Ohio State Ranked 6th in College WR Schools

Yesterday I posted about a story highlighting the top RB schools of all time.  Today Pete & Richard followed up that article with the top WR schools of all time which include 6 Big Ten schools out of 20 with 4 of those being in the top 10.  Michigan ranks #1 according to them with the Buckeyes coming in at #6.  Here’s the excerpt regarding the Buckeyes:

There was a time when Ohio State was a pure power running program with Woody Hayes more likely to wear maize and blue than to throw a forward pass. That was a long time ago. Ohio State has cranked out some of the best receivers in college football over the past 30 years with top pro prospects, All-Americans, and a Biletnikoff winner in Terry Glenn. It’s not like the Buckeyes have had a who’s who of all-star quarterbacks until recently; the receivers have simply been that good. How good is this group? Ted Ginn, Santonio Holmes, Michael Jenkins, and Chris Gamble aren’t in the top five.

Ohio State’s fab five …

1. Cris Carter – Carter showed off the hands that would make him an all-time NFL great making highlight reel grabs the norm. He caught 164 passes for 2,725 yards and 27 touchdowns and set a then-Rose Bowl record in 1985 with nine catches for 172 yards and was an All-American in 1986.
2. David Boston – Boston left school after rewriting most of the Buckeye record book catching 191 passes for 2,855 yards and 35 touchdowns highlighted by the game-winning touchdown catch in 1997 Rose Bowl over Arizona State. He was unstoppable even when he was the focus of everyone’s defensive scheme.
3. Terry Glenn – Glenn caught 15 passes for 266 yards and no touchdowns in his first two years in Columbus. And then he blew up with a Biletnikoff Award-winning 1995 season catching 64 passes for 1,411 yards and 17 touchdowns averaging 22.1 yards per grab.
4. Joey Galloway – An All-Big Ten performer on the field and in the classroom in 1993, Galloway used his otherworldly speed to be one of the premier deep threats in college football. He caught 64 career passes for 1,225 yards and 19 touchdowns.
5. Doug Donley – The team’s leading receiver from 1978 through 1980, Donley was a deep receiver averaging 21.2 yards per catch to finish his career on top of the OSU receiving charts with 2,252 yards on 106 catches with 16 touchdowns. Santonio Holmes could be here, but Donley did more in an offense that didn’t throw.

Check out their in-depth top 20 over at Scout.com

Celebrating Thanksgiving with YouTubes

Since I’m kind of bored this Thanksgiving day, with nothing really to do nor any work projects that need my attention, I thought I’d upload another Michigan-related Drive-Thru compilation.  It came down to 1970, 1974, 1987 or 1994.  The first three constitute much more interesting games in the series, but the 1994 game was easier to compile.  So, to celebrate Thanskgiving, I’ve uploaded John Cooper’s first… and sadly penultimate… win over Michigan in 1994.

This game was something of a career make-or-break game for Cooper.  He had received an extension after the 1992 tie, much to the chagrin of several Buckeye fans.  While his 1993 season marked a significant improvement over his previous years at the helm of the Buckeyes, the season ended in a shutout loss at Michigan and a very bleeh win over a 6 win Brigham Young team in the Holiday Bowl.  To make matters worse, the 1994 season was something of a painful one.  The Buckeyes lost early to Washington in Seattle, again lost to Illinois in a second-half collapse in the Horseshoe and, the coup de grace, were routed by Penn State 63-14 in Happy Valley.  Another loss to Michigan would put Cooper’s record against the Wolvereenies at 0-6-1 and make his already hot seat one hot enough for him to spontaneously combust.

