PREGAME
DREW IS RACING WITH THE #USOPEN ON HIS TAIL. BUT HE HAS TO SEE HISTORY BE MADE #WILLNOTMISSABUCKEYEGAME!
KURT IS IN CONNECTICUT – CMON!!??
JIMMY IS TEXTING NATIONAL TITLE…NATIONAL TITLE!!!
KYLE IS THE #ONETRUEBUCKEYE AT THE BUCKEYE BAR….I think…
WHERE’S CRAIG??
IN THE END WE ARE ALL TOGETHER IN THE OSU RUN INTO HISTORY!!
Buffalo at OSU
1st Quarter
Buffalo got the ball first. Drove into OSU territory with a nice PS mix. Licata, the passer, gets the start so some Wildcat with Oliver. Like I said, Quinn WILL use the Power Spread, with or without a running QB. After this initial drive it’s all OSU. Absolutely incredible scheming and play calling by Herman on Offense. And big time increase in what I will call FRANTICTEMPO. Two runs and a Deep TD Pass to Smith. Miller WAYYY IMPROVED! Guiton DirectSnap Run for 2pts! Now our Defense turns it up. OC Wood trying to fool OSU with Wildcat and 3 straight runs Oliver, but Land Mine scheming stuffs 3 runs in a row! Looked like outside zone blitz, but actually space filled in the middle. Fantastic stuff by Fickel and his staff! QUICK PASSES IN UPTEMPO – TrueFrosh Wilson, Fields, Spencer, then ReadOption(RO) play action short TD Pass Fields. Now Guiton fakes run, pass to Hall for 2pts! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNSTOPPABLE FOR ANY TEAM! More land mine deception on defense using all our speed! Guys moving around, using Space BEFORE the snap to entice the offense to go where the D is waiting. #LandMines. Back 7 looks good sans Roby! Now, after all the passing – a lot of runs by Hall leading to the Power in the Power Spread with a 49 yd TD run up the gut! This IS NOT A BAD BUFFALO DEFENSE! Tom Herman’s PS scheme couldn’t be stopped by anyone in this form.OSU 23-0
2nd Quarter
More great D – Speed and movement. Amazing punt by Grassman. Buffalo also has good Spteams this year. (read here) A good drive agin with quick passes – different receivers, uptempo, but Hall stopped at midfield for no gain on 4th+1. Told you this is a good Buffalo D. Good field position, but BIG TIME INTERCEPTION BY TANNER OFF A TIPPED BALL!! Pressure on blitz – THIS IS POWER SPREAD! A nice scheme to get it in speedy FroshWR Dontre Wilson on a Power Sweep, but he fumbles it away. PS giveth and taketh away. It’s ok – we will get it back! Nice quick Spread passes by Licata. 15 yards to TE for TD. Good stuff by Buffalo. Another good OSU drive with short passes, but big time play by Buffalo’s one NFL player – Khalil Mack – Interception on screen and return for 53 yds and a TD!! 2pt conversion no good – penalty – then no good again. Great coverage schemes and execution! 58 YD KO RETURN BY WILSON THEN 37 YD TD RUN UP THE GUT BY HALL!! Kick coverage not even bad or would have been a TD on the return. Fantastic PS stuff all around by Meyer’s team. #CHANGINGOFTHEGUARD #CHANGINGHISTORY Nice Fake Blitz, Zone Scheme on 3rd and 7 and pass to Weiser stopped a yard short of a first dn. Fickell and his staff have made adjustments! Mack with a Sack! This team is going Bowling this year! Good job by DC Tepper of moving his STAR around. Take note Lorenzo Ward of SC #Clowney. Good punt by the Aussie Cameron Johnson! More great Zone Blitz Pressure and Coverage downfield! Shovel pass to Hall with under a minute to go, but the clock runs out. Whew! Take a break… it’s hot out there!OSU 30-13
HALFTIME
I AM THOROUGHLY IMPRESSED! Yes, there were some mistakes, but this Buffalo team is not a bad team. This will be seen as the season progresses. 1 – MISTAKES will be under 10. 2- DEFENSE has made a lot of scheme adjustments. Aggressive, but more importantly, sneaky. Passive Aggressive stuff that I thought I had seen from Fickell back in 2009-2010. I knew this would be fixed. 3- TEMPO=FANTASTICO. Miller is much better in his clarity of thought, decision making and passing. He’s the Heisman winner if he continues to play like this. There will be mistakes in PS football, but the key is which team makes the most mistakes. PS pressure pushed Buffalo into a lot of mistakes. Some were just a lack of athletes to compete against OSU running PS. Many have thought of the Spread as an equalizer. Wrong. it’s a weapon – the ultimate weapon. Spreading the mind and using every bit the game has to offer. When combined with great talent, this is unstoppable. The mistakes to stop it would have to be enormous. We almost made that many last year. Not this game though.3rd Quarter
