POWERSPREAD

 PREGAME

                           Are Drew, Kurt, Jimmy, Kyle and Craig all together for the first time this year???  

                          Possibly. Stay Tuned….   (Go to Power Spread YouTube for Videos of us at the Game!!)

 

WHAT WE SHOULD ALL BE DOING!

Celebrating a Run into History with OSU and the Power Spread!

 

 *Pregame Extra

– I’m here! Waiting for Kurt, Craig and I’m not sure who else, at the moment. Watching the brilliant PS Football Shop of Gus Malzahn. Variety, Flexibility, Movement before and after the snap, Go, Go Go. Incredible used of Space and Time with variable Tempos, including some snappy Quick Huddle. This is the future, folks.

 

– Kurt and Craig are here! Kyle not making it. 😦

 

-Jimmy’s here! Party On.

 

First Jimmy, now Urban – everyone is ready to ROCK-N-ROLL!!!  

Big 10 Championship!

1ST QUARTER 

MSU1 – 15:00, own 30

Good scheme by Fickel to start. MSU trying to imitate UM from last week with Screens. Obviously, OSU is ready for it this week. Unfortunately, stupid penalties by DGrant, Shazier (iffy calls by refs) keep the drive alive. Two Incs, good coverage DGrant and Roby and no stupid penalties this time. Field Goal good.

MSU 3-0

OSU1 – 8:31, own 25.  Expect Frantic Tempo!

Big bust up the gut by Hyde. POWER! Quick Screen rt Hyde, but great play by the CB! Lindsey snapped the ball too early, Miller had a guy open on Screen rt, but couldn’t get it over in time due to bad snap!

FANTASTIC 50 YD PUNT , NO RETURN BY JOHNSTON! What a year by the Aussie! 

MSU2 – 7:12, own 20

After one 1st Dn two back to back big plays by DGrant,then Shazier shutting down another flair pass! O-H…!!!

OSU2 – 3:00, own 15

Two 5 yd bursts Hyde. Nice PA, 12 yd out to Philly Brown! More great PA, Philly open deep, underthrown by Miller!! Brown still shouldve had it! ugh! Great run support by Lewis on Miller keep. Then sack by Davis on 3rd+Long. Great coverage downfield.

 

The plays are there – but we need to make them. There are holes in this Defensive Scheme of MSU, but we are too used to just running every play.We need to mix it up now.  I still think we will get it before the end of the Half.

 

2ND QUARTER

MSU3 – 15:00, own 32

After another big run stop by the D, a complete breakdown in the Pass Coverage by Pittsburgh Brown, who, by the way, played High School Football where I did. Terrible angle on deep help giving up a 72 yard touchdown pass to 3rd WR Keith Mumphrey. Unbelievable.. Good pass Cook.

MSU 10-0 

OSU3 – 14:50, own 25

Nice screen lft to Philly. Miller keep for 11. Then too predictable. Not getting away with it this time. Hyde, Miller stuffed and Miller sacked by blitzing Bullough and Davis on 3rd+Long.

MSU4 – 11:13, own 34

3rd+3, Aldophius Washington slow getting back to the short zone letting Cook make an easy intermediate pass completion for the 1st. PA roll right, bullet pass to Mumphrey on an out for another 1st. Replay to see if he got in bounds. He’s in. 1st Down at the OSU 33. CB blitz Roby – one on one Lippett on S Barnett, down the sideline, TOUCHDOWN! Perfect route and pass. Barnett bit on the out and up.

MSU 17-0

OSU4 – 8:50, own 16

Another stuffed run, then suddenly out of nowhere.. HUGE SCRAMBLE MILLER (50 yds), quick pass to Philly then big strike over the middle and great catch PHILLY BROWN TOUCHDOWN!@@!  CROWD GOING CRAZY HERE!

OSU 7-17

During the Miller run, Hyde quit on a block. Looked very lackadaisical. I really think we had a letdown from The Big Game last week, but fired up now!

MSU5 – 6:20, own 22

Bosa stuffed the run! Another nice intermediate pass by Cook. Then heavy blitz pressure on a run and two passes! Great coverage by Linebacker LGrant! Shazier and Powell on the Blitz. CROWD GOING CRAZY HERE!! 

OSU5 – 4:06, own 31

Another big scramble 20 yds Miller. Couple quick passes that dont work, but right idea. Miller tries another scramble, but MSU got it this time. ANOTHER GREAT PUNT BY THE AUSSIE!!