The Game started off well enough for the Buckeyes.  They kicked off to Michigan, who drove about 60 yards through the strength of Tyrone Wheatley.  However, they found themselves in a 4th and Inches situation at the fringe of the Buckeyes red zone.  Instead of taking 3 points, Moeller opted to go for it with a pass to the fullback in the flats.  It backfired, giving Ohio State the ball on the turnover on downs.  However, it didn’t take long for an Eddie George fumble to give Michigan the ball back in great field position.  Before his Heisman season in 1995, fumbles were a chronic problem for Eddie George.  Combine his fumble-itis with some of the impatience you can see in his earlier games and you can imagine why the coaching staff, at the time, honestly thought Pepe Pearson would be their tailback for the future (that is: 1995).

Michigan’s offense, in spite of the great field position given to them, went backwards 34 yards.  On 3rd and 44, Michigan went with the draw for a short gain and punted back to Ohio State’s offense.  Ohio State’s offense, a very anemic unit in 1994 in spite of the brilliance of future Pro-Bowler Korey Stringer and professional mainstay Joey Galloway, stalled, setting up a punt.  However, the Scott Terna punt that followed was a gamechanger.  Amani Toomer, Michigan’s punt returner, made a curious decision not to field the ball with a fair catch¹.  Ohio State’s punt team eventually downed the ball within the Michigan 2 yard line.  A few plays later, Todd Collins, Michigan’s QB, tripped over himself in the end zone for a safety.  This safety marks the first real appearance of the LOLverines for this game.  Later in the second half, they would show up in full force to give the game to the Buckeyes.

The kickoff following the safety gave Ohio State a short field.  It didn’t take that long for Ohio State to capitalize.  After marching deep into the Michigan red zone, Bobby Hoying ran a poorly executed bootleg keeper into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game.  The Buckeyes had taken a 9-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Bill Young, pictured to the left, had held Michigan in check through the first half.  After Michigan’s ensuing drive went nowhere, the Buckeyes received the ball back.  On this drive, the Buckeyes found themselves in that gray area between punting and going for it on 4th down.  With the down and distance 4th and 5, Hoying connected with Joey Galloway to extend the chains.  However, on 3rd and goal later in that drive, Hoying overshot a wide-open Galloway in the end zone.  The Buckeyes settled for a field goal and a 12-0 lead.

Michigan’s ensuing drive was cause for consternation for the Buckeye faithful.  It had seemed that Michigan’s offensive coordinator had finally found something he liked in Bill Young’s defensive schemes.  A bootleg fake-stretch play to Tyrone Wheatley freed up Amani Toomer deep down field for an enormous gain early into the drive.  With it, Michigan had moved from their own 30 yard line to the Ohio State 11 yard line.  Fortunately, Bill Young’s unit held, forcing Michigan to settle for a field goal to cut into the deficit.  The 12-3 scoreline eventually carried over into the intermission.  Ohio State led by virtue of the game-changing punt by Terna and the safety gift by Todd Collins.  Failing that, they were outplayed in most statistical areas in spite of the brilliant play from the defense.

The third quarter was a nailbiting affair for Ohio State fans.  The Buckeyes began with the ball, but went 3 and out.  The would continue to go 3 and out for the remainder of the quarter.  Michigan, on the other hand, racked up 94 yards of offense in the quarter to Ohio State’s 10 total yards.  While Michigan continued to dominate possession, Ohio State’s offense couldn’t muster a first down.  Michigan’s first drive of the second half resulted in a field goal to halve the Buckeye lead.  Michigan’s next offensive series after that played out just like the first of the half.  With the clock rolling over into the final quarter of play, Michigan had the ball, the momentum, and were looking to take the lead.

However, Michigan’s offense did sputter again, setting up another field goal try for the Wolvereenies.  With momentum clearly on Michigan’s side, Marlon Kerner — special teams superhero for the Buckeyes — made the play of the game.  A high snap by the LOLverines on the try was all the delay Kerner needed to spike the ball and spike it backwards.  Mike Vrabel was in pursuit of the live ball, hoping for a scoop and score.  Vrabel, however, was not able to come up with it, but Kerner’s authoritative block not only denied Michigan 3 points, and not only turned momentum back to the Buckeyes, but also flipped field position.  Ohio State’s offense now had the ball within the Michigan half of the field.  They made good on Kerner’s efforts as only that 1994 offense could: by getting at least 3 points out of it.  Ohio State now had a 15-6 lead with about 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter, good enough to extend their lead back to a two-score cushion.

