Welcome back, friends. In case you’re new to the Grumpy Old Buckeye, this column serves as the voice of negativity, even when things are generally pretty great. I’ll point out the things from each game that make me want to walk out onto my lawn in my bathrobe and yell at people about it. This week we’re talking Ohio State vs. TCU from Jerry World.
Games Not on Campus
One of the greatest things about college football is the on-campus atmosphere. It’s not that this game didn’t have a good atmosphere, but games on college campuses are just better. NFL stadiums are fine for bowl games and NFL matchups, but let’s let the kids play at their respective schools. It’s better for the students and for the college traditions.
Blowing TD Passes on Two Straight Plays
Ohio State’s first drive should have resulted in a touchdown, twice. On second down, Dwayne Haskins threw a line drive toward Rashod Berry instead of putting a little air under it to ensure he got it over the oncoming defender. It was knocked down as a result and there were no other defenders out there to stop the play if it had gotten through. On the next play, Austin Mack dropped the first of three buttery balls on the night — and this came after two big plays earlier by Mack on the drive. In big-time games and on the biggest stage, it’s usually the team that makes the fewest mistakes that wins, and dropping a sure touchdown set a bad tone for the first half. Thankfully, the Buckeyes recovered nicely.
What Even Is Pass Interference?
I’ll fight Kirk Herbstreit over this call. I don’t care what he says, that penalty on Damon Arnette that allowed TCU to keep an eventual scoring drive alive should have been called on the offense. Damon Arnette, who actually had a better chance of catching the ball than the receiver, was held and then the receiver used Arnette’s frame as leverage to elevate to go after the pass. That spun Arnette around toward the receiver and then more contact came and the flag came out for a critical penalty. It seemed like a soft call considering some of the things TCU got away with — most notably grabbing and turning Johnnie Dixon halfway around in the front of the end zone in the second quarter on third down. The Buckeyes had to settle for a field goal as a result.
A Berry Bad Wildcat
Ohio State had a promising drive going and with a third-and-one situation inside TCU territory, Ryan Day dialed up the wildcat formation with Parris Campbell. The rhythm of the offense was disrupted and Berry committed a false start, which ultimately wrecked the drive. I really hate when coaches overthink things, although I recognize there are times you want to change things up and show something new. The way TCU was shooting gaps on defense, I’m not sure the play would have gotten the first down, but I would have bet pretty good money that J.K. Dobbins or Mike Weber could have picked up a yard there.
Wasted Time
I know seven seconds isn’t a lot of time, and had the clock operator been a TCU fan, Ohio State may not have had a chance to try a field goal late in the first half. But Haskins has a cannon and I’d have put money on him taking a quick shot at the end zone requiring fewer than seven seconds. It made things worse when Sean Nuernberger missed the chip shot to end the half, but who knows if Ohio State could have capped the drive with a touchdown?
Jahsen Wint Back but Couldn’t Locate the Ball
Oh, Jahsen. I want to like you. I want to like the plays you make on the football field. And honestly, I think you’re getting better and will become a good player for Ohio State. But man, when you got lost on that long pass play and couldn’t find the ball, wouldn’t it have been better if you’d tackled the receiver and took a 15-yard penalty instead of giving TCU a 50-yard touchdown? I think it would have been better, but I may be biased.
Well, those are the things that made me want to scream at clouds. There were other things to dislike, such as seeing Nick Bosa get hurt, but I don’t want to use up the entire internet. It fills up more each day!
Instead, I choose to focus on Dre’mont Jones’ pick six on a shovel pass, a blocked punt, and another outstanding performance by Haskins.
Tell me what made you want to punch your television and we’ll meet again next week after Ohio State takes on Tulane in Urban Meyer’s return to the sideline. I can’t imagine his suspension will be mentioned whatsoever on the broadcast.
Anyone else want to see a QB switch when it gets to first and goal inside the 8 yd line? Trot out the Tebow/Barrett plays for Martell..
I can only hope you are being sarcastic, Tip. Answer is NO, then NO again.
No need for gimmicks with a QB like this who can throw it.
