Football
By the Numbers
By Jeff Amey
There seemed to be quite a bit of experimenting this week with new
formations and personnel combinations out of those formations. I liked
some of what I saw, but I wondered why the Buckeyes chose to base
their entire gameplan on what seemed to be a gimmick formation. Still,
the Buckeyes had several opportunities to take over this game in the
second half and could've won the game. Mistakes that have plagued
Ohio State all year long came back to haunt them in a big way on Saturday.
Let's take a look at the stats.
59 Total Plays--336 yards--5.7 ypp
29 pass (49%)--14/29 for 195 yards 1 TD 3 INT
30 runs (51%) for 141 yards 1 TD--4.7 ypc
14 Total Drives
ave. of 4.2 plays--24.0 yards
ave. start--OSU 33
1st Down--25 plays (42%) for 198 yards
9 pass (36%)--5/9 for 93 yards 1 TD
16 runs (64%) for 105 yards--6.6 ypc
ave. gain of 7.9 yards
2nd Down--19 plays (32%) for 40 yards
10 pass (53%)--4/10 for 30 yards 2 INT
9 runs (47%) for 10 yards--1.1 ypc
ave. of 8.1 yards to go
ave. gain of 2.1 yards
3rd Down--15 plays (25%) for 98 yards
10 pass (67%)--5/10 for 72 yards 1 INT
5 runs (33%) for 26 yards 1 TD--5.2 ypc
ave. of 8.2 yards to go
ave. gain of 6.5 yards
conversions--5/15 (33%)
Playaction Passing
1/2 for 15 yards
First Downs--11
5 by pass
5 by run
1 by penalty
FORMATION BREAKDOWN
Formations w/ FB--1 play (2%)
0 pass (0%)
1 run (100%) for 2 yards--2.0 ypc
Shotgun--43 plays (73%)
24 pass (56%)--11/24 for 167 yards 1 TD 3 INT
19 runs (44%) for 121 yards 1 TD--6.4 ypc
1 back/empty formations--15 plays (25%)
5 pass (33%)--3/5 for 28 yards
10 runs (67%) for 18 yards--1.8 ypc
RUN TYPE BREAKDOWN--30 attempts
counter/trap--0 (0%) for 0 yards
draw--3 (10%) for 2 yards--0.7 ypc
sweep--0 (0%) for 0 yards
base/iso--2 (7%) for 0 yards--0.0 ypc
reverse--2 (7%) for 28 yards--14.0 ypc
power--1 (3%) for 3 yards--3.0 ypc
QB run/scramble--11 (37%) for 35 yards 1 TD--3.2
ypc
stretch--2 (7%) for 9 yards--4.5 ypc
option--8 (27%) for 63 yards--7.9 ypc
Other Stats of Note
*Eight carries by HB's for 31 yards for the game
*Four turnovers (1 fumble, 3 INT's)
*1st half plays (game total)--Purdue 44 (79)-Ohio State 28 (59)
*Ohio State 1st half offense--107 yards and five three-and-outs
*Four chances for Purdue turnovers missed
*Purdue--nine 3rd down conversions--three of them over 10 yards
This game was a tale of two halves. The first half, Purdue completely
dominated the Buckeyes, built a 17-3 lead and looked as if they were
on the verge of turning the game into a blowout. The second half,
Ohio State looked better offensively and defensively, climbed back
into the game, but blew opportunities with penalties and turnovers
before ending up on the losing end of a 24-17 final score. I'd like
to say that I was pleased with the way the Buckeyes played, even in
defeat, but I just can't. There are too many things about this game
that I didn't like that trumps those feelings.
I liked the new formation that Ohio State used this game, with Ted
Ginn lined up as a deep slot and Troy Smith in the Shotgun. The formation
presents a lot of possibilities, but I just don't think that it is
the offense of the future for the Buckeyes and I didn't understand
why the Buckeyes based so much of their offense on it for this game.
It seemed to me as if it would be a nice changeup in addition to Ohio
State's normal attack, but not something to base the entire offense
on. I hope this wasn't a sign of things to come on a regular basis.
There might be a lot of people out there that disagree, and I can
understand why. Troy Smith had some nice runs on option plays and
there were a few long pass plays out of that offensive set during
the game as well. The problems I see with any offense that spends
a majority of time in the shotgun is that it relies heavily on the
quarterback to make good decisions and make plays to win ball games
and I don't think that either of the quarterbacks that have taken
snaps this year for Ohio State are good enough to handle that right
now.