The LOLverines now woke up.  On the first play from scrimmage after the kickoff, Todd Collins found the waiting arms of the pass rush by Luke Fickell, the consensus scariest dude currently on the Buckeye coaching staff, who tipped the Collins pass to himself for the interception.  Unlike the last gamechanging play by Kerner, the Buckeye offense plowed ahead with Eddie George, then an impatient banger between tackles, for a touchdown.  The score was now 22-6, with about 10 minutes left.

Michigan’s next drive went a long way in making that the final score of the game.  Michigan’s offense took what the Buckeye defense gave them, eventually getting into the Buckeye red zone.  However, the LOLverine offense went backwards after that.  As you’ll see, on a 3rd and 23 play, Michigan’s left tackle flinched while a Michigan receiver was in motion, upending him.  As it turned out, the left tackle was flagged for a false start, and not an unnecessary roughness penalty against his own teammate.  3rd and 23 became 3rd and 28.  3rd and 28 became 4th and 28.  4th and 28 became a turnover on downs.  With about 5 minutes left, the Buckeyes were feeling it.

Ohio State ran out the next 4 minutes, exhausting Michigan’s timeouts in the process.  Michigan was set to get the ball back with about one minute and 30 seconds left, down 16 points, but the LOLverine special teams roughed the punter.  Now, the Buckeye offense could ice the game away, celebrate their first victory over Michigan in Columbus in 10 years (sigh…), and prepare to face the loser of the SEC Championship game in the Citrus Bowl.  That happened to be Alabama that year, and, sadly, I think you know what happened.  Fucking Jay Barker².

Still, for all the static John Cooper got at Ohio State, it was rewarding to see him feel so relieved after this game.  He deserved the free ride he got as time expired; it’s just unfortunate he couldn’t beat them more often.

Two other things of note about this game:

• First, it was Gary Moeller’s first loss in November as head coach at Michigan.  He was undefeated in November for 5 years to that point.
• Second, Ohio State set a team record for sacks this game, breaking a mark set in 1991.  Musburger and Vermeil didn’t say how much the Buckeyes tallied in this game.  However, the Buckeye pass rush was excellent this game.

Without any further ado, the game can be seen below.

1. He would eventually repeat this later in the game.
2. He does campus promotions all the time at the University of Alabama, maybe I should make time to find him and demand an apology for that game.

Go to Source

The Roots of Ohio State’s Problems, Part Seven: "Tresselball"

A few days ago, I turned into the Incredible Hulk via print and blasted Ohio State’s offensive performance against the Nittany Lions this past Saturday. Today we’ll continue our multi-series look at problems facing Ohio State, turning our attention to what has been so warmly coined “Tresselball.”

I apologize if some of the thoughts correlate with that previous article, but I’m going to try to dive a little deeper into solutions today rather than angry criticism.

I don’t know about you, Buckeye fan, but I’m almost tired of turning on Ohio State football now. Maybe I’m alone in this—maybe I’m not “a true fan” for saying this out loud—but watching Buckeye football these days is almost a chore.

Of course I watch, because this is the team I grew up watching as a little kid, and deep…DEEP down, I love this team. But by god, if I don’t hate the way this team plays football.

And save it, everyone who wants to hate on this article, because I’ve already heard it a million times…”This is the golden age of Ohio State football”; “Ohio State’s record is blah blah blah and five in the past blah blah years”; “Stop complaining! We’re winning”…and so on, and so on…

I’m not going to stop complaining, because the recruiting prior to 2008 was mediocre, the defensive schemes have been softer than your favorite ice cream, and this “offense” has been, other than 2006, absolutely, positively unwatchable.

