POWERSPREAD

 PREGAME

What’s Drew doing?

Last minute breakdown of schemes. (click the pic for 2m in-depth analysis)

 

What’s Kurt doing?

Kurt’s at STOUT with his family waiting for me! It’s THE GAME!!.

 

What’s Mike doing? 

I don’t think Mike cares about THE GAME! He’s still recovering from BLACK FRIDAY.

 

WHAT WE SHOULD ALL BE DOING!

 

 

The Game!

I MADE IT TO STOUT JUST IN TIME! Kurt says it’s snowing in Columbus! Time for some POWER SPREAD! 

  

 

1ST QUARTER 

LOVE THE ’68 UNIS – Traditional, yet new school. 

 

OSU1

3 Hyde RO (read option) runs. 1st down. Sets up the Bomb Deep down the middle to #15 Devin Smith. Sets up a Hyde TD.  NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT! Good execution. And great game plan to start by Herman. Pound them, then quickly go deep middle. This should set up the rest of the game. What I wanted to see.  

OSU 7-0 

 

UM1

John Simon is out for this game. Not good. Rght on cue, the young DE replacing Simon, #63 Bennett, misses Denard Robinson in the backfield. A big loss turns into a big gain. But true to form Hoke goes into NFL mode. Couple of screens net a first down, but from the I Formation with Gardner at QB. Sure enough a big sack from True Freshman #92 Washington – fumble – recovered by #44 Boren!  O-H!!!

 

OSU2

3rd+3 Empty Backfield and a big sack by Michigan. Miller actually almost got away on a scramble, then slipped hard on his throwing arm. Don’t like the call. Miller not good enough for empty backfield on 3rd down.    KURT SCREAMING THAT HOKE DOESN’T EVEN WEAR A HEADSET! WHAT THE HECK IS HE DOING!?? LOL

 

UM2

Back to Gardner at QB. Long pass Inc. Complete blown coverage on a fake WR screen, pass down sideline for TD! Good scheme, but another screw up by our D. Will look closer in the upcoming Breakdown.

UM 7-7

 

OSU3

Nice play action, Quick Out to start start the drive. #10 Philly Brown. 3rd +18 complete deep out to Brown for the 1st! His 3rd catch of the game. No empty backfield this time!  Two successive penalties give us 1st+25. Back to mistake football. This is the biggest game of the year, though. Let’s see if the Buckeyes settle down. 9 yd completion to #6 Evan Spencer. Another penalty. 11 yds to Brown. Heavy pressure on 3rd+10. Too many mistakes. Good Kick by my man Drew (Basel)!

OSU 10-7

 

 

 

2ND QUARTER

ON THE BIG SCREEN HERE AT STOUT – THE TRIBUTE TO JIM TRESSEL BEFORE THE GAME. THANKS COACH!

 

UM3

Gardner under center. Completes a play action for first. Big hit Roby on Robinson. On 3rd down another big screw up in pass defense – this time the LBs collide, leaving a WR completely free for a big gain. But this time a big penalty on UM – holding. 3rd+long, rollout left Gardner – INC. The schemes are good by Borges. The overall concept is not.

 

OSU4

Fumbled punt. Michigan ball. Unbelievable.

 

UM4

Back to Gardner under center. Standard power run from the 60s. We stuff it for a loss. 2nd+4 turns to 3rd+5. Conventional again. WR drops the ball, but True Fresh #8 Noah Spence gets a bad call – questionable roughing the passer. 1st+Goal. Robinson takes it to the GL.  I Formation – STUFFED. #10 Ryan Shazier.  3rd+Goal. QB Sneak – BARELY a TD. Hoke/Borges almost screwed that up by getting conservative near the GL.

UM 14-10

 

OSU5

BIG RUN BROWN out of the Slot Back RO Sweep right!  But more mistakes. Offsides as we ran the hurry up on 3rd down. We had the defense scrambling too. Then Miller gets creamed for a sack. This was on him as the DE was left unblocked on purpose. Miller is far too slow in his reads and against teams with talent like ours it’s a problem. He needs to wake up. The rest of the country is praying he doesn’t.

 

UM5

Some interesting sets by Borges, but standard ideas again. 3rd down, we had Gardner in the backfield, let him free then committed the late hit – personal foul. Incredible the mistakes! HUGE SACK BY BOREN! BIG. Another hit by 7 Travis Howard! NOW SHAZIER AND WASHINGTON GIVING  CHASE! SHAZIER THE SACK. THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU EXECUTE! The coaching staff has these guys in good positions- they need to execute.

