Ohio State vs. Youngstown St. - First Quarter Analysis

Welcome to South Stands’ first of many post-game, play-by-play analyses. My goal here is to present a wealth of information to my readers, other bloggers, etc., so we can understand the oft-ignored facets of the game. The first layer of football viewing is simple—the ball is snapped, the quarterback drops back and does something with it. The viewer follows the ball to its final resting place. This is fine and good, but there are 22 players on the field every play, and for a team to play at the highest level, all 11 warriors must execute in synergy and with precision. Like a coaching staff in the film room the week after a big win, I’m not going to be nice for the sake of it. A play could turn out well, but you’ll see a few players get docked points in their ‘grade.’

I guess it’s also worth noting that this segment was my primary inspiration for creating South Stands this fall. I’ve seen Brian at mgoblog do something similar for a while now, and it’s about time Buckeye fans have something to gnaw on throughout the week. Hell, maybe I’ll get so good at this that I’ll be able to crank out the whole thing on Sundays (doubtful… I’ve still got a full slate of law classes to deal with here).

Anyone who ends up reading this is very much asked to offer your thoughts, criticisms, ideas, corrections, etc. I’m new at this, and while I think I’m doing a pretty good job, there are obviously always improvements to be made.

Pre-game and Miscellany and Waxing Lyrical

It sends shivers down my spine, pulling off I-71 at E N. Broadway, seeing the hordes of scarlet-clad students, alumni, taxpayers, and fans. Following High St. through the campus which I now visit so sparingly, things change every time. Heading west on Woodruff Ave. down to Ohio Stadium, through the gauntlet of officers, barriers, and jay-walkers. As a die-hard Buckeye fan, Ohio State alumnus, and resident of this part of town for 3 years, I’m beginning to understand the nostalgia my parents experienced and futilely attempted to explain. It’s more than a university; it’s more than a game. The stadium feels bigger every season, and I feel proportionally smaller. Every year, the last weekend in August is the start of a three month era—the happiest time of year for me and those like me. I have yet to start completely crying during ramp, or the pre-game “Carmen Ohio”, but dear lord does that drum cadence send shivers down my spine. That moment officially ends summer for me, and I love it. I can’t imagine being much happier than being in those stands on the first Saturday of football season.

OK enough of that shit; let’s get down to business.

Pre-game observations, etc.

(1) The new team entrance is pretty sweet. The band marches southward down the field in a “Block O” formation, turns it at a 45 degree angle, then opens the top and bottom of the O as the team runs out. Pretty cool effect.

(2) There is a new custom, made-to-order Nike Jersey vendor at the stadium. $75 bucks and you can pick your number and name. Good idea that should have happened years ago. Although any OSU fan worth his salt knows that a #2 jersey has been a top notch investment in the Tressel era.

(3) As expected, YSU looks like a high school team out there. As far as the size of their traveling roster, not to mention the size of the players themselves, it just didn’t look like there was a chance of anyone breaking through the Ohio State trenches. Their punter also shanked a warm-up kick into the stands. Kind of sad really.

And We’re Off—First Quarter

N.B.: ugh, I wrote this all in a Word table and my dumb ass can't make the table fit properly or look normal. Text only it is. Export to HTML just seems too easy. Can anyone help me make this look good?

YSU wins the toss and defers to the 2nd half. Tressel wants the ball.

TIME DOWN, DIST FORMATION YDAGE ANALYSIS

15:00 n/a Kick Return 27 yd
YSU’s Biose kicks off to Brandon Saine (+1), who fields the kick just outside the 10 yard line. He scoots around the left side of the busted wedge (Terry, Spitler, Sabino: +0.5), and makes it upfield to the second level, going down at the OSU 37. Solid return.

14:54 1st & 10 I-Form Right, Twins Left 6 yd
Boeckman makes some sort of pre-snap check, likely a protection audible or switching the run to the weak side. Smith(-1) lead blocks into nothing, but Beanie(+1) cuts it upfield for a nice gain. Rehring(+1) and Boone(+1) clear out the left side, Cordle gets a nice push, but fails to lock up his man. Person (-1) stands in the empty zone, doesn’t get upfield, and ends up barely chipping the Sam backer and Browning’s(-0.5) man who stop the play relatively short.

14:24 2nd & 4 Ace Right H-Back, Twins Left 4 yd
No huddle. Toss right to Beanie, who waits for a hole to form, and then makes one himself for a small gain. Nicol and Browning(+0.5) double team the DE, and Smith, from the H-Back position, gets up on the Sam backer. Too many men, not enough blockers, so CB and SS can make the play.

14:00 1st & 10 I-Form Twin TE, FL Left 1 yd
Pretty transparent playcalling here, but that doesn’t matter much against inferior opponents. YSU sends 9, and Beanie grinds ahead for a few over the RG. Decent lead by Smith, but not enough for points. He needed to leverage the defender out of the hole instead of into the hole.

