No Land For Old QBs....Will THE Scarlet & Gray Bounce Byke? It's Up in the Air I'm just Sayin: 2024 Ohio State Buckeyes Thread
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MustafaSTL
Achievement In Every Field of Human Endeavor
Haha, Buckeyes by 24.
Definitely media talk
It seems that the ND media, former players and coaches are trying to bait OSU into their takes so that they can fall into their trap of playing the game the way ND wants to. The Irish cannot win a boat race so they want to challenge OSU manhood to a physical game which fall into their strengths and covers their weakness. Hopes that Day and the guys don't buy into it and force ND into a track meet that they know they cannot win. OSU has multiple paths to win while ND only has a few. Need to make them regret for talking so much when they haven't beat us in almost a 100 years.
MustafaSTL
Achievement In Every Field of Human Endeavor
Yeah Malik Zaire c00n ass been doing too much. So much so that I’ve seen ND fans on their board talk about how he is embarrassing them. I don’t think anyone is taking him seriously. He did this shyt the last two years because he’s still angry OSU took JT Barrett over him.
Lou Holtz is just a fossil trying to bait Day since Day responded last year. No need to pay attention to his decrepit ass.
MustafaSTL
Achievement In Every Field of Human Endeavor
Why Ohio State’s Defense, Not Offense, Gives It the Edge Against Notre Dame
Ohio State’s pass rush has been ferocious all year. The Buckeyes have generated a 45.3% pressure rate on opposing drop backs, which ranks third in the power conferences.
Their actual sack rate of 10.0% leads everybody, as the Buckeyes have done an excellent job turning pressures into drive-killing losses.They’ve done all of that despite not blitzing much: Knowles has brought five or more rushers 30.8% of the time, a bit above the 27.5% power conference average but below the rates of a bunch of teams with the highest pressure rates in the sport.
There is no great mystery about where that pressure comes from. The Buckeyes have pass rushers who win. Edges Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau have combined for a whopping 99 pressures and 31 adjusted sacks, coming in first and second in the Big Ten in the latter stat. (Tuimoloau’s 16 adjusted sacks lead everyone; Sawyer is next at 15.)
Sawyer’s 25.8% pressure rate is fifth in the country among edge defenders with at least 100 pass rushing snaps, and his six tipped passes at the line lead all of FBS.
None of this bodes well for a Notre Dame offensive line that has a pressure-allowed rate of 36.3% – worse than the national average of 32.6%.
The Buckeyes’ Short-Yardage Wall
Ohio State’s most baffling flaw of the past few seasons has been in short-yardage situations on offense. For varying reasons, the Buckeyes have not been good at picking up a necessary yard or two with carries on third and fourth down. This shortcoming bit them in the Cotton Bowl when Texas stacked up Judkins on a 3rd-and-1 as the Buckeyes tried to create separation in the third quarter.
There is good news, though: For all of Ohio State’s short yardage problems on offense, the defense has been absolute money in the same position. You need only look at two sequences in particular:
Ohio State’s overall short-yardage run stats are fine: 2.84 yards allowed per carry on third and fourth down with 2 yards or less to gain for the offense, plus a 68.4% success rate on those carries (against a power conference average of 70.9%).
- In the Cotton Bowl, Sawyer’s Strip-6 came only after Texas had 1st-and-goal at the Ohio State 1-yard line. The Buckeyes stuffed a run up the middle on first down, created a loss of 7 yards on a pitch on second down, and forced an incompletion on third down before Sawyer brought the house down on fourth. Needing to hammer out just 1 yard against OSU, Texas stopped trying.
- In Week 10, Ohio State led Penn State by a touchdown with just more than 5 minutes remaining. PSU had 1st-and-goal at the Ohio State 3, then carried three times for 2 yards before Drew Allar threw an incompletion into the end zone from the 1 on fourth down.
But more than any number, the results in crunch time – and opponents’ decisions to stop pounding the ball after failed attempts – tell the tale.
Tuimoloau and Sawyer are strong run defenders and by no means pure speed-rushing edges. But the crown jewel of Ohio State’s trench play is tackle Tyleik Williams, whose 28 run stuffs lead the team. The Buckeyes have depth behind him, too, something they demonstrated when they got that critical stop against Penn State with a then-injured Williams watching from the sideline.
Tackles Ty Hamilton and Kayden McDonald combined for another 28 run stuffs, matching No. 91’s count.
The Very Dangerous Second and Third Levels
Ostensibly, Knowles does not have that hard a job. Give any coach two edge rushers like Tuimoloau and Sawyer and a tackle like Williams, and he’ll win the line of scrimmage pretty much every week.
That’s true, but Knowles has made things even better by his wise deployment of talented players behind them – in particular, elite linebacker Cody Simon and safety Caleb Downs.
The Buckeyes have used their nickel defense 75.5% of the time. In addition to putting a lot on slot cornerback Jordan Hancock, this configuration has made Simon perhaps the most important player on the defense.
Simon is a fifth-year player with more college experience than any other OSU linebacker, and Knowles asks a ton of him. He’s been a critical situational pass rusher, generating 16 pressures on 54 pass-rushing snaps for a 29.6% pressure rate. (He’s generated about twice as many pressures as the also-very-good Sonny Styles, his inside linebacker partner.)
Simon’s 15 run disruptions also lead the OSU linebacking corps, as do his 27 run stuffs. And Knowles puts him in coverage a lot, with mixed results (as any inside backer will have) but with five passes defended, another stat in which he leads OSU backers.
