Posts from October 8, 2007

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Another weekend, another big upset. This time it was Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford Cardinals surprising top ranked USC in dramatic, Hollywood fashion. The win might be more important to the national championship season than Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State. But at least Stanford has Division 1A players. Either way, though, it’s more evidence that Ohio State can’t fall asleep on anyone this season.

That’s why the Buckeye win over Purdue was so impressive. You could see the Purdue program trying to develop an upset script. Everything was in place to make it a special action-adventure night for the fans, the players and the recruits. And then Ohio State decided to make a gritty documentary about Big Ten dominance. Not exactly the most exciting film you’ll see this season, but definitely one that will help secure some hardware at one of those post-season award shows.

Coach Tressel won’t be writing his acceptance speech anytime soon. But all of a sudden, New Orleans is starting to look a little like Cannes.

My thoughts on the Purdue game:

• The Opponent – C+. With wins against Eastern Illinois, Central Michigan and Northern Rhode Island (ok, I made the last one up), I suspected that Purdue might have been a little overrated. Finally facing a real defense, Coach Tiller’s “basketball on turf” offense reminded me that basketball is a non-contact sport (the Detroit Pistons notwithstanding). It’s easy to ring up lots of offense against air. It’s slightly more difficult when you have a Buckeye helmet impaled in your chest.
• The Defense - A-. At this point in the season, Ohio State’s defense is clearly the class of the Big Ten. Co-coordinators Heacock and Fickle developed a game plan that completely confused and frustrated Purdue’s Painter. The Buckeyes smothered a supposedly high-powered offense, holding them to just 4 yards of total rushing yards and 268 largely meaningless passing yards. Ohio State’s corners, Checkwa and Washington, stepped up against competent Big Ten receivers. Linebacker Marcus Freeman continued to improve. And freshman defensive tackle Cameron Heyward emerged as a future star. Looking at the rest of the schedule, only Illinois and Michigan appear to have offenses that will really test the 2007 Buckeye defense.
• The Offense – B-. As with the Northwestern and Minnesota games, the offense got off to a fast and devastating start. The best way to beat an outmatched opponent is to strike them early and quickly eliminate their most threatening weapon – hope. Once their hope is gone, they become the team they really are and the rest of the game is just a foregone conclusion. Two solid drives and precise passes to Small and Hartline essentially put the game out of reach in the first quarter. And all that planned fan silliness never got a chance to get started. Such a waste of the color black. Coach Tressel will scrutinize Boeckman’s 3 interceptions because that’s what good coaches do. But all three were technique errors and not decision-making errors. He learned a valuable lesson and will get better as a result.
• The Special Teams – A-. There’s not much to criticize this week. Pretorius had his most productive game of his career, kicking 3 field goals. And A.J. Trepasso looked good on a few punts that gave the Purdue offense poor field position. With Small joining Hartline on punt returns, Ohio State now has a credible big play threat.
• My Favorite Play. This week I can’t decide whether Ray Small’s touchdown grab or Donald Washington’s textbook, 2nd half big hit on Dorien Bryant wins the My Favorite Play award. So I’ll call it a tie. Small is finally healthy and looks like he’s about to live up to his hype as the “next Ted Ginn.” And Washington’s hit perfectly illustrated the dominance of the Buckeye defense.
• Game Ball. Marcus Freeman.

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