Around the 'Shoe

Roby is quite good but we all know the others are a lil behind. Howards been gettin burnt since he came back and everyone knows Moeller is not a coverage db. Bryant was riding the bench behind Johnson so that says alot in itself. We need to have Dominic Clarke on the field. Just like how these coaches burried Hyde when Boom came back, they burried Clarke and they should not have imo. I dont think anything was exposed though because you can just pick your poison between our LBers and DBs and thats been obvious since game 3. Not a whole lot of steller QBs in the big ten left to play so we will be OK and I think they took indy a lil lightly as well. Could have been a let down after last weeks win.

Really hoping we see more of Shazier going forward. That kid really brings the heat on the QB.

Thank God for Simon and Hankins. They have been great all season. Where were our linebackers today? Thought they played much better at Illinois and vs. Wisky but were non existent today.

What did Hankin's do this game???? He made 1 or 2 plays.

Vrabel is getting a free pass as LB coach. If we are going to complain about Fickell learning on the job, then what is Vrabel doing. He is also learning on the job and lets be honest here, our LB play this year has been very average.

it does not help when your d coordinator plays scared the whole game. no blitzes at all and no pressure on a freshman qb and backup receivers.

any reason we couldn't pressure and blitz like they did to us?

and christian bryant can't catch an int. to save his life.

we were literally in a six man box the entire game. It didn't matter what IU lined up in. four DL and two LB's. There were a number of times tOSU didn't have a pitch defender!!! WTF are they doing? It's simple mathematics! six blockers for six defenders. Add into the fact they are running the option it turned into six blockers on five defenders. There is a reason tOSU had three players with 100 yds rushing and the game was close till the last 4:00 minutes. It's on Luke Fickel. Plain and simple, if they pass on Urban Meyer for this guy, they will regret the decision for a decade!!!!! It was hard to watch today.

Spot on. This young secondary is struggling mightily in learning their zones. I would think that Luke would realize this, and opt to man up more. Or at least try some Cover-2. Our corners have to be better athletes than IU's WR's, so what did he really have to lose here? He is so cautious in everything he does, he really is like a Tressel clone.

I said after the Wisky game, that if Bielema hadn't been so damn stubborn, and put the ball in Wilson's hands at the start of the second half, they win that game. I hope scUM doesn't figure this out, even though Denard is not as good as Wilson.

When a team runs 40-50 plays a game, having 11 guys on the field, that's and average of 4.5 tackles per player (or around that). Don't get me wrong- Simon is a beast and is our best defensive player- hands down. But if you watch the game again, Hankin's makes a play here and there, but nothing special. Question is how do you get .5 TFL? WTF is that????

I am not saying that the defense played bad, I thought this is our strongest component. But please don't throw out stats. They mean nothing. Everyone seems to get 3-4 tackles. It's how important those tackles are that count to me.

Yes, I said they were making plays, but on alot of plays if you actually watched the game, they got no penetration at all. NONE.

Also, 2 D-lineman dont make up a defensive line. Our D was picked apart by a true freshman QB, mainly because of lack of pressure.

Agreed. Clarke needs to be on the field more. I thought that he should have started instead of Roby, but I have been impressed more and more each game with Roby. I have alot of respect for what the kid has done, but the truth is that the weak link in the defense at this point is Moeller. His open field tackling used to be excellent, and I don't know what has happened, but he just can't seem to take good angles, hit, and wrap up like he did 2 or 3 years ago. If you can't really cover, open-field tackling the critical skill which is needed in his linebacker-safety "Star" position. They need to insert Shazier or Clarke in this position, or maybe even give Cash or one of the safeties who can bulk up or a lean linebacker a shot at it. There seem to be plenty of guys ont he roster who fit this mold.

And speaking of linebackers, both Sabino and Klein are ineffective against a zone-read or spread offense. Storm doesn't have the speed or quickness, and Sabino seems to be lost. I hope Curtis Grant can do better, or someone else emerges or we are going to be in trouble without Sweat next season. Sweat is the only one who seems to be consistent and able to make plays regardless of what the offense is doing. He usually plays better against better teams for whatever reason.

Only 1 thing I hate more than a zone defense and that's the prevent defense. The only thing it prevents is the defense from being aggressive.