Final OSU thoughts and observations

[TMFT]

Dear diary,

This is just a cathartic post and I don’t want to think about this weekend any more after, on to Purdue.

1) Cold & wet. It was JUST on this side of tolerable. Like it was misty —> light rain, but you never got soaked. Uncomfortable cold, but not miserable.

2) the stadium SUUUUUUCKED. The men’s bathrooms had a horrible urinal to stall ratio. Lines were outrageous.

3) stadium concessions were nice. Same vendor (I think) as we’ve got. Free refills for souvenir soft drink cups were very nice.

4) in spite of others stories and prior interactions with OSU fans in Bloomington, we didn’t run into anyone remotely rude. From the tailgate lot to the game, nothing negative to report.

5) this is our 3rd of the big 3 legacy B1G stadiums. The atmosphere was far and away the best I’ve ever experienced. The whole stadium stood the whole game. They were loud as hell. They, mostly, stayed although there was a noticeable number that left at half that I thought was very weird.

6) More than anything, this game and Michigan have demonstrated that the defense is damn good, but they wear out. If the offense can’t stay on the field we’ll lose to elite teams.

7) special teams. Yuck

8) my major surprise was running the ball after OSU went up 24 with 9 minutes to go. Considering we hadn’t passed with any success all day so I didn’t think we’d see a miracle but I did not expect Cig to phone in the final sequence and concede the loss. Particularly with everything on the line. It reminds me of the criticisms levied at CTA vs OSU last year for playing to lose close vs playing to win.

9) special teams. What a game changing disappointment.

10) Pass pro. Oof, OSU would send the house and we had no answer. Insta-sack

11) impressed with how the team played the first half until the botched punt. The prospect of a tie at half and getting the ball back with an ability to move the ball on the ground was awesome. Fell apart in a hurry.

12) Not daunted.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

Dear diary,

This is just a cathartic post and I don’t want to think about this weekend any more after, on to Purdue.

1) Cold & wet. It was JUST on this side of tolerable. Like it was misty —> light rain, but you never got soaked. Uncomfortable cold, but not miserable.

2) the stadium SUUUUUUCKED. The men’s bathrooms had a horrible urinal to stall ratio. Lines were outrageous.

3) stadium concessions were nice. Same vendor (I think) as we’ve got. Free refills for souvenir soft drink cups were very nice.

4) in spite of others stories and prior interactions with OSU fans in Bloomington, we didn’t run into anyone remotely rude. From the tailgate lot to the game, nothing negative to report.

5) this is our 3rd of the big 3 legacy B1G stadiums. The atmosphere was far and away the best I’ve ever experienced. The whole stadium stood the whole game. They were loud as hell. They, mostly, stayed although there was a noticeable number that left at half that I thought was very weird.

6) More than anything, this game and Michigan have demonstrated that the defense is damn good, but they wear out. If the offense can’t stay on the field we’ll lose to elite teams.

7) special teams. Yuck

8) my major surprise was running the ball after OSU went up 24 with 9 minutes to go. Considering we hadn’t passed with any success all day so I didn’t think we’d see a miracle but I did not expect Cig to phone in the final sequence and concede the loss. Particularly with everything on the line. It reminds me of the criticisms levied at CTA vs OSU last year for playing to lose close vs playing to win.

9) special teams. What a game changing disappointment.

10) Pass pro. Oof, OSU would send the house and we had no answer. Insta-sack

11) impressed with how the team played the first half until the botched punt. The prospect of a tie at half and getting the ball back with an ability to move the ball on the ground was awesome. Fell apart in a hurry.

12) Not daunted.

About “The Shoe”……
For anyone thinking that the concourses are bad at Memorial Statidium The Rock, just take a trip to Ohio Stadium. It may be iconic but the interior guts under the stands are an absolute joke. It looks like it hasn’t been touched since Hitler was marching through Europe. It’s dirty. Rusted pipes running everywhere. No lighting. Pretty much like walking around a boiler room. I was shocked at the lack of upkeep.

