College Football News

Lots going on around the world of college football, with August mere days away.

• Michigan's Justin Feagin has been dismissed from the team for violating team rules. MGoBrian's take.
• Despite the departures from Ann Arbor, Rittenberg reports that there is still trust in the UM staff.
• Much ado about nothing. Spurrier's assistant botched the All-SEC team vote. Don't worry, everyone loves Tebow. The questions are: (1) should we even care, and (2) whether NCAA coaches should have the authority to vote on anything. (My answers: no, and no.. but how long did it take you to pick up on #2?). NYT's Quad takes a look at similar issues, as does CBS's Dennis Dodd.
• Dr. Saturday also showed us the most awkward thing I've ever seen. Tressel: ultimate jet setter! (Iraq content)
• From Bob Baptist: OSU off Adreian Payne's list; Matta offer's Cincinnati's Griffin McKenzie.
• Robotman Phil Steele takes a look at college football's most experienced teams in 2009.
• Rittenberg with all your Big Ten Media Day needs.

Have a good Monday.

Big Ten Media Day; Bucks Picked to Win; Pryor is Offensive POY

(Chicago, IL) From Big Ten Media day in Chicago, it is now being reported that Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State's Sophomore Quarterback, has been picked as the Big Ten's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Due to the bias toward known and proven entities in such preseason awards, it is notable that Penn State's Senior signal-caller Darryl Clark did not get the nod over Pyror. The marked improvement Pryor showed in the spring, throwing the ball in particular, has clearly heightened expectations. Whether this honor is a pat on the back of Pryor or simply an acknowledgement that the rest of the league is garbage is yet to be determined. Also, Michigan State's Greg Jones was given the nod for Defensive Player of the Year.

The Buckeyes were also picked to win the league. Not entirely surprising, as the general consensus is that it's between Ohio St. and the Nittany Lions of Penn St. While we all know these preseason awards and honors are completely meaningless, there will be some minor outrage from State College.

(photo courtesy of IGN)

UPDATE: Minor outrage (via @elevenwarriors)

This Blog Still Exists

This is the part where I return to the internet, head hanging in shame. I am ashamed that I failed to make it all the way through the first game. I will this year. I will not allow my legal education to get in the way of dedicated blogging any longer. That being said, here are things that I have in the works for this preseason.

1. Full Ohio State Position Previews. And I do mean full position previews. Every position, every player, all the way down the depth chart. Projections, potential surprises, depth charts, etc.
2. Full Season Preview. Every opponent will be given at least a cursory glance. This is something 11W has already been working on wonderfully, and I cannot hope to duplicate their success.
3. News. Ohio State and Big Ten stories as they break.
4. Twitter. Follow us at http://twitter.com/southstandsblog .. Links to good articles all over the College Football internet universe to be posted, good tweets retweeted, and not to mention the occasional link to one of our own pieces.
5. Anything else that comes to mind.

By the way, it has been 2067 days since Michigan last beat Ohio State on the gridiron.

Go Bucks!

Beanie's a no-go

According to Ken Gordon's Buckeye blog at the Dispatch, Beanie's out for Saturday.

like duh obv

Ohio State vs. Youngstown St. - Third Quarter Analysis

3rd Quarter

15:00 / - / - / Kickoff / -
Pettrey boots it to the 3. Rolle gets a hand on the returner, but to no avail. Lukens (+0.5) and Oliver (+0.5) bring them down.

14:54 / 1st & 10 / YSU 26 / Base 4-3 / 3 yd
PA boot, dumps it to TE in the flat. Tough to defend. Laurinaitis (+0.5), Freeman (+0.5), and Heyward (+0.5) make the play in the flat. Freeman looks like he got messed up at the bottom of the pile.

14:06 / 2nd & 7 / YSU 29 / Base Nickel / 9 yd
Interesting DL configuration with both the DTs sitting right in the A gaps, and the DE are both out wide over the D gap. YSU is in 5 wides, gets the playcall in the look-look. YSU runs a WR screen to the wide side. Homan (-0.5) gets blocked at the point of attack and can’t get a push upfield. Chekwa can’t stop the play, and Laurinaitis comes over late to stop the ball carrier.

