kicking a field goal is more piling on than just going for it on 4th.

And this whole season doesn't seem right. You have a whole mess of teams that have been playing for almost 2 months. The Big Ten is just starting. You also have Wisconsin using a 4th string (did i hear that right) QB.

i don't want to put an asterisk on the year, but it just doesn't seem right at all. Ohio State is going to the playoff if they win out, and to me it seems a little crappy that there could be some teams that also win out, and have 3-5 more wins than Ohio State.

Hey Sperg..............what do you think about expanding the playoff teams to 6 this year to perhaps make things more equitable in this unusual season?

I have been against it since the creation of the CFP. I think 4 is perfect. I think there have been years where teams just outside of the top 4 were not really worthy.

I think this year would be acceptable, as there are just so many variables, like I said, with some teams having played a full normal schedule, and some teams doing a shortened conference only season.

I don't think there is time to organize all that, and do you bubble them? Would that even be possible considering they are student-athletes, and not paid professionals like the nba and nhl guys?

I think the NBA and NHL proved that the only way to really do this correctly is to bubble your whole league. The NFL can't do that, and they have done a decent job with everything, but what happens when it's Pat Mahomes, or Russell Wilson that gets COVID, and has to multiple games? It is such a delicate situation.

This really sucks, I look forward to college football every year, and this year just seems dumb. Obviously I will still watch but it's not the same. For some reason NFL is just fine, but all that other stuff like student sections and huge crowds just makes the college football product less than stellar.

How 'bout eight teams? Why not. The NCAA has a free ticket to do anything they want without long term commitment, may as well appease the fans who have been screaming for it and level the playing field for all the teams going through these strange circumstances this year.

J/c

Wisconsin/Nebraska are not playing this week. I wonder what domino effect that will have

I think they could justify extending the number of playoff teams this particular year. I think most people would understand the why of it. Even guys like Sperg who doesn't want more teams in each year, would find it acceptable this year. An added bonus might be to see how works and it makes the entire playoffs more exciting or if the quality of play suffers substantially.

I had no idea that the Big Ten presidents and chancellors were bureaucrats. They're the people who voted to postpone the season. You learn something new every day.

Big Ten presidents and chancellors listened to health officials and based their decision upon that and somehow that equals bureaucrats?

Bureaucrats isn't the right word, so I agree with you there. But painting them in a light that indicates they have safety in teh forefront of their minds similarly doesn't ring true when they 180'd shortly after the first decision and flung the doors open.

Pressure was applied heavily. But not from the direction Vers seemed to indicate. In the end money wins over safety.

I was referring to the university presidents. I apologize profusely for the incorrect word. Now maybe Pit can take his politics back to the Political forum where his crap belongs?

This is an Ohio State Football thread. And again, I apologize for using the incorrect word. Sheesh!!!