MSU6 – 2:30, own 12

Stuffing the runs – both by Shazier! SHAZIER HAS HAD ENOUGH! BOSA WITH THE PRESSURE-  INC! OUR DEFENSE HAS HAD ENOUGH! Good punt by MSU! Out of danger.

OSU6 – 1:23, own 36

Another blitz. Sack – Bullough/Callhoun. QB sneak Miller for 9. Too slow on the Tempo. Hyde for 7. Only 13 secs left. Heureman down the Seam for a big gain, but we weren’t prepared to run one more play in the endzone. Instead, Miller downs the ball and Basil kicks the FG JUST inside the right upright.

*Kurt screaming that we didn’t get down fast enough and try one in the endzone. He’s right. Not enough Tempo aggression from Meyer’s team!

OSU 10-17

 

 

HALFTIME

I think what OSU is doing is working, but we haven’t had too wide open of an offense for the Big 10 part of the Schedule and it’s hurting us now. A rough first half, but I expect Miller will do more with his arm, which in turn will open up Hyde for some big chunks of yardage late.

 

Our Defense finally got sick of it part way thru the first half and played with much more Fire – led by Shazier.  Cook has probably had his best game, but I think a big interception or two is about to happen. 

 

The question now is – if we win, will it be impressive enough to prevent Auburn from jumping to #2 and the National Title game??

 

 

 

3RD QUARTER

OSU1 – 15:00, own 25

A nice call on 1st down. PA, roll rt, but Miller missed the out pass to Heureman. After that it was pure domination. Hyde for 18 up the gut. Hyde for 6. Miller on a fantastic run scheme QB Draw where the Oline sealed off the run blitz on the left and Miller took off for 24 off right guard! A quick pass rt sideline to Smith for 11 – fble, but oob! MILLER 8 YRD TD RUN SWEEP LEFT. TOUCHDOWN! Another great run design by Herman.

OSU 17-17

MSU1 – 12:21, own 29

Another rollout completion by Cook for a 1st. Langford for 6 off a speed option left. The PS stuff works, but MSU won’t use it much. INTERCEPTION BARNETT OFF A SHORT PASS IN THE FLAT. THE MISTAKE I PREDICTED FROM COOK AT HALFTIME!

OSU2 – 10:36, opp 48

Hyde again! 11yds. A Buckeye Fan here keeps yelling – YOU CAN’T STOP HIM -KEEP RUNNING IT! Lol. Two long passes in the endzone – near TDs, good coverage on Philly by Drummond. Then Smith had it in his arms, but great play by Dennard to knock it loose. Almost interference. Another great punt by the Aussie!! Haynes of OSU kept it from going in endzone – downed at the 4!

MSU2 – 8:52, own 4

Stuffed run. Nice pressure for 2 Incs. Nice mixed zone coverage on 3rd down! Good job Fickell! Nice PR Philly Brown!

OSU3 – 7:48, MSU 44

Hyde , Miller, then Rod Smith for big power runs! Finally some substitution. Hyde run then a great run scheme – Quick Keep Miller for the Touchdown!!  GO BUCKS!!

OSU 24-17

MSU3 – 5:36, own 25

Now MSU is pulling out the Power Spread. Zone Read to Langford for big gain. Great shovel pass on 3rd down, but great play by Pittsburgh Brown and LGrant! 4th+1 Speed Option left COOK KEEPS FOR THE 1ST – UNBELIEVABLE! Slip screen to TE for no gain. Nice play Washington! Roll left Cook but Bosa all over him and almost picked off by Roby after tip by Shazier. 3rd+10. More nice blitz pressure and Cook not enough time. Inc! 44 yd FG.

MSU 20-24

OSU4 – 2:29, own 21

Quick flairs to Brown. Runs Hyde. But on 3rd dn we emptied the backfield, then brought Rod Smith back and ran the read – Miller kept – MSU led us to go where they wanted. They disguised a run blitz up the middle. Perfect PS Defense.

 

 

4TH QUARTER

MSU4 –  14:53, own 10

Rollout pass for a 1st again. Great game plan on the QB movement. A huge pass play to Kings. Called back a bit on a illegal hands by his fellow WR blocking for him. Another pass to Kings. WHAT IS GOING ON!?? Lippett down left sideline. Man coverage Grant, but he didn’t turn around and they called interference – again!! 1st+10 at 11. Another pass – to TE – Inc. Good Coverage. MSU has really opened up the pass on this drive! Now Speed Option left. Wow. 3rd+8. Another telegraphed blitz, easy roll right, throw back to TE wide open for TD.