13:40 / 1st & 10 / YSU 38 / 4-3 Under / 0 yd
YSU, lining up in the shotgun with a HB, a wing, a SE to the short side, and 2xWR to the wide side, motions the slot receiver to the other side of the QB. A quick draw is blown up by Freeman (+1) who runs down the play from behind. Big Ten speed.

13:02 / 2nd & 10 / YSU 38 / 3-3-5 / -5 yd
We’ve got the 3-3-5 again with Gibson in at the Leo. YSU lines up in the shotgun with 3 WR. They motion over the FL to the short side, and hand the ball off to him. Wilson (+2) does a fantastic job of reading the play and stays home. Larimore (-0.5) follows the ball and gets out of position. Not too bad, since it’s not the DT’s job to keep contain on the weak side. The ball carrier pitches it off for a reverse. Wilson doesn’t make the tackle, but he made the play. Freeman (+0.5) and Heyward (+0.5) clean it up. I’m going to take some time to go off. The BTN announcers (-8) called this play a double reverse. This is not a double reverse. There’s a difference between an end around and a reverse. The ball must be moving one direction before the exchange for it to constitute a “reverse.” So, the YSU offense only reversed the field once in this play.

12:11 / 3rd & 15 / YSU 33 / Base Nickel / -18 yd
Heacock dials up the ol zone blitz here, with Gibson at the DE spot (in a three-point stance.. no 3-3-5 this time). Freeman and Laurinaitis overload the right side of the OL. Wilson (+2) makes the YSU LG look ridiculous by just firing off into the gap, and getting into the backfield completely untouched. Rowan takes the simpleton’s approach to getting sacked by running backward 10 more yards. He almost got away, but there’s no way Wilson was going to let go of Rowan’s foot. A scary speed rush right there. That shows you how powerful Wilson’s first step can be with his long 6’7” frame. If an O-lineman is slow (looking at you Michigan), or hesitant and fails to get his feet in the right place to initiate contact in pass protection, there’s nothing left to do but pray there’s a RB back there to pick it up or that Wilson somehow fails to convert on the play.

11:31 / 4th & 33 / YSU 15 / Punt return
The YSU punt checks up at the OSU 44 and bounces out of bounds.

11:23 / 1st & 10 / OSU 44 / Pistol Left / 5 yd
So it took until the 2nd half to show the vaunted Pistol formation: the QB lines up in a short shotgun, with the TB 8 yards deep, and the FB lines up alongside the QB. The play is a HB screen of sorts. Wells (+1) releases into the flat, escorted by Browning (+0.5) clears out his man, while Person (-1) does everything he can to prevent Beanie from springing the play. I’m not sure whether he was supposed to release with Browning; if not, there’s just no way he could be in position to seal that LB. Either way, Beanie gets a nice gainer out of it.

10:48 / 2nd & 5 / OSU 49 / Shotgun 3 WR / 16 yd
The play is a HB trap to Wells (+2). Person (+1) perfectly executes the pull, opening up the whole. Ballard (+1) and Boone (+1) do a good job of blocking their men away from the play. Sanzenbacher (+1) cracks down hard and opens up 2/3 of the field for Beanie to break it outside. Small (+1) has his man locked up on the outside to give Beanie room to work. The safety makes the play well past the yellow stripe.

10:18 / 1st & 10 / YSU 35 / Ace 3 WR Twins Right / 2 yd
Boeckman (-2) drops, pumps right, and pulls it down for a short gain. Can’t really see what was going on up top (to the twins’ side), so we’ll neither presume it was a good or bad read. However, we’ve got to dock him points for putting the ball on the ground.

9:39 / 2nd & 8 / YSU 33 / Ace Wing 3 WR / 4 yd
Boeckman (+1) runs the PA fake and bootlegs out to the wide side where Sanzenbacher is running a sort of slant and drag route. The pass is completed, and Sanzenbacher gets absolutely drilled. Props for making the catch in the first place, not fumbling it, and popping right back up, albeit a bit cross-eyed. Props to Boeckman for delivering a strike on the run without squaring his shoulders or setting his feet. I know I’ve taken shots at his poor technique on other plays, but there are two differences: this time the boot was designed, and he actually made the play.

