Like I assume many of you, it’s been a full range of emotions these past 48 hours, from denial to anger to hope to now acceptance (7 stages of grief I suppose? Or is it 5 stages?). Anyway, after having some time to think about this game (I’m can’t get myself to rewatch), and reading through a few comments on this board, I figured I’d through out a few thoughts:
We have a lot of work to do the rest of the season, the schedule is still pretty brutal, but I’m excited about the future of the team, and the program, and the awareness Franklin has that this isn’t good enough is encouraging.
We Are!
- Franklin’s post game comments about going from “great” to “elite” have really stuck with me, because they are very spot on. From the coaching staff down to the players (McSorley and Hamler not included), we are not at an elite level... yet.
- A lot of blame is being thrown around for the loss, but as Hamler tweeted recently, it was a collective effort for why the game was lost. The coaching staff is not at an elite level (obviously the 4th down call was terrible, the “Lion” package was anger-inducing), and the players still are not yet at an elite level. Could we, and should we, have won this game, absolutely. But to take that next step as a championship contender, we can’t have the missed tackles and the dropped passes that we have seen this season.
- That said, as many have pointed out, we are moving in the right direction and the future is bright. While a trip to the playoffs seem unlikely, a top 10 finish and top 10 recruiting class(es) will go a long way for Coach to show us fans that we are close.
- Regarding the game, the parallels of the 2016 White Out game are scary, just with the roles reversed. We outgained them and outplayed them, but couldn’t finish with TDs in the first half and left them hang around. An unlikely game-changing play in 4Q (our field goal block in 2016, and OSU’s 50 yard TD reception to make it a one score game) sparked a momentum changer (Meyers comments further hammered home my thoughts on when the game changed). While extremely frustrating, we have obviously closed the gap and I am excited to see us continue to get better.
- One thing that stands out to me mightily on the 4th and 5, (and really most of the game from what I remember) is that Ohio State had no respect that our receivers could win the one on one matchups, and once Hamler left the game it was even more magnified. On that dreaded 4th down call, OSU lined up man to man and dared us to beat them. While I can perhaps see why the run was called, it is telling that our coaches also didn’t have the confidence in our WRs to win a one-on-one matchup for a 1st down.
- While it may seem obvious, McSorley, Hamler, Freiermuth deserve special recognition - they were the best players on the field at their positions. On defense, we played pretty well across the board - as some have mentioned we don’t quite have that game-changer (in the way of Hamler) and that seems to hurt us. The talent is there but we lack consistency. Really the only player that stands out from a physical standpoint is Parsons and I wish the coaching staff would have given him more snaps and more reps early in the season to get him more comfortable at LB.
We have a lot of work to do the rest of the season, the schedule is still pretty brutal, but I’m excited about the future of the team, and the program, and the awareness Franklin has that this isn’t good enough is encouraging.
We Are!
