We should have seen this coming.
Buckeye Nation was down on their team after the loss to Oklahoma, but wanted to believe that there was a growth process taking place, that things would get better. There were new coaches, a new system, and Urban Meyer told us repeatedly that he liked where his team was.
Then came Penn State, and the fool’s gold that came with that win.
Sure, the Buckeyes beat the second-ranked team in the nation, but lost in the euphoria of that win was the sloppy play and mistakes that made that game close. We forgot about all of that with the win.
We should have remembered.
The Buckeyes played the same sloppy game in Iowa City, but this time they were not able to overcome their ineptitude by dominating play at the line of scrimmage. Instead, it was Iowa who dominated in the trenches on both offense and defense.
The Hawkeyes also avoided the errors that the Buckeyes made two weeks in a row.
It was a combination of events that lead to a blowout of historic proportions. Iowa scored more points against the Buckeyes than Iowa has scored in any one game vs. OSU in the previous 100 years of competition between the two schools. The sixth-ranked Buckeyes were simply ground into the dirt under the onslaught that led to a 55-24 humiliation at the hands of the unranked Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium.
It took all of eight seconds for the writing to appear on the wall about this game. On the first play from scrimmage, J.T. Barrett was intercepted for a pick-six. The Buckeyes rallied to tie the game with a touchdown drive, but Iowa answered with a field goal to regain the lead. The Buckeye defense had no answer at all for the basic but effective Iowa offense that moved the ball at will. The OSU offense was able to hang for a half, but the Iowa defense took over the line of scrimmage in the second half, and that was the end of OSU’s chances for a rally.
The loss exposed the Buckeyes as a team that can dominate lesser opposition, but is not competitive against teams with even close to the same talent level. Losses to Clemson, Oklahoma, and now Iowa attest to that.
There is that pesky win over Penn State… the same Penn State that lost their second-consecutive game today, this time at East Lansing.
Maybe that wasn’t such a great win after all.
There’s no debating, however, just how bad the loss to Iowa today was. It was the kind of loss that will still sting years from now. It is a low point of epic proportions in the history of OSU football.
In communication, context makes all the difference. Last week, Urban spoke after the amazing comeback win over Penn State and said, “Wow! What just happened?” and that was a good thing.
He could have said the very same thing this week, and we all would have not is was not a good thing, not at all.
Wow! What just happened? We might never really know.
We are a SPOILED fanbase.
Urban and staff better have this team well-prepared and ready for Sparty. They better come out angry, punching Sparty in the face and taking them down for the count. OSU can still win the B1G and that can ease the pain
I feel like we all did not appreciate how good a defensive coordinator Luke Fickle was. I know even on this site they continually gave credit to the Co-coordinator but that was not the case. Luke would have made adjustments like run some zone coverage and discuise coverages. That did not happen yesterday nor against Oklahoma. Say what you want but the defense with all its lack of experience in the back half still does not play well with what everyone says is the best d-line in the country we put guys on the back end in bad positions. Also our LB’s have not played this bad since before Luke took over coaching them. I love the Buckeyes and will support them forever. But why all the penalties? Either they are teaching them wrong or letting them get away with it at practice. Just saying
November separates the contenders from the pretenders.
The sad thing is for this Buckeye fan I saw it coming. I saw a team that makes up for being out of position by being very athletic, a team, that frequently goes on all out pass rushes that don’t account for the quarterback, and can ibe beaten by a quick slant, corner’s on islands where if they hesitate a half step the other team has an open man to throw to. But the scary thing is, everyone in the BIG knows what everyone in the SEC already knew, how to stop an Urban Meyer offence. ( Which is really simple by football standards, you have to stay home and not get pulled out of position by the trickery.) The defence for Meyers offence is simple. The offence is way too complicated, the offence has to execute at a much higher level than the defence to be successful. Meyer’s offence actually stacks the odds against his own team. Once the Bucks got behind, I knew Barrett wasn’t going to throw 16 completions in a row two weeks in a row. It was over by the end of the third quarter.
But Meyer as is his habit, left J.T. in right until the end. He didn’t give Tate Martel, who like Cardale Jones has a rocket arm and sees the field much better than Barrett, a chance to get some experience against a good team in the final quarter. Meyer plays his guys, not based on their athletic ability but on how much he loves them. He calls it “intangibles” or leadership ability or all kinds of things that are not related to what he sees on the field of play. Meyer says it all. He says Barrett is like a coach. Well coaches belong on the sideline. Meyer knows what to do. HIs “my guy ” personality quirk keeps him from doing what he knows is right.
I don’t understand how Meyer thinks he can succeed in the B1G (or anywhere) without a couple of big ass run stoppers in the middle of his defence. The reason his offence was initially successful is no one thought a B1G coach would be so stupid as to think they could play B1G ball without building a front 4 that can stop the O-lines of Michigan State, Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin. Ohio State is kind like a second tier in that regard, Like Northwestern, they seem to think the way to deal with not being able to stop the run is to out score the other team. Northwestern does it because they don’t get the top recruits and can’t compete man to man. Meyer does it because he still after all these years, has an “I don’t get the good players” philosophy. He builds to lose to the big boys, with the occasional big win when he catches them off guard or his quarterback plays the game of his career.