Fantastic way to come out and stuff the OSU offense then go right down the field for Buffalo TD! One of those JC LBs, Gilbo sacks Miller on 3rd dn. Passes to Neutzy set up runs Oliver set up a 10 yd TD pass to Neutz! As I said in my Buffalo 2013 Season Preview, Neutz will be a leader to see this team throughout this possible bowl eligible year. DISASTER almost struck deep in the Buckeyes territory as Mack and the other JC LB, Bean came blitzing strong on 3rd dn, sacking Miller and recovering a fumble inside OSU’s 5 yd line! Thankfully for the Buckeyes, Mack got an illegal hands to the face on the blitz and the whole play was wiped out and 15 yds given to OSU! This turned into devastation for Buffalo as Hall and Miller alternated running SO down the field. Miller cramped in the very HOT conditions an Guiton took over. 3 more runs set up the 21 yd TD Pass to Fields. THAT’S TEAM. THAT’S POWERSPREAD FOOTBALL! I must say that in spite of the latest drive, Buffalo’s DC Tepper has done an excellent job in Passive Aggressive Defense. Faking aggression, holding lanes to stop the RO, then hiding the blitz and using it at opportune times. An unlucky penalty for Buffalo and a 14 pt swing. This could be 30-27 instead of 37-20. To OSU’s credit they have actually slowed the Tempo – mixed it up so the clock can run down a bit. Dealt with the heat cramps, injuries and a decent Buffalo team with good coaches of their own. Quinn is a protege of Brian Kelly. OC Alex Wood came from Miami Oh under OC Morris Watts (read more). After the near debacle, OSU stayed the course – Spread Option setting up the TD pass. Regardless of who’s in the game.OSU 37-20
4th Quarter
Buffalo driving again with Oliver and Neutz. 4th+1 Wildcat POWER SPREAD POWER GUT run by Oliver dragging the pile 5 yds!! This little guy is tough as nails. Licata sacked by Spence – surprise blitz package – but penalty on Grant, playing without a helmut! I guess a “Touche” for the unfortunate penalty on Buffalo’s Mack. Just like OSU’s gift earlier, Buffalo looks to score after the penalty. A bit of great misdirection on a looping pass down the sideline to 2nd String RB Campbell who barely stepped out of bounds at the 3. The whole defense was concentrated on the other side with Neutzy and LB Shazier was one on one with speedy Campbell. Great PS call by OC Wood. Unfortunately for Buffalo, Campbell’s misfortunate misstep ended up negating a TD as the Buckeyes D held Buffalo out of the Endzone with a fantastic Goaline Stand. Two Oliver runs stuffed, by Grant and the Dline. Good coverage by CB Reeves on a jump ball to Neutz in the endzone.. Reeves got burned for a TD by Neutzy on the same type of play i n the 3rd Quarter. Bad pass by Licata, who then fumbles the snap on 4th dn. Like I said – QB could be the one problem for Buffalo (here), though Licata’s actually been impressive at times today. From their own 2 yd line, OSU’s Miller busted off a 41 yd run. Talent+PS=EXPLOSION! On 3rd+13 a 16 yd Miller run just as the commentators are saying that Miller won’t run as much this year. LOL. Stop trying to predict the PS. You take what the Defense gives – total flexibility, total balance, all the time. On 3rd+5 a Miller scramble and hits Frosh RB Elliot in the hands running down the sideline, but Elliot can’t pull it in. MILLER IS VERY IMPROVED. #HEISMAN. FG Basil. Buffalo basically runs down the clock and OSU does the same. Two teams running PowerSpread offenses that can run down the clock. The Versatility of this Power Spread idea is off the charts. If coaches understood they would ALL love it!OSU 40 BUFFALO 20
WRAP
I was amazed at the way we started. I was still very happy at Halftime. The 2nd half I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. Buffalo is good this year – I have been saying it all along. I’m ok with the score. It’s close to what I predicted. I’m ok with some of the bad mistakes as they were still under 10 for the game. I also realize the Tempo came down in the 2nd Half – even in the 2nd Qtr. This is fine. I love the mix. I love finding ways to run down a clock in a blowout and help our defense out. What I’m disappointed in is our lack of intensity and aggression the 2nd Half. If not for that penalty on Mack this is a 3 pt game in the 3rd Qtr. I actually thought we’d start slow, then turn it on, but it happened the other way around. Slowing tempo to help the defense is one thing. Losing focus is another. Always aggressive and concentrated no matter the flexible nature of PS Football. If not disaster lurks around the corner, because in introducing PS elements, all the opponents must pick up their game as well. Case in point. Perhaps it was simply the heat today. In that case I’m not disappointed, because I didn’t factor that in. Though PS is all about TEAM. More players, Urban. Easier said than done. Guiton came in and did the job. Some younger guys on O and D. This must include Olineman as well. Letdowns can’t be tolerated. ALL PLAYERS MUST BE PREPARED TO PLAY. Again easier said than done. Overall, I think this was a great first victory. With all the off the field nonsense it was amazing to me how focused Meyer had the team. Miller is greatly improved in the passing game and UpTempo stuff. The team as whole is much more in sync in the second year of the PS System. Last but not least, Fickell and co have done a good job tweaking the Defense. I can’t wait to see what wrinkles he has in mind during the course of the year. Coaching Defense on a no huddle team is not easy. With the heat and up against an underrated team, let’s be thankful it didn’t get any closer and we stayed relatively healthy. Good luck for the rest of the year to Jeff Quinn and Buffalo. Good team and coaching staff. Expect to see them in a Bowl. As for the Buckeyes. Bring on San Diego State! Rocky Long’s a defensive guru – but what can he do against the Todd Herman Power Spread Offense?
~PS
POWERSPREAD 