Well..., the sun did come up...

[76-1]

Show of (virtual) hands... How many of you believed we'd be playing the worthless nuts for right to play in the Big Ten Championship Game in November, at their place, last August?

How many of you believed we had any chance at all of beating o-h-i-o $tate at their place back at the start of the season?

So..., the good news is we Won 10 straight going into to that game and the bad news is we're now 10-1..., with a great shot at bringing the Bucket back home, going 11-1, and being in the Playoff conversation... I can live with it...

The reality is that if we played that team with this Team 9 more times in a row we'd probably lose the next 9 by between 1 to 10 points every time... Unfortunately, they have that much more NFL talent... I don't like to admit it but it's a reality I can deal with... If they don't win the National Championship it'll be completely because Day f---'d up.

If our only regular season loss is to the most talented team in the country I'll grit my teeth and acknowledge it.

Let's focus on Bringing the Bucket Back and see where we stand this time next week...

 

[Crossblock]

Let's look at some of the positives from yesterday.
1. We had control of the game early. A 3 and out for osu on their first series followed by our Touchdown Drive. And then the turning point for the Defense. We let Them out of a 2nd and 35 from around midfield and let Them convert a 4th and 10. Even though We held Them on downs without a score, that is the sequence that turned the field position in favor of Ohio State.
2. We started the next drive from the One Yard Line, got two first downs and had the ball around the 35 with 3rd and One. That's the play where Bomba got called for illegal procedure, We lost 5 yards, and the Offense never recovered. pick up that first down without the Penalty and Who knows.
3. The punt unit gave Ohio State 2 Touchdowns - one following the dropped snap and the other on the Punt Return. The first one right before the half, the second following a 3 and out by Us to start the 2nd half on the punt return. two Touchdowns given up in less than 3 minutes of clock time. Ouch.
4. The Defense gave up yardage in the Second Half but didn't play terribly. In fact the biggest chunk of Yardage came on that run by Henderson following the onside kick when the game was decided. If You ignore that final junk TD scored by Ohio State , and attribute 2 TDs to the Punt Team mistakes, the Defense gave up up 17 points.
5. Concern for the Defense. After the first 2 OSU Offensive Series, They never got consistent pressure on Howard and He completed a huge percentage of passes. Concern for the Offense. For the second game in a row, the Opponents Defense figured out how to disrupt our pass protection schemes and nullify our passing game.

 

[mushroomgod_1]

Let's look at some of the positives from yesterday.
1. We had control of the game early. A 3 and out for osu on their first series followed by our Touchdown Drive. And then the turning point for the Defense. We let Them out of a 2nd and 35 from around midfield and let Them convert a 4th and 10. Even though We held Them on downs without a score, that is the sequence that turned the field position in favor of Ohio State.
2. We started the next drive from the One Yard Line, got two first downs and had the ball around the 35 with 3rd and One. That's the play where Bomba got called for illegal procedure, We lost 5 yards, and the Offense never recovered. pick up that first down without the Penalty and Who knows.
3. The punt unit gave Ohio State 2 Touchdowns - one following the dropped snap and the other on the Punt Return. The first one right before the half, the second following a 3 and out by Us to start the 2nd half on the punt return. two Touchdowns given up in less than 3 minutes of clock time. Ouch.
4. The Defense gave up yardage in the Second Half but didn't play terribly. In fact the biggest chunk of Yardage came on that run by Henderson following the onside kick when the game was decided. If You ignore that final junk TD scored by Ohio State , and attribute 2 TDs to the Punt Team mistakes, the Defense gave up up 17 points.
5. Concern for the Defense. After the first 2 OSU Offensive Series, They never got consistent pressure on Howard and He completed a huge percentage of passes. Concern for the Offense. For the second game in a row, the Opponents Defense figured out how to disrupt our pass protection schemes and nullify our passing game.

We also had 3 costly pass drops.......unfortunately, that is starting to look like a trend. The WRs haven't showed up for the last 2 games.

 

[OpenWheels]

I think we'd win a couple games out of nine.
I was much more pessimistic. I mean we didn't seem to be able to adjust, which makes it seem all athletes, no 'team'.
But Rourke is a mentally tough guy. He said he wouldn't mind a rematch at some point in the CFP and said he thinks we can play anybody. If he sees positives, after that, who the hell am I.
,

 

[TomEric4756]

The sun would have stopped before it got to Columbus had IU won.

