Normally I really do not like to get into any details on a game until I watch it by myself. I went to this game and haven't been able to rewatch it on DVR. I am sure I didn't even get the whole thing DVRed because of the delay. However, there were some things I did notice. Being at a game, you do see things you just can't see on TV.
- Big shout out to my wife. We got drenched and she never asked to leave or hide from the rain. She just put on her poncho and watched the game. We stayed until the last seconds ticked off. You can't ask for more than that. Also, a shout out to my mother in law who watched the kids. Because of the delay, she had to watch them much longer than planned.
- The best part of the game was during the rain delay. We got to see Evan Turner. He was walking around everyone and going relatively unnoticed. Me, I notice 6'7 guys real quick. He had on a poncho with the hood on and no one said a thing to him for some time. We were laughing at that. He did stop and say hello when people finally noticed him. It was also nice to see the band come in and play for all the fans. Finally, I got to meet the family of Branden Bowen. The funny part was my wife recognized them from the BBQ after the spring game. She was great to talk to. We discussed how hard it was for them to come and see him play. She said they only can make 2 games a year. Remember, they live in Utah. Much respect to that kid as it has to be hard after a game to see everyone being greeted by their families and Branden has no one. Remember things like that when you see an OOS kid come to OSU and struggle. My dad made every single game I ever played. Look up how much 4 plane tickets are from Utah to Columbus, especially the weekend of the UM game.
- After the game, I talked to a friend who played at OSU. He played some for DC Bill Young, who was at OSU back in the Cooper era. He said, "I wish he had called a game back then like he did today. That was one heck of a defensive game plan." I have to agree. They confused OSU with lots of different looks. Their DL played some inspired ball too. I really liked #8 and #95.
- You just can not say enough about the defense. I know Tulsa isn't a national title contender. They score points though. They score on everyone. Last year they scored on Oklahoma, Houston, and VaTech. So what the OSU defense did was truly a thing of football beauty. Schiano and Luke have something special going on. To have a defense with so little experience play like this so early.... wow. What is really scary is they will get better.
- Malik Hooker is special. Ross said this in the fall and I kept it going. Every practice report said he had an INT. Now, at that time, I was worried about the passing game. Now I just realize Hooker is that good. On his INT, he was almost to the numbers in the boundary. He came all the way across to the opposite hash to make that pick. He read the QBs eyes and knew the formation. On the snap, he saw the QB look away from him so he raced across the field and made that play. There isn't a drill for that. You either have it or you don't.
- One thing I got to see live was the subbing on the DL. They just swarm an offensive line with numbers. There was only one time I saw that confusion occurred. As quickly as Tulsa can snap it, that was pretty good. Also, the different styles the guys bring just messed up a lineman. When you go 8 snaps in a row against Michael Hill, a monster who stuffs plays, and then suddenly Robert Landers comes in. It is just unfair. As an offensive lineman, you do not practice that way. Teams will need to practice this way so that their offensive line is ready for it.
- A few years ago, on another website, I told everyone Landers was the real deal. He showed that yesterday. I wasn't sure if he was big enough to get it done for OSU. However, they adjusted their style for him and it works. Yes, he is a NG, or 1 tech. However, when he is in they do not ask him to do what they ask Michael Hill to do. That is great awareness by the staff. I need to find that 6'0 190lbs kid who I asked to block Landers when we played against him. I told him, "Just hold him all the time, no one gets called every play for it".
- My new favorite thing to do at a game is to find Kerry Combs every time the OSU defense does something good. Seriously, they need to make a video of that stuff. I wound up getting the guys around me doing the same thing. You could replace a car battery with Coombs and it would run.
- How about that offense? I can't wait until tomorrows presser from Urban. I did not understand the plan of attack. I also did not understand why they kept running straight into a 7 man front. Yes, they made great adjustments. Yes, they made them LATE. I was screaming "Run to the outside!" for the whole second quarter. When they went with the speed option, it exposed Tulsa. I wanted to see more outside zone read, but they got it done. Also, the bubble screens were there, but the outside guys could NOT block them for some reason. Made me very mad as I keep telling @Ross Fulton they should run them. They finally did it and couldn't block them. How can those guys block so well on runs and not on the bubble screens?