This is not going to change. 2015 was a fluke. Meyer still doesn’t respect what Cardale Jones did, in fact he bad mouthed him in front of the media last week. He still doesn’t get that the reason they won was, they had to dial back the Urban Meyer “crazy play freak show” play a pro set, and run some power football. Personally, I think it’s time for him to go. The big question now is what would Kirk Ferentz, Paul Christ, Franklin or Mark Dantonio have done with this team? We’ve seen what Urban Meyer does with top 10 recruiting classes, and superior talent, and it isn’t pretty.
CardaleJones, 11-0 as a starter, 3 blowout wins on the way to a National Championship, and still in Meyer’s doghouse. It makes you wonder. Does Meyer play these guys based on whether or not they are good Christians or something? Is there some criteria he uses that has nothing to do with football? Something is definitely clouding the man’s judgement.
I think a coaches priority is to win not to play guys because he loves them although that is true with little league coaches that play their son at QB.
Barrett for HEISMAN & D-Line coach Johnson for COACH of the year!!!!
Okay, let’s not get carried away. This response smacks of a LOT of bitterness over how Cardale Jones was handled as a player. Sorry, not buying into it. Jones had a rocket arm and one all-everything receiver who won just about every 50-50 throw in that title run (and there were a lot of them). And he did NOT play in a pro set (Jones was never under center like the offense Iowa ran). And that same “power” running game with Elliot is still being run with Dobbins and is very effective, if you aren’t 20 points behind or continually making stupid mistakes with turnovers and penalties. If Jones had been far and away the best guy his last year at OSU, he would have kept the job. He showed too many weaknesses in the passing game, including an inability to read defenses very well, and lack of touch when it was needed on a lot of passes. With a very weak receiving corps, he was exposed; and frankly, so was Barrett…but JTB could run the zone read very well, most of the time, so he got the job back primarily because Jones didn’t do as well in the Red Zone. The Iowa game exposed weaknesses on this defense in a very big way, especially after Bosa was ejected; but the offense likely will be okay when it isn’t committing the college football version of hari kari. And we can debate all day whether JTB needs replacing…but Urban will NEVER remove a redshirt from Tate Martell at this point in the season. It would be foolish to do so, especially now. As I see it, the biggest issues with this team right now are all on defense and special teams. Barrett had a horrid game and then Meyer compounded his mistakes by not taking him out…so Barrett continued to press and try and do too much, and the blow out got worse. But even if another QB comes in and is able to move the team, OSU likely loses this game because of its defense. The OSU defensive staff was totally out coached by Ferentz’s son, who had them on their heels all game.
Overlooked in many of the comments is that Iowa played an almost flawless game on both offense and defense. No team can win every game but I’ll bet the Bucks handle MSU easily next week.
And up next, a very well coached team loaded with 3 star Buckeyes that Urban said were not worthy of playing for Ohio State. And, oh by the way, they beat Penn State also.
Perhaps as big of an overreaction this week as last weeks, are you guys fans or journalist? Forget that question, it is clear. The writing as seen by the dispatch fans,err reporters
Amen. The real JT showed up vs. Iowa. Penn State was the anomaly. Need to stop making excuses for a Senior QB. My real surprise was the defense. Bosa isn’t THAT important. Team seems undisciplined and unprepared week after week. That’s coaching.
Urban hasn’t been able to win anything with his own recruits. He’s a choke job aficionado who is good for one let down every year. Always has been. Always will be. This would have never happened to Saban. But Saban’s wife also isn’t selling appliances on TV. Screw the Mediocre Meyer clan.
Pretty harsh comment for a coach with an enviable record everywhere he’s coached and three national titles to boot. We’re in a goldlen age of OSU football but those expecting perfection and invincibility are bound to be disappointed.
This one is on you, Urban! No excuses here! It’s one thing to get out-coached which is what happened here, but this team continually can’t get out of its own way and lacks any sort of discipline, and THAT is on him! That combination led to this disaster! And NO, I’m not one of these “Fire Urban” lunatics, but good coaches aren’t perfect, and he’s demonstrated this many times as well!
Title should have been; Exposed again!
I believe we all had the foresight of a tough Iowa game after the draining emotional comeback vs PSU. What we didn’t count on was how we would play. Uninspired, no defensive pressure with our elite level defensive front! What was really demoralizing to fans was how “stupid” we played. Head butting the QB and getting thrown out of the game was not very smart. Throwing the INT’s which were forced when JT should have just run is an example of perhaps a momentary lapse of Heisman judgement. When our OLB could not not cover TE’s which ran by them or into the flat, one wonders if they were confused, bewildered or befuddled because they certainly were not very effective. The defense made Brian Ferentz look like a Steve Spurrier clone! The run fits were not very good as the Iowa backs seemed to come out the back door on the big running plays. Our football smarts and adjustments remained in Columbus! Very poor judgement not to have the coordinators speak after the game. No JK Dobbins runs in the second half, you will need them next week.
