Our Honor Defend

I guess I should justify my blog being in the Big Ten Bloggers feed by updating it once in a while.

Depth Chart Musings

The depth chart for the Wisconsin game was released recently, with no real shakeups to be discerned.  The obvious change regards Dexter Larimore.  The rock of our interior line, he is a no go for Wisconsin this week.  This concerns me infinitely more than the theater of Francisco Franco’s death Friend of Jesus Tim Tebow’s concussion coverage, but it’s not getting the appropriate coverage on ESPN.

Hmm.

Anyways, when pundits in the Midwest were sold on Ohio State’s defensive line, they were in part because it’s stacked with talent.  This season, that has become even more apparent with the stellar play of true freshman John Simon, Rob Rose and the reappearance of Lawrence Wilson in the fold.  Larimore will be missed, especially given Wisconsin’s offensive philosophy, but the defensive line shouldn’t miss too much of a beat with Todd Denlinger starting in his place.  Of course, the Buckeyes will rotate regularly with the wealth of talent they have at the position.

Elsewhere, there is no more “OR” next to Andrew Sweat and Ross Homan as there was last week.  Homan was iffy for Indiana following an injury suffered against Illinois, but ended up playing.  He’s back this week.  There’s also no more “OR” next to Devon Torrence and Andre Amos.  That’s now Devon Torrence’s spot.  Unless I missed something, Andre Amos is the second preseason incumbent to lose his spot (following Anderson Russell).  That’s really not a negative commentary on Amos either (as it was for Russell); Torrence just seemed to beat him out.  Speaking of Russell, he’s back at backup now that Kurt Coleman served his timeout and, hopefully, fostered more anti-social thoughts in the interim.

Offensive line will be worth watching.  There’s no real change here.  Mike Adams and Andy Miller are still in that “OR” status, but it’s precisely those two that are worth watching as this week races towards Saturday.  Why? Both are radioactive.  Okay, maybe not radioactive in that they’re soon to develop neato superpowers like time travel or crushing that one neighbor of mine — who plays the bassline to Seven Nation Army on his bass for 2 hours out of the day — into a singularity, but they’re caught up in the flu bug.

Miller is one of “five or six” players out today with the flu, a group Tressel said he thinks also includes Mike Adams, a sophomore who alternated at left tackle with Miller against Toledo on Sept. 19 and Illinois one week later. Adams started against the Fighting Illini and against the Hoosiers. “Adams, I think, has got the flu,” Tressel said. “Miller’s out. I don’t have that report with me, but there are at least five or six names, and I remember a couple offensive linemen and the reason I’m thinking it might be Adams is because I’m thinking, ‘OK, left tackle we’ll go unbalanced, we’ll go without one.’ “

The possibility exists that Ohio State could be without both for the Wisconsin game.  Should that happen, JB Shugarts may slide over to left tackle and Marcus Hall would get the start at right tackle.

Lastly, Dan Herron is back at starter over Brandon Saine.  You’d think that Saine’s performance against Indiana would merit at least a token second start, but this is really nothing.  Herron and Saine will likely go by committee for the rest of the season unless one of them morphs into Bo Jackson.  Whoever has the hot hand will get the carries regardless of who is “the starter”.

Opponent-Relevant YouTube of the Week

This is a little late.  I like to get these things online on Sunday, but I was just so exhausted following Saturday.  Undaunted, I have chosen the 2002 Wisconsin game for this week.  I chose in it in so far as that I don’t have much of an option; there’s just not that many old-timey Ohio State-Wisconsin games out there.  The ones that are readily available involve us losing to them under Earle Bruce, back when the only way to interpret such a loss was a catastrophe.

That 2002 game was played in Madison between an Ohio State team that was undefeated, #4 in the country and national championship-bound and a Wisconsin team that started their conference slate 0-2 (0-3 after the Ohio State game)¹.  It doesn’t seem like there’s too many parallels with this game, given Wisconsin as, technically, the top team in the conference².  Still, it’s worth noting that Ohio State was giving up only about 68 yards per game (among the nation’s best) on the ground, but were absolutely torched by Anthony Davis this game.  Davis finished with 146 yards on 25 carries and a TD.  I don’t remember for sure, and I’m too lazy to look at the statistics for all those games, but that had to be the most damage any one back or team did to that Buckeye defense the entire season.  That includes Miami, who only mustered 65 yards in 2 overtimes.