Most national champs have a jack-of-all-trades linebacker in Simon’s mold. Ohio State’s last title team in 2014 had Darron Lee, who later became a first-round NFL Draft pick. Dabo Swinney’s best Clemson teams had Isaiah Simmons, who became a first-rounder too. Simon won’t be a first-round pick, but he won defensive MVP honors at the Rose Bowl and will go into Ohio State lore with a win on Monday.
Meanwhile, Downs patrols his safety spot across from Lathan Ransom. As great as every other player discussed has been, Downs is the best player on the unit and probably on the whole team. Nobody has played more than his 822 snaps, and there’s more or less nothing the Buckeyes ask of Downs (including returning punts quite well!) that he does not give them.
The most telling number about Downs’ season is 20: That’s how many times opposing QBs have targeted him on his 312 coverage snaps, for a team-low targeted rate of 6.4%. Only five safeties in the country were targeted less on more than 300 coverage snaps. And only one allowed better than Downs’ 7.7 expected yards per target, and only seven had more than his 17 run stuffs.
A defense on which it takes more than a half-second to consider whether Downs is the best player is a defense that should win a national title. On Monday, the Buckeyes have their shot.
Ohio State's Defense Gives It the Edge Against Notre Dame | Opta Analyst
While the offensive stars often get much of the attention, it's Ohio State's defense that could give it the biggest edge against Notre Dame.
theanalyst.com
CFP Championship Game Predictions | Opta Analyst
We're asking four questions, and which way they tilt will likely tell us how much of a chance the Irish have of pulling a surprise.
theanalyst.com
Here are four questions to keep in mind as you prepare for the CFP national championship game. The answers aren’t obvious, and which way they tilt in the end will tell us how much of a chance the Irish have of pulling a surprise.
Question No. 1: Can Notre Dame’s dilapidated offensive line hold up for one more week?
Notre Dame left tackle Anthonie Knapp is out for the title game with a high ankle sprain. Knapp is himself a backup left tackle, having replaced Charles Jagusah after Jagusah was lost for the season, or so we thought, in fall camp.
But Jagusah made a shocking return in the Orange Bowl against Penn State, playing right guard amid an injury to the usual starter at that position, Rocco Spindler.
With at least two starting linemen injured, at least one ruled out for the game, and a preseason starter pressed back into duty, Notre Dame’s offensive line combination is an unsolvable puzzle right now. Freeman is reportedly entertaining the idea of reinserting Jagusah, who was supposed to be his left tackle all year but didn’t get to play any games at the position, back into that spot.
All I can say is that if Freeman asks Jagusah to assume left tackle duties for the national title game for his first start of the year, coming off an injury, then Riley Leonard, Jeremiyah Love and the Irish must hope God really is with them.. Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau are a terrifying a set of pass rushers. They led the Big Ten in adjusted sacks, which occurs when a defender records a pressure on a sack play, even if that defender does not actually get the sack.
So Jagusah limiting the damage against either one would be an epic achievement. At left tackle, Jagusah would most likely face Tuimoloau, who tends to line up at right edge but moves around.
Ohio State won’t be an easy matchup for a Notre Dame offensive line that has a pressure-allowed rate of 36.3% – worse than the national average of 32.6%.
Question No. 4: Does Will Howard play clean?
If yes, what is Ohio State’s margin of victory?
In 12 games against power conference opposition, Howard has thrown nine interceptions and lost a fumble. (He’s fumbled six times in total, but the Buckeyes have gotten five of them back.)
He’s only played turnover-free in four of the 12 games, and while those included Ohio State’s one-point loss to Oregon in Week 7, Howard’s zero-turnover outings since then have gone like this for Ohio State:
On the other hand, in games in which Howard turned the ball over once or twice, Ohio State has been vulnerable, even against mediocre opponents.
- A 45-0 win over Purdue
- A 31-7 win over Northwestern
- A 41-21 win over Oregon at the Rose Bowl, which wasn’t even that close
These have included:
“Team plays better when QB doesn’t lose the ball” is not revolutionary analysis. But Ohio State is so much better than its opponents – probably even Notre Dame – that a turnover-less game from Howard probably forecloses all but the slimmest chance of an upset.
- A 21-17 win over Nebraska, with one Howard interception
- A 20-13 win over Penn State, with one Howard interception returned for a touchdown and the quarterback’s lone lost fumble of the season
- A 13-10 loss to Michigan
- A 28-14 win over Texas, which was still dramatic with 2 minutes remaining
After all, the only team to be remotely competitive with OSU in a clean Howard game was Oregon, playing an excellent game on its own field and still needing help from the clock and a creative substitutions loophole to seal a one-point win.
At the risk of being too declarative, I do not think it’s possible for the Fighting Irish to win if they don’t get Howard to mess up at least once. Get him to do it twice, and the Fighting Irish might have something.
- TRACR’s Projected Winner (With Probability): Ohio State (76.0%)
- Kirshner’s Pick: Ohio State -8.5
Jack 
www.theplayerstribune.com
One More, Then Forever | By Jack Sawyer
Coming back as a senior is a decision I’d make again in a heartbeat.
www.theplayerstribune.com
MustafaSTL
Achievement In Every Field of Human Endeavor
That’s our captain.Jack
One More, Then Forever | By Jack Sawyer
Coming back as a senior is a decision I’d make again in a heartbeat.
Eye Cue DA COLI GAWD
<--- Cleveland Browns winning that many, boi!
These guys talk too muchDefinitely media talk
