A glorious Thursday to you one and all, hello and welcome! No doubt you’ve already read Kyle’s Wednesday UAB practice notes. So I’ll just go ahead and remind you Tom Herman was given a play sheet during his interview and memorized the entire thing in a matter of minutes. #TeamMensa is in full effect, which is why you’re going to be asked to dictate this entire Skull Session from memory at the bottom of the page. You ready? GO!
I'M GOING GOING BACK BACK TO BASICS BASICS. Anyone with a pair of peepers was able to see the Buckeyes' tackling during last week’s contest was suspect at best. I’ll just leave this here.
Coach Fickell said plays like the 81-yard DIDHEJUSTDOTHAT above kept him up late into the night Saturday following the game. Fickell believes the missed plays originated from a lack of tackling, not a lack of effort.
Personally, I believe the two go hand in hand. It takes effort to make a good tackle, no? While the Buckeyes’ display on Saturday was particularly gut-wrenching, I believe the lack of wrapping and driving to the ground is a problem seen far too often these days in college football. Simply put: kids want to end up on a highlight reel. Delivering a devastating shoulder shiver is far sexier than a technically sound tackle. If you watch the video again, a highlight clip is exactly what Ryan Shazier was trying to deliver.
Luckily, fixing issues like these is why OSU pays Meyer the big bucks, and the head coach had this to say yesterday:
“I know we tackled more than anybody, but obviously it's not getting the job done, so we have to tackle more. Instead of one day a week, we’ll probably have to go two now. It’s all about fundamentals technique.
“If you watch one of those (non)tackles, it looked like the guy was going after the ball instead of wrapping him up. So we’ve addressed that, and we’ll have more conversation about that.”
Let’s hope we see a few more textbook takedowns on Saturday. Survive and advance, gentlemen.
JUST THE FACTS. It’s not every day Ohio State plays the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers (confession: just looked up UAB to make sure I got the acronym correct). With so many teams in college football, sometimes squads like the mighty Blazers fall through the cerebral cracks. It’s times like these when I like to pull up CBS Sports’ Rapid Reports. These one pagers provide me with everything I need to engage in informed banter during the game while still leaving room in my head for choice musings (e.g. can John Simon lift a rhinoceros or does Jim Tressel regularly clip coupons from Parade magazine?).
Dragon slayin' is a habit. Download the poster here.Here are a few things I learned:
- UAB’s wide receiver Jackie Williams is the team’s biggest threat. This season he has 11 receptions for 202 yards with an average of 18 yards per reception.
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QB Jonathan Perry isn’t too bad either. He has already thrown for 536 yards, two TDs and one interception.
- The Blazers defense is pretty horrific. The unit is giving up 477 yards per game.
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UAB could become OSU’s 400th win in the Shoe this Saturday.
If all goes as planned this one should be a blowout. However, it presents an excellent opportunity for the defense to iron out its issues (see above). Heading into MSU week, it would be great to see both sides of the ball finally string together four quarters of quality football.
WHY IS THE BIG TEN SO BAD? Michael Pointer of IndyStar.com asked a simple question in his column: What’s wrong with the Big Ten?
It’s no secret the conference is having a down year. Thanks to a less than stellar out-of-conference performance, the Big Ten doesn’t have a team ranked in the top 15 for the first time since September of 2001. For those counting at home, that’s the worst in 11 years.
On Tuesday’s Big Ten media teleconference call, Coach Meyer had this to say regarding the league’s perception:
"There's one answer and that's to go win those non-conference games. It's not because of a lack of players or a lack of coaching. They just have to find a way to close the deal."
But, as many Big Ten coaches are acutely aware, closing the deal often happens long before gameday...in recruits’ living rooms.
Big Ten analyst Gerry DiNardo was quick to point out this out:
"I think things will continue as they are until recruiting in the Big Ten changes.”
With this, I think DiNardo is half right. I agree recruiting is the key to success on the national stage, but to suggest recruiting in the Big Ten hasn’t changed is simply false, at least in terms of Ohio State and Michigan.
Meyer and Hoke have brought an intensity to Big Ten recruiting that was lacking in years past. According to Scout, in 2012 Ohio State reeled in the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation while Michigan came in right behind them at No. 4. Looking ahead to 2013, Ohio State currently sits at No. 8 in the country (right behind Alabama at No. 7), while Michigan is perched atop the nation at No. 1.
It will take time to get these kids in the system, but once Hoke and Meyer do, I can assure you all of this talk about a weak Big Ten will subside under the weight of two incredibly talented teams. As Chad pointed out in his Skull Session yesterday, sometimes that’s all a conference needs to be considered elite.
So, what’s wrong with the Big Ten? Meyer and Hoke haven’t had time to get their guys in their systems. Once they do, look out.
PLAYOFF TWEAKS...ALREADY. According to CBS Sports, conference commissioners have discussed adding an additional marquee game to the playoff rotation.
To be clear, this does NOT mean adding another playoff game. The current playoff format has national semifinals rotating among six different bowl sites. In the years a site does not have a playoff game, it would host a primetime game pitting two highly ranked opponents (not making the playoffs) against one another.
This tweak would add a game to that six-site rotation, ultimately increasing out-of-playoff marquee games by one.
What do you think of this tweak? Would you like to see an additional “consolation prize” game?
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