 

[CC Mac]

As bad as it was,it could have been worse.
To my knowledge we got out of there relatively injury free,am I wrong?
A lot of the other games benefited us in regard to making the CFP.
Yeah we most likely lost a home game but maybe not.
11-1 hopefully with an improving SOS may be enough to secure a home game?
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think the 8 seed gets a home game.
I assume we will come in at 10 or 11 this week and if the right teams lose next week we could conceivably move up a couple spots.
Yeah we were all disappointed about yesterday but who would not have taken 11-1 (hopefully) when the season began?
We have the right guy in charge now and I think we score big in the portal this year.
No Ohio St or Michigan on the schedule for a couple years will be a nice break from those a holes.
Tuesday will tell us a lot,I feel like wherever we end up in the bracket will be our worst case scenario.
Beat PU by 40 and a couple other games go our way,we will hopefully move up a spot or two.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

Dear diary,

This is just a cathartic post and I don’t want to think about this weekend any more after, on to Purdue.

1) Cold & wet. It was JUST on this side of tolerable. Like it was misty —> light rain, but you never got soaked. Uncomfortable cold, but not miserable.

2) the stadium SUUUUUUCKED. The men’s bathrooms had a horrible urinal to stall ratio. Lines were outrageous.

3) stadium concessions were nice. Same vendor (I think) as we’ve got. Free refills for souvenir soft drink cups were very nice.

4) in spite of others stories and prior interactions with OSU fans in Bloomington, we didn’t run into anyone remotely rude. From the tailgate lot to the game, nothing negative to report.

5) this is our 3rd of the big 3 legacy B1G stadiums. The atmosphere was far and away the best I’ve ever experienced. The whole stadium stood the whole game. They were loud as hell. They, mostly, stayed although there was a noticeable number that left at half that I thought was very weird.

6) More than anything, this game and Michigan have demonstrated that the defense is damn good, but they wear out. If the offense can’t stay on the field we’ll lose to elite teams.

7) special teams. Yuck

8) my major surprise was running the ball after OSU went up 24 with 9 minutes to go. Considering we hadn’t passed with any success all day so I didn’t think we’d see a miracle but I did not expect Cig to phone in the final sequence and concede the loss. Particularly with everything on the line. It reminds me of the criticisms levied at CTA vs OSU last year for playing to lose close vs playing to win.

9) special teams. What a game changing disappointment.

10) Pass pro. Oof, OSU would send the house and we had no answer. Insta-sack

11) impressed with how the team played the first half until the botched punt. The prospect of a tie at half and getting the ball back with an ability to move the ball on the ground was awesome. Fell apart in a hurry.

12) Not daunted.

Thanks.

We have been to the HS three times and it is a dump, but it is tough to get 100K people to find a pisser at any stadium.

It sounded like there were a number of IU fans there...and guesstimate?

 

[4IUSox2]

Sorry folks, considering Rourke, the OC and certainly the OL had no answer to the OSU pressure, I had no issue with running the ball down 21-7, 28-7, 31-7…at least IU backs were getting 3-5 POSITIVE yards, and NOT going backwards for MINUS 5-10 each time Rourke dropped back, also exposing him to injury. At that point, I wouldn’t have been opposed to TJ getting some time to add some qb run aspect.

If the Punt team hadn’t given up 14, the IU run game could have kept them in the game, since we couldn’t pass protect at all, regardless of the score. 7-7 at half would have been such a huge boost. Kudos to the D for hanging in as long as they did.

 

[OpenWheels]

Thanks for the report. 👍

Even if the punt team hadn't had a bad day, they likely get some of those points anyway.

But offense, oof... I was surprised early we didn't try to run more. Running game looked pretty fair from the start. Cig called it himself post game 'every time' we dropped back it was a loss. I hope it was the noise like Coach said was a big factor. But that wasn't the case against Michigan yet they got a lot of pressure.

We were out of options at the end. We got a decent drive and scored. I was glad we did that much even though it was conceding. No option. Settle the team down and do something and we did.

Purdue won't have Michigan's or Ohio State's horses. We need a good day for the confidence. Beat Purdue!
,

 

[TMFT]

Thanks.

We have been to the HS three times and it is a dump, but it is tough to get 100K people to find a pisser at any stadium.

It sounded like there were a number of IU fans there...and guesstimate?

Anecdotally, I felt like I saw a lot of IU folks walking to the stadium. Because of the color scheme, have no estimate on numbers.