9:04 / 3rd & 4 / YSU 29 / Shotgun Split RB / -5 yd
False start on Small (-1). It looks pretty dumb on Small’s part, but you could see Boeckman do the leg lift twice, and with some urgency the 2nd time. Is this actually Cordle’s fault for not knowing the snap count or not being ready to snap the ball when called. Maybe a WR coach/ex-player or something could explain whether you read the QB’s foot, or the snap itself.

8:53 / 3rd & 9 / YSU 34 / Shotgun Split RB / 18 yd
Small (+1) redeems himself by running some sort of comeback route. Hard to see with the BTN’s narrow camera angles. Boeckman (+1) delivers a strike to convert 3rd & long.

8:28 / 1st & 10 / YSU 16 / Shot-Ginn Right / 8 yd
Transparent playcalling, but it worked. Boeckman (+0.5) tosses a quick screen to Small (+0.5) in the flat. He cuts it up, but can’t play off the good blocks thrown by Washington (+0.5) and Sanzenbacher (+0.5).

7:48 / 2nd & 2 / YSU 8 / I-form Double Tights / 6 yd
Iso left. Person (-0.5) pulls and blocks nothing, Rehring (+1) and Boone (+1) throw solid blocks on the play side, and Beanie (+1) fights his way for a good gain considering the defensive set. Hmmm I smell impending doom.

??? / 1st & Goal / YSU 2 / I-form Double Tight / TO
Fail. Down goes Beanie (-2). I don’t care how much it hurts, you’re a big boy and you can hold a football for 0.2 seconds while you collapse to the ground with a minor injury. Red zone blunders continue. Fate (-1).

??? / 1st & 10 / YSU 4 / Base 4-3 / -2 yd
Hey BTN (-235,439), don’t forget to put your graphics up every play! Abdallah (+1) blows up the HB draw for a loss. Moeller, Rose, Terry, and Rolle ready to clean up.

??? / 2nd & 12 / YSU 2 / 4-3 Under / 1 yd
Moeller is up on the line, and Hines is filling in the 3rd LB slot on the field. Moeller (+1) owns the run.

5:55 / 3rd & 11 / YSU 3 / Base Nickel / 7 yd
Quick timing route. Not much to be done there with Chekwa (-0.5) playing back.

5:10 / 4th & 4 / YSU 10 / Punt Return / -
The crappy FCS punt bounces dead. OSU ball.

5:00 / 1st & 10 / YSU 46 / Shotgun Split RB / 5 yd
Why is Boeckman still in? Quick draw by Herron (+0.5). Solid blocking in the middle by Person (+0.5) and Rehring (+0.5). Solid gainer.

4:28 / 2nd & 5 / YSU 41 / Ace Bunch Right / 4 yd
Boeckman (+1) fakes to Herron and Small on the end around. Not sure whether this was just a double fake sneak, or whether there’s some sort of read option that goes into this play. Either way, a 4 yard gain up the middle does the job.

3:51 / 3rd & 1 / YSU 37 / I-form Double Tight / 5 yd
Iso right. Rehring doesn’t do a lot in the hole, but he did get in the way and get a chip off. We’ll call it a push. Wilson (+1) takes two guys effectively out of the play, turning what could have been a big loss to a first down.

3:29 / 1st & 10 / YSU 32 / Shotgun Split Backs / 6 yd
Smith (+0.5) sneaks out into the flat, runs hard, and picks up some good yardage. Standard throw by Boeckman (+0.5)

2:51 / 2nd & 4 / YSU 26 / I-Form Twins Left / 0 yd
YSU overloaded with the blitz here. No need to analyze the blocking, since there were too many guys coming off the corner to prevent the OLB from getting to Herron early.

2:10 / 3rd & 3 / YSU 26 / Shotgun 5 WR / 26 yd
Posey (+2) runs a quick stop route, and Boeckman (+1) hits him right in the chest. Posey’s quick little juke dodges the overly aggressive tackling technique by the YSU defender. At that point, it’s just a sprint toward the end zone. Touchdown Bucks, PAT good, 33-0 Buckeyes.

