OT: where do the bucks go from here

[Briney Dave]

I could not watch the game where I was today, heard a bit on the radio then saw what is generally a vrey biased espn arm chair break down of it.

No nice way to say five turn overs

no nice way to say a qb that is not developing the way an elite one should regardless of his natural talents

I am not a basher or a pig pile guy; so moving forward, where do we go from here

 

[Treg]

Not much we can do but tough it out for the next 3-4 years...

TP proved he aint worth a damn and tress proved hes willing to lose trying to develop him.

It's a joke. Dont expect a chance at a BCS win until 2012.

 

[Bambalam]

IMO Pryor has taken a step (or two) backward in his development this year. He stares down his primary receiver, and throws it even if he's not open.

Tressel doesn't do a very good job of in-game adjustments. He sticks to the game plan regardless of what the opponent is doing.

 

[burgei16]

I don't know how many times during that game TP had a HUGE running lane but instead passed incomplete, short gain, or interception. Why is he not running in these situations. Last year he would of ran. It almost like he is being coached not to run when its open. He is a great runner and it seems like we don't want him to do what he does best. I know he wants to be a NFL QB but this isn't the NFL. Let the NFL develop him.

 

[porky]

I dunno Dave, that's a tuff one.
I guess you get back to the basics.
Get back to the fundamentals.
Maybe you go 2 a day's next week...
And get away from the shotgun, back to the I formation and force the O line to be more aggressive.
I'm wondering if we need to look @ maybe starting Bauserman next game, just to send a message that nobody's job is secure.

 

[Bambalam]

Defenses aren't going to respect the QB draw if he can't throw. They will crowd the line and dare him to run. TP is a great athlete, but until he starts hitting his receivers defenses will pressure him. He missed a wide open Ballard in the end zone, and they ended up kicking a FG.

 

[porky]

You're right Jeff! And Sansenbacher(sp?) was open all day long!

 

[burgei16]

I am not saying a qb draw. That is a designed run. In a passing situation, if you have a lane to run and you are as athletic as TP then take off. This will cause the defense to have a LB to spy TP all game which allow for better passing lanes. There was plenty of times he was in this situation. He stepped up in the pocket and there was a hugh running lane with nobody in site. I know they want him to be a pass first run second guy and that is fine, it took Troy Smith a 1.5 years to do this but when the run is there take it.

 

[Briney Dave]

tough day for sure. I think that you look at your number two guy. and you do turn this week into a challenge week.
the cream will rise if given a chance

 

[mrwilson]

If this game doesn't cost Pryor the starting job, what possibly could?

 

[Briney Dave]

I am just sitting in my chair staring at sports center. I am in shock to be honest. I have always been a coach T backer but the team just did not seem to be on the right page with each other.

Last week an ugly win, this week are worse looking loss. there is so much going on that fan cams don't show so its really impossible for me to sit here and know for sure what the problem really is but what is shown is a qb looking like he doesn't know how or can't get it going in the right direction

 

[A.VOID]

Let's be serious here ...

Could Bauserman do any worse?

Stop making excuses for Pryor >>> He's not a QB. He's one heck of a gifted athlete, but I think we could utilize him catching short passes across the middle. A 6'6" 230 that can run would be great for catch a 5 yard and run ... Hey ... send him long ... ANYTHING else!

Tressel's play calling stinks because he can't figure out what to do with this guy. Pryor is flying blind. He even started arguing with Tressel towards the end of the game.
Use the next two games to get Bauserman worked into the offense, and let's utilize Pryor at some other position.

Oh yeah .. the O-line ain't helping either. Good grief!

 

[PhilipOSU]

Lets all be honest with ourselves... Pryor is NOT a quarterback suited for team in a BCS conference. Mechanically he does not throw a very good ball and has poor touch on his throws. Clearly he does not have any concept of either reading the defensive coverage or a receiver progression. I think we forget that he only played the equivilent of Ohio D3/D2 football during high school in PA. Therefore, before coming to OSU he had never faced any defensive competition remotely close to the level he is now failing against.

Even if we could progress him closer to the level that we got Troy Smith to, he is still doing himself an injustice. He will never be a QB at the NFL level because IMO he does not have the intellectual capacity to ever properly read coverages. He will eventually have a very rough go of it when the time comes for him to take the WONDERLIC test prior to the NFL draft. He should be moved to WR when he can use his talents and where his weakness have a much smaller impact on his ability to produce. He is possably one of the top 20 athletes in college football right now. He has the raw speed and size to put him at the caliber receiver of Calvin Johnson (depending on his hands. There is not a corner in the NCAA that could cover him on a fade route in the red zone.

