I hate it, but I just went with my initial instinct and took OSU because memories of 653 yards in Pasadena, and a 21 point lead with Braxton schooling our D in Lincoln last year are just too fresh in my memory to take us giving five in Columbus.
But yeah, the optimist in me is loud right now, especially after last night, so I want to talk about Steinkuhler and Martin and Compton and (should I say it, Fisher even?) and Evans and Stafford (and Whaley, who has scared me but had a really really solid game last night) to keep building off of last night's second half, and solve the Miller problem. And Ankrah and Carter have made a few plays. They need to get more pressure on a four man rush though, beat guys on the line and ruin the timing of plays, get some sacks even, bad passes. I dunno...it's possible! :lol:
I'm still in shock after seeing us stonewall Ball and the rest of the Wisconsin running game like that. That's our best defensive performance against the run, facing a real team, in what feels like forever. I never would've guessed we'd hold them to under 60 yards (although 3TD) for the whole night. The secondary, which I've thought as our best unit all year admittedly had a rough night. That surprised me, although some of that stuff is actually pretty easily rectifiable. (Says the total amateur who's never coached and has no clue...) Because some of the worst mistakes were just a matter of not turning their head around and avoid a third down PI. Stafford for example had great position, he jsut never turned around and looked for the ball.
We had a few safety mishaps where they were just lost and out of position, and corners were isolated on WRs. The TD to Abbrederis was a good example, but the corner actually had pretty good position. Stave just threw a perfect pass, and that kid (the WR) was a quality one. He made a nice catch on that pass. If Stafford or PJ ( I might, might even prefer Harvey atm) shore up their assignments, those WR's are double covered hopefully.
Martin needs to force guys backward and get some pressure, as do Steinkuhler and Ankrah/Carter. Cause some disruption, some urgency, some chaos! And do it with a four man rush for just at least a few times please! That would be crucial. (I've kind of relegated Meredith to non-factor status until he shows up.)
If I had to bet real money and I had no choice? OSU. If you asked me who I think will win, I'm saying Nebraska because by no means is it out of the realm of possibility to win this game, (not at all) and dammit, I'm an optimist! Their D-line is legit, no denying that. They're a little scary. But Taylor is running like the old Taylor. If we can Rex and Ameer (and sometimes Heard) 'em with 3 an a 1/2 to 6 yard runs with a little regularity, they gotta respect the run. Then, IF we can get Taylor some time in the pocket, we can turn Bell and Reed and Quincy and Turner loose on them. Taylor scrambled well last night too. We have talent. We can win this game.
EDIT: Big fan of Maudfather's avatar, by the way. Just throwin that out there :lol:
