I love CJF ...but here is a stat he must learn

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

You are 0-4 taking a lead into the 4th qtr and getting conservative.

Regardless of what the book says...the book that counts is your record. Especially when on the road.

Please learn from this and take it to heart from now.

 

[canuckhal]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal? OSU DL took over. PERIOD! OSU OL took over. PERIOD. Barrett was lights out. OSU was the better team today. It happens.

 

[drpops]

OSU was better up front on both sides of the ball. Talent won over scheme.

 

[SmithtonLion]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal? OSU DL took over. PERIOD! OSU OL took over. PERIOD. Barrett was lights out. OSU was the better team today. It happens.

I agree with this. Franklin could not have done much differently. Sure a few play calls might have turned the game, but you can always say that.

 

[VaLion'92]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal? OSU DL took over. PERIOD! OSU OL took over. PERIOD. Barrett was lights out. OSU was the better team today. It happens.

No, he (or really CJM) needed to call better plays to SCORE a TD before fourth down instead of SETTLING for a FG. Play calling in that fourth quarter was piss poor. It has to be when you lose 19-3 in the quarter.

And don't give me the OL woes. There were things you could do to counter. Like misdirection. Like screens. How many passes to Barkley in the 4th?? Yeah, I thought so.

 

[KCLion]

You are 0-4 taking a lead into the 4th qtr and getting conservative.

Regardless of what the book says...the book that counts is your record. Especially in the road.

Please man learn from this....now.

Ding, Ding, Ding! As much as I like what he has done, we got way to conservative from the time we recovered the JT fumble until we were behind.

 

[fastlax16]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal? OSU DL took over. PERIOD! OSU OL took over. PERIOD. Barrett was lights out. OSU was the better team today. It happens.

Stop having trace and saquon stand next to each other flatfooted behind a poor offensive line would be a start. Show me one play the entire game where that play yielded positive yardage

 

[doctornick]

I think the more frustrating "going conservative" thing that happened was when we went to prevent on the second to last drive for tOSU allowing them to easily march down the field to get the TD and get within 1 score. We needed to put pressure on Barrett there.

 

[Madsol]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal? OSU DL took over. PERIOD! OSU OL took over. PERIOD. Barrett was lights out. OSU was the better team today. It happens.

C'mon, 1st and goal at the 7 and you have 2 runs for Trace and a give up run for Barkley to kick the FG. Not one throw. Nothing to the outside. Jump ball to Gesicki? To Johnson? Nothing. I agree when you're getting manhandled there isn't much you can do. But the settling for a FG without even taking a shot at the end zone was a failure of playcalling.

 

[FrontFlipper1]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal? OSU DL took over. PERIOD! OSU OL took over. PERIOD. Barrett was lights out. OSU was the better team today. It happens.

. Fair comments and observations.

 

[okinburg1]

If you think this game was lost because the OSU OL and DL took over, you are delusional. PSU's game plan changed dramatically in the 3rd quarter, going from "trying to win" to "trying not to lose." That is why we lost. JM should have to answer to someone as to why he kept going with that unbelievably, painfully, slow developing read option on 1st down over and over and over and over. Kept putting us behind the chains, which played right into OSU's strength.

 

[canuckhal]

No, he (or really CJM) needed to call better plays to SCORE a TD before fourth down instead of SETTLING for a FG. Play calling in that fourth quarter was piss poor. It has to be when you lose 19-3 in the quarter.

And don't give me the OL woes. There were things you could do to counter. Like misdirection. Like screens. How many passes to Barkley in the 4th?? Yeah, I thought so.

They ran a bunch of screens and OSU DL and LBs made tackles. Geez, but oh yeah, you know better than Moorhead. Maybe you have a talk with Franklin and persuade him that you should be the OC. Let me know how that works out.

 

[PeetzPoolBoy]

It is what it is...

 

[canuckhal]

If you think this game was lost because the OSU OL and DL took over, you are delusional. PSU's game plan changed dramatically in the 3rd quarter, going from "trying to win" to "trying not to lose." That is why we lost. JM should have to answer to someone as to why he kept going with that unbelievably, painfully, slow developing read option on 1st down over and over and over and over. Kept putting us behind the chains, which played right into OSU's strength.

That is exactly why Trace threw a deep ball over the middle to Thomkins for a touchdown and what I guess could really be called a 50/50 ball. What a conservative game call.

Penn Sate had a chance to win at the end. Great field position. Only needed a field goal. Couldn't make plans. Almost reversal of last year.

 

[bdgan]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal?

Of course not. He shouldn't have run on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd down. He has a 6'6" TE down there. Also a 6'4" WR.

But once it was 4th down you've got to kick the FG.

 

[doctornick]

You are never as good as you look when you win and never as bad as you look when you lose.