13:26 2nd & 9 Shotgun 3 WR 4 yd
YSU sends the RLB. Boeckman short drops, looks for Hartline and Robo on slants, doesn’t like it and jets ahead. I’m not sure exactly what he didn’t like, since it looks like Hartline had separation. Nice little gain regardless.

12:48 3rd & 5 Shotgun 5 WR 4 yd
Beanie’s split out wide right. Boeckman (+0.5) hits a 5 yard stop route to Robiskie (+0.5), who makes his cut a bit shallow, and can’t convert. Hard to tell if the ball was short, so I’ll split the blame between them for turning the perfect playcall into a non-conversion.

12:15 4th & 1 I form Twin TE 43 yd ISO left.
Perfect pull by Person(+1), Smith(+1) seals the left side, Boone (+1) cleans up the LB, and the YSU safeties take themselves out of the play. Beanie (+2) runs through Rehring’s(-0.5) man and toasts the entire defense five yards past the LOS. Beanie houses it for six. PAT good, 7-0 OSU.

12:06 n/a Kickoff 11 yd
Pettrey on the KO, Williams fields it at the goal line. Schwartz (+0.5) busts through a blocker and disrupts the return, and Lane (+0.5), Spitler (+0.5), Lukens (+0.5), and Gant (+0.5), clean it up

11:59 1st & 10 Base 4-3 4 yd
Kind of a triple-option look, and Rowan shovel passes to Williams for a nice gain. All 3 LBs are in on the play. Laurinaitis (+0.5) breaks through the pulling OL and slows up the ball carrier, Freeman (+1) makes the play, and Homan (+0.5) is in position to clean up.

11:23 2nd & 6 4-3 Under 4 yd
“Under” meaning WLB Freeman is lined up a yard off the ball, outside the DE. Laurinaitis stunts, and both he and Freeman pull back right before the snap, but Homan comes on the blitz away from the play. YSU runs a hand off to the strong side out of the shotgun, and the OL zone blocks right. Larimore (-1), in position for a TFL, gets knocked over and out of the play by the zone blocking. Russell (+0.5) and Laurinaitis (+0.5) are there to stop the play short of the first down.

10:41 3rd & 2 3-3-5 0 yd
The coaches sub Thad Gibson in for Denlinger. Moeller is in at the NB, replacing Homan. Gibson is going to be filling the role of Gholston at this LEO position. Those who saw the official depth chart no doubt noticed the odd DL configuration: DT/NT/DT/DE. The alignment is like a 3-3-5, with Gibson playing faux-LB, and the DB/LB combo Moeller in at NB. But we’ll call it a 3-3-5 nonetheless. Here, Gibson drops into the flat zone and covers the eventual receiver, who runs a wheel route. Freeman (+0.5) gets pressure on Rowan, driving him into the ground after forcing the throw, which is right on the money. Luckily, Jermale Hines (+2) is there to slug the guy in the teeth, jarring the ball loose. YSU is called for holding, and Tressel wisely declines the penalty.

10:32 4th & 2 Punt Return 4 yd
Hard to see who it is, even on the HD broadcast on a 46” TV, but it’s probably Jenkins (since Chekwa’s on the near-side) who comes off the gunner and gets some rush, and someone comes through the inside and gets some heat on the P. Ray Small (-1) for some reason catches the average-ish 44 yard punt over the shoulder, and runs backward 5 yards before cutting it up for a 4 yard net gain.

10:18 1st & 10 I Form Right Twins Left 3 yd
Boom Herron enters the game. The OL’s mistakes will really start to show, since arm-tacklers are 3x more likely to bring down the svelte Herron compared to Beanie. The rest of the 1st team is still out there. Did Herron actually pass Saine on the depth chart, or is Saine’s hammy convincing Tress to pull back the reigns? Either way, here we have a standard HB dive left. Ballard (-1) fails to lock up his man, who makes the play all the way from the OLB spot. It probably wouldn’t have changed anything since Smith (-1) whiffed on the lead block. Herron has two men meeting him in the hole, and he can’t run through them. See what I was saying? Boone (+0.5) does a good job of letting the outside rushing DE take himself out of it, Rehring (+0.5) doesn’t get much push right in the middle of the hole (possibly leading to Smith’s missed block), but he locks up his man, not allowing him to make a play. Cordle (+0.5) and Person (+0.5) do a good job of sealing up the weak side.