- On the TD run by JT, the blocking was a thing of beauty. Baugh sealed his man right away allowing to get them to the ledge. Then the receivers all handled there guys. Not sure who the RB was, but he did his best EzE impression and got his man. JT just walked in.
- For whatever reason, and I can't wait until @Ross Fulton shows us why, OSU seemed to struggle until they started running the QB. You know Urban did not want to do that. We aren't seeing the Run/Pass read plays I was hoping for. They did it once against BG and it went back for a TD. Not seeing them is telling me the staff doesn't have confidence in them.
- First and foremost, the job of the staff and players was to win. They accomplished that. Sure, we want to see another 700 yard performance by the offense. What I really liked was they experienced true adversity out there and overcame it. Tulsa came to play. Things were not going well. Then the weather threw a zinger at them. They had to adjust to several things to get it going. That will benefit them in the future.
- I always get asked about the OL and my thoughts. Without being able to review it, I can't really say. What I did see was Coach Stud working his tail off on the sidelines trying to get the OL on the same page. What I also saw was backups who were into the game standing right by the starters making sure they were in on what was going on. Now, I didn't blame it all on the OL. I kept counting 6, 6 1/2, and 7 in the box yet they would run it. We saw this last year. I know with zone you can get that done, but when those D guys start moving around, it confuses the OL. I thought they slowed down and weren't knocking guys off the ball. I did think that Prince was struggling.
- I don't know how colleges do it. Without scrimmages, things are so hard to fix. You don't know what is broke until you get into game situations. So it takes one game to fix that. When you go for 700 yards in the first game, you still don't know what is broke. So now OSU knows what didn't work and can fix it. I think we saw this all across the college football this weekend. Clemson, OSU, and many other teams out there are not playing consistent football. Even Bama suddenly had issues.
- I saw a great thread on pulling the starters. I had to agree. It is the one thing that I just do not agree with Urban on. He keeps his guys out there when I would be pulling them. Now, I get both sides. He has a young team and they need snaps. He can't get those looks in practice and wants live game snaps. Here is what I was seeing though. OSU was up big time. The weather was a definite factor. Most importantly, it was a defeated opponent. Tulsa was no longer putting up a fight. I didn't see how those snaps were going to make the team better. Wilson went in on his TD against a defense that didn't try to stop him. To me, the gain was outweighed by the possible problems. However, it worked out and Urban was right this time.
- Big shout out to my wife. We got drenched and she never asked to leave or hide from the rain. She just put on her poncho and watched the game. We stayed until the last seconds ticked off. You can't ask for more than that. Also, a shout out to my mother in law who watched the kids. Because of the delay, she had to watch them much longer than planned.
- The best part of the game was during the rain delay. We got to see Evan Turner. He was walking around everyone and going relatively unnoticed. Me, I notice 6'7 guys real quick. He had on a poncho with the hood on and no one said a thing to him for some time. We were laughing at that. He did stop and say hello when people finally noticed him. It was also nice to see the band come in and play for all the fans. Finally, I got to meet the family of Branden Bowen. The funny part was my wife recognized them from the BBQ after the spring game. She was great to talk to. We discussed how hard it was for them to come and see him play. She said they only can make 2 games a year. Remember, they live in Utah. Much respect to that kid as it has to be hard after a game to see everyone being greeted by their families and Branden has no one. Remember things like that when you see an OOS kid come to OSU and struggle. My dad made every single game I ever played. Look up how much 4 plane tickets are from Utah to Columbus, especially the weekend of the UM game.
- After the game, I talked to a friend who played at OSU. He played some for DC Bill Young, who was at OSU back in the Cooper era. He said, "I wish he had called a game back then like he did today. That was one heck of a defensive game plan." I have to agree. They confused OSU with lots of different looks. Their DL played some inspired ball too. I really liked #8 and #95.
- You just can not say enough about the defense. I know Tulsa isn't a national title contender. They score points though. They score on everyone. Last year they scored on Oklahoma, Houston, and VaTech. So what the OSU defense did was truly a thing of football beauty. Schiano and Luke have something special going on. To have a defense with so little experience play like this so early.... wow. What is really scary is they will get better.
- Malik Hooker is special. Ross said this in the fall and I kept it going. Every practice report said he had an INT. Now, at that time, I was worried about the passing game. Now I just realize Hooker is that good. On his INT, he was almost to the numbers in the boundary. He came all the way across to the opposite hash to make that pick. He read the QBs eyes and knew the formation. On the snap, he saw the QB look away from him so he raced across the field and made that play. There isn't a drill for that. You either have it or you don't.