 

[13thman]

Show of (virtual) hands... How many of you believed we'd be playing the worthless nuts for right to play in the Big Ten Championship Game in November, at their place, last August?

How many of you believed we had any chance at all of beating o-h-i-o $tate at their place back at the start of the season?

So..., the good news is we Won 10 straight going into to that game and the bad news is we're now 10-1..., with a great shot at bringing the Bucket back home, going 11-1, and being in the Playoff conversation... I can live with it...

The reality is that if we played that team with this Team 9 more times in a row we'd probably lose the next 9 by between 1 to 10 points every time... Unfortunately, they have that much more NFL talent... I don't like to admit it but it's a reality I can deal with... If they don't win the National Championship it'll be completely because Day f---'d up.

If our only regular season loss is to the most talented team in the country I'll grit my teeth and acknowledge it.

Let's focus on Bringing the Bucket Back and see where we stand this time next week...

Disappointed? A bit. I felt a win would require everything to click at a high level. The disappointment comes from the shortcomings I never saw coming, ie special teams. Now it's bucket week and there is still alot that can be accomplished for the season. Roll the boilers.

 

[indy1203]

Let's look at some of the positives from yesterday.
1. We had control of the game early. A 3 and out for osu on their first series followed by our Touchdown Drive. And then the turning point for the Defense. We let Them out of a 2nd and 35 from around midfield and let Them convert a 4th and 10. Even though We held Them on downs without a score, that is the sequence that turned the field position in favor of Ohio State.
2. We started the next drive from the One Yard Line, got two first downs and had the ball around the 35 with 3rd and One. That's the play where Bomba got called for illegal procedure, We lost 5 yards, and the Offense never recovered. pick up that first down without the Penalty and Who knows.
3. The punt unit gave Ohio State 2 Touchdowns - one following the dropped snap and the other on the Punt Return. The first one right before the half, the second following a 3 and out by Us to start the 2nd half on the punt return. two Touchdowns given up in less than 3 minutes of clock time. Ouch.
4. The Defense gave up yardage in the Second Half but didn't play terribly. In fact the biggest chunk of Yardage came on that run by Henderson following the onside kick when the game was decided. If You ignore that final junk TD scored by Ohio State , and attribute 2 TDs to the Punt Team mistakes, the Defense gave up up 17 points.
5. Concern for the Defense. After the first 2 OSU Offensive Series, They never got consistent pressure on Howard and He completed a huge percentage of passes. Concern for the Offense. For the second game in a row, the Opponents Defense figured out how to disrupt our pass protection schemes and nullify our passing game.

Those repeated sacs of Rourke are a major concern for the OL.

 

[red hornet]

Those repeated sacs of Rourke are a major concern for the OL.

Right, & receiver drops!

 

[vesuvius13]

There were positives from the game against Ohio State especially the two drives for scores and the play of the defense. The OL issue needs a change in offensive scheme as Michigan and OSU would bring an extra rusher on one side of the OL to draw the RB's block while sending an extra rusher on the other side of the OL. Get the scheme fixed or other teams will destroy IU's passing game.

 

[BattleCreekHoosier]

There were positives from the game against Ohio State especially the two drives for scores and the play of the defense. The OL issue needs a change in offensive scheme as Michigan and OSU would bring an extra rusher on one side of the OL to draw the RB's block while sending an extra rusher on the other side of the OL. Get the scheme fixed or other teams will destroy IU's passing game.

In addition, the coaches need to design some quick passing plays to exploit teams that choose to over blitz IU they way OSU did. It looked like to me, OSU was sending in 7 guys on their blitzes which overloaded IUs OL blocking. That means at least 1 IU player was open each & every time OSU blitzed. I figure what OSU did to IU this last game will now become a blueprint of how to beat IU. OSUs over blitzed totally negated & destroyed IUs RPO offense.

 

[td75]

Wouldn't bringing in two tight ends to handle the blitzing work? That's probably the old school way to pick up heavy blitzes, or am I wrong??

I would also like to see Tayven more involved going forward. Tayven has much more mobility than Rourke and a package of plays designed to keep the offense on the field utilizing Tayven's feet, would be wise.