DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum THE OSU vs THE U

Man, everything that Miami's special teams has done, Jacory Harris has quickly undone.

Tressel Ball at its finest, too bad his special teams has almost undone everything

That's on Tress to call a timeout and set up a play on 3rd down there.

Heyward with the pick and one heck of a return!!! Go Bucks!

Jacory Harris has cramps. So that's why he's throwing all those picks. Aw, poor kid.

Just clicking

This game really shouldn't have been as close as the 12 point difference was. There was about a 21 point swing that OSU left on the field in the first half alone. TD taken off board on holding call against Posey (good call ) , TD return on kickoff when there were 2 blatant blocks in back that sprung the return( bad no call) and then the OSU kick returner tripping over the feet of his own blocker on what would have been a KO return for the good side.

OSU really dominated this game but Miami did a nice job of making it respectable.

King

here is my story and im sticking to it.

Jim Tressel, Ohio's finest

you bet the current "special teams" coach for tosu either doesn't have a job, or has relinquished his jurisdiction to jt, super hot seat for a team that spends more money annually on football, than any other college

Bob Hunter commentary: Heyward's pick huge, in several ways
Saturday, September 11, 2010 10:03 PM
By Bob Hunter

The Columbus Dispatch
The sight of a 6-foot-5, 288-pound human running 80 yards through a football obstacle course is not an easy one to forget.

Imagine a loaded tractor-trailer racing through a crowded parking lot -- a speeding big rig having to make some swerves and almost-stops to avoid an accident.

It is a fairly accurate image of Ohio State defensive end Cameron Heyward's run after he intercepted Jacory Harris' pass at OSU's 5-yard line on the University of Miami's first possession of the second half.

"I'm still tired," Heyward said. "You don't realize how long the field is until you start running it."

Or watch a big, burly defensive end run it.

"I'm like 'Oh, Mama,'" linebacker Brian Rolle said. "I said, 'Oh, Mama.' But it was kind of fun. I was happy for him. I was hoping he would score. I'm pointing out where he should go, and I think he was running just to run, and he wanted somebody to tackle him. But it was a lot of fun seeing him with the ball in his hand, trying to make some moves."

It was entertaining -- if they gave an Oscar for best moves by a big man in need of a couch, Heyward would win hands-down -- but it was more than that. It was critical to the Buckeyes' 36-24 over the Hurricanes, which could be critical to the success of Ohio State's season.

Trailing 26-17, the Hurricanes got the ball first after halftime and drove from their 21 to the Buckeyes' 9. A touchdown and an extra point would have cut Ohio State's lead to two, and it's hard to say where the game would have gone from there.

But Harris dropped back to pass on third-and-goal, not knowing that Heyward, of all people, was waiting in pass coverage. The senior had faked a rush, then dropped back, and he was in the perfect spot when Harris tried to find running back Damien Berry.

"Cam's play was extraordinary because it was down in the red zone, and they were in scoring territory," coach Jim Tressel said. "They were going to bring it down to a one-score game, and he made that play, and I was shocked at how far he got. I kept thinking that someone was going to catch up to him and strike the ball ... because he was swinging it out there. Oh, man, I was petrified."

Heyward had one slick move -- a cutback toward the end of the run that he joked he had learned from a video game -- but it was clear that his tank was empty when center Tyler Horn tackled him 80 yards later, at the Miami 15.

The real significance of what he had done became apparent two plays later. After Dan Herron ran for 2 yards on the next play, Terrelle Pryor reversed field on a keeper and sprinted 13 yards around the left end for a touchdown.

Just like that, a lead that might have been two points was, after the extra point, 16. Miami never recovered.

"It was a game-changing play," Heyward said. "I got some key blocks, and I thought I had a chance. I think everybody helped out on the play."

The same could be said of the win, which produced some beautiful moments for the Buckeyes ... and some hideous ones. Heyward's interception was one of four for the Buckeyes; that statistic was probably the biggest reason they won the game. But the Hurricanes had little difficulty moving the ball; their 352 yards is a sign that the Ohio State defense needs to improve if this No.2 team has aspirations of keeping its perch in the national rankings.

Pryor was impressive overall, passing for 233 yards and a touchdown and netting 113 yards on 20 carries, but the special teams were spotty. A Miami kickoff return and punt return for touchdowns -- after Marshall had scored on a blocked field-goal attempt in the opener -- says that this team is still a work in progress.

Heyward is, too.

"I've got to work on my speed," he said. "I was trying to take it to the house. But they came back and ran after it. It shows that they don't give up ..."

He grinned.

"... and it shows that I'm not that fast."

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.

bhunter@dispatch.com

Was anyone else not satisfied with the way we won this game?