9:42 2nd & 7 Shotgun 3 WR 47 yd
Boeckman (+3) takes a five-step drop, and locks on to Hartline (+2), who is running a fade along the sideline on the short side of the field. With a defender in his face and one coming from the back, Boeckman delivers a strike for a huge gainer. A lot going on in this play, good and bad. First of all, thumbs up to Boeckman for making an outstanding throw, right before he gets up and downed by two defenders. This is the exact sort of situation that had Buckeye fans cringing during the last three games of the 2007 season, but he delivers a perfect ball. This shows the synergy between Boeckman and Hartline. The ball was out of his hand approximately a fifth of a second before he gets drilled, and it doesn’t look like Hartline had created his separation yet. That’s having faith in your receiver, and knowing exactly where he’ll be, and when he’ll be there. Great execution by the skill players. Now the bad. The two DL on the OL’s left side (Boone, Rehring), slant down toward the center, taking that entire side of the line with them. The DT lining up over person wraps around the right side of the DL, while Boone (-2), who had just chipped the DE into Rehring gives a perfect example of an “ole” block… the type of block that effectively is a push toward the QB, since you were so out of position. The ball was approximately two yards out of #17’s hand when he got drilled in the stomach by Boone’s man. Terrible pass protection… set up the pocket, and if your entire side of the line crashes, look for more people to show up instead of going shoulder to shoulder with the LG screaming “ooh ooh I’ll help!” His feet were out of position, and once he saw the DT coming around he couldn’t do anything but hold the guy or watch. On the other side of the line, Bryant Browning (-2) got owned by the outside speed rush. He barely got a hand on him past the initial push. I’m no OL coach, but this mistake also seems to be based in poor footwork. Browning makes the first push without dropping his outside foot. Technique, technique, technique. This was a simple stunt, and we absolutely cannot allow this result with only a four man rush. What happens when USC runs a zone blitz and it’s Maulaluga or Cushing coming in on Boone and Browning. Yikes.

9:11 1st & Goal I-form Left, Twins Right 3 yd
YSU lines up with nine men in the box. There’s a S on Small in the slot, and a CB on Robo flanked out wide. The play is a HB dive left, and Cordle (-0.5) gets no push. Smith (+1) meets his man in the hole for a stalemate, turning his back to the hole, Herron (-0.5) misreads the block, trying to bounce it outside. He makes something out of it though, making for a short gainer.

8:24 2nd & Goal Ace Bunch Left n/a
False start on Browning (-1)

8:24 2nd & Goal Shotgun 3 WR 0 yd
Boeckman (-0.5), under pressure (no blame on the line here… the blitz was heavy and there weren’t enough blockers with the Herron in the flat) hits Small in the feet for an incomplete pass. About time.

8:06 3rd & Goal Shotgun 5 WR 0 yd
Herron is split out wide right. Boeckman (-2) drops, looking for something over the middle, but a dense zone closes any lanes. With nowhere to go, Boeckman rolls, and fails to see a wide open Herron, chucking it into the back of the endzone for an incomplete pass. Not to mention, his target (Hartline) was open, the guy who was nearby (Ballard) was open, he just threw it too high (to Tacopants if you will). This would normally be a one point deduction, but it was a surefire touchdown unless Herron forgot to use his hands to catch the pass. We can’t leave points on the field like this. Field goals won’t cut it when you get 1st & goal.

7:58 4th & Goal Field Goal 29 yd
McQuaid (-1) puts down a low snap, Thoma (+1) gets it down, and Pretorious (+1) knocks it home. 10-0 OSU.

7:54 n/a Kickoff 19 yd Lee fields the Pettrey kick at the 1, and takes it up to the 20 before he gets hammered b Moeller (+0.5) and Nate Oliver (+0.5)

lol BTN 1st & 10 Base 4-3 3 yd
Here the BTN clock busted… no more time to show you for a while.. YSU shows trips right, with Chekwa out wide, a safety (can’t see which) on the middle receiver, and the two OLBs showing blitz presnap. Jenkins is on an island to the short side of the field (and only a yard off the ball! Well I’ll be damned). YSU runs a zone-read ish HB draw type of thing, and Freeman (+1) is right there to make the solo tackle

lol BTN 2nd & 7 3-3-5 0 yd
Here’s that 3-3-5 package again with Thad at the LEO and Moeller over the slot receiver playing NB. We blitz five, and Freeman (+0.5) goes in untouched, slams Rowan to the ground, forcing the incompletion. Gibson (+0.5) and Wilson (+0.5) also there on the play in case Freeman’s heart exploded.

Nope 3rd & 7 3-3-5 -- Delay of game on YSU.

Nope 3rd & 12 3-3-5 0 yd
YSU in the Shotgun 3 wide. Jenkins gets beat off the line on a fade route, and Rowan delivers a strike. The receiver has his hands on it before Jenkins knocks it free. We’ll call this a push for a player of Jenkins’ caliber against a FCS opponent.

Nope 4th & 12 Punt Return 0 yd
YSU’s punt is low and toward the sideline. Small lets it go wisely, and the Bucks take over.