 

[Yboby]

I think the more frustrating "going conservative" thing that happened was when we went to prevent on the second to last drive for tOSU allowing them to easily march down the field to get the TD and get within 1 score. We needed to put pressure on Barrett there.

I agree. That was really disappointing and the first time I thought we might actually lose the game.

I couldn't believe how much Barrett had to throw the ball. Most decent QBs will look good with that kind of time.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

Predictable = 0-4.

I think this guy is a remarkable coach and have been in his corner from the day he was hired. Great men admit there flaws and change. I expect he will.

 

[fairfaxlion2]

I think the more frustrating "going conservative" thing that happened was when we went to prevent on the second to last drive for tOSU allowing them to easily march down the field to get the TD and get within 1 score. We needed to put pressure on Barrett there.

Yep. That was the end of the game. They took less than 90 seconds to score on that stupid scheme. It would have been way better to take our chances with blitzes

 

[katchthis]

I agree. That was really disappointing and the first time I thought we might actually lose the game.

I couldn't believe how much Barrett had to throw the ball. Most decent QBs will look good with that kind of time.

33 for 39 for 328. Yikes.. We have made some qbs look great over the years. Dirty Sanchez, Sam Darnold, and now JT.But, we have come a long way after the sanctions. To be in this situation, is really remarkable. CJF is bright and he will adapt. He is still young on the big stage.

 

[VaLion'92]

They ran a bunch of screens and OSU DL and LBs made tackles. Geez, but oh yeah, you know better than Moorhead. Maybe you have a talk with Franklin and persuade him that you should be the OC. Let me know how that works out.

So you're fine with the way that fourth quarter was called? Got it. Good to know.

Look, I understand OSU was dominating on both sides of the ball by that point. But good teams can sneak a few wins despite getting dominated on the LOS. This was one of them that was there for the taking, despite being doubled in total yards by OSU. I understand the players "have to make plays", but you cannot tell me the coaches put our offense and defense in the most auspicious position in that fourth quarter. Can't. Because OSU never came close to being three touchdowns better than PSU in quarters 1-3. Even in that second quarter when they were running all over us. We still matched them punch for punch.

Until the fourth.

 

[TheBumble]

C'mon, 1st and goal at the 7 and you have 2 runs for Trace and a give up run for Barkley to kick the FG. Not one throw. Nothing to the outside. Jump ball to Gesicki? To Johnson? Nothing. I agree when you're getting manhandled there isn't much you can do. But the settling for a FG without even taking a shot at the end zone was a failure of playcalling.

The run on first down was the exact same play when trace walked into the endzone before the half against michigan. Ohio st's LBs made the play tonight.

 

[Madsol]

The run on first down was the exact same play when trace walked into the endzone before the half against michigan. Ohio st's LBs made the play tonight.

Ok. Then I'll give you first down. But what about 2nd and 3rd? 3rd down was a pure give up.

 

[michnittlion]

This may sound harsh ...... but I think it's true. Franklin has A LOT of Dusty Baker in him. This loss was right up there with my Reds losing the 2012 NLDS against the Giants.

Great locker room guy, players love him, teams have chemistry. But he's simply not a good tactician and there's a trend of Franklin getting smaller when the moment gets larger.

 

[mjh218]

The last two drives for psu were bad. The one where we started on the 15 was ultra conservative. Got to get first downs. You have not consistently moved the ball on the ground. And you run three in a row? I don’t get that.

Even after everything that happened, PSU had ball on their own with 1:47 with two time outs. They have literally all the time in the word to move the ball 30 yards for a Fg attempt to win it. The OSU players were in the backfield almost immediately. The plays had almost no chance of success it’s a shame, would have loved to have had a shot at the FG to win

 

[Lavar5150]

If you think this game was lost because the OSU OL and DL took over, you are delusional. PSU's game plan changed dramatically in the 3rd quarter, going from "trying to win" to "trying not to lose." That is why we lost. JM should have to answer to someone as to why he kept going with that unbelievably, painfully, slow developing read option on 1st down over and over and over and over. Kept putting us behind the chains, which played right into OSU's strength.

Mike drop

 

[PSU20]

If you think this game was lost because the OSU OL and DL took over, you are delusional. PSU's game plan changed dramatically in the 3rd quarter, going from "trying to win" to "trying not to lose." That is why we lost. JM should have to answer to someone as to why he kept going with that unbelievably, painfully, slow developing read option on 1st down over and over and over and over. Kept putting us behind the chains, which played right into OSU's strength.

You nailed it. Can not believe that the great offensive mind of Moorhead could not come up with a different play than the R/O on first down time and again. OSU knew it was coming every time.

We had this game "gift wrapped" when the Buckeyes fumbled, and we blew it with piss poor play calling, and a blocked punt.

 

[artsandletters]

They can’t run the ball. You have to run the ball against talent.

