Saturday, October 16, 2010

Badgers too much, Buckeyes not enough

Give the Buckeyes credit. This is a team that knows how to lose games that start after 3:30 Eastern time. In spectacular fashion, I might add.
The Good
Offense
Boom Herron had a good game, averaging almost five yards per carry. Aside from that, the only thing to put here is a simple plea: get the ball to Dane Sanzenbacher more. That catch he made in the 3rd quarter to bail Terrelle Pryor out of another incompletion was awesome.
Defense
Ummmm...give me a minute. It will come to me. Ummm...the defense...oh yeah! Andrew Sweat had an interception.
The Bad
Offense
Terrelle Pryor was awful. It's that simple. He completed 50% of his passes and generally just did not look like a Heisman candidate. Heck, he barely looked like a quarterback. Too bad you only get to play the Hoosiers once a year, eh TP? I do not understand the play calling on the field goal drive. First and goal from inside the 10, and you run QB draw, a direct snap to Herron and then another QB run? The Buckeyes looked like they had no interest in finishing that drive with a touchdown.
Defense
The defense got punched in the mouth immediately and never recovered. I have no idea what happened to the defense in this game. I realize the Wisconsin offensive line is immense, but let's not forget what Archie once said, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog. Safe to say that there was no fight in this dog in this game.
Special Teams
How on earth does a guy return a kickoff 97 yards without getting touched at least once?
The Ugly
I don't even need to divide this up. Aside from the two 3rd quarter touchdowns, just about everything offensively and defensively was ugly.
Schwinderjection
1. Ummm, maybe this is why the Buckeyes seem to get no respect from the BCS.
2. Dear TP, it's OK to look at a receiver other than Devier Posey.
Under the Radar player of the game
One thing is for sure, every Buckeye was under the radar in this game. Can you really name a player of the game for a team that wasn't even competitive? I don't think so.

1 comment:

neslagle said...

Agree Gary - ugly. Missed receiving e-mail of update last 2 weeks. My write up follows:

OHIO STATE #1 0 3 7 8 18
WISCONSIN #18 14 7 0 10 31

The Buckeyes rose to #1 in the polls, but Wisconsin was not impressed and trounced Ohio State 38-13. Wisconsin returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a TD, the Buckeyes went 3 and out and Wisconsin easily marched for a TD for a quick 14-0 lead and 21--0 in the 2nd quarter. OSU scored the next 17 points thanks to beautiful TD drives the first two possessions of the 3rd quarter and 29 plays while holding Wisconsin to 5 plays. For the rest of the game (before and after) OSU offense and Pryor were missing in action. Wisconsin moved at will most of the game.
Pryor never looked comfortable and had a poor game. He was 7-7 during the two TD drives in the 3rd quarter of 77 and 94 yards (10 minute drive ending in the 4th quarter) in the 2nd half for 86 yards, but the rest of the game he was 7-21 for 70 yards! He ran 18 times for 56 yards. Pryor usually had plenty of time to pass but couldn't find receivers (or at least couldn't pull trigger much like last year). Fortunately, Sanzenbacher made 3 acrobatic catches to snag some erratic throws from Pryor. Pryor did have several nice runs, but lost 38 yards on 3 sacks and an errant pitch. for a 12 yard loss
Herron ran well gaining 91 yards on 19 carries and 2 TD's. But the Badgers got 104 yards and 2 TD's from Clay on 21 carries and 75 yards and a TD on 17 carries from White. Tolzien was 13-16 for 152 yards. Neither Pryor or Tolzien had any TD passes and both threw one pick. Clay was the first 100 yard rusher against OSU since McKnight of USC in 2008.
Although the game felt one sided the stats were similar. Wisconsin rushed for 184 yards to 155 for OSU, OSU out passed Wisc 156-152 and had 22 first downs to Wisc 21. Both teams had one turnover. But Wisc had the kickoff for a TD which was the big play of the game and more importantly, 13 more points..
Wisconsin hadn't defeated a No. 1 since 1981, when the Badgers knocked off Michigan 21-14. It also broke their 6 game losing streak vs ranked Big Ten opponents.
This is the first time Ohio State has given up two kickoff returns for touchdowns in the same season, a team spokesman said.
Pryor dropped from 6th to 18th in passing efficiency at 158.