Here it is folks... THE OTHER GAME. It's finally here, but its there and I expect a whale of a game.
PSU has lots of holes, but when all is said done and tallied the Advanced Stats (S&P+) has them 6th in the country. Note that TTUN is 5th, so at this point in the season our OTHER rival and REAL Rival are playing at a very high level... even if they've both been uneven.
PSU is 5th on O an 22nd on D... While our beloved Buckeyes are 2nd and 18th.
For reference sake our best opponents of the 4 games so far are as follows
TCU is 30th with an O rank of 48th and D of 33rd.
APPY State is 20th with an O of 17th and D 46th.
How it plays out....The Bucks come in with outstanding game plans on both sides of the ball and the talent on the field outweighs the talent in the stands. We win a roller coaster game with a score more convincing than it will feel.
Keys to the win
Game Control : Need to play clean in the kicking game, Keep the turnover margin flat to in our favor, success rate on offense at 50% and on D keep PSU under 40%. GC is a key every game this season.
Offense has to come out with a diverse scheme and keep it rolling ALL GAME. While this will be Haskin's Heisman moment, the key will be establishing our running game. I see Weber and Dobbins having BIG Games.... but it won't be easy.
D has to contain McSorely. He is the X factor in this game. If he is consistently able to convert 3rd down when the back 7 have coverage, then he could manufacture a loss we will regret for a long time.
If we do those things the White Out will not be a principal factor in the game. Note that in the recent past couple of season we played some really bad ball with some brain dead schemes in Happy Valley. I do expect PSU D to play better than they have all season, but there is still a big time talent gap and the OSU skill players have too much speed and too much experience.
When the Bucks are on O
When the scheme is fully engaged the Bucks have too many tools on Offense for 11 on D and the 12th man to stop. I see Wilson and Day winning this chess match. They will put the OL in good positions.. and the OL will have to deliver.
Protecting Dwayne is important, but they have to open some holes in a D that will be forced to play straight upfront.
PSU has stalled the Bucks O in the past by slanting the DL and bringing the LB's downhill with an overhang Safety in the box... We have to run power against this scheme. Move them out of it, run some legit Zone Read.
While we could and will punish this scheme in the air, the key is establishing the running game and put PSU in a run/pass bind all game long.
Why this will be close is RZ efficiency. PSU will get a couple of stops but we will have enough juice to score on our trips which I expect to be frequent.
When the Bucks are on D
I expect the D to play more C4 in this game with Quarter/Quarter Half.. IOW more Zone than we have all season. Especially on passing downs.
That said Schiano is who he is and he and Urban want this D to be on attack and to get the opponent off the field with negative plays and TO's.... we miss Nick big time in this regard, but we are still loaded...
McSorely is good enough to move the chains some, and the scheme with some young talent will give up some big plays. I don't think that will be enough given the talent difference.
Final Score: 41-31
PSU has lots of holes, but when all is said done and tallied the Advanced Stats (S&P+) has them 6th in the country. Note that TTUN is 5th, so at this point in the season our OTHER rival and REAL Rival are playing at a very high level... even if they've both been uneven.
PSU is 5th on O an 22nd on D... While our beloved Buckeyes are 2nd and 18th.
For reference sake our best opponents of the 4 games so far are as follows
TCU is 30th with an O rank of 48th and D of 33rd.
APPY State is 20th with an O of 17th and D 46th.
How it plays out....The Bucks come in with outstanding game plans on both sides of the ball and the talent on the field outweighs the talent in the stands. We win a roller coaster game with a score more convincing than it will feel.
Keys to the win
Game Control : Need to play clean in the kicking game, Keep the turnover margin flat to in our favor, success rate on offense at 50% and on D keep PSU under 40%. GC is a key every game this season.
Offense has to come out with a diverse scheme and keep it rolling ALL GAME. While this will be Haskin's Heisman moment, the key will be establishing our running game. I see Weber and Dobbins having BIG Games.... but it won't be easy.
D has to contain McSorely. He is the X factor in this game. If he is consistently able to convert 3rd down when the back 7 have coverage, then he could manufacture a loss we will regret for a long time.
If we do those things the White Out will not be a principal factor in the game. Note that in the recent past couple of season we played some really bad ball with some brain dead schemes in Happy Valley. I do expect PSU D to play better than they have all season, but there is still a big time talent gap and the OSU skill players have too much speed and too much experience.
When the Bucks are on O
When the scheme is fully engaged the Bucks have too many tools on Offense for 11 on D and the 12th man to stop. I see Wilson and Day winning this chess match. They will put the OL in good positions.. and the OL will have to deliver.
Protecting Dwayne is important, but they have to open some holes in a D that will be forced to play straight upfront.
PSU has stalled the Bucks O in the past by slanting the DL and bringing the LB's downhill with an overhang Safety in the box... We have to run power against this scheme. Move them out of it, run some legit Zone Read.
While we could and will punish this scheme in the air, the key is establishing the running game and put PSU in a run/pass bind all game long.
Why this will be close is RZ efficiency. PSU will get a couple of stops but we will have enough juice to score on our trips which I expect to be frequent.
When the Bucks are on D
I expect the D to play more C4 in this game with Quarter/Quarter Half.. IOW more Zone than we have all season. Especially on passing downs.
That said Schiano is who he is and he and Urban want this D to be on attack and to get the opponent off the field with negative plays and TO's.... we miss Nick big time in this regard, but we are still loaded...
McSorely is good enough to move the chains some, and the scheme with some young talent will give up some big plays. I don't think that will be enough given the talent difference.
Final Score: 41-31