This is THE Ohio State University, home of six Heisman Trophy winners, rich tradition, second to none facilities, and some of the best, most passionate, and knowledgeable fans around—and we deserve better than the product that is being put on the field.

The offense we’ve seen ever since Jim Tressel has taken hold of this program is an offense that isn’t built to win football games—it’s built NOT TO LOSE THEM. “Tresselball” is built on running the football, managing, and dominating the clock…minimizing risk.

Well, I’ve got a newsflash for the Ohio State coaching staff. Risk leads to reward, and sometimes you have to risk things to make things happen, because right now, it isn’t happening for this offense. The Buckeyes have been shut out of the end zone offensively in three games this year!

Someone needs to alert this staff that they are coaching at Ohio State and not Omaha State. Ohio State routinely recruits better athletes even in an AVERAGE recruiting class than probably 90 percent of the rest of the country. The athletes are there to make some plays for you as an offense…but to look at these numbers, you’d never know it.

Total Offense and Scoring Offense from 2003 to this year…

Total Offense                 Scoring Offense

2003 93rd (332 ypg)                 74th (25 ppg)

2004 98th (320 ypg)                 71st (24 ppg)

2005 32nd (422 ypg)                 26th (33 ppg)

2006 26th (384 ypg)                  8th (35 ppg)

2007 62nd (393 ypg)                 31st (31 ppg)

This season 85th (372 ypg)                 67th (25 ppg)

My questions to Jim Tressel would be, when are you going to trust your athletes to go out and make plays for you? When are you going to start mixing up your play calls? Maybe the best question of all would be, when are the people who sit at home NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO CALL PLAYS FROM THEIR COUCHES?

Guess what, Mr. Tressel: If Joe Schmo the plumber can figure out what offensive plays you’re going to call, I’m pretty sure Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, and Bob Stoops are gonna have a hint too.

Do you honestly think other top college programs and head coaches aren’t aware of those numbers above as well? Do you honestly think they don’t use these numbers and the philosophy against the Buckeyes in trying to pull in the best of the best in offensive talent?

I know for a fact that it cost us Fred Davis and Dwayne Jarrett right off the top of my head. Cordale Scott was the most recent that I could think of that chose Illinois over the home state Buckeyes because the Illini offense was viewed as more “dynamic.”

Look no further than the lack of talent in the upperclassmen at the wide receiver position to see that “Tresselball” has hurt recruiting. To put it in perspective, this is the alma mater of David Boston, Terry Glenn, Joey Galloway, Cris Carter, Demetrius Stanley, Dee Miller, Michael Jenkins…great wide receivers.

No offense to Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline, but can you think of a weaker WR tandem than this combination at Ohio State in recent memory? Ohio State or not, wide receivers are cocky playmakers, and they want to go where they know they are gonna touch the football and get into the end zone.

Ohio State’s offense is known as a safe ground attack across the country.

“Tresselball” works when you are playing marginal, inferior competition and talent. You can throw your talent out on the field and win with better players.

But when you step up to play the best, you’d better have the offensive athletes to stretch the field, you’d better be prepared to trust the athletes you have to make plays, you’d better be prepared to open the coaching vault up and play call for the opposing coach’s jugular, and you had better be prepared to take chances and risks to GO OUT AND WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME…TAKE THE GAME!

“Tresselball” hasn’t done any of those things, and it’s gotten hammered every time it counts since the 2002 National Championship.

What can Ohio State do to remedy this? Easy…like it or not, Jim Tressel needs to find a young, bright offensive mind from OUTSIDE the program. A young coordinator that will bring in new ideas and philosophies to this coaching staff. A coordinator who will use the Ohio State offensive coordinator position to ADVANCE to a head coaching position somewhere else!

That’s right—coaching turnover within a coaching regime means that you have the best young minds in college coaching on your staff, your program is winning, and other programs want these young coaches for their program.

