VectorVictor

No not that! Was whatever he allegedly did to force his retirement *that* bad that we can't forgive and forget? We've been able to forgive and forget a lot of things over the years as a program... ...and the difference between Raymond and Sanders appears to be that the later focused on fundamentals more and how to read routes appropriately--plus, it appears that we're playing Cosgrove-Soft coverage now, and not too many people were enamored with it when it was here the last time.

http://twitter.com/#!/Phil_Dillard/status/120314321749291008 http://twitter.com/#!/Phil_Dillard/status/120321677992267776 Wonder how many of the other former and current players feel this same way?

This is the biggest thing people are overlooking in this discussion. Assuming that what zoogies posted is a truth, then it stands to reason that we're not going to be able to line up and run it at teams any longer ad nauseaum, no matter how many players a defense sends to stop the run. No, that doesn't mean that we abandon the run--it means that passing becomes that more integral to our ability to run the ball and force the defense to not load up against the run. So sticking with a quarterback that has shown no overall progress since last year, has shown himself to be unable to adequately check down on receivers, and is rarely accurate beyond 10 yards really doesn't help our running game in the grand scheme of things. Plus, riddle me this, folks--if we're supposed to be as run-focused as people seem to think we should be, then why do we bother recruiting and fretting about having WR talent if all we're going to do is ask them is to throw blocks all day long? It seems like an egregious waste of a talented and young WR corps if we can't find a way to get them the ball, and there are only so many end-around and Wildcat plays we can run before a competent offense grows wise...

http://www.buckeyext...conference.html Figured since they're up next for NoNU, I'd post this here instead of the Big 10 board. If anything, this should change the complexion of the game in our favor. Here's hoping our kids can establish a respectable lead and allow our second teams vital playing time and experience.

I believe that Apple has their iWorks suite of applications available for the iPad, and I thought they had a spreadsheet application in iWorks...

Duffman, if the Big 10 were a woman, I would have already sexed it up, tick tock get up stop stop. It's an excellent addition to our household viewing, and I can appreciate how the Big 10 is even bending over backwards to include our players on the Big 10 'greatest ever' lists. Everything about the channel and the conference exudes class and doing things the right way...which is why the tOSU debacle is still so surprising. And don't check out, Duffman--stay around for a while, come talk some good-natured CouncilTucky smack and ride out this roller-coaster Big 10 season with us. We're pretty reasonable folks...usually...

Thank you Zoogies. And please understand I'm not trying to assassinate Martinez's character (a concern Knapplc brought up elsewhere IIRC). Martinez would make a good Wildcat QB or even a WR, and I don't think this is personal--I'm just trying to call out an observation borne from seeing similar mistakes and miscues as a freshman and an experienced sophomore. And Carnes may not be 100% ready, wouldn't now be a perfect time to break in Carnes? The Big 10 is relatively pillowy-soft (as far as the Big 10 gets) between now and Michigan (tOSU, Minnesota, Michigan State)--this would be a perfect time to put Carnes in live-fire situiations and give him at least 1.5 games worth of experience between these three contests. And even if we're letting Carnes learn the ropes, I believe we'll have enough playmakers to persevere against the likes of these soft teams (this year). Because next year, you're going to have Iowa, Michigan, and likely Penn State significantly better, a new HC at tOSU who won't squander talent like the current interim HC, and only Wisconsin (and maybe Michigan State?) possibly on the wane. I'd much rather take our lumps this year with Carnes than next, because I don't think we're ever going to have another opening like now again in the next year or more.

