I know there is some differences with personnel and scheme, but the basics will apply.
First off, man we should have won this game!!! in the first half we got it down within the 10 yard line in the red zone twice and got stopped. Once it was a hold on fumagalli and once we just got stopped trying to run up the middle twice from the 5 and then a mis-throw. If we get those its over after 1 half.
Anyways, things that hurt us
1. That damn read option gave us some fits at times. if you watch in the first quarter with 4:40 left, JT runs a couple for very good yardage and then gives to the RB the next play and they charge right down the field.... I dont know if anyone else saw this but in the minnesota game, the gophers had their only production of the game running QB read uption up the middle... Granted its wasnt much, but it made me think about OSU and that we need to have this figured out. Barrett running the ball gave us the most problems. JT ran in a TD in the second half as well
2. OSU beat us on some pretty lucky passes in the first half that ended up leading to points... go to the 11:50 mark left in the second quarter. We are playing very good defense overall but JT barrett ends up lofting up a couple passes right on the money and OSU players somehow catch them even though we have decent coverage.. THis year I think we are better in the D- backfield, but we cannot bail OSU out this year allowing plays like this that should have been stops... Also, we cant bail them out with pass interference calls either. 6:00 left in the game they beat us deep too
3. Hornibrook got sacked. ALOT. We lost a lot of yardage with holding the ball too long and taking some sacks throughout this game... GOtta get rid of the ball or throw it away. Even on the last play of the game he took a sack. Horni did good besides this, especially in the first half, I think he will be fine. cant take sacks
4. Need to be more opportunistic in big games like this. in the first half Barrett fumbled on a keeper and we couldnt recover, led to points. OSU's punt returner fumbled a punt deep in their own territory in the 2nd half and it looked like we would recover, we didnt...
5. Gotta get stops in crunch time. With 4:30 left in the third quarter OSU converted on TWO 4th down attempts on the same drive. that stuff cant happen. that led to a TD.... gotta get big stops in big games.
With all that being said, it sounds pretty negative but im not being negative.. we played a really good game, great first half in which we could have easily had 2 more TDs.
The end around worked well 5 times in the first half, all for first downs. OSU kind figured that out at half though. Horni made some big throws in this game. We were able to run the ball, especially in the first half. Dixon had a good INT in the end zone and we caused 2 fumbles...
I think we were the better team in this game. OSU had the ball bounce their way SEVERAL times to keep it close at all. Same with the Penn State game, we dominated the first half.
IF we can find a way to create some turnovers, keep Barrett from running wild, and find a way to keep the offense moving the ball for the ENTIRE game instead of just one half, we will win.
I think with the improvements we have made on defense this year, Horni improving and peaking right now, JT Barrett being possibly slightly slowed due to a knee injury, and because we didnt really take a step backwards in any way since last season, we will win this game and go to the CFP.
First off, man we should have won this game!!! in the first half we got it down within the 10 yard line in the red zone twice and got stopped. Once it was a hold on fumagalli and once we just got stopped trying to run up the middle twice from the 5 and then a mis-throw. If we get those its over after 1 half.
Anyways, things that hurt us
1. That damn read option gave us some fits at times. if you watch in the first quarter with 4:40 left, JT runs a couple for very good yardage and then gives to the RB the next play and they charge right down the field.... I dont know if anyone else saw this but in the minnesota game, the gophers had their only production of the game running QB read uption up the middle... Granted its wasnt much, but it made me think about OSU and that we need to have this figured out. Barrett running the ball gave us the most problems. JT ran in a TD in the second half as well
2. OSU beat us on some pretty lucky passes in the first half that ended up leading to points... go to the 11:50 mark left in the second quarter. We are playing very good defense overall but JT barrett ends up lofting up a couple passes right on the money and OSU players somehow catch them even though we have decent coverage.. THis year I think we are better in the D- backfield, but we cannot bail OSU out this year allowing plays like this that should have been stops... Also, we cant bail them out with pass interference calls either. 6:00 left in the game they beat us deep too
3. Hornibrook got sacked. ALOT. We lost a lot of yardage with holding the ball too long and taking some sacks throughout this game... GOtta get rid of the ball or throw it away. Even on the last play of the game he took a sack. Horni did good besides this, especially in the first half, I think he will be fine. cant take sacks
4. Need to be more opportunistic in big games like this. in the first half Barrett fumbled on a keeper and we couldnt recover, led to points. OSU's punt returner fumbled a punt deep in their own territory in the 2nd half and it looked like we would recover, we didnt...
5. Gotta get stops in crunch time. With 4:30 left in the third quarter OSU converted on TWO 4th down attempts on the same drive. that stuff cant happen. that led to a TD.... gotta get big stops in big games.
With all that being said, it sounds pretty negative but im not being negative.. we played a really good game, great first half in which we could have easily had 2 more TDs.
The end around worked well 5 times in the first half, all for first downs. OSU kind figured that out at half though. Horni made some big throws in this game. We were able to run the ball, especially in the first half. Dixon had a good INT in the end zone and we caused 2 fumbles...
I think we were the better team in this game. OSU had the ball bounce their way SEVERAL times to keep it close at all. Same with the Penn State game, we dominated the first half.
IF we can find a way to create some turnovers, keep Barrett from running wild, and find a way to keep the offense moving the ball for the ENTIRE game instead of just one half, we will win.
I think with the improvements we have made on defense this year, Horni improving and peaking right now, JT Barrett being possibly slightly slowed due to a knee injury, and because we didnt really take a step backwards in any way since last season, we will win this game and go to the CFP.
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