First off, let me say I am a huge believer in James Franklin and think he's done an amazing job here at Penn State. I am with him. But looking at this game, I do believed the PSU players did outplay the Buckeyes and the stats back that up. Reason we lost this game; Urban Meyer and his coordinators simply outcoached Franklin, Rahne and Brent Pry.
OSU Offense vs PSU Defense: We had a great 1st half and you have to give credit to Brent Pry but the 2nd half was a complete 180 flip. Haskins was rattled and pressure does seem to affect his play. So Meyer simplified the play-calling to allow Haskins to get the ball out quickly and with high percentage throws. The Buckeyes also noticed what is a Brent Pry trend in blitzing primarily from the edge. So they took advantage of Pry's aggressiveness by throwing quick WR bubble screens, RB screens or throwing it to Dobbins on the flat. And if you noticed... it was always to the right-side of the field. It's almost as if Pry just didn't notice or couldn't make the adjustment but the same set of plays to the right killed us. I don't think Haskins ever completed a pass over 20 yards and I only recall 3 attempts where all 3 were incomplete but with one terrible Castro Fields pass interference play. In addition, it seemed like everytime our corners played well off the ball... the Buckeyes called simple outs to WR to gain 5-8 yards. Again, easy high percentage plays for Haskins.
I think we would have been better served to play more press man and definitely key on Dobbins. We had to force Haskins to beat us upfield which he didn't really need to do in this game. If we wanted to blitz to add pressure to Haskins I think we would have been better served trying to blitz down the middle; especially since Haskins doesn't seem to have good footwork. Make him use those feet to affect his arm.
PSU Offense vs OSU Defense: Tracy was magic tonight. His ability to make plays on the run stupefied the Buckeyes. But I also believe Meyer and his staff game-planned around Miles Sanders. They were not going to allow the Lions to run the ball. PERIOD!!! They were stacking the line and made multiple run blitzes on 1st down keying on Sanders. Buckeyes made decision that the Lions would be 1-dimensional and McSorley would have to beat them (which he did). We were constantly behind the chains and we lost this game on 1st downs. Rahne seemed deadset on trying to establish a running game forcing McSorley to make plays on 2nd and 3rd and long distances. Pat Freiermuth was open all game and we just didn't go to that well deep enough. And I DO NOT BLAME FRANKLIN OR RAHNE ON BYPASSING THE FIELD GOAL ON 4TH DOWN. That play call was perfect. If McSorley gets it to Frieirmuth, it's a TD. It was a perfect play call but the DE just made a great play on tipping pass. I blame Franklin/Rahne for not going to our TE enough in this game. The Buckeyes were stacking the line and the middle and deep ball were exposed all night I blame Rahne for not attacking this weak spot enough. I think that's where we lost this game.
In addition, Rahne has got to learn to use Hamler and Tommy Stevens as decoys. Maybe we could have used both of them in motion to keep the Buckeyes from stacking the line. Every single time Stevens got in game... they go straight to him. There's no deception there. Every time Hamler goes in motion, we give him the rock for a jet sweep to the left. No deception. Rahne needs to learn to use those weapons to play off them to open up other plays.
The Critical Play: 4th and 5 and you run Sanders into the mouth of the Shark. Buckeyes game plan was to stop Sanders and they did just that on that play. That may well end up being Franklin's worst play call ever in his career.
Conclusion: We should have won this one. Maybe I'm being too tough but we should have won this one. We have to remember that Franklin, Brent Pry and Rahne are only 46, 48 and 38 years old. Very young for head coaches and coordinators. Their best days are ahead.
OSU Offense vs PSU Defense: We had a great 1st half and you have to give credit to Brent Pry but the 2nd half was a complete 180 flip. Haskins was rattled and pressure does seem to affect his play. So Meyer simplified the play-calling to allow Haskins to get the ball out quickly and with high percentage throws. The Buckeyes also noticed what is a Brent Pry trend in blitzing primarily from the edge. So they took advantage of Pry's aggressiveness by throwing quick WR bubble screens, RB screens or throwing it to Dobbins on the flat. And if you noticed... it was always to the right-side of the field. It's almost as if Pry just didn't notice or couldn't make the adjustment but the same set of plays to the right killed us. I don't think Haskins ever completed a pass over 20 yards and I only recall 3 attempts where all 3 were incomplete but with one terrible Castro Fields pass interference play. In addition, it seemed like everytime our corners played well off the ball... the Buckeyes called simple outs to WR to gain 5-8 yards. Again, easy high percentage plays for Haskins.
I think we would have been better served to play more press man and definitely key on Dobbins. We had to force Haskins to beat us upfield which he didn't really need to do in this game. If we wanted to blitz to add pressure to Haskins I think we would have been better served trying to blitz down the middle; especially since Haskins doesn't seem to have good footwork. Make him use those feet to affect his arm.
PSU Offense vs OSU Defense: Tracy was magic tonight. His ability to make plays on the run stupefied the Buckeyes. But I also believe Meyer and his staff game-planned around Miles Sanders. They were not going to allow the Lions to run the ball. PERIOD!!! They were stacking the line and made multiple run blitzes on 1st down keying on Sanders. Buckeyes made decision that the Lions would be 1-dimensional and McSorley would have to beat them (which he did). We were constantly behind the chains and we lost this game on 1st downs. Rahne seemed deadset on trying to establish a running game forcing McSorley to make plays on 2nd and 3rd and long distances. Pat Freiermuth was open all game and we just didn't go to that well deep enough. And I DO NOT BLAME FRANKLIN OR RAHNE ON BYPASSING THE FIELD GOAL ON 4TH DOWN. That play call was perfect. If McSorley gets it to Frieirmuth, it's a TD. It was a perfect play call but the DE just made a great play on tipping pass. I blame Franklin/Rahne for not going to our TE enough in this game. The Buckeyes were stacking the line and the middle and deep ball were exposed all night I blame Rahne for not attacking this weak spot enough. I think that's where we lost this game.
In addition, Rahne has got to learn to use Hamler and Tommy Stevens as decoys. Maybe we could have used both of them in motion to keep the Buckeyes from stacking the line. Every single time Stevens got in game... they go straight to him. There's no deception there. Every time Hamler goes in motion, we give him the rock for a jet sweep to the left. No deception. Rahne needs to learn to use those weapons to play off them to open up other plays.
The Critical Play: 4th and 5 and you run Sanders into the mouth of the Shark. Buckeyes game plan was to stop Sanders and they did just that on that play. That may well end up being Franklin's worst play call ever in his career.
Conclusion: We should have won this one. Maybe I'm being too tough but we should have won this one. We have to remember that Franklin, Brent Pry and Rahne are only 46, 48 and 38 years old. Very young for head coaches and coordinators. Their best days are ahead.
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