Harold texted me Sunday afternoon. He spent the weekend vacationing in the mountains without television. Was it worth watching a replay of Northwestern–Ohio State?
Hell no. Watch the first 10 minutes and burn the tape, maybe.
Prediction- The Patriots draft Northwestern's Austin Carr in the 6th round and he has a 1000 yard receiving rookie season.
— Ben Koo (@bkoo) October 29, 2016
There was never a doubt about a Buckeye win, but the local team is disjointed. The offensive line and rush defense are too inconsistent. Noah Brown is the only consistent wide receiver.
Ohio State running an option on 3rd and 6 speaks volumes in the staff's confidence in the team's passing game right now.
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 29, 2016
I thought I was getting punk'd when Urban Meyer trotted out his punt team on 4th and 3 from the Northwestern 45 with 12 minutes left in the third quarter and his team up 17-10.
Which, fine. Ohio State can Tresselball its way to three more victories at least. I just miss the days when Meyer played to win instead of not to lose.
Michigan, obviously, is a different breed. The Wolverines didn't look like a Death Star in Ann Arbor, though.
November is for contenders -@JimTressel5
— Kirk Barton (@Kirk_Barton) October 31, 2014
Halloween tonight. For the first time in my life, I live in an area where families let kids trick or treat. No #teens better knock on my door, though. Nothing but tricks in my bag for those urchins.
Also, please don't ask me to attend your costume party. I'm damn year 30 years old.
The degree to which Halloween is now for adults has truly become a national disgrace.
— Julius Sharpe (@juliussharpe) October 30, 2016
Apologies to anybody forced into wearing a costume to work today, too. It's my hope my readers one day know the joy of wearing whatever the hell they want while making coins for your overlords.
PASSING GAME NOT THAT BAD, ACTUALLY? What's confounding about Ohio State's offense is the lack of an identity. Its best play is "give Curtis Samuel the damn ball," even if it can't figure out the best ways to get Samuel the damn ball.
Critiquing the passing game is vogue. J.T. Barrett and his receivers didn't operate with ruthlessness against Northwestern, but there was week-to-week improvement.
From landgrantholyland.com:
The passing game was more efficient than last week's 26% success rate performance (with a 45% success rate this week), but the passing game only had a single explosive pass -- the strike to KJ Hill in the fourth quarter (there was a near-explosive 19-yarder to Curtis Samuel as well). So in 32 attempts, Ohio State only had a single explosive pass.
Last week the Buckeyes struggled to hit most passes, but didn't seem to take advantage of the short passing game. The offense seemed determined to change that this week by targeting the edge with passes closer to the line of scrimmage, but there was still absolutely no deep threat to stretch the defense vertically. Without stretching the defense vertically, the Wildcat defense was able to contain the inside run game -- the horizontal passing game wasn't enough to relieve the pressure on the interior of the line.
For the most part J.T. had plenty of time to pass, at least. The Wildcats recorded only one sack and Big Ten sack leader Ifeadi Odenigbo was held in check.
An explosive passing attack isn't walking through that door this year. Brown is a possession receiver. There's no deep threat, and even if there were, nobody besides Brown has proven their ability to high-point a football.
You know, our fate may have been sealed looking to a sixth-year senior with no catches and a cast to provide an explosive threat.
The good news is you can win college football games without an explosive passing game. But that depends on the Slobs finding cohesion.
14 POINTS SEEMS LIKE A LOT. I will not tell my dipshit grandchildren about Ohio State's 24-20 victory over Northwestern. I'm already on to Nebraska, a team that lost Saturday in Camp Randall. That wild time it went undefeated, however, will forever be remembered with the first piece of Cornhusker #content that made me laugh:
Despite the loss, Nebraska is a venerable foe for Ohio State:
OSU goes from facing the league's top rusher (at the time) and receiver, to a team without a rusher or receiver in the Big Ten's top ten.
— Lori Schmidt (@LoriSchmidt) October 31, 2016
Nebraska has outscored its opponents in the fourth quarters of games this year by a combined total 108-13.
— Lori Schmidt (@LoriSchmidt) October 31, 2016
According to vegasinsider.com, Nebraska will enter the Horseshoe as 14-point underdogs.
That seems right, but I wouldn't bet the rent on it.
KNOW THOSE FEELS, HUSKER D. Give Mike Riley and the Huskers this much: I watched that game in Madison much longer than I thought would be necessary.
Reading the autopsy, it looks like the Husker defense caught the plague Ohio State suffered in Happy Valley.
From maryvilledailyforum.com:
Nearly half of Wisconsin's 223 rushing yards came on three plays — a 39-yarder from Dare Ogunbowale followed by a 21-yard dash from Bradrick Shaw in the first quarter, and Corey Clement's 41-yard scamper late in regulation — but led to just seven points. Clement, Wisconsin's feature back, finished with 82 yards on 19 carries. Badger quarterbacks Alex Hornibrook and Bart Houston combined for just 114 passing yards and two interceptions. Houston was sacked twice.
But no one was interested in moral victories in a game that, like so many others this season, Nebraska appeared to be putting its hands around in the fourth quarter.
"Whatever you win by or whatever you lose by, it’s just that, a win or a loss," [Nebraska defensive coordinator Mark] Banker said. "And that’s the only thing that really counts."
Always tough getting beat by a team dual-wielding an Alex and Bart that compiled 114 passing yards.
R.I.P. JOHN HICKS. The world lost a Buckeye legend over the weekend.
From abc6onyourside.com:
John Hicks, a two-time All-American and major award winner and undeniably one of the most outstanding Ohio State football players of all time, died after a long battle with diabetes. Hicks was 65.
An offensive guard from Cleveland’s John Hay High School, Hicks was a three-year starter for Woody Hayes-coached teams that won Big Ten Conference championships in 1970, 1972 and 1973 and advanced to the Rose Bowl in each of those seasons. Hicks was the first player to start in three Rose Bowls and in 2009 he was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.
[...]
Freshmen were ineligible in 1969, Hicks’ first year on campus, but in 1970 he helped the Buckeyes to a 9-1 record, a 7-0 mark in the Big Ten, including a 20-9 win over Michigan, and the national championship as awarded by the National Football Foundation.
Shoutout your loved one today. You just never know.
GET A LOAD OF THIS SPOOF. I'm over #content about "Jim Harbaugh doing zany thing." But this is ridiculous even for his alien standards:
I don't think I've taken my baseball glove to an MLB game since middle school, and then there's Jim Harbaugh: pic.twitter.com/YsGpJfYB9T
— Aaron Mawhirter (@aMawhirter) October 31, 2016
Cleveland lost, but it didn't prevent utility man José Ramírez from slapping a home run immediately after Harbaugh appeared on the broadcast.
The Sleeve winning another professional sports title will be a refreshing oasis in another week of us wringing our hands about the local team's offense.
THOSE WMDs. The location of True Detective's Carcosa... Academia, love me back... America's biggest filer of patent suits invented shipping notification... A $72 million apartment complex... No kegs, no liquor: Colleges crack down on drinking and sexual assault.
