For anyone who didn't get to see Jameis Winston and Florida State against Pittsburgh last night, you missed out on a spectacular performance as the freshman went 25/27 for 356 yards and four touchdowns. With that, the September Heisman front-runner is clear.
The September Heisman is a prestigious award, owned by the likes of Geno Smith, Denard Robinson, and Michael Crabtree. If Winston continues in their footsteps, he'll thrill fans and scouts as he puts up abnormal statistics before tailing off toward the end of the season.
Why do I bring this up? As a reminder to anyone panicking about one performance from the Buffalo game, people are terrible at evaluating trends with lots of noise. Dontre Wilson is not going to fumble in every game for the rest of his career, nor will Jordan Hall have a 75 yard touchdown or run for 150 yards every game.
Along the same lines, I'm curious what the expectations for the defense are. Last year's team was well known for its blow-ups; allowing 512 yards to California, 38 points to Nebraska, 49 points to Indiana and 22 points to lowly Illinois should not have happened, regardless of the offense's pick-sixes or fumble return touchdowns. Against Buffalo the defense allowed a couple of touchdowns, and although the yardage totals were low, overmatched Buffalo managed to move the ball at times. Injury situation aside, this is not the performance fans want to see extrapolated across the rest of the season. Nor will it be.
How does one measure reasonable expectations for this defense? Judging by points per game, the 2007 defense was one of the greatest in school history, yet few people would put that in the same class as the 2002, 2005, 2006, or 2009 defenses. Points per play and overall yardage tell half-truths as well. Shutouts are always appealing, but they are a function of luck. Is it how sophisticated the coverage schemes are, or how well the team tackles, or drawing penalties? Consistency, so we can tell how good a defense is all-time? Or is it the projection of intimidation, making the opponent fear the Silver Bullets? Can this paragraph have more rhetorical questions?
This team could finish top five in the country in overall yardage and scoring defense; if it doesn't jell, it could finish 40th. Maximizing potential – and showing enough consistency to make fans confident about how good the defense is – is the best way to measure it.
THE RUNNING BACK LOGJAM. Yesterday's press conference brought some reflection as talk about Buffalo wraps up and the focus shifts to San Diego State and future games. Among other points:
- Corey Linsley will be back, but how serious is his foot injury? If it's a Lisfranc injury, it could continue to be debilitating; he had a screw put in after spring ball after it didn't heal between the Michigan game and then, meaning that Taylor Decker could see more time at right tackle.
- Urban Meyer was pleased with the fast start, and not pleased with the second quarter. Better than last year's habit of slow starts.
- Bradley Roby has not won a starting spot, but after Armani Reeves' evident inexperience against Buffalo, it's safe to assume that he will in practice this week. He may have had buyer's remorse in not going pro, but he's glad he stayed now.
- Very few quarterback scrambles were called for Miller; one or two. The same could be expected again this week, as keeping Miller healthy is crucial.
- Is there a problem with the team's conditioning after all the cramping? Buffalo didn't cramp, but the Buckeyes did frequently.
- Rod Smith will return from suspension if he performs well in practice this week.
- On the lack of running back time for Bri'onte Dunn and Ezekiel Elliott, Meyer said he wanted to get Elliott more carries but Jordan Hall was hot. Stan Drayton said that Dunn and Carlos Hyde needed to be a standout on kickoff and punt coverage to work their way into opportunities. Drayton: "these guys get what they deserve".
The last couple of points stand out because it points to a potential issue: keeping all of the ballcarriers happy. Assuming that Rod Smith is back in the conversation this week, at least six players will be vying for carries against SDSU, not counting Braxton Miller. When Hyde returns, that makes seven players in the mix; at some point, some people must be shut out. Keeping the players who don't get carries happy is important, especially after promising them the opportunity to play while recruiting them.
MOVING ONTO THE AZTECS. As Ohio State turns its attention to San Diego State, an unexpected challenge will be getting up for the game. Before Week 1, the Aztecs were expected to be a strong Mountain West contender, a nine or ten win team akin to Central Florida in 2012. But after a 40-19 loss to FCS school Eastern Illinois for which coach Rocky Long took credit, the Aztecs look like a far weaker opponent.
As San Diego State's offense is nothing to write home about, the important matchup will be Ohio State's offense against SDSU's 3-3-5 defense. The stack variation Rocky Long uses is similar to what Rich Rodriguez runs, and depends on strength and versatility.
San Diego State's ability to bring pressure is questionable. Whether it can challenge OSU's interior linemen is questionable, as its defensive line does not match the Buckeyes' physicality. They don't have a dynamic linebacker like Khalil Mack to challenge Braxton Miller and force bad reads; Miller will have easier zone and option reads. If Ohio State pounds the ball, San Diego State will have to bring more people into the box, which is when Corey Brown and Chris Fields will have the opportunity for home runs.
Another thing to watch is how San Diego State brings pressure. Its secondary could provide run support, but they can't afford to edge up too much: they were torched for 361 yards and three touchdowns against Eastern Illinois. One thing San Diego State could do is bring linebacker blitzes to overwhelm the tackles, namely Taylor Decker. Decker did not perform as poorly as it appeared, but he would be the focal point for any pressure.
