WEEK 4 OHIO STATE VS. UAB BLAZERS.

[cool cucumber]

Sloppy, sloppy win. 4-0 is 4-0 but we better step up if we want to beat MSU.

[VegasEagle]

Ok im going to have a bit of a meltdown. 1. Fickell needs to go he is a complete idiot how many times does a team screen you before you change up your D.
2. why cant we Defend 3rd and a mile?????? 3. Why is the offense so inconsistent 4. why isnt Stoneburner getting the ball. 5 if im Jordan Hall im irate right now I get what 6 or 7 yards a carry today and get no love you bring in Rod i cant hold on to the ball Smith and give him my touchdowns. WHAT IS GOING ON ....

[Steely Dan]

What an underwhelming win. I could barely stomach watching it. I watched the Utah State/Utah game last week, the boys from state weren't fast, but boy, they could tackle. Fundamentally sound, to say the least. Right now, the OSU defense is the antithesis of "fundamentally sound".

Offense was borderline inept today. Next week, first game on the road. Could get ugly.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

i agree with everything said. we have to realize we are just not a very sound football team right now.curious how many yards the buckeye defense gave up threw the air. and the uab kicker sure has a leg.but jonathon hankins is a beast.i'm disappointed in the bucks effort, and the stupid penalties.and too me the d-line looked totally gassed the 4th quarter.braxton miller has bailed us out so many times. you can do all the fancy hand stuff with the crowd, and all that stuff, but we are gonna have a hard road to hoe, in the B1G, if we don't start blocking , and tackling.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

we were outplayed by uab, in my opinion, but i'll take the win.

[farmer]

UAB came out and played their best game of the year. Small schools try to make a name even if it is just for one game. One game of lifetime memories. With the play of UL Monroe lately against big time schools gives a team a little more hope. Seems like OSU took them for granted. Atleast we sure hope they did.

OSU on defense they just do not have the players to be a dominating defense. They gave up a lot of yards on screens this game but not the big plays. OSU's DB's are not that good. The DB's did play better today and made the tackles that the front 7 could not make. The LB's are not the best tacklers or angle takers. Neither group has a dominating player/players as in the past. The linemen are the strength of the team. Getting Williams back improves this group even more. But they did not play to their standards today. Coaches can only do so much. Time for the players to step up and play. Even as bad as they played as a group they just gave up Field Goals.

Offense Miller is not throwing the ball the best. But as the announcers were talking today that the receivers seem to make the great catches. Then miss the easy catches. Stoneburner did he get the coaches mad at him for getting in trouble during the offseason? Whatever he is not even getting looked at much as compared to what he got in the past. Hall ran well and maybe Smith will hold on to the ball for the rest of the season. After scoring TD's today. The OLine still needs work.

Special Teams the blocked punt set the tone of the game. Punting was terrible helped out only by some long rolls.

OSU may have won but they sure showed they have a lot of work to do. This is all coaches and players. It takes time to change coaches from Tress to Urban. Along with just all what has gone on at OSU during that time. This goes to show that the rankings before games started had the Buckeyes over rated.

[dazed&confused]

Best thing is the BIG 10 is WAY DOWN this year. OSU could run the table. I don't look for it but it is a possibility. Who is better?

[Bleeding Red]

Ok im going to have a bit of a meltdown. 1. Fickell needs to go he is a complete idiot how many times does a team screen you before you change up your D.
2. why cant we Defend 3rd and a mile?????? 3. Why is the offense so inconsistent 4. why isnt Stoneburner getting the ball. 5 if im Jordan Hall im irate right now I get what 6 or 7 yards a carry today and get no love you bring in Rod i cant hold on to the ball Smith and give him my touchdowns. WHAT IS GOING ON ....

To answer your questions:

1.) I think both Fickell and Vrabel are skating on thin ice to come back next year on this staff.
2.) We dont get a pass rush. Given the D line, this should be a non issue. Nathan Williams just isnt the same player after the injury. Time to play Noah Spence consistently. In no way can you let a senior stay in there and miss tackles in the backfield on 180lb backs when he has them in the grasp. Part of the problem on defense is they just arent aggressive in their schemes. They dont blitz as much as they should to get in the backfield. But if the linebackers cant tackle very well, its hard to be aggressive with the D line.
3.) Everything starts with the big boys up front. Blocking is inconsistent.
4.) ????? I thought Meyer would really incorporate Stonebruner and other TE's into his spread offense. Not happening right now.
5.) You are right on the money! Unless Hall got a little hurt or winded, no reason to not throw him a bone.

[farmer]

Why is Fickell and Vrabel getting the blame for the defense?

Vrabel is the Dline Coach. That group is playing the best so far this year on the defensive side of the ball.

Fickell is the Co-Defensive Coordinator with Urban's pick Everett Withers who is Co-DC and Assistant Head Coach.

[Steely Dan]

farmer - Agree. I'd put the defensive woes on Withers. He certainly didn't light things up at his prior post. Urban may have made a wrong choice with this guy. Time will tell.

[C-Bolt]

That's a good point farmer! I never was crazy about the idea of having 2 coordinators and the same side,power struggles are bound to happen and differences in philosophy so I think Meyer needs to thin the herd by next year.

[Bleeding Red]

That's a good point farmer! I never was crazy about the idea of having 2 coordinators and the same side,power struggles are bound to happen and differences in philosophy so I think Meyer needs to thin the herd by next year.

I agree. Its hard to hold 2 people accountable when they are responsible for the same thing.

[seofan_via_dublin]

Vrabel gets blame, because he has the players to make up the best D line in the conference, and one of the best in the country. Yet, they are horribly underperforming, not getting pressure on pass plays, and not eating blocks on run plays.

Fickle gets blames because he is the linebackers coach, and compared to other squads at LB that he has coached, these guys SUCK!
Also, he is the Co-D Coordinator that is the defensive play caller.

The Defensive intensity had taken steps backward with every coaching change, going back to when Dantonio left.

If a guy like Mark Stoops, Dantonio, Narduzi, Or a Defensive Coach worth a darn was calling this D, I don't think a team would have scored more than 7 all year!

Bradley Roby was out, he's our best corner.
The safeties are not good in pass coverage.

But in the end it comes down to the talent that we are comparing to.
The D Line is good, but guys like Gholsten, Heyward, and Smith aren't on the field.
I love John Simon, but he'd be second string on other D lines.

Shazier is a stud, but he's not Hawk, Carpenter or Larenitas.
Sabine and Klein, those guys aren't even a Shlegal or Cee Grant.

Good Lord, I'm not even going to start on the safeties. The guys we have now, would be walk-ins compared to Mike Doss and Donte Whitner!

This issue is getting fixed. There are freshman on this team, and guys coming in next year that are on the level of what we expect on D. But they're young, they have to learn, and they are going to make some mistakes.