My Thoughts: Wisconsin

Fickell gaining respect

For those of you who have recently read my posts I know I have been a bit negative as of late. I have constantly attacked Coach Fickell and many of the decisions that he and the coaching staff have made, though I am still not sold on him being our head coach, I am thrilled with how the Wisconsin game turned out. This is not just for the fact that because the Buckeyes won, my brother (a Wisconsin alumnus) had to dress in a Buckeye uniform for Halloween, and I did not have to repeat last year when I wore a Badger uniform, revenge is sweet. I am happy because the Buckeyes played with much of the heart and skill that we have become accustomed too. For 3 and a half quarters our defense played like the Silver Bullets.

Wisconsin is a running team, both Monte Ball and Russell Wilson are as dangerous a QB and RB rushing tandem as there is in college football. They run behind a monster offensive line who many people thought would push around a talented but young Buckeye defensive line. Well guess what, that young Buckeye defensive line had the last laugh. They held the powerful Badger running attack to 89 yards (most of that gained on 1 big run).


As I sat (well stood) and watched the game, my father who was next to me kept commenting in awe, how the Buckeyes defense was dominating the Badgers and stuffing their attack. The Badgers and their "stars" could not run both wide or between the tackles. They were forced to throw. Russell Wilson is not a bad thrower (in fact he runs like Denard Robinson, but throws the ball much better). He was held to under 300 yards passing, in fact he had 253 yards passing, many of those yards came on two long passes in the final few minutes of the game.

Those final few minutes were a bit nerve racking. Our D seems to become relaxed when up big at the end of the games, it came back to bite us against Nebraska and it almost did the same against Wisconsin. Giving up 2 touchdowns in such a short time is unforgivable. Jim Heacock is a great d-coordinator, so why does he step off the gas? I have a feeling this conservative coaching is a hang over from the Jim Tressel decade.

This season I never thought I would say this but here goes: Thank God for our offense. There seems to be some maturity occurring before our very eyes. First of all you have the returning leadership of Boom Herron. His fresh legs have been phenomenal. He is able to take over a game, he is a dominant runner and it is showing. Jordan Hall is a capable backup, a potential game changer who is lethal returning kicks. My only question with the running backs is, Where is Carlos Hyde? I am a bit perplexed here.

Sure looked good here

Hyde was leading the team in rushing, but then Boom returns and Hyde vanishes. He is a load to bring down, has speed (he reminds me of Beanie), and doesn’t put the ball on ground. Why has he been benched or dropped so far down the depth chart he can’t be found? I am hoping there is some grand plan. Maybe we have so many good running backs, Fickell is trying to freshen up Hyde's legs for the stretch run? I just don’t know, but I am hoping our brain trust has a plan for him, because I would hate to lose him. 

Well, I guess it is time to discuss Braxton Miller. Wow, he is the real deal. He is a freshman, makes freshman mistakes, but also he is a playmaker. I can talk about how he played the whole game. He did everything the coaches asked, primarily hand off the ball, but when he was asked to throw, he had some zip on that ball. I will get to that last throw, the game winner in just a second, but let’s look at his decision making. Take his 44 yard touchdown run. How many freshman would have kept that ball and not made the option pitch? He looked down field saw that he had a lane and made the move.

He flew to the end zone, hardly touched, if touched at all. He made the correct decision. He also showed he is not as fragile as believed. In the Nebraska game, he got dinged up and left the game. There was question if he could have returned, but he may have been timid. Well, he got dinged up again against Wisconsin, but this time it appears he understood his injury and his skill and he knew he could return to the game. Next, let’s look at the pass, this is the latest "Holy Buckeye." One great aspect of Braxton Miller, is he does not seem to become easily flapped.

On his final pass, he transformed from an experienced freshman to a team leader. Look at what happened. He dropped back, got rushed, rolled to his right, the whole time keeping his eyes down field, knew exactly where the line of scrimmage was and sent a long 40 yard pass to fellow freshman Devin Smith. It was a thing of beauty, it changed a very angry Bob to an ecstatic Bob, and did the reverse for my brother. This singular game with one great play gives me hope for the future. Hope that our team has turned a corner, hope that Miller to Smith can be a long term, powerful connection.

There are many things I am hopeful for in Buckeye land, just don’t ask me about the coaching situation. I just don’t have an answer, but I can tell you this: The rest of this season is going to be interesting. If we play like we did against Wiscy there is no reason why we can’t win out, and make the Big Ten Championship Game (NCAA not withstanding), but then again, who says we won’t revert to the offense we ran against Sparty or the ‘Canes. I just don’t know. What I do know is that I want us to win the Indiana game, so we at least become bowl eligible. See you all next week.