All of the arguments that some have been making to seperate Troy
Smith from Justin Zwick went out the window this game. The game was
put into Smith's hands to win or lose, and he made some especially
bad reads, had some bad throws, and most importantly, turned the ball
over 4 times. I have been skeptical of Troy's ability to read defenses
in the passing game, and I left this game even more skeptical. He
had a few nice passes, but it wasn't enough to overcome the throws
into coverage, missing mismatches and open receivers, and lack of
touch on short passes we saw in this game.
When it comes right down to it, the only seperation I really see
between Smith and Zwick is that Troy makes better plays in the running
game. Both quarterbacks have their good points and bad points, and
it will be very interesting to see what happens at this position between
now and next fall. I don't think Smith has done anything to warrant
putting Zwick back into the starting role or even into a game yet,
but this game had to at least end the honeymoon he has had with the
fans.
Everytime I think about the running game from the previous 3 games
and compare it to what the Buckeyes did against Purdue, I wonder why
the coaching staff decided to change things up so drastically. Ohio
State had 25 runs out of the I formation for 149 yards against Indiana,
24 attempts for 61 yards against Penn State, 14 attempts for 82 yards
against Michigan State, and 1 attempt for 2 yards against Purdue.
That one attempt was a quarterback scramble on a passing play. By
the way, the first 3 of those were wins.
How about this one? The Buckeyes had 28 rushing attempts by the HB's
against Indiana, 30 against Penn State, 20 against Michigan State,
and just 8 against Purdue. Again, I want to remind you that the first
three of those were wins.
I understand that Ted Ginn has shown himself to be a real difference-maker
on the field in the past few weeks, and that most of these formation
changes (such as putting him in the backfield on option plays and
as a deep slot on shotgun formations) were designed to make him a
threat and get him more involved in the offense. The problems I see
are that he wasn't the sole reason Ohio State won those previous 3
games and the Buckeyes went completely away from the things that were
working for them in the past 3 weeks in order to try to get him more
involved.
You have to commend the Purdue coaching staff for doing whatever
they could to take Ginn out of the game. It was clear they were not
going to let the Ohio State special teams get the touchdown they have
picked up in 4 of the last 6 games on punt returns by punting the
ball high and short every time. They essentially said that the Ohio
State offense was going to have to beat them, and they weren't up
to the task.
My attention has to turn to the Ohio State defense for yet another
week. I know the Buckeye defensive backfield was depleted due to injury,
but it was simply amazing to me to see Ohio State come out and play
the same soft zone against the Boilermakers that has been sliced and
diced at times this season. I was pretty certain that the Buckeyes
would have a tough time winning this game when I saw them come out
in these defenses and stay with them for most of the first half. I
seriously think that Purdue can move the ball at will against that
kind of defense, as they showed in their two touchdown drives at the
end of the first half and again at the end of the game.
During Purdue's 4 game losing streak, Purdue opponents played tight
man coverages to challenge the receivers and blitzed to put pressure
on Brandon Kirsch and Kyle Orton. I had to agree with Bob Davie and
Trev Alberts that Ohio State should've been doing the same thing.
When the Buckeyes DID start doing it in the second half, they stopped
the Boilermakers cold, but they went away from it again at the beginning
of Purdue's go-ahead drive at the end of the game and watched them
run timing routes all the way down the field. Every time I heard Bob
Davie say how good of a job Mark Snyder was doing with the defense,
I felt myself cringe.
How can a team that has prided itself on great tackling in recent
seasons have fallen so far, so fast? Only a few times during the game
did I see a Boilermaker runner get hit and go backwards, and most
of those came when the entire Buckeye team was hitting them. Whether
it's someone not wrapping up on their hit, or just hitting with bad
leverage, or simply overrunning the play, the tackling on this defense
isn't even close to being a strength for this team. It might be their
biggest weakness aside from the pass coverage.
Despite all of these deficiencies, the Buckeyes still had a chance
to win the game. After a horrible first half, they moved the ball
well in the second half and fought their way back into the game even
with the 4 turnovers they amassed in the half. The new formations
were intriguing, and the adjustments in the defense in the second
half were at least encouraging. I am starting to look forward to watching
this team in 2005.
All that is left for this team in the regular season is Michigan.
No one, including most Ohio State fans, can realistically give the
Buckeyes much of a chance in this one considering the relative play
of the two teams so far this season. I think the Buckeyes can win
this game against the Wolverines, but it will take many things going
right for the Buckeyes for it to happen. More than anything else,
it will hinge on the defense stepping up and playing their best game
of the season, no matter WHAT the offense does. A win this week can
salvage the season and make getting through this off-season, with
the Maurice Clarett and ESPN charges hanging over everyone's head,
much easier.
E-mail Jeff Amey at: tallabuck@the-ozone.net
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