I have a few questions about the Ohio State football game this weekend against Illinois.....
Why was our defense struggling early on against the Illini offense
Why did Jim Tressel play so conservatively after Terrell Pryor returned to the game after his injury?
I have been a lifelong Buckeye fan and have no reason to ever change that but in games like this, where we have a stellar defense and a Heisman hopeful at quarterback, Terrell Pryor, Why do we tend to play down to our opponents caliber? It has been a question in my head ever since Jim Tressel has come over from Youngstown State early in the 2000's. Tressel is a spectacular coach and obviously has done the right things for the Buckeye football program but he definitely leaves us fans at the edge of our seats every game, hoping we will grind out another hard fought victory. Where is all the entertainment with all the weapons we have on our team?
When it comes down to it, when we play a top 5 or 10 team in the nation, recently, we never play up to our opponents caliber (excluding the Rose Bowl win over Oregon), we just play "Tressel Ball," which is we score a couple times on offense, then later on in the game rely on three-and-outs, punt the ball, and rely on our defense all the time.
As a fan, I understand why Tressel chooses this strategy, but with all the weapons we have on offense, why not pass more and score more every game?
1 more question....
What is wrong with our Special Teams so far this year?
These are all questions that I have through the first 5 games of the season.
The Buckeye's rushed for over 200 yards during the game. Part of our stellar offense is our running game. A lot of fans asked why we weren't airing the ball out to Posey or Sazenbacher, well it was simply because TP wasn't effective through the air. He was just 9-16 with an INT, which isn't a heisman hopeful performance. If we continued to pass the ball, we would have quickly gone 3 and out, waisting no clock and giving the ball back to them. Also before our last score, if we would have turned the ball over it would have given the Illini hope. If we look at Saine and Herron's stats over their tenure at Ohio State, both backs have ZERO fumbles. Why not run the football? Whether it was a zone read, hand off, or TP simply just running the football, the ground game was working and taking time off that clock. In games where we let TP air the ball out when he is having trouble we lose. Remember Purdue a year ago? While Ohio State was up by a few, we continued to pass and eventually loss the game. "Tressel Ball" gets the win and has a great in conference record. We cannot pass more because TP is terrible with his mechanics. You cannot compare his passing performance over eastern michigan, marshall, and OU to this game.
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