I agree that moving the game from TCU’s campus was not right. Loyal fans attend their games through good and bad and wait for these games to come to their home. The students, alumni, season ticket holders, locals, deserve their home game, not to have it absconded by big money programs in league with ABC/ESPN who wave a paycheck in front of university bureaucrats who justify the sellout of the team and fans as being “good for the entire university community”. It’s a business model from the Wharton School and one more sellout of tradition. It was not a home game on their home field with their home crowd for TCU. I could complain about being outcoached by Gary Patterson much of the game but thankfully the Buckeye brain trust finally remembered Dobbins and Weber and put together pounding drives late in the game to crush TCU’s chances for good. The O-Line looked less than elite for most of the game as did the linebackers. Good enough to beat TCU after they were wore down but a top tier team will have more depth. Just sayin’ the Horny Toads seem better than #17 to me and maybe the Buckeyes not quite #4 at this point. One last bitch is the way our kickoff team was fooled by the TCU guy laying down in the end zone. I couldn’t believe there were no Buckeye leaders pointing and calling out the guy and the trick almost worked except for another penalty. That should never happen.
There is not a single thing here I can disagree with. Good article.
Please. Please. I am literally begging here. Help our linebackers by calling James Lil Animal and getting him on the sidelines to help coach these kids up. I can’t imagine him filling the wrong gap repeatedly and being “ok” with it every damn game.
Give these freak athletes the coaching they deserve. You think Hartline looked intense last night? Give the linebackers a guy like that. PLEASE.
This isnt a knock on any coach there by the way. I think different coaches are great at different things. I respect everything they do…trust me on that. I think they are going to need above average firepower at LB to win a National Championship though. A guy with some intensity and a passion for Ohio State football is what they need. The absolute freak athletes they have at the position should be miles ahead of where they are.
This…is about the only thing that makes me yell at my tv and move to another one in the house to hopefully change the karma. Lol
With the exception of Bill Belichick (Bledsoe, Bernie Kosar) and Nick Saban not many coaches will bench a proven QB for a novice. That said, I’m taking UM over anybody else. Also, I just think it’s funny that most who wanted JT over Cardale in 2015 are the same who wanted Cardale over JT in 2015. Guaranteed those who love Haskins now will be asking for Tate Martell at some point over the next 18 months. UM is not perfect – but when you look at the landscape of college football their are only one or two coaches who can hang with him and neither one of the other two are walking through that door tomorrow.
totally agree about the home stadiums being much better and the ridiculous pass int. calls–or lack thereof–in consistency…plus it seems osu always gets called for holding but somehow our d-line never seems to get held??? EVERY game they screw us on holding calls, or lack thereof…and Jordan needs to snap that ball higher!……hoping Bosa is back and 100% by psu game
No commentator or anyone else mentioned the hold from TCU #2 on Arnette who was in position to get to the runner who ran by on his 93 yard TD.
TCU # 2 was running and holding Arnette for 10 yards
I wanted to punch my TV when the center hiked his 50th ball 2” off the carpet!! I was yelling so much my poor dog left the room with her tail between her legs!! Please fix it!!!!!!
Totally agree with playing games in college stadiums. There were not enough parking personnel and it took 30 min to get to the entrance, get parking validated and then drive around finding a parking place. Very few other scores were on the monitors and those appeared for less than a minute. Referee’s mike was turned off and couldn’t hear any of the calls. However, the TCU stadium is very small with not enough seats for the Buckeye fans let alone the TCU fans. This game was decided by critical TCU turnovers plus we wore them down in the 4th Q. The officiating was poor with both teams getting some bad calls. Not sure if our DBs and linebackers are national championship caliber. However, it was an important W. Go Bucks!
While I’m at it, can our center snap the ball higher than 8 inches off the ground- PLEASE?
I was just afraid that he would over correct and send the ball over Haskins’s head and TCU would recover and score. I think Urban will fix it this week. Make him snap the ball low and snap it high and right in between and he would know what not to do in the future.
Your comments about pass interference are funny and correct. I hate hearing some TV knob (Herbstreit fits that description perfectly) say that “It was just hand fighting”. Hand fighting IS pass interference on somebody, period. Maybe the coaches would start teaching proper pass defense if the college rule mimicked the pro rule- spot of foul, not 15 yards. No more shoulder grabs, blatant hip holds (“the refs are really letting them play tonight” is usually what the TV idiot says), or jersey tugs- ALL pass interference, every time, end of story. There are rules for a reason…right?
Nothing. But still want to break my tv from last year with JT Barrett playing ahead of Haskins
There was no way Barrett was going to sit and Haskins or Burrow take over last year. Burrow was ahead of Haskins last year anyway.
Don, but had we played Haskins more, a series or 2 each game we may have had a vertical passing game by the end of tge year or at the very least Haskins wouldn’t have been more inexperienced coming into 2018. Shouldn’t hurt a 5th year senior like JT to give up a series or 2.
The one call that upset me the mostbwas the targeting call that was reversed. Not that it was targeting as much as it was a late hit. Dwaynes kees were clearly down before contact, should gave been 15 at least.