- One thing I got to see live was the subbing on the DL. They just swarm an offensive line with numbers. There was only one time I saw that confusion occurred. As quickly as Tulsa can snap it, that was pretty good. Also, the different styles the guys bring just messed up a lineman. When you go 8 snaps in a row against Michael Hill, a monster who stuffs plays, and then suddenly Robert Landers comes in. It is just unfair. As an offensive lineman, you do not practice that way. Teams will need to practice this way so that their offensive line is ready for it.
- A few years ago, on another website, I told everyone Landers was the real deal. He showed that yesterday. I wasn't sure if he was big enough to get it done for OSU. However, they adjusted their style for him and it works. Yes, he is a NG, or 1 tech. However, when he is in they do not ask him to do what they ask Michael Hill to do. That is great awareness by the staff. I need to find that 6'0 190lbs kid who I asked to block Landers when we played against him. I told him, "Just hold him all the time, no one gets called every play for it".
- My new favorite thing to do at a game is to find Kerry Combs every time the OSU defense does something good. Seriously, they need to make a video of that stuff. I wound up getting the guys around me doing the same thing. You could replace a car battery with Coombs and it would run.
- How about that offense? I can't wait until tomorrows presser from Urban. I did not understand the plan of attack. I also did not understand why they kept running straight into a 7 man front. Yes, they made great adjustments. Yes, they made them LATE. I was screaming "Run to the outside!" for the whole second quarter. When they went with the speed option, it exposed Tulsa. I wanted to see more outside zone read, but they got it done. Also, the bubble screens were there, but the outside guys could NOT block them for some reason. Made me very mad as I keep telling @Ross Fulton they should run them. They finally did it and couldn't block them. How can those guys block so well on runs and not on the bubble screens?
- On the TD run by JT, the blocking was a thing of beauty. Baugh sealed his man right away allowing to get them to the ledge. Then the receivers all handled there guys. Not sure who the RB was, but he did his best EzE impression and got his man. JT just walked in.
- For whatever reason, and I can't wait until @Ross Fulton shows us why, OSU seemed to struggle until they started running the QB. You know Urban did not want to do that. We aren't seeing the Run/Pass read plays I was hoping for. They did it once against BG and it went back for a TD. Not seeing them is telling me the staff doesn't have confidence in them.
- First and foremost, the job of the staff and players was to win. They accomplished that. Sure, we want to see another 700 yard performance by the offense. What I really liked was they experienced true adversity out there and overcame it. Tulsa came to play. Things were not going well. Then the weather threw a zinger at them. They had to adjust to several things to get it going. That will benefit them in the future.
- I always get asked about the OL and my thoughts. Without being able to review it, I can't really say. What I did see was Coach Stud working his tail off on the sidelines trying to get the OL on the same page. What I also saw was backups who were into the game standing right by the starters making sure they were in on what was going on. Now, I didn't blame it all on the OL. I kept counting 6, 6 1/2, and 7 in the box yet they would run it. We saw this last year. I know with zone you can get that done, but when those D guys start moving around, it confuses the OL. I thought they slowed down and weren't knocking guys off the ball. I did think that Prince was struggling.
- I don't know how colleges do it. Without scrimmages, things are so hard to fix. You don't know what is broke until you get into game situations. So it takes one game to fix that. When you go for 700 yards in the first game, you still don't know what is broke. So now OSU knows what didn't work and can fix it. I think we saw this all across the college football this weekend. Clemson, OSU, and many other teams out there are not playing consistent football. Even Bama suddenly had issues.
- I saw a great thread on pulling the starters. I had to agree. It is the one thing that I just do not agree with Urban on. He keeps his guys out there when I would be pulling them. Now, I get both sides. He has a young team and they need snaps. He can't get those looks in practice and wants live game snaps. Here is what I was seeing though. OSU was up big time. The weather was a definite factor. Most importantly, it was a defeated opponent. Tulsa was no longer putting up a fight. I didn't see how those snaps were going to make the team better. Wilson went in on his TD against a defense that didn't try to stop him. To me, the gain was outweighed by the possible problems. However, it worked out and Urban was right this time.