Bane and The U each despise law and order.KING TERRELLE. Terrelle Pryor was destined to be a star. With incredible physical gifts, he overcame the constraints of Tresselball and the non-mentoring of his position coach to be a productive college player.
In spite of poor decision-making and being hindered by *gasp* character issues and a silly suspension carried over from college, he was alluring enough to an NFL team to be selected in the Supplemental Draft. And even though the Oakland Raiders invested in Matt Flynn as their franchise quarterback, Pryor has earned the starting quarterback job for Week 1 according to the San Francisco Chronicle:
Terrelle Pryor has been named the Raiders starting quarterback for the season-opener on Sunday, according to two league sources. Coach Dennis Allen told both Pryor and Matt Flynn his decision Monday morning.
Pryor is persona non grata in Columbus after bringing so much crap on the program for so many things. But he's dealt with so much strife that him experiencing the greatest success of his career makes him... well, sympathetic is too strong a term of support for Pryor. But when he and the Raiders succeed, disdain doesn't have to be the reflexive emotion. For a man mocked for arm-punting and poor mechanics in college and all kinds of faux pas, perhaps this makes his time in Columbus worth all the scandal. (No, it does not.)
GET A ROOM, YOU TWO. Outsiders like to make fun of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry for acting like quarreling lovers, but the Michigan-Notre Dame situation is so much worse, as seen by the latest exchange of broadsides before Saturday's game. Brian Kelly's comments on Sunday talking down the Michigan game's importance brought some strong responses from the Michigan side. Brady Hoke:
“I think it was always a game that really, it kind of gave you a little bit of a true north of what type of football team you’re going to have,” Hoke said. “You’ve got two traditional, national powers playing each other, and it kind of gave you an indication. I remember coach [Bo] Schembechler all the time talking about how that game, you can kind of get an idea of where you were as a team.”
And Taylor Lewan:
“I don’t have anything to say about that,” left tackle Taylor Lewan said. “I’m playing football on Saturday. My coach can say what he wants. Coach Kelly can say what he wants. Devin Gardner can say what he wants. I’m playing ball. So it doesn’t matter to me.”
From the Michigan side, it's the refrain that Notre Dame dumped the series, even though Michigan needed to dump the series to allow for nine conference games and more variety in the out-of-conference schedule. On the Notre Dame side, the idea that the Michigan game is less of a rivalry than Navy or Michigan State is silly; it's been more dramatic far more often over the past forty years.
Get on the same page, and either feel bad about ending the rivalry or don't. This kind of drawn out "you care more than we do" battling is what made the Texas-Texas A&M split so annoying. Please don't duplicate it.
YET ANOTHER SHOT FIRED. Is today a day ending in "y"? If so, Will Muschamp insulted his predecessor at Florida:
"I'm old fashioned. ... You will play like you practice, and you do have to practice here now." - Will Muschamp, #Gators
— OnlyGators.com (@onlygators) September 2, 2013
This marks the 300th or so jab Muschamp has taken at Meyer since coming to Florida in 2011. Muschamp has a history of feisty behavior on the field that has continued at Florida, but the bitchiness towards Meyer has been unrelenting over the last two years. What's frustrating is that he makes the criticism while his behavior is similarly flawed.
A common criticism of Meyer's tenure at Florida was how tight-lipped he would be regarding suspensions, which allowed erroneous reports such as ones regarding Aaron Hernandez and failed drug tests to spread. Muschamp, who ranted at media for wrongly reporting that a player had been suspended after the Toledo game, lied to those media about which players would be suspended days before. Muschamp, who has made insinuations about star players receiving special treatment under Meyer, went back on his word to allow starting linebacker Antonio Morrison to play in a big game against Miami on Saturday.
Aside from the bromide about how people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, bashing Meyer has diminishing returns the further the Muschamp Era progresses, never mind how producing two national championships, a Sugar Bowl win and the most famous player of the past few decades helps the long-term state of the program. Will Muschamp is a tremendous coach who for reasons beyond my understanding wastes tons of emotional energy on a man three seasons removed from his program.
BRUTUS PAINTS THE TOWN. You can't stop that Buckeye loyalty, even at weddings:
Congratulations to Debbie and Joel Hainsfurther for being so well connected and, of course, their happy matrimony. Weddings are much better times to show school spirit than funerals.
LINKS AHOY. The Minnesota Vikings would welcome back Antoine Winfield if he unretired... I haven't been familiar with HuddlePass, but if former Buckeyes are breaking down games it's worth keeping an eye on... For wrestling fans, The Best and Worst of Raw is also worth checking out... Online dialect tests are often sketchy, but this one is pretty enlightening... the 1971 Gator Flop... Johnny Manziel as a heel... I hope Michael Bennett didn't get water poisoning... Poor Georgia rusher. Is that what this Bulldogs fan was crying about?... Predicting Iowa to make a bowl game after the Northern Illinois debacle is bold... Four-star N.J. athlete Noah Brown will make an official visit for the San Diego State game... NFL quarterbacks as their team mascots... Columbus Crew head coach Robert Warzycha is out after five years and a 70-59-41 record... Yes, that is the best part of Pokemon... #GRILLSWOON... Draft the Lions' defense at your own risk... Being nonchalantly blocked with one hand must be dispiriting... Michigan's band loves Apolo Anton Ohno... and Ohio State football's video department ought to hire this Northwestern genius posthaste.