Davis started early for the Badgers and it’s any wonder that the Badgers didn’t run Ohio State right out of Camp Randall.  He almost single-handedly gave them the halftime lead and fourth quarter leads.  He was threatening even more in the third quarter, which may have just broken Ohio State’s back for good.  Sometimes, all the Buckeyes needed was one stop and some fortuitous playcalling.  There was a stretch where Anthony Davis rattled off something around 40 yards in a few plays after Andy Groom pinned the Badgers within their own 1 (following an Ohio State drive that started after Darrion Scott blocked a punt).  They had already gotten into Ohio State’s territory.  With one stop, they forced Wisconsin’s coaching staff to dial up a pass play that fell incomplete.  Then, on 3rd and long, Wisconsin was left to the mercy of the Ohio State pass rush.  Wisconsin did not fare well against the Buckeye pass rush.  Brooks Bollinger, the starting QB, was sacked out of the game after two straight punishing hits in the second quarter.  His backup, Jim Sorgi, fared no better with the heat.  All in all, the Buckeyes tallied 5 sacks, turning 3rd and long for Wisconsin into an opportunity to warm up the punter.

This game is special.  I didn’t quite fully understand yet what I had gotten myself into as a freshman at Ohio State when this season unfolded, but this game had to let you know that season would be special.  Wisconsin had become a nemesis for Ohio State in recent years.  Ohio State had won in Camp Randall in their previous visit in 2000, but the 1999 and 2001 games stick out for obvious reasons.  Winning there, and winning with a gimpy Will Smith (who didn’t start this game), absent Cie Grant for much of the second half, and with uncertainty at the cornerback position really stands out.  Ohio State started freshman EJ Underwood in the other corner opposite Dustin Fox, but it was not going well.  By the third quarter, EJ Underwood was actually pulled after being toasted by Jonathan Orr.  He was replaced by Harlen Jacobs, who was pulled almost immediately after Jonathan Orr burned him, causing Jacobs to literally hold him in hopes of preventing him from making a 40yd completion.  He did regardless.  He was replaced with Chris Gamble, the starting slot receiver for this game.  Gamble had some cornerback experience prior to this game, but not too much.  He didn’t even know zone coverage, behooving Mark Dantonio to start bringing Doss on safety blitzes with Gamble in man coverage.  He paid immediate dividends when he was put into the game while Wisconsin was rallying from being down 19-14 in the 4th quarter.  On 3rd down in the red zone, Gamble was left on an island with Jonathan Orr (now becoming public enemy no. 1 for Ohio State fans in attendance).  A Doss blitz forced Jim Sorgi to test Ohio State’s slot receiver.  The end result: a pick for Gamble, a touchback and an end to Wisconsin’s rally.  Gamble’s clutch performance put him and the Buckeyes in a great position at a part of the defense that was a sore spot going back to the first game of the season with Richard McNutt (for Heisman).  The game the next week was against Penn State; you can imagine that Gamble’s performance against Wisconsin gave the coaching staff the confidence to put him back at corner again.  I think you remember what happened there.

Maurice Clarett was billed as the story of the game; he was leading the Big Ten in rushing by this time.  He was stifled — as was the whole offense — during the second and third quarters while Anthony Davis shined in his place.  Still, after Chris Gamble had broken Wisconsin’s back, Clarett and Ohio State’s offensive line broke their spirits in the latter stages of the 4th quarter.  Again, this game for me — as much as the Penn State, Purdue and Michigan games from that same season — defined what made this season special.  But, the more I talk about this season, the more I want to win another national title.  I should stop now.

Game is below, if you’re interested.  Full stats and recap are available.

1. They won only 2 conference games the entire season: against Michigan State and Minnesota. [↩]
2. non-conference tiebreaker… [↩]