Badin vs. Versailles
Law Enforcement Memorial Day
American Idol 2012 finale
Home > Blogs > Buckeyes Beat > Archives > 2009 > January > 06 > Entry
One key: Texas had too much time late
Ohio State just left Colt McCoy a little too much time at the end of the Fiesta Bowl, but what was Dan Herron supposed to do, not score on his 15-yard run with 2:05 remaining?
When Texas got the ball with 1:58 and two timeouts remaining left, McCoy did not have to force the ball deep and deviate from his quick-strike attack. The Longhorns did not even need to use a timeout on their winning drive, converting a 26-yard pass from McCoy to Quan Cosby for a 24-21 victory.
While the Buckeyes took no solace from coming close, the tightness of the game should keep Texas from being considered for the AP half of the national championship. That leaves Florida and Oklahoma to play for both No. 1 rankings in the BCS title game Thursday.
Other keys to the Fiesta Bowl:
Texas’ precision passing attack. Longhorns quarterback McCoy tried maybe three deep balls among his Fiesta Bowl-record 59 pass attempts, instead opting for short out routes or slant routes to his group of quick, sure-handed receivers. McCoy’s ability to dink and dunk the ball up the field enabled the Longhorns to remain in an offensive flow despite the fact that they got only 72 yards rushing and never showed much push off the line of scrimmage.
Beanie Wells’ concussion. Wells had 53 yards rushing in the first quarter and 96 in the first half, but he suffered a concussion early in the third quarter and had only four carries in the second half, two of those coming on the Buckeyes’ first two scrimmage plays of the third quarter. Wells gives the Buckeyes a power/speed option that makes him a top candidate to leave for the NFL, although after the game he again said he has not made a decision.
Fourth down success. Texas converted two fourth-down plays on the opening driving of the third quarter. Facing fourth-and-two from the Ohio State 47-yard line, the Longhorns lined up in punt formation, but upback Rashad Bobino took a direct snap and rammed over right guard for just barely the two yards he needed. Four plays later, on fourth-and-one from the 36, Cody Johnson gained two yards over the left side. McCoy scrambled around right end three plays later on a 14-yard touchdown run, giving the Longhorns their first lead, 10-6. “We had plenty of chances to get them off the field,” safety Kurt Coleman said. “They got that yard when they needed to.”
Settling for three. The Buckeyes controlled the first half — rushing for 140 yards and controlling the ball for four minutes, 38 seconds longer than Texas — but could not convert long drives into touchdowns. They reached the Texas 25-yard line on their second series but settled for a 51-yard field goal; the Texas 34 before missing a field goal, and the Texas 7 before a false start penalty and an incompletion forced a 30-yard field goal. It was 6-3 at half; it could have been 14-3, even 17-3.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment |
Comments
By VietVet
January 6, 2009 7:00 AM | Link to this
Ohio State- way to conservative on the play calls. Too many plays designed to go off tackle.No flanker screens, no intricate pass patterns. Not enough passing in the 10-15 yard range. Need to adopt a “Florida” type offense and stop being so painfully obvious on the play calls. Many wasted offensive plays during the game.Defense needs better pass coverage to compete with the big boys. Another Tressel called predictable conservative game. Tressel needs to hang out with Urban Myer and Pete Carrol if he wants to learn more about football.By rocky
January 6, 2009 4:43 PM | Link to this
Thank you, Vietvet, you simply said it all.By Bob Dyer
January 6, 2009 8:20 PM | Link to this
Can anyone figure out why Coach Tressel’s staff did not brief the entire offense to stay in bounds during their last drive? You can’t keep the clock running during the resetting of the chains on a first down, but you can keep it running by staying in bounds. I counted three plays on that last drive where the ball carrier could have easily stayed in bounds. That could have run another 60 seconds or so off the clock. The Buckeyes had three remaining time outs if they started to run out of time themselves. Judging by the Buckeye’s inability to stop the Longhorn offense, a better time management plan during that last drive should have been a no brainer.By bunny
January 9, 2009 5:38 AM | Link to this
Typical posts by OSU fans, One week Tressel is a god the next he doesn’t know how to coach. Boy’s your buckeyes got beat, the team is always overrated, you embarass the big ten,and you the fans are obnoxious.