It will be very interesting who Urban blames for this loss as he has seemly found a scapegoat in every loss since the championship season. When you recruit top talent consistently year after year but that talent can’t win you tough games, the fingers have to point to poor coaching – game planning, preparation, schemes. Alabama seems to always get the most out of their players and coaches. I’m guessing Saban isn’t trying to be buddies with his players and he doesn’t hire his friends as coaches. Makes it easier to be demand perfection and hold coaches and players accountable.
The outcome tonight was largely due to being out-coached (poor adjustments for both offense and defense) and poor player execution and motivation (poor mental prep and sloppy play). It will be hard for the OSU fanbase to swallow another blame game from Meyer when he should be taking full responsibility for this debacle. He recruited the players and hired the coaches. 3 BAD losses in last ten games. No longer a coincidence or a trend. It has become an expectation to struggle against good teams. Fickell and Herman are missed.
I hear that the real JT Barrett suited up for the Buckeyes today. He proved that the last 2 games were flukes.
Miss Luke Fickell yet? Davis has taken at least 2 All American linebackers and turned them into scrubs. Coach Meyers friends and family tree of coaches is biting him in the rear end.
I can’t put this on Zach Smith this time. He had receivers running free all over the field. Unfortunately the real JT Barrett showed back up. He threw exactly 2 good passes the entire game, but, as predictable as always, crapped all over the field. He returned to hopping up and down like a scared rabbit and the limp arm heaves returned.
This entire fiasco is on Urban Meyer. He should have bid farewell to JT following that Clemson fiasco. The Buckeyes could have had the next quarterback getting experience against Indiana for a potential run in 2018.
Welcome to the reason Indiana under Wilson would look like world beaters one week and the next week look like a HS JV team.
The 3 biggest blows to the 2017 Buckeyes? Losing Luke Fickell. Hiring Ryan Day/Kevin Wilson. Accepting JT Barrett back for his 5th year.
ALL of that is on Urban Meyer. HE failed the 2017 Buckeyes.
Schiano looks lost without Fickell. Not only that but the linebackers aren’t the same elite group without Fickell’s coaching. I think Day/Wilson were positive hires, but what can you do when a fifth year senior fires four interceptions? I guess run more. Maybe Urban can make a suggestion that we run more.
Whoops, forgot something… I sincerely HOPE that someone playing or coaching for this team will remember the fake punt Iowa ran with a 30 point lead, the next time OSU plays them. Frankly, however, I’m pessimistic…
IA knows what its like to be blown out by OSU. So when they had a chance to rub it in, they did. OSU will have IA circled the next time we play them, which will be in Columbus.
Actually, Ohio State hadn’t ‘blown out” Iowa since the 2006 season, 38-17. That OSU team was fairly decent (National Runnerup anyone?) and coached by Jim Tressel, who practically ordered his team to start taking a knee every time they were ahead by double digits in the 4th quarter anyway. In addition, OSU and Iowa have been missing games versus each other recently due to BIG scheduling anomalies. So no, this Iowa coaching staff did NOT have bitter memories of being blown out by showoff OSU teams. The fake was a classless act that I can only HOPE our guys remember next year.
I wonder how this loss effects recruiting?
Although the majority of your article was spot on, I will point out that the collective “we” you referenced was not collective. Many fans saw that last week was a barely concealed shell game. Happy about the PSU win? Sure. Convinced that OSU was firmly a playoff contention team? Uhh, no…
OSU fans got a great dose today of what it feels like to be a UM fan from the past decade plus, or even a Florida State fan.. that’s right, your Bucks gave up today folks. Other homer authors on this site will try to defend the putrid offense, the defense that was out to lunch, and especially the abysmal prep work done by a coaching staff who collectively couldn’t sniff out that this game had ‘trap” written all over it the second the PSU game ended. This was gross, so don’t try to defend it. Can’t wait for this team to play LSU or some other SEC clown outfit in the Capital One Bowl- boy, that will be FUN! Ridiculous…
Maybe the most disturbing loss I’ve seen from OSU….the self-inflicted wounds–again…killed–but getting dominated at the lines was very sad…as bad as last year’s loss to Clemson was this was much worse in my opinion–Clemson had Deshaun Watson….and somehow today Stanley of all qb’s looked like a pro qb…as depressing as this was, there is still a shot at the big Ten championship and winning next week will go a long way toward that so I hope nobody throws in the towel since the playoff is out of the picture now…still love my Buckeyes
The last time Ohio State lost a game to anyone that badly was 23 years ago in Happy Valley – 63 – 14.
Sparty has to believe they can beat this team now – and anyone else in the schedule not named Illinois. Sad part is, they’re probably right.