 

OSU6

2 Big runs Hyde. Make that three. HURRY UP, HALF ROLL, QUICK OUT BROWN – TOUCHDOWN!!!

OSU 17-14

 

UM6

2 more plays out of the Staggered Spread T. Good set, but not much to the play calls. But on the second one, a Power Sweep right, our defense did not attack and 2 DBs completely bounced off Gardner, letting him run for a 67 YD TOUCHDOWN.

UM 21-17

 

OSU7

Sweep Miller, pass Brown, pass Hyde. This is what the PS is about – continue the aggression to the last second. Endzone attempt Inc. 52 Yd FG attempt by Basel. GOOD!! GREAT KICK, DREW! – IN HEAVY WIND THAT ACTUALLY BLEW THE KICK THRU THE UPRIGHTS!

OSU 20  MICHIGAN 21

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HALFTIME

Well, simply amazing. The Power Spread’s even making me spread my mind. I simply cannot believe the mistakes we made in the 1st Half against a team of similar talent and coaching, only to be up by 3 at the Half! OOPS – MORE MISTAKES. Ridiculous tackling on a huge TD run by UM’s Gardner. Still, the PS quickly strikes to get a last second FG as UM’s DC, Mattison, got conservative to finish the half.

 

But the big problem for OSU isn’t the schemes, talent or overall PS Aggressive Attitude – in this, we have it all over Michigan and a lot of other teams in the Big 10. But the execution this year has been so bad. Especially on Defense. Either the coaches had so much to implement this year that fundamentals got left behind a bit AND/OR our Defense simply hasn’t gotten used to all the action on Offense yet. This is very different from what they have seen the last 10 years. Both the Buckeye D and I thought the half over. Well, it wasn’t. 10 more pts in 2 minutes. That’s the concentration the team needs now. I don’t need it because I’m not playing.  As the PS exploits everything – including the Time – we will score more and faster. The Defense needs to keep up. We aren’t the first team to experience this issue.

 

If we execute – at all – this will become an easy win. IF not, it will be a struggle to the end that we still may win thanks to the Power Spread.

 

 

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3RD QUARTER

UM1

Yds on the spread option. No yds from under center. So Hoke puts the QB under center on 3rd and short since that’s the tried and true method for 50 yrs. We stuff it. Time Out Michigan. 4th+short. Robinson keeps on a counter power play. No read option. NO innovation whatsover and we stuff it with Sabino and Shazier. 

 

OSU1

Hyde big run. Hyde another first. More running – too much as Mattison’s UM Defense is on it. QB draw on 3rd down – not a bad call, but again UM was ready. Can’t blame Urban as he’s trying to cut down on the mistakes, but running every play won’t get it down against Mattison’s D. He’s not PS – but he’s good. Short FG by Drew Basel, who’s having a BIG day.

OSU 23-21

 

UM2

Big pass completion. Roby saves a TD. Roby also had bad man on man coverage to let the WR open in the first place. On the very next play HUGE HIT BY BRYANT ON ROBINSON, FUMBLE RECOVERED BY WILLIAMS! NOW THAT’S PS! And that’s the SEC “let ’em fly” football Meyer has brought to the Big !0. Bryant finally used his aggression for something more than creating penalties.

 

OSU2

Finally a pass – another great Fake Block by Stoneburner and wide open for the 1st Down. After all the Hyde runs, now a pass, then Miller 3 straight big runs! PS! But big sack on 2nd+Goal. Again Miller is reacting way too slow! Then on 3rd+Goal bad snap by the center. Then Drew finally misses a FG. Unbelievable. Not a mystery what we need to work on for next year – execution, fundamentals, and more execution.

 

UM3

3rd+short and in comes Robinson. I wonder what it’s going to be? At least this time its a Option Sweep, but no threat of pass due to the QB swap. Easy read for the OSU defense as they are stacked for the run and slam the door shut!

 

 

 

4TH QUARTER

OSU3

Big run Hyde. HUGE RUN MILLER! 42 yds! 

I guess we don’t need Jimmy here to spice things up afterall!  

Oops – spoke to soon…

 

KURT KNOCKS OVER A FULL BEER FROM ALL THE EXCITEMENT WHILE MILLER LIES WRITHING IN PAIN ON THE GROUND. INJURY TIMEOUT FOR ALL INVOLVED!!

 

Everyone seems to be ok.  Miller back in.  3rd+9 and another empty backfield! Another blitz and another slip by Miller. This time he loses the ball on the way down. UM recovers. 

THE EMPTY BACKFIELD HAS DONE NOTHING FOR OSU TODAY!

 

UM4

More good execution by UM, but then Hoke/Borges puts their players in a bad position again. Going to the I Formation once again on 3rd+Short and we stuff it once again. GO TO THE NFL HOKE! He’s throwing this game away with his stubborn insinstence on his “Pro” offense.