Nope 1st & 10 Shotgun 5 WR 9 yd
HOLY SHIT IT’S PRYOR. Pryor does some sort of check or audible at the line, and it appeared to be kind of tough since the crowd was cheering so raucously. Pryor (+1) delivers a strike to Flash Thomas (+1) on the quick slant, securing the ball and getting hit right after the catch. A pretty damn good first play for both. Very nice overhand delivery for Pyror.

Nope 2nd & 1 Shot-Ginn left 2 yd
First we see of the ol Shot-Ginn (with Ray Small serving as a weak facsimile of Ginn). With Beanie to his right (the short side), Pryor (+0.5) runs the speed option right, keeping it for a short gain and the first down. Shugarts (-1) looked clueless at the play-side tackle spot, and blocked nobody. Move the sticks anyway. Pryor’s that good (ha).

Nope 1st & 10 Strong I Twins Left 2 yd
Pryor (+0.5) drops back, with both RB in the flats, looks downfield, but ultimately checks down to Beanie and smartly dumps it off for a short gain. Four rushers picked up very well by the 2nd team OL.

Nope 2nd & 8 Shotgun 5 WR 14 yd
Pryor (+1) runs the QB draw, showing everyone why he was the #1 recruit in 2008. Making two guys miss, Pryor breaks through the first layer of D toward the sideline, and picks up a big gain. Mike Adams (+1) just demolishes the DE, opening up the play. Thomas (+0.5) makes a solid block which secures the first down. Hartline (+0.5) kept his man on his heels, but if he could have locked down his man, Pryor might still be running.

Nope 1st & 10 I-form left twins right -1 yd
HB dive to Saine. YSU lines up with 6 men on the LOS, plus a LB four yards back and then they send a Safety. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but we should be able to neglect one player away from the play, and then if Saine can break through one tackler, there’s really no one else back.This could have been a huge play if executed properly. Let’s take a closer look. Adams (-1) tries to block two guys, but blocks neither of them. Nicol (+0.5) aptly forces his man (the blitzing safety) to the outside. Moses (-1) goes to the 2nd level and checks out the tail in the 2nd row. Brewster (+0.5) held his ground and locked up his man well. Miller (-1) follows Moses’ lead. Shugarts at least blocked, so he gets a push.

I have no idea 2nd & 11 Shotgun 3 WR 14 yd
Pryor (+0.5) takes a three-step drop and delivers a bit of a high ball to Nicol (+1) who makes a great catch on a hook route and picks up some YACs for the first down. Remember Coach, you have tight ends who are pretty good!

This is getting tiring 1st & 10 Shotgun 3 WR 6 yd
Pryor and Saine (+1) run a speed option left. Pryor aptly pitches out, and Saine fights for a good five extra yards after contact.

Nope 2nd & 4 Shotgun 3 WR 14 yd
Speed option right with Pryor and Saine. Pryor forced into the pitch, and Saine (+2) has some running room. He makes two arm-tacklers miss, and tip toes up the sideline for extra yardage. Great downfied blocking by Nicol (+1), Small (+1). Great effort by Saine.

2:17 (ooh now we get to see the stadium clock!) 1st & Goal I-Form Twin TE 1 yd
This is Saine’s (-2). Moses pulls to the left on the HB trap, and has no one to block. When the pulling guard just starts running upfield, just ride his ass into the endzone. Saine instead runs up Moses’ back for a negligible gain. Extra point deducted for leaving points on the field.

1:38 2nd & Goal Shotgun 5 WR -4 yd
QB draw for Pryor (-1) with five blockers. YSU lines up in the 4-3. Obviously an audible would have been ideal; there’s no way he can run this in. Regardless, he runs the play, tries to scamper around the corner and gets stuffed for a loss. The beauty of this playcall is that it’s so obviously a QB draw, but if you stack to defend it, there are five wides out there and Pryor can hot route to any of them and can likely score a TD. Too bad really; having Pryor score on his first drive, in the first quarter of the first game, through the air. Would have been a magical moment.

0:55 3rd & Goal Shotgun 5 WR -6 yd
YSU sends 6 against our 5, but they only really needed the two going at our left side. Miller (-1) , after chipping off Brewster’s man got absolutely toasted by the blitzing Frasure, who picked up the sack. Adams (-1) kind of got unlucky. He had position to keep his man out of the pocket, but the pocket flowed in his direction once the blitz came from the other side, and there was nothing to be done. Hard to see with the narrow framing whether Pryor had a man, but at this point, I’m sure the coaches are giving him one, two, maaaaybe 3 reads on each play. At that point, just run somewhere. This play lasted about 4 seconds; that’s not enough time to check through five receivers.

0:12 4th & Goal Field Goal 32 yd
Good snap and hold. Pretorious (+1) knocks it through.