Florida has that, USC does too, and Texas as well. All of these schools not only have head coaches, but assistants who are young, hungry, and learning everything they can to advance in their profession.

Jim Tressel needs to find this individual that he meshes with and feels can grow that working relationship with—a coordinator that he can learn to trust to focus entirely upon the offense, focus on game planning and game calling, and who is also a good recruiter.

Hopefully taking this step will open this offense back up and improve the recruiting at the wide receiver and quarterback positions on a more consistent basis, though I do give the Buckeyes kudos for the haul of wide receivers they’ve gotten the last two years now—and of course, Terrelle Pryor is Terrelle Pryor.

But this momentum in recruiting needs to continue. Remember that it’s not always the talent that you bring in, but how you use the talent.

I hope that a new coordinator with a new scheme will open up aspects that have been lost on “Tresselball” for seemingly years now. Maybe use the tight end in the passing game, instead of strictly as a glorified offensive tackle? How about a quick slant to the wide receivers? Or even pass routes that cross the middle of the field?

I’ve even been told before that you can put offensive personnel in motion prior to the snap to try to create confusion for a defense and even personnel mismatches in coverage!

All this said, there must be changes THIS offseason. I know Jim Tressel is a proud man, I know he is a good coach, and he is a good man. But the philosophy isn’t working, and the stats I gave you above show as much. This philosophy has affected recruiting certain talent to Ohio State.

This team and these fans deserve to risk for victory, rather than to safely go down in defeat. As the cliché goes, “If you’re going to go down, go down swinging.” You’ve recruited better the last two years, there is more talent forming around this offense…open the playbook, trust your talent, and go down swinging.

As always, thanks for reading…please pass the word on this series and feel free to discuss and leave comments.

Go to Source

Buckeye NFLer of the Week: 8

A career day for the former Tarblooder.

It was an exciting week in the NFL for the former Buckeyes, as a couple of players returned from injuries and Antonio Pittman saw his first extended action of the season.

Although his stats weren’t stellar, Joey Galloway returned from his foot injury to catch …
Go to Source

Ohio State’s Monster.com Posting: "Will Pay Top Euro for Offensive Coordinator!"

I’m sick…physically ill. If I have to watch the 2008 edition of the Ohio State offense again, I might just vomit all over the computer screen and then hit send, and that will be my article for next week.

WHEW! That felt good to get off my chest. Almost like a good ol’ verbal teaspoon of Pepto-Bismol for the tummy. As a matter of fact, it felt so good, I think I’m gonna drink myself a whole verbal bottle full…

Explain to me, the “common man,” who doesn’t know the true intellect of football, how you can go count ‘em…one…two…three college football games during a singular season without scoring an offensive touchdown?!?!

Better yet, explain to me, the “ignorant fan,” the following numbers out of 120 Division I college football teams…

- 95th in the NCAA in passing offense

- 24th in the NCAA in rushing offense (mind you, this is what Ohio State does AT LEAST 75 percent of the time)

- 67th in the NCAA in scoring offense

- 95th in the NCAA in total offense

- 41st in the NCAA in third down efficiency

- 99th in the country in sacks allowed

Now for the greatest riddle of all: If an offense can’t throw the football, can’t convert third downs, and can’t protect the quarterback…how does it score???

Ah…but it’s a trick question, because if you are THE Ohio State University, you don’t know what the end zone is unless you are the defense and special teams! Because it’s become perfectly clear that this offense can’t find it.

Jim Bollman should be fired IMMEDIATELY…IMMEDIATELY. And they should scour the country to find an assistant coach to try to teach this offensive line how to friggin’ block!

Chris Wells, your preseason All-American tailback, your workhorse…22 carries, 55 yards for a grand whopping total of 2.5 yards per carry! The offensive line got no push, there were no holes, no cutback lanes, nothing…

Alex Boone (6′8″, 316), Bryant Browning (6′4″, 312), Ben Person (6′4″, 323), Steve Rehring (6′7″, 335), Jim Cordle (6′4″, 300), Michael Brewster (6′5″, 295)…Not one player under 295, and you’re gonna try and tell me that you can’t make a hole?

