We’ll always have Delaware State…
AP Photo/Paul Sancya
That’s my message to Michigan fans- we’ll always have Delaware State.
Ohio State 21, Michigan 10
As an indication of how far the Michigan program has fallen, all that kept the Wolverines from ending the year on a stunning 7 game losing streak was the win against I-AA Delaware State, and that’s a two game improvement over last year. As it is, Team Rodriguez ends bowl-less again with a 5-7 final record and in a tie for last place in the conference with Indiana.
There’ll be plenty of soul-searching in Ann Arbor this winter and there are no easy answers. Firing RichRod won’t accomplish much except adding another year to the bottom of the bell curve.
They took their chances with two freshman QB’s, neither of which is a complete player in terms of fitting into his system. Tate Forcier is a decent passer and can create with his feet but isn’t nearly sturdy enough to survive loads of run calls over an entire season in the Big Ten.
Denard Robinson is a gifted runner but isn’t a thrower (yet, perhaps ever). If there’s no threat of meaningful passes, Robinson becomes a one trick pony that’s easy to stop when you’ve got the type of defense Ohio State has.
If Michigan Running Back Brandon Minor were healthier today he may have made a difference, but one of the many painful lessons RichRod has learned in his second year in the league is you must have a power running game. You don’t have to use it often, but no matter what kind of offense you run, there will be times in the Big Ten where you must be able to line up and simply overpower your opponent.
Obviously the biggest area of concern for Michigan is their defense. At the bottom of the conference for every statistical category that the NCAA tracks, the defense never got their bearings in conference play. I can’t even imagine how bad the defense would have been had DE Brandon Graham left for the NFL last year. Graham was all that kept UofM from ranking at the bottom in the nation defensively.
And defense is where RichRod has made his biggest miscalculation. I believe he thought he could be good enough on offense with his system to just outscore Big Ten opponents. What else would describe the lack of focus on defensive recruiting. Evidence of this is their piss-poor defense this year and the fact that they only have 8 of their current 20 commitments next year as defensive players, and only 3 of those as defensive linemen.
It should be to raised epidemic levels a la wartime draft status in Michigan. There should be posters in every high school in the state- “We want you to play defense for Michigan!”.
Ohio State - Six in a row
Ohio State now has six straight victories over the Wolverines, a feat which is starting to cleanse the beatings we took in the 90’s. Just in case you want to take a walk down memory lane, here are the scores from the last six:
2004: 37-21 (home)
2005: 25-21 (away)
2006: 42-39 (home, 1 vs. 2)
2007: 14-3 (away)
2008: 42-7 (home)
2009: 21-10 (away)
It’s not all sunshine and roses for the Buckeyes (though Wolverine fans- just remember when you’re shoveling snow on January 1st, it will literally be sunshine and roses for buckeye fans 
). Despite getting another dominating rush performance and the defense getting takeways and playing well, there are loads of places for improvement and even some areas for concern.
First and foremost in the “does this thing have a CarFax report” department is the one-dimensionality of the offense. The playcalling and the execution through the stretch run in the Big Ten has been exactly what was needed at this point in what I’ll call the “three year offensive master plan: building a team for Terrelle’s Senior year”.
Terrelle’s greatest development as a player has been in his ability to the manage the game and not make mistakes. You needn’t look any further in how far Terrelle has come than across the sideline in the Michigan game today.
Tate Forcier was throwing the ball around like a drunken sailor and he had four interceptions to show for it, and should have had at least two more. For the first time in four games Terrelle threw an interception, and unlike almost every other interception he’s thrown this year, it wasn’t a poor decision, it was just a bad throw. It’s not sexy, but managing the game is a huge part of the equation that goes into the Tressel Strategy Super Computer (TSSC).
Against good defenses (Penn State, Iowa) our offense has done enough to win while our defense has provided stops and breaks where needed. My concern is against a team like Oregon in the Rose Bowl, they’ll have some success limiting us on offense and their offense is too dynamic to think our defense will be able to flat out dominate the way they have other teams. The OSU offense is going to be relied upon to do more and that’s concerning.
Pryor’s inability to get any level of accuracy on deep throws is also very troubling. I’d like to think if he throws 500 long balls a day in the off-season he’ll get better, but having never played the position I just don’t know. It’s good that he’s at least missing long now as opposed to lobbing ducks that get picked off. His mechanics are clearly still inconsistent, and hopefully that will come with time.
OSU’s performance on 3rd down also is a problem. 18-for-48 to be exact over the last three games and 6-for-16 against the Wolverines. Add to that our sudden poor execution in the punting game and that’s the kind of negative field position that loses games. That will need to be better in order to get a Rose Bowl win.
The positives
A win is a win against Michigan- it doesn’t matter how it comes.
For the fifth game in a row and the eighth time this season Ohio State rushed for over 200 yards. As maligned as the offensive line has been, they’re starting to take over games and open up huge holes. Added to that is the good run blocking from fullback Zach Boren and the powerful back-and-forth combination of Saine and Herron. Put it all together and you have one of the most dominant rushing attacks in college football. 96 yards for Herron Saturday; 84 for Saine.
One of the more entertaining moments of the game came in the 2nd quarter with the Buckeyes up 7-3. Ohio State was supposed to run a rollout pass with a run option to the right. The play they actually ran was an option right counter, something I don’t recall seeing yet this season. It worked perfectly with Michigan getting sucked right and Saine rumbling left for a touchdown. After high-fiving the family I turned to my wife and said “Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.”
That play was brought to Buckeye fans not by Coach Tressel or Bollman but instead by the Student Manager Matt Esselstein. You see, Esselstein is responsible for writing the plays on the whiteboard for the offensive players once the formation has been called. It turns out Esselstein wrote the wrong number on the board and lucky enough, the wrong play turned into the right play.
On the third touchdown for the Buckeyes, I love the call from Tress and the execution from TP on the screen pass. Michigan brought the sellout blitz, Pryor threw the screen perfectly and Boom Herron made a great catch and ran it in. It’s not bells and whistles but it’s the type of solid playcalling and execution that Ohio State must have to be successful.
More on The Game later this week.
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