I think we're on the same page zoogies, though I understand you would like to keep Martinez and I don't believe he's progressed any from last year's healthy iteration of himself. What doesn't help matters is that the last time we saw Martinez's replacement, he was achieving a similar level of success in the Red/White game. As far as the fans know from on-the-field action (in a controlled scrimmage), we have a more capable passer waiting in the wings. The question is, how many times are we going to go through this similar exercise of watching defenses put 7+ in the box just to watch us flounder on the Uncle Rico arm of Martinez? It's not going to take much now to stop this QB--just a competent, assignment-sound defense. --- And HFinIL, no, it's not *just* the defense, and it's not the defense en masse--it's the secondary, sans Fonz, and possibly the LB corps. Until we have a competent secondary, our D-Line and LBs will have problems exerting pressure and getting to the QB. Plus, we're not back in 1995--we simply can't bowl over teams with weight-room borne prowess when they put 7+ in the box on us--teams have to throw to open up the run and keep a defense honest. It *was* this way when Dr. Tom was around--people just choose to romanticize that period of time and think we simply showed up and ran 60 straight-ahead running plays while giving the opposing defense our offensive playbook at the pre-game handshake. We have the necessary skill position players and youth at WR, TE, and RB/FB--instead of a QB that checks down to himself all too often (see 2010 criticisms of Taylor Martinez...), perhaps we should see if we have a QB that can properly distribute the ball, as Zoogies mentioned. If Martinez can be this QB, then why haven't we seen this improvement from year one to year two, especially when it counts? And why do we see this in younger QBs from other programs but not our own?

Guys--I keep seeing ourselves going around and around about the Rexcat, or putting more RBs in, or Taylor Martinez calling his own number too much in audible situations, or Taylor Martinez not checking down properly. I *can't* be the only person with a strong sense of déjà vu when I read these posts. Ultimately, there is only so much we can do running when teams are content to put 7+ in the box and go man-to-man in pass coverage. We *MUST* pass to keep defenses honest--it's football 101. It's why so many folks here griped and complained about Watson not going down the field enough--you have to stretch a defense to keep it honest and allow your running game to flourish. And while this year is different in that we have both an offensive coordinator that *is* calling the necessary passing plays to win and we have good young WRs that catch the ball and fight for YAC, we have maintained excellent RBs and TEs, just like last year. Hell, even our O-Line is progressing, despite its youth, and looks to be a stout and hardy group in the years to come. We're getting close to getting a 'pipeline' back in Lincoln. The *only* thing that has not progressed since last year on offense is Martinez, folks--we've improved or maintained at all other positions (including OC), but we've effectively regressed or stagnated at QB. As Yogi Berra said, "It's Deja Vu all over again." And if Bo isn't willing to make the necessary changes and start putting in a competent run/pass threat at QB, then we may as well search for our old 2010 threads, dust them off, replace Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Oklahoma State with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Michigan, and be done with this season. I would honestly rather we make the necessary changes, especially now against a weak tOSU and going into a bye week to face underwhelming Minnesota and Michigan State teams to get whomever that needs to be at QB the necessary reps to make them comfortable and avoid another Cody Green problem like last year. Otherwise, when we play Wisconsin for the Big 10 title (and I still believe that we will win our division), the Fox Sports announcers are going to be pulling out the Yogi Berra quote early and often, and deservedly so.

I don't think the Rexcat is a cure-all when 7+ defenders are in the box.

Michigan State was huge, but turning around the following day and skunking a pretty stout Michigan team on their turf is flat-out incredible. Michigan looked flat-out scared of Nebraska during that third match, to be honest, and played like it. Kudos to coach Cook and the team, and keep up the good work.

It actually fell back onto their gameplan to throw to open up the running game. And when Taylor started decent I guess it added to the thought process. The problem was more Taylor's inability to go to second/third/checkdown options. He gets a little caught up in making the big play when a Ben Cotton is dragging across the field by himself for an easy first down, or Rex is so alone on a checkdown that he gains an easy 5 yards before having to work for yardage. This. And our WRs, more or less, had their heads on straight. They fought and scrapped for YAC, and I came away impressed from their efforts. And IIRC, on all three interceptions, there were better options available had Martinez checked down. The second INT had an open receiver just beyond the first down marker that was open--exactly what we needed, but Martinez decided to go for a lunker, and came up with a boot.

Agreed. But before you go home, stop at Sandy's and Duffy's for Elk Creek Water and a Fishbowl, respectively. And then hit Ali Baba's Gyros or Oso Burrito. And then call a taxi.