Tressel needs to take a serious look in the mirror... I feel his play calling has been awful this year.
Against USC:
- He should have ran the ball at the end of the 1st half with under 2 minutes left in the half up 10-7 to burn time rather than throw 2 out of 3 downs in the possession and giving USC enough time to still get a field goal.
- He should have let Pettrey the shot at the 53yrd field goal in the middle of the 4th quarter to give us a 8 point lead. Back in our championship run in 2002 we always kicked...

Today against Purdue:
- Why is Tressel throwing on 2nd down from our own 16 with under a minute left in the half with us up 7-6??? Of course TP throws an incomplete pass and the clock stops. History repeats itself and Purdue gets a FG at the end of the half!
- After the 2nd INT today Tressel IMO should have sat Pryor down and gave Bauserman a series. If for nothing else to remind Pryor the Ohio State Football is bigger than any one player.

In conclusion my two cents on where we should go from here... TP should come to the realization that he is better off and will make more money on Sundays as a wide out than QB. Tressel should strongly consider getting an offensive coordinator in place who handles the play calling.

 

[porky]

I had to grab the paper this morning just to make sure it wasn't a bad dream...
But yet there it is, in black and white, it happened, the Bucks went to W. Lafayette and lost to a 1 and 5 Purdue team.

 

[Kung]

You will all tune in next week, anyway. Jim Tressell has won more games than most of us have watched in our lifetimes. He is developing his guy. Buckeye Nation said the same thing about Troy Smith, bum, useless, bench him, until he won a Heisman, and then he was the best thing since sliced bread. We weren't winning a BCS Championship the minute we lost to USC. Nothing was spoiled yesterday that wasn't spoiled long ago.

 

[Briney Dave]

LOL oh Kung you are so right, I am still bummed about it but you are completely right.
I still like a conservative play caller but not sure that its right for the guy we have.

The difference with Troy Smith is that he did grow and get much better over time. Right now TP looks pretty rough, maybe he will get better and maybe he will not.

The national title hope was a slim string before yesterday and likely would have been broken at some point, Florida just is not going to loose and one of the next five will likey do the same. Although the last title game we dropped in with just about as much string as we were holding on to yesterday.

Honestly we are not good enough on both sided of the ball on the same day to be considered a top ten team. It is stinking hard to do that week in and out and franky we have gotten very spoiled with how well things generally have gone.

What worries more than anything about this season or even what to make of TP is how national attention and weak schedules will allow a bunch of teams from little weaker confr. find their way up the ladder over the next couple years. I think it will get harder to attract national talent to the big ten 12, or pac ten

are we looking at a changing of the guard for good??

 

[mrwilson]

The significant difference between Troy Smith and Pryor is that Smith was a very accurate passer from day one. He was a run-first guy his first year-and-a-half as a starter, but when he did throw, and when he made the right decision, he was right on the money. Pryor not only makes poor decisions, he also is frequently inaccurate even when he makes the right decisions.

 

[A.VOID]

The significant difference between Troy Smith and Pryor is that Smith was a very accurate passer from day one. He was a run-first guy his first year-and-a-half as a starter, but when he did throw, and when he made the right decision, he was right on the money. Pryor not only makes poor decisions, he also is frequently inaccurate even when he makes the right decisions.

SO TRUE! Quit making the comparisons to Troy Smith. Quit making the comparisons to Vince Young.

This is a different person who has a season and a half of starting under his belt. He's been in big games, he's just not progressing. He's going backwards, he's without a clue. He will never be drafted as a QB. He'll get a draft as an athlete, unless we help him develop into another role better suited for his talents.

 

[Kung]

The significant difference between Troy Smith and Pryor is that Smith was a very accurate passer from day one. He was a run-first guy his first year-and-a-half as a starter, but when he did throw, and when he made the right decision, he was right on the money. Pryor not only makes poor decisions, he also is frequently inaccurate even when he makes the right decisions.

I must have failed revisionist history, because I don't remember it that way at all. He was a mess at first, just like pryor, but he came around.

 

[Norm R]

OT: where do the bucks go from here

I predict the Aptasia Bowl...