I know...a W is a W...but man we left so many points on the field it's not even funny....i'm concerned with our redzone O...short of pryor running the damn ball inside the 20 everytime it seemed like we had no hope.

gotta give miami a little bit of credit for their defense. they played well against the rush, except for the last part of the game where we ran the clock out.

make no mistake, jacory harris was awful and cost them a chance at that game.

if anything, this should make pryor and the offense work harder at being better and making sure you get 7s instead of 3s

long way to go.

Congrats to OSU for the win.

However, I am not enamored with Pryor at qb. If we need a big running back, he'd be fine. We need a qb. And that, he is not. He's on overhyped, athletic, no position having athlete.

Don't get me wrong, I'm elated OSU won. But, we won because of our D. I also understand that D wins games.

Pryor was 12 or 27. Not good for a big time college qb.

He rushed for 113 yds.

that makes his game good. That's getting him nowhere when it comes to the next level. I also understand he's not at the next level. Believe me, I get it. He's just not a qb that will take his team to the top. My honest opinion, and I hope I'm wrong and will admit it if I am - he's not a top notch qb. He's a tall running back.

krenzel didn't have huge stats either. sure i'd love to see a big time dropback qb who can gun it, but i dunno if that is gonna happen for a while.

pryor didn't have a big numbers game, but he didn't turn the ball over (even though 1 or 2 of his passes could have been picked off) and when it meant most, he knew how to handle the situation. the way he burned down the clock in the 4th was vince young like. miami had no answer for him running with the football.

it's actually quite scary what pryor could look like a year from now with this season under his belt, and another spring/summer to work on his game.

honestly, Pryor has Derek Anderson disease right now. He throws the same speed on all of his balls. It's like he got made fun of so much for those deep floaters his freshman year that he's overcompensating on everything and rifling the ball even on the short touch passes.

he did have some really nice touch on the deeper routes the threw though. the TD pass on the back shoulder where there was no way the CB had a chance at it was beautiful (right between the WR and DB giving him a perfect window). he had another deeper route to Saine that was in the perfect spot too.

and Herron looks like he can make his life easier if we're willing to stick with the running game a bit more than we did (admittedly Miami's DL is so big and quick that I don't fault them for spreading it out more as the game went on).

Pryor is looking better. 2 games no turnovers, doing his reads much better, and seems to have better control of the offense. Your definitely right about his velocity and that pass to seine was on the money.

There's definitely something special with this years team. I just hope we can get through all our rode games. Iowa is gonna be a beast to get past.

if Iowa's running game is for real (and knowing Ferentz teams, it likely is), then Iowa scares the bejeezes out of me because that defense is definitely going to be good.

we get to see what Iowa is made of this week with a trip to Tucson. Arizona is right in line with the 2nd tier of Pac10 teams this year. Iowa should win, but it's away and far away at that against a good but not great team.

oh, and since I mentioned it (pac10 hierarchy according to me):

1st Tier: Oregon
2nd Tier: Arizona, Stanford, Cal, Oregon State (no particular order)
3rd Tier: USC, Washington
4th Tier: AzSt, WazzuSt, UCLA

Throw in Alabama and Oregon as the creme de la creme along with Iowa and tOSU. I have yet to see any other teams that have "IT".

Iowa smacked around Eastern Illinois and Iowa State, both at home.... They are a good team and all but in a few weeks they run through PSU, Michigan, Wisconsin.. that's when we will know if they belong on the "IT" list or not.

as I mentioned, they go to Arizona this week. I think that's a tougher game for them than Michigan (at least Stoops defense might be able to slow down the Hawks running game a little)

agreed that we don't know if they are a top contender yet

I didn't know that. I just knew their conference schedule started fairly rough... Like I said, quality team, quite possibly top 10.. not sure if they belong in the discussion yet though.. right now I think its a 3 team discussion with Alabama, Oregon and the Buckeyes.. things change though.

and they usually change in a hurry, just ask Boise

Gotta feel for Boise, they schedule a team that's supposed to be legit on a neutral field which is really more like a home game for the Hokies, they go in and play well.. then, through no fault of their own, the Hokies come out and suck against JMU.. the Hokies could still win the ACC because the Hokies aren't THAT bad and the ACC is awful but with the way Miami, Florida State, and Georgia Tech played, I don't think it's going to be enough because if they win the ACC people are still going to say... So?

yep. Boise was just taken out of the nat'l champ race (unless we have a crazy year like '07 where everyone else ends up with 2 losses). and that happened despite having taken down the highest ranked team to date (at the time they played obviously).

such is life in the WAC though. they'll get a bump up next year in exposure in the MWC (at least until Utah/BYU leave and even then they're keeping Fresno but adding TCU and Air Force).