Thanks for the welcome, but I disagree with the "all you can do is run" comment. We've got young, talented, and hungry WRs, but we just don't have a competent QB to get the ball to them. Martinez's accuracy drops off severely after 10 or so yards, and we've known that for some time. I think as soon as we get our secondary locked down, our entire defense will become better rather quickly. That, and if we figure out how to utilize our WRs more effectively, our upcoming round 2 between Bucky and Herbie will be a different and better event.

I like this to go along with the idea to kick Crick outside. Plus, Bo *has* to start playing scrubs in the 3rd and 4th quarters to build experience when we're up. IMO, part of the reason we're in the hole we're in on defense is because we aren't giving the lower-string players enough live reps to fail or succeed.

Or Pac-12 at that... ...frankly, while I think Wisconsin did get away with some holds, it wasn't the difference in the game. The difference was our secondary (save for Fonz) and our QB.

Because Wisconsin's defense realized that our QB couldn't throw and put 7-8 in the box to force the issue. Because our O-Line is a year away from being able to handle a run-dominated load. Cases-in-point--ARod couldn't get blocks off all night long when he was in. Our holding bugaboos were back when we were successful. We ran the ball better when we had three non-scholarship walk-on players starting. Because aside from our running backs, our Wide Receiving corps, though young like all of the RBs behind Burkhead, are good, and we need to get them the ball. The only group of players I was more impressed with at a position level than the RBs were the WRs--they were fighting and scrapping, and God *****t, we need to get them involved--it's utterly asinine to let their talents go to waste. Martinez isn't *just* a scapegoat--he's had enough game experience that he should know that it would be better to scramble than to force a throw into double coverage. For every brilliant pass or run play he creates, there seems to be an equally opposite bone-headed run or pass that shows up to balance things out. It's as if Martinez doesn't really remember to think about the situation he's in, or to checkdown on coverage (the second INT, IIRC, was Martinez telegraphing that pass to that particular receiver, when a check down to his second receiver would had netted him a wide-open first down). It's almost like we have a fast Tony Romo under center--while Romo doesn't have leg speed or can scramble like Martinez, Romo tends to forget what's going on, checks out on plays, doesn't bother to check down on receivers while games are going on. Did Beck get greedy--yes, but then again, he was thinking what most Nebraska fans were thinking at that point--we can go into halftime with momentum if we grab a TD. I don't fault Beck for the passing plays--I fault Martinez for forcing the issue and gambling the ball away, as I sincerely doubt Beck was telling Martinez to not check off on his WRs, don't bother reading the defense, and just chuck the ball downfield into double coverage. Frankly, I'd rather we go with someone more fundamentally sound, like Carnes, who may be a tad slower but can utilize our WRs effectively, than Martinez, who can't accurately hit a moving target beyond 10 yards from the LOS, if that, let alone hit said target in stride. I'm done with Martinez--sure, let's start him for Ohio State, but when we get a decent lead on them, we put Carnes in for at least 15 min of play, and we start working our way up from that with the next games (Minnesota, Michigan State). While I would love to be wrong in all of this (I really, really would, as I love the thought of a return to our 80s/90s option attack as a primary focus), it's just not the reality of the situation. The reality is that we're not using our talent effectively on offense, and we have a crap secondary (save for Fonz) that is impacting our defense as whole. With Martinez, we're ultimately going to drop another game to someone we shouldn't (likely Iowa, Michigan, and/or Michigan State), and I think we've already seen the ceiling for what Martinez can bring to our team. So why not run out Carnes for part of tOSU and Minnesota?

Woody, as much as you may like him, Urban Meyer isn't the panacea for what plagues Columbus. You don't need someone that has been tainted by both the SEC and ESPN--I'd recommend someone like Gary Pinkel, Pat Hill, Dan Mullen, or Mark Richt.