2:00 / - / - / Kickoff / -
Pettrey knocks it to the 1. Sabino (-0.5) overpursues and misses the play. Lane (+0.5) ends up tripping up the returner.

OK, I need to go to bed. I’ll try to finish the game tomorrow. If not, then definitely Friday.

Ohio State vs. Youngstown St. - Second Quarter Analysis

Sorry that I'm not churning this out as fast as I'd like. I'm new at this, and not to mention I've been pretty busy with class and drinking the last few days.

2nd Q

0:08 left in 1Q, Pettrey squibs it to the 17, returned to the 33.

15:00 / 1st & 10 / YSU 33 / Base Nickel(?) / Turnover
YSU goes for a zone read option pass type of look. Homan blitzes the wide side, QB reads the blitz and keeps it. Looks downfield, sees nothing, Heyward (+0.5), Abdallah (+0.5) and Wilson (+2) are all on top of the QB before he gets to the LOS. Wilson forces a fumble, and after Hines (-0.5) botches the scoop, Laurinaitis (+1) comes up with the recovery. OSU football.

14:52 / 1st & 10 / YSU 34 / Ace Wing Left Twins Right / 25 yd
Bauserman pitches left to Wells (+2) on the wide side. Boone (+1), Cordle (+1), and Ballard (+1) fortify the point of attack, and Rehring (+1) gets to the 2nd level and locks up the backer. Smith (+1) cleans up the play-side corner, leaving a lot of fake grass in front of the runner. Beanie stumbles a bit just as he passes the first down marker, perhaps preventing the TD. Wells runs through one tackle before the safeties take good angles from the back side and gang tackle him inside the YSU 10.

14:25 / 1st & Goal / YSU 9 / I-form Double Tights / 3 yd
Isolation right. Pretty good blocking all around. The back-side LB (maybe a safety playing up) shows tremendous speed by zipping past Boone (-0.5) and getting Wells from behind. Could have been six had Boone gotten a good chip on that guy.

13:42 / 2nd & Goal / YSU 6 / Ace Wing Left Twins Right / -2 yd
Toss left. Boone (-1) gets toasted as his man disrupts the play in the backfield, preventing Wells to get back to the LOS. Ballard (-0.5) blocked nobody, Rehring (+0.5) took his guy out of the play, Person (-2) goes low and gets a face full of FieldTurf, and Cordle (-1) is slow to get to the 2nd level, missing his man. Result: loss of two, and four defenders who were in position to make the TFL. Let’s hope we see less of this versus Ohio U.

13:00 / 3rd & Goal / YSU 8 / Shotgun 3 WR / 0 yd
Cordle (+0.5) does a good job of picking up the blitz as Bauserman (+1) throws a perfect ball to Hartline on the fade route. Hartline can’t come down with it, but we won’t dock him points since (1) he ran a great route, and (2) he did a great job of dragging the toe and giving himself a chance, despite the drop. Buckeyes stall in the red zone again, and the FG crew trots out.

12:54 / 4th & Goal / YSU 8 / Field Goal / 18 yd
McQuaide (-0.5) puts the snap a bit off the mark, but Thoma (+1) gets it down and Pretorius (+1) knocks it through. 16-0 Buckeyes.

12:51 / - / - / Kickoff / -
Pettrey (+1) boots the kick deep for a touchback.

12:51 / 1st & 10 / YSU 20 / Base 4-3 / -1 yd
YSU motions over the slot receiver, and uses the HB as a lead blocker as they run a stretch play to the right. Jermale Hines (+2) takes on his own man, reaches around him, and makes the tackle in the backfield all by his lonesome. Great play. If he gets taken out of the play, there may have been a nice gain.

12:14 / 2nd & 11 / YSU 19 / Base Nickel / 5 yd
YSU lines up in the shotgun with 4 wides (trips left) and a HB. With 4 down linemen and only Laurinaitis behind them, Freeman out over a WR, Heacock sends Moeller on the blitz from the NB. The stunt call on the DL was just called at an inconvenient time, and the HB takes a hand off right up field before Moeller gets him. Rose (-0.5) and Abdallah (-0.5) crash left and fail to feel their way to the ball, leading to the decent gain.

