Now, about that debacle on Saturday in The Shoe. We lost. Our National Title hopes are out the door like Stephon Marbury. And what was the primary culprit? The spread offense. What a surprise. Welcome to the Twenty-first century, Buckeyes.
True, the first touchdown was a complete sham. Had Tressel been paying attention and challenged that the ground had caused Illinois’s fumble, or had the Illini not hurried to get a play off, they ball would have gone back to the Bucks on the twenty-yard line. But it wouldn’t have mattered. The Ohio State defense could not stop Juice Williams and the Illinois running backs from getting 5-6 yards per carry. And of the four touchdowns that Juice threw, all of them were to guys that were anywhere from 1 to 8 yards open. Easy pickins.
And then there’s the play of Todd Boeckman. Before the game, a fellow Buckeye friend of mine mentioned his speculation of the newly-anointed Golden Boy from St. Henry. He said it was the silent “o” in his last name that made him not trustworthy (and the fact that he loves throwing the long ball into double coverage). After the game, this same friend decided that the silent “o” stood for “overrated.” His greatness, indeed, is overrated—several sportscasters were mentioning Heisman in the same breath as Boeckman last week before the game. But his importance to the Buckeyes’ success is not overrated at all. If we would have won Saturday and had gone on to win a National Title, and if we win this coming Saturday against Michigan, it would have been because of number 17. Not number 33 (not much of a factor against Illinois), or number 80 (who decided not to show up Saturday), or even number 28 (who, at 80-90%, is better than any other RB in the Big Ten. Even Mike Hart).
Defense doesn’t win championships anymore. Not in this spread-offense-riddled landscape that is college football. You have to be able to put points on the board because every great team can do just that. Offenses will move the ball. You are not going to dominate a great team defensively anymore. Coordinators are too smart and players are too fast. That’s why Boeckman is so important. Those three interceptions by Boeckman (one in the endzone and another within the redzone) hurt OSU more than the inability of their D to stop their opponent, in the end. Had those three pics turned into scores, and had Boeckman not thrown some other questionable passes, the outcome would have been different. I’m not saying he played horribly, because he showed some real moxie standing in the pocket and taking shots and even running for big gains when the need arose. I just wish he’d been more like Krenzel and less like Bellasari.
Let’s just hope he plays like the QB who actually won last year’s Heisman Saturday versus those Wolverines. Or the one who will win next year’s.
NFL PICKS
Last Week: A woeful 6-8, thank goodness I didn’t document them here.
Overall: A respectable 64-50
Tampa Bay over ATLANTA
CINCY over Arizona
INDY over KC
JACKSONVILLE over San Diego
Oakland over MINNESOTA
Cleveland over BALTIMORE
GREEN BAY over Carolina
New Orleans over HOUSTON
PHILLY over Miami
DETROIT over Giants
Pittsburgh over JETS
DALLAS over Washington
St. Louis over SAN FRAN
SEATTLE over Chicago
New England over BUFFALO
DENVER over Tennessee
True, the first touchdown was a complete sham. Had Tressel been paying attention and challenged that the ground had caused Illinois’s fumble, or had the Illini not hurried to get a play off, they ball would have gone back to the Bucks on the twenty-yard line. But it wouldn’t have mattered. The Ohio State defense could not stop Juice Williams and the Illinois running backs from getting 5-6 yards per carry. And of the four touchdowns that Juice threw, all of them were to guys that were anywhere from 1 to 8 yards open. Easy pickins.
And then there’s the play of Todd Boeckman. Before the game, a fellow Buckeye friend of mine mentioned his speculation of the newly-anointed Golden Boy from St. Henry. He said it was the silent “o” in his last name that made him not trustworthy (and the fact that he loves throwing the long ball into double coverage). After the game, this same friend decided that the silent “o” stood for “overrated.” His greatness, indeed, is overrated—several sportscasters were mentioning Heisman in the same breath as Boeckman last week before the game. But his importance to the Buckeyes’ success is not overrated at all. If we would have won Saturday and had gone on to win a National Title, and if we win this coming Saturday against Michigan, it would have been because of number 17. Not number 33 (not much of a factor against Illinois), or number 80 (who decided not to show up Saturday), or even number 28 (who, at 80-90%, is better than any other RB in the Big Ten. Even Mike Hart).
Defense doesn’t win championships anymore. Not in this spread-offense-riddled landscape that is college football. You have to be able to put points on the board because every great team can do just that. Offenses will move the ball. You are not going to dominate a great team defensively anymore. Coordinators are too smart and players are too fast. That’s why Boeckman is so important. Those three interceptions by Boeckman (one in the endzone and another within the redzone) hurt OSU more than the inability of their D to stop their opponent, in the end. Had those three pics turned into scores, and had Boeckman not thrown some other questionable passes, the outcome would have been different. I’m not saying he played horribly, because he showed some real moxie standing in the pocket and taking shots and even running for big gains when the need arose. I just wish he’d been more like Krenzel and less like Bellasari.
Let’s just hope he plays like the QB who actually won last year’s Heisman Saturday versus those Wolverines. Or the one who will win next year’s.
NFL PICKS
Last Week: A woeful 6-8, thank goodness I didn’t document them here.
Overall: A respectable 64-50
Tampa Bay over ATLANTA
CINCY over Arizona
INDY over KC
JACKSONVILLE over San Diego
Oakland over MINNESOTA
Cleveland over BALTIMORE
GREEN BAY over Carolina
New Orleans over HOUSTON
PHILLY over Miami
DETROIT over Giants
Pittsburgh over JETS
DALLAS over Washington
St. Louis over SAN FRAN
SEATTLE over Chicago
New England over BUFFALO
DENVER over Tennessee
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