This Year With Our Buckeyes

Well Buckeye Fans, I am back. To be honest I missed posting but had to do so because I could not balance graduate school with writing about my love of Ohio State football. Enough of that though, let us talk about what we/I expect coming into the season. 

Well last season was mediocre because there were too many people trying to make one play every single play and we spit and sputtered all season. It came to a crash against Clemson. I think that some pieces fell into place when Luke went to Cincy, Warriner went to another Big Ten School, and we brought in Kevin Wilson and another QB coach. 

What I hope takes place this year is we take more chances down the field, but that is predicated on development of wide receivers and offensive line protection. I have hope that this new QB coach and wide receiver coach are working on timing. Timing is when the QB throws the ball in relation to where the wide receivers are down the field. Timing is important because that gives the offensive line and blockers a set amount of time to block. The longer the QB has the ball, the longer blockers must block and can end up in holding penalties, etc. 

Before I do get to season expectations I think it is important to say that there is irony in playing the last team of your offensive coordinator, but I don't think that will have an outcome on the game. Now for expectations......

I hope that Urban allows the receivers to stretch their legs this year..... There is not one team we will play either regular season or post that will respect us if we don't have a down field passing game. Devin Smith was that guy for a long time, but we've had no one since. We will not get respect until we have someone who can stretch the field. Stretching the field enables everything else. 

The first couple years of Tom Herman was met with mediocrity. We did not do anything down the field until the 2014-2015 season and look what happened, a National Championship. I am not expecting record breaking throwing yards nor offensive performances because the team needs time to gel and that takes time. I think the Buckeyes will struggle through the first three games, than get better and better as the season goes on. I am hoping for a return to Indianapolis because I think it's pitiful to only have one Big Ten Championship since Urban came here.

I think that we go undefeated this year and win the Championship because I think Urban understands that we need to play freely to win. Playing freely means we don't play percentages, we take chances and mold game plans to team weakness. I think that JT needs to be able to run when needed, instead of staying behind the line of scrimmage because we supposedly have so many weapons. Defenses will send blitzes if they know JT will stay in the pocket. 

Just to cut this short, this season has the feeling of the 2002 season where most of our wins were close before we went and beat Miami for the title. 

Cardale is Our Man

Urban chose Cardale for a reason. I think Cardale is the right QB because he's got an arm that kills secondaries, he's tough to bring down, and his arm creates a great running. JT set Cardale up for success, Cardale set himself up for success by playing the way he did. 

During Cardales play last year he threw the ball as far as he could and the receivers ran underneath and caught the ball, often times running past the secondary. Last year it was Devin Smith but this year it's Mashall, Wilson, Smith, and Miller along with other receivers we don't know about. We have the WRs that can run for days and Cardale has the arm to make the journey. 

Cardale weighs 250 lb and is 6' 5" and is extremely hard to bring down. He may not be shifty but he can bull doze any defensive linemen. Last year during Alabama and Oregon, Cardale ran over seasoned and NFL lineman without batting an eye. 

Cardale became successful because he trusted his wide receivers. Cardale threw the ball down the field and his receivers caught them all. Because of that, defenses could not stack the line of scrimmage with anything more than linebackers and defensive lineman causing Elliot to run through holes and down teams throats.

I believe Cardales issue is trust. He doesn't trust his receivers. I don't think Braxton, Jalin, or Wilson should ever be a Wildcat this season. When anyone of these guys take the snap they know what the play is and they crowd the line of scrimmage. We win games by letting these guys run down the field and get open. We showed last year that was half of our success, the other half was Elliott. We desimated Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oregon without doing a lot of trick plays. We need to return to that.