11:30 / 3rd & 6 / YSU 24 / 3-3-5 / Penalty
YSU lines up with 4 WR trips left and OSU comes out showing the 3-3-5 look with Gibson at the Leo. Jenkins shows corner blitz, then YSU checks with the sideline for the playcall. YSU goes for the quick slant, Hines (-1) loses control of his body and basically tackles the WR before the ball gets there. Pass interference, and a first down.

11:25 / 1st & 10 / YSU 32 / Base Nickel / Penalty
False start on the offense.

11:25 / 1st & 15 / YSU 27 / Base Nickel / -6 yd
YSU comes out showing 5 wides, and OSU responds by rushing just four. The DTs cross, and Gibson (+1) just overpowers and out hustles an OL and a half, forcing his way into the pocket where he makes the play and tosses the QB to the ground for a sack. +1 for the defensive backfield, and Larimore (+0.5) gets props for coming with the pressure.

10:45 / 2nd & 21 / YSU 21 / 3-3-5 / 7 yd
OSU sends pressure, and YSU luckily had a HB slip screen called. Moeller (+1) was there on top of it at the LOS, but he was blocked in the back by the OL out there helping. Torrence (-0.5) has some trouble getting off a blocker at the point of attack. Freeman (+0.5) with good back-side pursuit to help stop the bleeding. Pretty ridiculous that #66 didn’t get flagged for absolutely drilling Moeller right in the middle of the back. (BTN’s clock is back!)

9:57 / 3rd & 14 / YSU 28 / Base Nickel / 7 yd
Pressure from Rose (+0.5) forces a quick throw, which is completed and leads to a tackle by Moeller (+0.5)

9:12 / 4th & 7 / YSU 35 / Punt Return / 11 yd
Good kick backs up small to the 20 yard line. As is his custom, he bounces around a little bit and makes a few people miss before ultimately doing nothing.

9:00 / 1st & 10 / OSU 31 / Shotgun 3 WR / 4 yd
Inside sort of trap to Wells (+0.5), who does a good job of dodging the DE who toasts Nicol (-1). DB ends up making the play. Usually a good sign.

8:23 / 2nd & 6 / OSU 35 / I-form Twins Right / 12 yd
Boeckman (+1) takes a three-step drop and delivers a near perfect ball to Hartline (+1) on a short out or drag type of route in the flat. Solid hands as usual, and nice YACs, getting the first down and more. Short passes like this will neutralize a blitz pretty well, especially when you have a QB/WR combo like Boeckman and Hartline; their privity and timing allows them to run stops, hooks, slants, quick outs, etc. in the dark.

8:17 / 1st & 10 / OSU 47 / Shotgun 3 WR / 0 yd
Boeckman (+0.5) gets all day to throw. Wells (+1) and Boone (+1) do a great job of picking up the blitzers and knocking them out of the play. Boeckman, taking his time, steps up and goes for Robiskie (-0.5). Yeah, tough catch blah blah blah, he should come down with that one more often than not. These underthrows still make me nervous. What happens when you have 6’4” manchild robot beast Taylor Mays back there playing CF. Robo can’t out-jump everybody on the planet. It’s probably six if Boeckman leads Robo to the middle of the field.

7:51 / 2nd & 10 / OSU 47 / I-form Right Twins Left / 9 yd
Solid protection, and Boeckman (+0.5) checks down to Ballard (+1) and delivers a pass slightly behind his man. Nice snag by Ballard though. Todd left some YACs on the field there.

7:11 / 3rd & 1 / YSU 44 / I-form Twin TE / 4 yd
Isolation right. Rehring (-0.5) gets lost in the hole and just chips in on Smith’s (+0.5) block. Beanie busts it outside and picks up the first and a few more.

6:42 / 1st & 10 / YSU 40 / Strong-I Twins Left / 6 yd
Rehring (-0.5) can’t keep his man out of Boeckman’s face, forcing him to step up into the pocket and deliver a very high throw to the tall Robiskie (+1) who comes down with it for a small gain. Boeckman did end up getting drilled on the play by a LB dropping out of coverage to apply pressure. Very good protection other than #71.