 

[Vern Pain]

Thanks for this...

At least it's not just me that remains encouraged by the defensive performance. Maybe I'm delusional but I still feel like it would have been an old time grinder kind of thing without the Special Teams miscues.

Anyway, thanks again

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

Thanks for the report. 👍

Even if the punt team hadn't had a bad day, they likely get some of those points anyway.

But offense, oof... I was surprised early we didn't try to run more. Running game looked pretty fair from the start. Cig called it himself post game 'every time' we dropped back it was a loss. I hope it was the noise like Coach said was a big factor. But that wasn't the case against Michigan yet they got a lot of pressure.

We were out of options at the end. We got a decent drive and scored. I was glad we did that much even though it was conceding. No option. Settle the team down and do something and we did.

Purdue won't have Michigan's or Ohio State's horses. We need a good day for the confidence. Beat Purdue!
,

Going for 2 and being successful at that time made a positive statement, although a small one.

 

[red hornet]

Going for 2 and being successful at that time made a positive statement, although a small one.

Right, we need to take positives from that game which lacked many.

 

[iubhounds]

Right, we need to take positives from that game which lacked many.

I didn't think about it until this morning when I read an article saying special teams accounted for 14 of the OSU points. They did and with that the IU Defense held OSU to 21 points for the game and should have been only 14. I don't care about the last touchdown or what it meant or didn't mean. It's is the 3rd time I have seen it in games this year and Cig said the same thing as the Washington coach and one I can't remember .... something from all three coaches "no problem with it, that coach had to do for his team what he did" .... whatever that might have been. Day's a dick, always has been. He better win it all this year because his seat is more than warm.

I was more upset with the 32 yard run up the middle before that last TD.

scUM scored 50 yesterday. I know, against Northwestern but still 50 against a B1G team. ... Have they figured out their issues enough to upset the Suckeyes? I hate scUM more than ever but I would love to see them beat the Suckeyes.

 

[bbh_42]

Two things, one the let down on special teams really hurt. But more importantly, we learned that our OL is too slow when going up against teams with elite speed to bring pressure. Even our skilled players missed blocks by getting out hustled. It showed in the 2 nd half against Michigan and was very clear yesterday. OL looked out of sync a lot yesterday with the crowd noise. The slowness issue I thought we would adjust for but apparently we didn’t. Staff is going to have to realize they need to adjust to the speed a Michigan and OSU has as well.

 

[Ohio Guy]

Anecdotally, I felt like I saw a lot of IU folks walking to the stadium. Because of the color scheme, have no estimate on numbers.

I was there as well and there definitely were a lot of IU fans. They were loud and definitely had a presence. When the stadium did the O-H-I-O chant, IU fans chanting “IU!” between the Os was definitely noticeable.

 

[TMFT]

I was there as well and there definitely were a lot of IU fans. They were loud and definitely had a presence. When the stadium did the O-H-I-O chant, IU fans chanting “IU!” between the Os was definitely noticeable.

That’s awesome. I was in that section
doing the “U” during the OHIO chant but had no clue how it sounded anywhere else.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

Anecdotally, I felt like I saw a lot of IU folks walking to the stadium. Because of the color scheme, have no estimate on numbers.

I sure soounded like a lot.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

I would like to hear

A-H--I-A

 

[iu2win]

^^^ or better yet . . . O - H - Oh - No ... every time the bucknuts have a terrible play.

 

[IndyResident16]

Was at the game as well. First off, very impressed with the city of Columbus, first time there in a long time and has changed tremendously. We stayed in Short North and had a blast both nights, area was well represented by IU fans.

The game day experience was a mess. Everything was spread out and not very accessible. Lots and lots of walking. The Shoe was cool and got “loud” but never had an intimidating feel…was surprised by that. OSU fans are a lot more tolerable in-person than they are online but get the general feeling they believe football starts and stops in Columbus.

As far as the game went…well it sucked once we got off script. Ohio State is a very good team, likely the best in the country, but we made way too many mistakes. Felt like IU played not to get blown after the punt return for a TD and thought that was chickenshit. I have no problem with what Day did at the end of the game and would have down the same…sure Cignetti would have as well all things considered.