MSU 27-24

OSU5 – 11:38, own 41

Miller, then Hyde for minimal gains. 3rd+6. Straight drop Miller, bullet to Spencer on sideline, but he couldn’t hang on after hit from Dennard! Another great punt Johnston.

MSU5 – 10:07, own 10

Another 1st and our guys have their hands on their hips, yet no subs!! Why?? Nice pass rush to thankfully force an inc and get our tired D off the field.

SHAZIER BLASTS UP THE MIDDLE, KILLS 97 AND GETS A HAND ON THE PUNT!! INCREDIBLE!! O-H…

OSU6 – 7:36, opp 47

Hyde, Miller 3 straight runs in middle! 4th+1. TIMEOUT.

Frustrating. Needed to mix it up more during the Big 10 Schedule. The lack of passing variety hurt us today against a top notch Defense.

4TH+1 – MSU STOPPED MILLER ON A POWER SWEEP RIGHT. Terrible call out of a TO. Very average blocking scheme. Too easy to stop. They run blitzed us as you figure they would. 

MSU6 – 5:41, OWN 39

Power run Langford for 16. 1st down. Short pass Kings. 3rd+4. Good coverage DGrant on Lippett and we stop them after further review. UNBELIEVABLE! CALLED A 1ST DOWN. OBVIOUS STOP. Drive continues. 8 yds Langford, then some crazy type of run blitzing from the outside with Langford running up the gut for 26 yds Touchdown! That’s the Game.

MSU 34-24

OSU7 – 2:16, own 34

4 incomplete Hail Mary types. Bad scheme that looks desperate at this point. Sad.

MSU7 – 1:13, opp 46

Two Langford runs and that’s it.

 

MSU 34-24

OSU FANS HEARTS ARE BROKEN ONCE AGAIN!

 

 

 

WRAP

My worries since the Big 10 portion of the schedule started came true. We had little variety for weeks on Offense, simply riding Miller/Hyde. Today a team sold out to stop the run and though they really couldn’t stop it, they slowed it down enough that OSU needed variety. Herman’s designs were good enough, but the execution wasn’t. Near misses in the passing game all night really hurt. It’s not realistic to keep all that great Herman pass design variety in the drawer for so much of the season and suddenly pull it out and run it to perfection in such a huge game as this. 

 

Michigan State was good, but we made them better than they were. On Defense as well. We started slow as there may have been a letdown effect from the big game last week. After our 1st score though there was no looking back. Incredibly, after jumping up 24-17 in the 3rd quarter, the Defense let down again. After pitching a shutout since the early debacle and looking invincible, OSU’s D suddenly reverted to it’s early form. Immediately after the big Buckeye Touchdown, the D got gashed for big runs and passes and it didn’t stop until the game had been lost.

 

Meyer also needs to use more Subs. He bragged in pre-season of all our speedy depth. Well use it! Our D looked blatantly tired at the end of the game – it took so much just to get a couple of subs in the game. On offense as well. Get these players ready and use them!

 

I feel the Offense, if Herman stays, can easily be fixed, but Meyer needs to give it up to Herman and let the inherent variety of the PS offense flourish. “Go where they ain’t” and stop trying to force it. Even if teams can’t stop our inside runs, we need to be used to mixing it up and scoring a load of points for times like today. 

 

The Defense is more complicated. My feeling is that there is too much imput from too many coaches and not enough cohesion to a set of ideas or a unified philosophy. We need to be aggressive, but in a deceptive way – not by showing our hand all the time. We need to lead the opponent into bad positions in space on the field. Similar to what MSU did at times to our Offense today. Land Mines. Passive Aggressive Zone blitzing and fake pressure packages. Mixed coverages. Our D shows some of this in spurts, but always when there seems to be a lead this all goes out the window.

 

Today was the worst. A 24-17 lead in the 2nd half should have been secure. Get one more TD and wrap it 31-17 (close to my predicted score). To suddenly be gashed for big gains and lose the game – this simply isn’t going to cut it. Our offense could have been better had we been mixing in variety more this year, but there will be times the offense only gets around 30. THAT should be enough with a good defense and we should have a good defense at OSU. I wouln’t just jump on Fickel. It’s very tough to know what’s happening. Like I said, I think it’s a combo effect with the end result one of confusion and too much complication.

 

Do remember also that Meyer has done a fantastic job here. There’s just more to do – that’s all. One of these days, Buckeye fans will not be left heartbroken. Maybe then the Basketball and Football teams will make it a clean sweep to make up for all the close misses.

 

~PS