5:59 / 2nd & 4 / YSU 34 / Ace Right Twins Right / 1 yd
Boeckman (+1) sees nothing downfield, tucks it, and runs to the sideline for a short gain. Good decision. No stupid forced throws.

5:26 / 3rd & 3 / YSU 33 / Shotgun 3 WR / 0 yd
Boeckman (-1) takes a short drop and fires an incompletion into the heart of the coverage. Herron was wide open in the flat, and likely would have converted. Leaving more points on the field, and stalling in YSU territory for the 4th drive in a row. Yuck.

5:22 / 4th & 3 / YSU 33 / Field Goal / 50 yd
Good snap, hold, kick. Probably good from 60. Pretorius (+2) hits the 50 yarder and puts the Bucks up 19-0.

5:17 / - / - / Kickoff / -
Pettrey (+1) boots the touchback.

5:17 / 1st & 10 / YSU 20 / 3-3-5 / 3 yd
Inside run plus outside blitz equals Homan and Laurinaitis cleaning up in the middle for a short gain.

4:44 / 2nd & 7 / YSU 23 / 4-3 Under / 0 yd
YSU runs a Tebow-esque QB draw with lead blocking. Freeman (+1) blows it to smithereens.

3:54 / 3rd & 7 / YSU 23 / Base Nickel / 2 yd
Swing pass to the HB on the wide side. Homan beats two blockers to the ball, but misses the tackle (push). Denlinger (+0.5) is there on the play along with back up.

3:09 / 4th & 5 / YSU 25 / Punt Return / -
Small (+2) fields the 50 yd punt at the 25, sheds a few tacklers and cuts it up the left sideline. Hartline (+1), Moeller (+1), et al. Freeman (-2) with the stupid penalty (obv in hindsight… wouldn’t have scored either way). Either way, it’s nice to see that Ray Small is still the best punt returner in the country so long as there’s a flag on the field.

2:48 / 1st & 10 / YSU 45 / Shotgun Split RB / 0 yd
Boeckman (-1) goes for Smith in the flat, but doesn’t step into his throw and puts it at his feet. Got to hammer out these technique issues as a 2nd year starter.

2:42 / 2nd & 10 / YSU 45 / Shotgun 3 WR / 9 yd
Quick slant to Small (+0.5) from Boeckman (+0.5). A+ execution. No pass protection required for this quick route.

2:03 / 3rd & 1 / YSU 36 / I-form double tight / 2 yd
Iso right. Rehring (-0.5) doesn’t block anybody on the pull. Wells (+0.5) powers through the LOS to move the chains.

Screw you BTN / 1st & 10 / YSU 34 / Strong-I Right Twins Left / 4 yd
Swing pass to Wells in the flat. Robiskie out of position to make a block, and there were too many defenders anyway. OSU calls a TO.

1:24 / 2nd & 6 / YSU 30 / Ace Twins Right / 30 yd
Browning (-1) looks lost out there with the heavy blitz coming. The rest of the line and Wells hold, and Boeckman (+2) keeps his cool as he delivers a perfect ball to Robiskie (+2), who got the inside on a fly route. Perfect timing, fitting in the ball just before the safety can come and help over the top. Touchdown Buckeyes, PAT good, 26-0 Buckeyes. N.B.: Robiskie gets crushed and facemasked at the end. The CB lands right on Robo, slamming his bad right shoulder into the turf. More props to Boeckman for delivering a perfect ball with defenders breathing down his neck. Very good to see.

1:16 / - / - / Kickoff / -
Pettrey kicks it to the 5, and the YSU returner brings it up past the 20.

1:11 / 1st & 10 / YSU 23 / Base 4-3 / 2 yd
YSU shuts it down, looking to head to the locker room. Abdallah (+0.5), Laurinaitis (+0.5), and Hines (+0.5) on the play.

0:33 / 2nd & 8 / YSU 25 / Base Nickel / -2 yd
Rose (+1) comes in untouched and crushes the ball carrier.

Let's Talk Running Back Recruits

Jamaal Berry, all world recruit, and the apple of Tressel's eye, committed to Ohio State today according to scout. This is exciting, although we haven't get too much out of our last Florida RB recruit. Maybe he and Carlos Hyde can be a tenacious thunder and lightning combo.

Check out the video.