 

OSU4

2 runs, then Empty Backfield again. Still we would have had the 1st Down had DSmith held on to the ball. But this is getting too predictable now from Meyer/Herman. Cmon guys – gotta stay aggressive or at least mix it up a bit. Mattison isn’t THAT bad.

Great Punt to the UM 7. OSU’s SPTEAMS have been much better the end of the year.

 

UM5

Another play action from under center to start a series – same as every other drive for UM in the 2nd Half – wisely called out by Chris Spielman. My man! (Being a LB myself, I was a big fan of Chris in the 80’s!)  Yet another Penalty on OSU! Nuts! Another play action from under center by UM and Nate Williams on a Stunt nails Gardner. Hankins cleans up and causes a fumble. Roby mistakingly tries to pick it up, but OSU finally recovers it. 

 

OSU5

3 more runs. We don’t get the hurry up play off in time on 2nd down. And UM totally ready for the 3rd down keep by Miller. We are not progressing like I had hoped. Amazing we are winning this game. FG Basel.

OSU 26-21

 

UM6

Another play action from under center. THE SAME PLAY ON THE FIRST PLAY OF EVERY SERIES IN THE 2ND HALF BY UM. How’s that for innovation? 2 pass knockdowns by Bryant who all of a sudden is looking like and aggressive SEC DB and not an out of control freak. On 3rd+10, great execution by Gardner hitting the WR in stride for a first down on a hook pattern. Just over the 1st down line. But two plays later we apply pressure to the easy to read offensive scheme and Gardner overthrows the WR slightly, resulting in a tip and interception by #4 CJ Barnett.

 

Barnett is a Safety from Northmont HS in Dayton, OH following in the footsteps of Kurt Coleman. I remember his interview with Bucknuts early in his career where he hoped to have the same great career that Coleman had! Well, CJ, you may have just wrapped up a Michigan win and the start of another Long Buckeye Run!

 

OSU6

Not too many possessions this half as Meyer shut it down some, due to all the mistakes in the 1st Half. But thanks to Hoke’s ineptness in PS concepts and OSU’s understanding, even with all the bad execution, here we are, running down the clock to start a new win streak vs Michigan. On 3rd down, Hyde breaks off a big run right up the gut against a beleagured UM defense. Two more Hyde runs and then it’s knee time for Miller – or should we say… “Miller Time”.

 

 

OSU 26 MICHIGAN 21

12-0!!!!!  UNDEFEATED IN THE 1ST YR OF THE URBAN MEYER EXPERIENCE

 

 

   

 

WRAP

Two of the 3 Issues we have had all year continued to be a problem all the way to the end. We are making much better starts to games now, but our Defense still has bad letdowns and the overall execution on the team is still poor. I expected that we were ready for more PS exploration and aggression, but we were not. Meyer even had to pull back in the 2nd Half to make sure we didn’t give the game away.

 

Thankfully, Hoke took care of that for us and I’m not talking turnovers. By going away from any PS concepts in the 2nd Half and not using Denard Robinson – the one thing I gave Hoke credit for –  the UM offense sputtered in the crucial moments at the end of the game?? Maybe Denard was hurt? Or just maybe Hoke wants an NFL OFFENSE at all costs. I hit upon this in the first paragraph of my Preview. The proven, tried and true Pro Set that “has worked for 50 years.” Unless Robinson was hurt, Hoke made a fool of himself today. The game has evolved. Blood + guts are no longer all that is needed to get the job done. The players are too good and the coaches and coordinators are too good.

 

Oddly enough it’s why Urban first started looking at more advanced schemes back when he was with Notre Dame – to make sure that the great Athlete never goes under utilized. Today Denard Robinson may have been purposely underutilized because he didn’t fit the ideas that Hoke has about the way the game is “supposed” to be play. Even if Robinson WAS hurt, the use of Gardner and the plays run at crucial times showed a complete lack of understanding of anything Power Spread. Conservative runs on big 3rd downs. Play Action passes from under center to start EVERY SINGLE SERIES IN THE 2ND HALF. This may have been more ludicrous than all of OSU’s mistakes. Which, btw, Hoke has done well with his team. Overall, Michigan was much better in the fundamentals and execution today than we were. But the schemes are what did his team in. Believe me – all OSU fans know what it’s like – been there, done that.

 

Mr. Hoke, we here at powerspread.net warned you. We also warned your buddy, Bielema last week. It’s time to step up to the plate coaches in the Big 10. Accept what Urban Meyer has brought to Big 10 football. Accept this gift. Accept the evolution of the game. Or please move on quickly to the NFL, before things change there as well.

The Power Spread is the future and it’s here to stay.  12-0. ‘Nuff Said!

~PS