This isn’t just about Penn State: it’s about Ohio, Troy, and USC too. The only thing consistent about this unit all year has been its inconsistencies. When Michael Brewster, a true freshman, is your best offensive lineman among four-year starters and multi-year starting seniors…there is a big problem.

And don’t tell me that the reason OSU can’t run the football is because the Buckeyes aren’t a threat to throw the ball deep. It’s garbage.

Navy leads the nation in rushing annually, and everyone from the opposing head coach to Lil’ Tommy the 10-year-old popcorn vendor in section 146 ZZZ knows it’s coming. But the Naval Academy offensive line, (which by the way, probably AVERAGES about 275 pounds per lineman), are tough, hard-nosed, and disciplined. They know their assignments and they execute them, and they carry out their game plan.

Oh…game plan? Almost forgot! Leads me to my next dose of Pepto…

An offensive coordinator for Ohio State…I think the time has come for the alumni association, the board of trustees, and the fanbase to rise up together and DEMAND one. And NO…I don’t mean a “co-offensive coordinator” like Jim Bollman claims to be. And NO…I don’t mean bringing in some coordinator who is a puppeteer for Jim Tressel.

I’m talking a full-blown, independent, young, energetic, filled with new ideas, offensive coordinator that Jim Tressel can have a good working relationship with.

Because I, along with the rest of BuckeyeNation, am sick to death of an offense that used to have explosive weapons all over the field (Terry Glenn, Eddie George, David Boston, Joey Galloway, Teddy Ginn, Rickey Dudley, Maurice Clarett etc….etc….etc….) and has potential now with DeVier Posey, Lamaar Thomas, Terrelle Pryor, Chris Wells, Brian Robiskie etc….being wasted in the philosophy of “Tresselball.”

This is an offense where our offensive coordinator thinks the most important play in football is the punt! Wrong, Mr. Tressel: The most important play in football is the play that gets you first downs, moves the damn chains, and gets you into the end zone! That’s the most important play in football!

I know I’m angry right now. I also know that this isn’t a nonsensical rant. These are well thought-out sentiments that are being expressed with the hint of “Tresselballitis” that is rumbling from the pit of my stomach.

It may not seem like it from this article, but I’m an Ohio State fan and a Jim Tressel fan. I think he is an excellent leader of young men. I think he is centered as an individual, wise, and offers a great father figure to the players. But I think we are coming to some dead ends as a program.

I’ve been told on many occasions by people “in the know” that Jim Tressel won’t give up play calling duties. Well, I think it’s time for the people above him to make him do just that. If Jim Tressel can’t understand that, is he really still right for this program any more?

A coach has to be willing to adapt. A coach has to be willing to change. If you can’t do that, you risk your program becoming stale. Yes, Ohio State is Jim Tressel’s football program, but he still answers to alumni, to board members, and to you, the fan—and it’s about time we start demanding some change.

There is absolutely no reason this team should be as inept as they are offensively. None…N-O! N-E!…zero, zilch, nada…This team has talent across the board to get inventive, creative, and become explosive.

Ohio State has the talent offensively to be just as prolific as the Texas Techs, Missouris, Oklahoma States, Oregons and Illinois of the world. None of them have “recruited” to the level of Ohio State, so why are they outperforming us?!?!?

Bottom line, stop wasting this team’s offensive talent. Fire Bollman, who can’t motivate this offensive line to block, and open up the world’s largest athletic department budget to hire an offensive coordinator that can help find an offense that, excluding ‘06-’07, has been absent for the past 10 years.

Hell, at least get us into the Top 50 in most offensive categories (I know we’re not like Ohio State or anything). Let’s see what we can do…if that isn’t asking too much.

Go to Source