Well, my Buckeyes got the living snot beat out of them on Monday night and if that doesn't deserve a blog entry, I don't know what does. Here are some random thoughts...

This was the first OSU game I've ever seen where Jim Tressel was out-coached. His offensive stubbornness was reminiscent of the John Cooper era. The O-Line could not hold a block, but the offense kept running 15 yard routes. Smith was often pressured before his receivers even ended their routes. Gonzalas must have run the same 15 yard out route 10 times in a row. Wonder why he never got open? For the first half this was fine. I was surprised by our inability to block Florida's ends, but it was a reality and needed to be dealt with. Problem is, nothing changed in the second half.

On the other side of the line Urban Meyer prepared a perfect offensive scheme. Florida's O-Line was shaky all season, so he ran nothing but 5-yard crossing routes and wide receiver screens the entire game. This took OSU's pass rush out of the game. The linebackers didn't adjust and left the middle of the field wide open. Atleast they fixed their issues after the half. They changed to a 3-man front and cheated their linebackers. As a result they only allowed 70 passing yards and one score after the half.

Also, can someone tell me why we ran three pass plays from the shotgun after we scored a touchdown on power running in the second quarter?

I personally think that Tressel gave up after the fourth down call in the second quarter. I can't say I blame him much either. If we can't get one yard in two plays then we don't deserve to win that game. I agree with the call, but everyone knew it was a make or break play, and we broke.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think the Buckeyes were the better team, but the coaching definitely didn't help.

Another thought...

What does this do to Troy Smith's draft status? This game definitely exposed some flaws. Some, like the poor accuracy (his throws were way off), could be attributed to nerves or time off. Others, though, are more substantial. Take for instance his complete lack of an internal clock. I don't know how many times he stayed in the pocket for more than five seconds without either stepping up and taking off, or throwing the ball away. On the other side Chris Leak seemed to count to three and throw it away if he didn't see anything. I know Troy wasn't used to having his Line collapse on him like that, but he needs to know when it's time to get rid of the ball.

While were talking about QBs...

I liked Brady Quinn better when his name was Ron Pawlus. Seriously, should we be impressed that this kid throws for 300 yards against the military schools? Every time he played a ranked team he looked like... well, a losing quarterback. I can't believe he's being considered for the #1 pick. This has Heath Shuler written all over it.

I do have to admit that as a Columbus native I'm pretty biased against anyone from Dublin, OH (or "RICHWHITEKIDVILLE" as I like to call it). Here's a quick story to explain why - When I was 19 I had a crappy job as a grass roots canvasser for a political organization. One day we canvassed a predominately black neighborhood in East Columbus. It was a nice neighborhood full of nice people. Women would let me in their homes, give me juice and candy, show me pictures of their kids and talk about where they wanted to go to school. The men would stand on the porch and talk sports and eventually tell me they appreciated what I was doing. It was a proud neighborhood. Anyway, about 45 minutes into my route this kid from Dublin - we'll call him Bill, not for anonymity, but because I never cared to remember his name - came sprinting toward me. He was sweating and scared shitless.

"Chris," he said. "These black guys were going to beat me up."

I knew enough to know that this wasn't that bad of a neighborhood, so I didn't really believe him. I let him walk my route with me anyway. Eventually we went to the house that caused his hysteria. Three teenagers were sitting on the porch drinking sodas. Nothing intimidating, but Bill going nuts. I wanted to show him how stupid he was, so I walked right up to the door and the kids greeted me just fine. They looked at Bill with a casual disdain and said to me, "Your friend don't like black people does he?"

"He's from Dublin," I said, and they immediately understood. They went and got their parents and I ended up with an ice cream bar and soda. I didn't get one for Bill.

Later Bill and I were talking and he said, "Man, I'm sorry, but I had never actually met a black person before."

I couldn't freaking believe it. This guy was 19 years old.

"Didn't you have any black friends in high school?" I asked.

He stared back amazed and said, "No! We didn't have any black kids at our school. Did you?!"

That's Dublin.