Midshipmen Highlight Mis-Shapen Expectations?

Greetings from C-bus where the sun is shining a bit brighter after the near eclipse at the hands of Navy yesterday!

No question, the play of the day and the star of the game was Brian Rolle's and his return of the Dobbs' errant pass on Navy's 2-point conversion attempt. Rolle had elevated himself to the starting LB role this season and those who watched last season will recall he was the enforcer on the punt and kickoff teams last year known for his bone-crushing hits. Few knew that he had a nice lower gear, as evidenced by his speedy return of the INT for 2 points that put the game largely into Buckeye control.

The defense appeared lack-luster to me - not as disciplined as I would like, particularly on the initial drive where Navy seemed to control the line of scrimmage on every play. Defending the option requires a disciplined defense, assignment defense. If your role is to cover the pitchman, that's what you do, and you must have confidence that your cohorts on the field will do the same, maintaining their assignments as well. Clearly, the "swarming" culture of the defense was constantly overwhelming the assignment discipline needed and cracks in the defense's facade were letting plays go for long swathes of yardage. The D line apparently has some 8-10 in rotation. Perhaps that is because there are not 4 that are consistently good? Outside of the play of Cameron Heyward who had 5 total tackles and Dexter Larrimore with 7, no one on the line stood out. That was particularly annoying given that Doug Worthington is a defensive leader and Lawrence Wilson was getting yet another chance to go following an injury-shortened season. Chekwa looked solid on the corner, but it was not clear whether the Bucks are weak at defending the pass or just unprepared for the Midshipmen to go skyward. In a previous season, Navy went some games without throwing a single pass ... were the Bucks unprepared? or unskilled? The long pass setting up a near game-ending tie was a clearly errant coverage package - you never let the defender behind you and do not go for the ball, but make the secure tackle, particularly without safety help behind you. And Coleman looked very solid, but where was the other safety? That single safety set didn't provide much help on those long pass plays.

On the offensive side, I was much more pleased and somewhat pleasantly surprised. The offense looked to be in a rhythm until Tress decided to put Bauserman in for a series. I felt that was very disruptive to the offensive rhythm. And while I do not often criticize Tress outright and understand his reasoning for putting the back-up in a real game situation, I wondered given the relative youth of the offense whether the strategic move paid dividends. Then I saw Sam Bradford go down later yesterday and I came to think Tress was probably right and the break in rhythm was worth the risk.

Pryor went 14 of 21 for 174 and 1 TD pass and 1 TD run. And one costly INT. Pryor's passing has come a long way ... but he tends to throw the ball high. I like the concept of letting the athletic receivers go "up for it" but the ball needs to be catch-able. And receivers - tap the ball down, not up, if you can't get it.

Dane Sanzenbacher is this year's Anthony Gonzalez - the "go to" guy. Again, he had a key TD catch and led the team with 57 yards receiving. And that's not a lot of yards - why? Because, the Bucks are loaded at receiver - 7 individuals were involved in catches totaling 174 yards. Boom Herron led all "receivers" with 4 catches for 29 yards. Clearly, the coaches are looking for ways to get Brandon Saine and Herron some "space" from where to get a burst, looking for YAC (yards after catch). And Duron Carter is some kind of athlete ... but that's no surprise.

And 4 catches by Tight Ends? What was Tress thinking? The two Jakes - also known as big Jake and little Jake - had 3 catches and 1 catch, respectively. Both looked good catching the ball and running with the ball after the catch.

The lack of a ground game was very frustrating. That zone blocking scheme is just not working when the call is for the RB to go up the middle. The option is good, however, at springing the speedy Herron and Saine. But we are sorely missing a bruiser back. Beanie - where is the next Beanie?

There were 2 brother acts out on the field yesterday. The Pickerington connection featured the Boren brothers - the transferred Justin Boren starting on the O-line and his true-freshman brother Zack at starting full back. The Homan brothers were also on the field. Ross Homan got the start at LB and his brother is Zack's backup at fullback. The parents must be so proud.

No commentary needed on what's before the Bucks - USC comes to town with a primetime matchup scheduled for this Saturday night, 8pm eastern time in the 'Shoe. Gameday will be in town and game will be televised in prime time. The big spotlight is on. And redemption - will it be ours?

GO BUCKS from JennyBucks!