With 5 days until the Rose Bowl match up between Ohio State and Oregon, Inside The Shoe will delve deep into the match ups of the game, as well as deciding who has the advantage point. First up is the Offense. The way this works, we will look at each key point in the offense\defense, and compare it with the opponent´s.
Quarterback
Advantage: Oregon
Terrelle Pryor: First off, this guy is a sophomore at Ohio State, just finishing up learning all the reads and plays. Then you look at his progression from last year, and you see it is definatly noticable, but not as much as expected. He has learned to throw the ball away more when he needs to instead of trying to make a play. The descion making is not yet there, as well as overall accuracy. Descion making wise, just look at his INT´s this year. You can´t really say he has regressed from last year, because he wasn´t throwing as much when you had Beanie in the backfield. As far as accuracy goes, if you take a look at the Penn State game, he had a couple of deep bombs to Posey that would have been 6 both times, but resulted in an overthrow. Again, he is still young, and tends to get excited. If he can keep his arm under control he should be ok.
Jerimah Masoli: Building off of last year´s success, he lead his team to a 10-1 record (10-2 actually, but he didn´t play in the loss to Stanford) and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Masoli has been said to have one of the best fake handoffs in the game today, but he will need all of his talents to outsmart the Buckeye defense, with his uncanny ability to make a big play whenever need be. Masoli has proved himself capable of throwing in the pocket, and taking off with quick, agile speed. In the USC game, he seemed to know exactly where the defense was looking, and thinking, and would provide the sufficent play. Masoli understands the defense and all of the surrounding players abilitys to make sure the play goes smoothly.
Running Back
Advantage: Oregon
Brandon Saine\Daniel Herron: The Ohio State University is known for it´s power running game, and this year, you look at Boom and Zoom, you don´t really see that big power I-formation back. The closest to being that is Zoom, but the running game this year has been a bit confusing. You can´t replace a Beanie so says Jim Tressel, and that what this season has truly been about. Saine has started to come more into the role of an every down back, but Boom is trying to make his case, this could lead to some switching of the 2 during the Rose Bowl, and leading into next season, with the addition of Carlos Hyde(?) and Jaamal Berry.
LaMichael James\LeGarrette Blount: At the beginning of the season, Oregon fans probably were thinking something along the lines of "What happend to LeGarrette Blount?" After a 1,000 yard rushing season last season, he was held to -5 yards on 8 attempts aganist Boise State. And oh yeah, this. The result led to a year long suspension, but after further review, got taken back, and played his first game since then aganist Oregon St, in which he had 51 yards on 9 attempts with a TD. Enter LaMichael James. James burst on the scene as a true freshman and ended up with an outstanding 1,476 yards on 215 attempts. He is sure to be a great RB someday, and could look forward to a Heisman running in the next couple of years.
Wide Recevier
Advantage: Ohio State
Posey\Sanzenbacher: There´s not much you can say about either team´s receivers, although Ed Dickson for Oregon provides a bit of a knockout punch. Posey and Sanzenbacher are more than sufficant when it comes to making big plays, and more importantly, getting open. Sanzenbacher has deceiving speed, and doesn´t mind going over the middle and\or taking a hit. Posey always runs a good post or even better, a fade route. With the loss of Ray Small and Duron Carter, it looks like Laamar Thomas will finally get his chance. Taurian Washington will also join the mix of WR out on the feild, and it will be intresting to see what he can produce.
Ed Dickson\Jeff Mahel\D.J. Davis: The talented tightend in Ed Dickson is their main receiving threat, and looks to have a great career ending game. As for Mahel and Davis, they provide speed and talent, and will provide Masoli more options to go to. Don´t go counting out the running backs as a passing threat either, James had 13 receptions for 143 yards.
Offensive Line
Advantage: Depends.
Ohio State\Oregon: The offensive line is hard to judge. Both these teams amounted for just about as many rushing yards as each other, with Oregon having more on 2 more attempts. The reason I put depends is merely because the Ohio State line is complicated. On one hand, you can have the USC\Penn St. game line, or the Purdue game. If the USC one shows up, i would have to give it to Ohio State, but Oregon has done such a great job up front, I almost gave this one to them, seeing as they had the better stats, and have put forth a USC effort all year long. So this is for you to judge and decide.
Overall Offense
Advantage: Oregon
So Oregon is the winner of Offense. The Oregon offense has blown up this year, creaming teams like USC, Arizona, etc. Remember there is more to a football game then offense, and the defense and special teams play just as an important part. We here at Inside The Shoe have looked over some film, and decided that Oregon was better on offense..Ohio State, has growing pains at the moment. So, let us know your thoughts.
Running Back
Advantage: Oregon
Brandon Saine\Daniel Herron: The Ohio State University is known for it´s power running game, and this year, you look at Boom and Zoom, you don´t really see that big power I-formation back. The closest to being that is Zoom, but the running game this year has been a bit confusing. You can´t replace a Beanie so says Jim Tressel, and that what this season has truly been about. Saine has started to come more into the role of an every down back, but Boom is trying to make his case, this could lead to some switching of the 2 during the Rose Bowl, and leading into next season, with the addition of Carlos Hyde(?) and Jaamal Berry.
LaMichael James\LeGarrette Blount: At the beginning of the season, Oregon fans probably were thinking something along the lines of "What happend to LeGarrette Blount?" After a 1,000 yard rushing season last season, he was held to -5 yards on 8 attempts aganist Boise State. And oh yeah, this. The result led to a year long suspension, but after further review, got taken back, and played his first game since then aganist Oregon St, in which he had 51 yards on 9 attempts with a TD. Enter LaMichael James. James burst on the scene as a true freshman and ended up with an outstanding 1,476 yards on 215 attempts. He is sure to be a great RB someday, and could look forward to a Heisman running in the next couple of years.
Wide Recevier
Advantage: Ohio State
Posey\Sanzenbacher: There´s not much you can say about either team´s receivers, although Ed Dickson for Oregon provides a bit of a knockout punch. Posey and Sanzenbacher are more than sufficant when it comes to making big plays, and more importantly, getting open. Sanzenbacher has deceiving speed, and doesn´t mind going over the middle and\or taking a hit. Posey always runs a good post or even better, a fade route. With the loss of Ray Small and Duron Carter, it looks like Laamar Thomas will finally get his chance. Taurian Washington will also join the mix of WR out on the feild, and it will be intresting to see what he can produce.
Ed Dickson\Jeff Mahel\D.J. Davis: The talented tightend in Ed Dickson is their main receiving threat, and looks to have a great career ending game. As for Mahel and Davis, they provide speed and talent, and will provide Masoli more options to go to. Don´t go counting out the running backs as a passing threat either, James had 13 receptions for 143 yards.
Offensive Line
Advantage: Depends.
Ohio State\Oregon: The offensive line is hard to judge. Both these teams amounted for just about as many rushing yards as each other, with Oregon having more on 2 more attempts. The reason I put depends is merely because the Ohio State line is complicated. On one hand, you can have the USC\Penn St. game line, or the Purdue game. If the USC one shows up, i would have to give it to Ohio State, but Oregon has done such a great job up front, I almost gave this one to them, seeing as they had the better stats, and have put forth a USC effort all year long. So this is for you to judge and decide.
Overall Offense
Advantage: Oregon
So Oregon is the winner of Offense. The Oregon offense has blown up this year, creaming teams like USC, Arizona, etc. Remember there is more to a football game then offense, and the defense and special teams play just as an important part. We here at Inside The Shoe have looked over some film, and decided that Oregon was better on offense..Ohio State, has growing pains at the moment. So, let us know your thoughts.