Lost on the scoreboard but in all likelihood still won the day thanks to the SEC. Guess we’ll end up either in South Bend or State College.

 

[frikkenfrakken]

Sorry folks, considering Rourke, the OC and certainly the OL had no answer to the OSU pressure, I had no issue with running the ball down 21-7, 28-7, 31-7…at least IU backs were getting 3-5 POSITIVE yards, and NOT going backwards for MINUS 5-10 each time Rourke dropped back, also exposing him to injury. At that point, I wouldn’t have been opposed to TJ getting some time to add some qb run aspect.

If the Punt team hadn’t given up 14, the IU run game could have kept them in the game, since we couldn’t pass protect at all, regardless of the score. 7-7 at half would have been such a huge boost. Kudos to the D for hanging in as long as they did.

Running down 21 in the 4th bothered me, mostly because it felt like self-imposed limitations, which I've been told we aren't doing anymore.

Of course, Allen claimed to have a similar philosophy, and it didn't work for him.

I'm over it though. Go beat Purdue.

 

[indy1203]

About “The Shoe”……
For anyone thinking that the concourses are bad at Memorial Statidium The Rock, just take a trip to Ohio Stadium. It may be iconic but the interior guts under the stands are an absolute joke. It looks like it hasn’t been touched since Hitler was marching through Europe. It’s dirty. Rusted pipes running everywhere. No lighting. Pretty much like walking around a boiler room. I was shocked at the lack of upkeep.

Did not go to the game but your description of the stadium sounds just like
it was about 20 years ago when I did go. Do they still have a huge balloon type
Buckeye player on his side stuck up in the pipes?

 

[indy1203]

As bad as it was,it could have been worse.
To my knowledge we got out of there relatively injury free,am I wrong?
A lot of the other games benefited us in regard to making the CFP.
Yeah we most likely lost a home game but maybe not.
11-1 hopefully with an improving SOS may be enough to secure a home game?
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think the 8 seed gets a home game.
I assume we will come in at 10 or 11 this week and if the right teams lose next week we could conceivably move up a couple spots.
Yeah we were all disappointed about yesterday but who would not have taken 11-1 (hopefully) when the season began?
We have the right guy in charge now and I think we score big in the portal this year.
No Ohio St or Michigan on the schedule for a couple years will be a nice break from those a holes.
Tuesday will tell us a lot,I feel like wherever we end up in the bracket will be our worst case scenario.
Beat PU by 40 and a couple other games go our way,we will hopefully move up a spot or two.

There is no doubt we have the right guy in charge.

 

[Wareo]

Was at the game as well. First off, very impressed with the city of Columbus, first time there in a long time and has changed tremendously. We stayed in Short North and had a blast both nights, area was well represented by IU fans.

The game day experience was a mess. Everything was spread out and not very accessible. Lots and lots of walking. The Shoe was cool and got “loud” but never had an intimidating feel…was surprised by that. OSU fans are a lot more tolerable in-person than they are online but get the general feeling they believe football starts and stops in Columbus.

As far as the game went…well it sucked once we got off script. Ohio State is a very good team, likely the best in the country, but we made way too many mistakes. Felt like IU played not to get blown after the punt return for a TD and thought that was chickenshit. I have no problem with what Day did at the end of the game and would have down the same…sure Cignetti would have as well all things considered.

Lost on the scoreboard but in all likelihood still won the day thanks to the SEC. Guess we’ll end up either in South Bend or State College.

Yea, they have done a lot to build up the area around campus and short north is a fun place to hang out. I am glad that most of the fans had a positive experience. I did notice a lot of Indiana fans, and I am glad you guys could make it to our house and hopefully had a good time. I was worried because there was a group of IU kids in are area that started to taunt tOSU fans after you guys scored with "Overrated" and "Who's your daddy chants" So naturally tOSU fans returned the favor later in the game. But most interactions between fans seem good.

The stadium is historic but is not very functional and a lot of fans have complained about it, from bathrooms, to walking around, to lack of permanent lights, etc.. The atmosphere could be a lot better, but naturally it is all about the money.

Anyway, good game guys, I hope you guys make it into the playoffs and I think you deserve your shot. And I am legit happy for you guys and your season and would be cool if you can maintain being a good/solid team in the near future.