Whoa! Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater... We have plenty of kids 'worth their salt'--our WR corps are young, but are hungry and put excellent effort into what they did last night. Our RBs did a good job last night as well, especially Rex. I wasn't too impressed with ARod, but our O-Line did as well as could be expected when we were producing zero passing threat and Wisky was putting 7 or 8 into the box. Ben Cotton and Co were actually open a lot, but Martinez never looks their way--IIRC, one of them was open for a first down on that first INT Martinez threw, but since he locks onto a receiver and is read as easily as a picture book by opposing defenses, it's a moot point--they may as well been on the bench. As for defense, our D-Line, David, and Fonz are great--but our other LBs in pass coverage and our secondary leave a lot to be desired. I dare say, the rest of our secondary looks like it's playing straight out of the "Kevin Cosgrove Pass Coverage for Success" book. And our special teams were great, save for the lone missed field goal. Our starting field position average, I would wager, was around the 37 yard line.

Can you translate for me? Here's what he deleted "@YoungDuece_2: My bro fonzo is a beast the rest is ass str8 up" Translation, Dennard is great, the others suck in Antonio's opinion. Yeah, that's about right. Doesn't mean it should have been tweeted, but it *is* an accurate statement of the secondary for the night.

Not really feeling it. Sorry.

Yes, Haspula, I do believe the AP will tell us Nebraska smells pretty 'rank' right now.

I'm not sure coverage matters when they can run the ball down our throat all night long. The second half was basically 7 yard rush followed by a 5 yard rush, over and over again. There are bigger problems on defense than a young and inexperienced secondary. Part of this, if I understand the defensive scheme correctly, is that our D-Line requires a competent secondary that can go M2M before our D-Line and LBs will start attacking instead of the current read/react we have going on now. Since we don't have a competent secondary, our LBs and D-Line are playing with one hand tied behind their back, so to speak. Once we have the secondary fixed, the sacks will come, and so will an attacking D. Problem is, can our current secondary coach find and fix the problem? I'm not so sure...

GI56, I respectfully disagree. The playcalling was, IMO, what we needed to win--we were having to pass to set up the run, which is not unusual considering Wisky stacked the box early and often. When Martinez made pass plays, they backed off, we rushed the ball, we put points on the board. If anything, Wisky did a good job of disguising coverages, confusing a half-functioning, half-aware (IMO only) Martinez, and our plan from the first half fed them three INTs in a row because we insist on running a QB out there that can't throw the ball beyond 15 yards with consistency. I'll stand behind Beck's playcalling--he's been able to breathe life into what was a moribund and incompetent offense, complete with playmakers at the WR positions--something we thought was gone when we ****canned Callahan and Co. But if we don't have a QB that can get them the ball, then what's the point of having excellent WRs?

1) Our defensive line and linebackers don't trust the secondary, nor should they--Fonz is the only man in the secondary that can cover his jock strap, let alone a receiver. 2) Our play-calling was exactly what it needed to be to succeed--Wisconsin loaded up to stop the run, we had single coverage, we *had* to pass to set up the run. This was borne out by our early successful efforts moving the ball--we were able to pass competently, so they backed off, and the run was there. 3) We don't have a QB that can consistently pass. We've only had one game where he actually exuded competence, and that was a shoot-out with Okie Lite. 4) We need to examine alternatives at QB. Injuries weren't the only reason we went with other starting QBs last year. 5. We *really* miss Marvin Sanders. Our errors were because of breakdowns due to a lack of basic fundamentals, such as turning your head to find the ball, keeping your eye on the receiver you're supposed to cover, and to follow the ball when playing a team that employs a lot of misdirection. Even our n00b secondary players in 08, 09, and 10 had these basics--sure, there were breakdowns, but nothing so blatant and to this extent (well...save for Missouri, I suppose). This comes from quality coaching, or a lack thereof. 6. If Bo doesn't get **** fixed in a hurry, the teams that we're going to have the most problems with are, in order of most to least significance, are Michigan, Northwestern (provided Persa is healthy), and Iowa. We should not have any problems with Penn State, Minnesota, Ohio State, or Michigan State. So, it looks like those 6-2 estimates for conference play may not be far off after all...