 

[okinburg1]

The last two drives for psu were bad. The one where we started on the 15 was ultra conservative. Got to get first downs. You have not consistently moved the ball on the ground. And you run three in a row? I don’t get that.

Even after everything that happened, PSU had ball on their own with 1:47 with two time outs. They have literally all the time in the word to move the ball 30 yards for a Fg attempt to win it. The OSU players were in the backfield almost immediately. The plays had almost no chance of success it’s a shame, would have loved to have had a shot at the FG to win

Agreed. Was really hoping Davis would have at least gotten a shot to win the game with a long FG.

 

[HazletonLion]

Bates going down was a game changer, Trace was pressured a lot more. They have to can the deep handoff.

 

[Limestone_Lion]

I agree. That was really disappointing and the first time I thought we might actually lose the game.

I couldn't believe how much Barrett had to throw the ball. Most decent QBs will look good with that kind of time.

See Sam darnold in the rose bowl

 

[SimplyComplicated]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal? OSU DL took over. PERIOD! OSU OL took over. PERIOD. Barrett was lights out. OSU was the better team today. It happens.

I don't understand this commentary. The 3 plays preceding the FG were obvious "don't fumble, keep it in the middle of the field for the FG" plays, like you might do to run down the clock before kicking a game-winning FG. They weren't attempts to score.

What was he supposed to do? Call any of the dozens upon dozens of plays they have in their playbook, that aren't glorified kneeldowns.

I'm not here to say that a particular play would have worked, or that some other particular play would have worked (we could go on all day about that, and none of us would be right or wrong). I'm saying just call a play that MIGHT work. A play that tries to work, at advancing toward the end zone.

I'm not a guy who attacks Franklin. The dude has done a remarkable job of building the program back up to where we're in the national playoff picture, at some point, two years running, this soon after the "unrecoverable" debacle. It's a testament to his efforts and accomplishments that I'm criticizing his (or his coordinators') decisions in "National Championship level" situations.

That still doesn't mean he, or his staff, didn't screw the pooch in the latter half of the 4th quarter tonight. That series was the start of a consistent phenomenon throughout the rest of the game.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

What was he supposed to do? Go for it instead of kicking the field goal? OSU DL took over. PERIOD! OSU OL took over. PERIOD. Barrett was lights out. OSU was the better team today. It happens.

Make them cover the best FVCKING TE in the country by throwing it to him. Maybe that?

 

[Victor E. Bell]

You are 0-4 taking a lead into the 4th qtr and getting conservative.

Regardless of what the book says...the book that counts is your record. Especially when on the road.

Please learn from this and take it to heart from now.

PSU had no chance. It was over at the start of the 4th. I have no idea what he could have done differently. It was a matter of time and OSU had too much time.

 

[canuckhal]

Make them cover the best FVCKING TE in the country by throwing it to him. Maybe that?

Maybe I was watching another game, but I seem to remember a lot of throws to Gesicki and even a pass interference on a throw to Holland. On the last series, Trace tried to find Gesicki.

 

[Madsol]

PSU had no chance. It was over at the start of the 4th. I have no idea what he could have done differently. It was a matter of time and OSU had too much time.

We lost by 1 and settled for a FG without even attacking the end zone. He could have attacked the end zone. That's at least one thing he could have done.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Maybe I was watching another game, but I seem to remember a lot of throws to Gesicki and even a pass interference on a throw to Holland. On the last series, Trace tried to find Gesicki.

Not one fade to him inside the 10. F the RPO and go designed play to him up top.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

Oh...I suppose that was the case the other 4 identical situations...I was wrong. He is 0-5 in such situations.

The game is won by points differential, nothing else.

 

[crazyivan77]

Best RB in a generation from inside the 5, you need to get that ball across the plane.

LJs defensive line was stout and best we've seen in a few years, IMO. Losing our best OL can't be understated.

 

[SimplyComplicated]

Maybe I was watching another game, but I seem to remember a lot of throws to Gesicki and even a pass interference on a throw to Holland. On the last series, Trace tried to find Gesicki.

Again, I don't understand this commentary. We're not talking about the play before the 2nd portion of the 4th quarter, where he did target the TE on a number of occasions ... we're talking about the latter half of the 4th quarter, when PSU still had the lead.

Notice that I said "when PSU still had the lead." We're complaining about giving up the lead, and the manner in which it was done. Pointing out that Trace tried to find Gesicki in the desperate final drive, when we were losing, thanks to the issues we're pointing out, does nothing to address what happened from the time we were up 35-27, with 1st and Goal from the OSU 7 with 7:35 left in the 4th quarter, up until the time we were down 39-38, with 1:48 to play in the 4th quarter, with PSU ready to receive the kickoff. Those 6 minutes of football were absolutely atrocious ... and not because of execution, but because of play-calling.