Football
The-Ozone Note and Quotebook
By John PorentasDoing Their Share: Football coaches will tell you that teams win as a team and lose as a team. The OSU offense contributed to the win over San Diego State, as did the special teams, but there is no doubt that it was the OSU defense that stole the show against the Aztecs.
"I think we've gotten better, and that's what we're trying to do, make every game a little bit better," said OSU defensive coordinator Jim Heacock.
The Buckeyes got a tremendous effort overall, but particularly from the front four who not only stuffed the running game, but managed to pressure the quarterback with little help in the way of blitzing linebackers and defensive backs.
"When you have a front like ours and four-man pressure can get pressure on the quarterback, why blitz?" asked linebacker Anthony Schlegel.
"We were in nickel a lot today. When your front four can get there and you have five DBs covering and two linebackers covering for somebody coming on the bootleg, that's six or seven guys back there covering the pass and we're still getting sacks. That takes a team out of their game plan. That's just a tribute to the D-Line and Coach Heacock," Schlegel said.
"Aside from that first play I think it went pretty well the rest of the day," said A. J. Hawk in perhaps the biggest understatement thus far this season.
"It wasn't perfect, but at times I think we got pressure on the quarterback, making him uncomfortable and making him throw the ball. I think we took another little step as a defense," Hawk said.
No Contest: Each week awards are given by the OSU coaching staff for the outstanding players on offense, defense, special teams, etc. One of those awards is the Jack Tatum Big Hit award, and if anybody beside Roy Hall wins it this week, we're going to holler "fix".
Hall absolutely leveled an Aztec defender on a punt return in the first half, leaving him laying motionless face-down on the turf with a clean but devastating block. The hit set up a return that led to OSU's first touchdown drive. The play got the entire Buckeye sideline pumped up.
"I think anytime there's a big hit regardless of what side of the ball it is the whole team gets excited," said linebacker A. J. Hawk.
"Roy's a big, physical guy and showed that today. We love seeing that, especially out of the offense."
Hall, who is 6-3, 240 with sprinters speed, enjoyed the play...once he was sure that the recipient of his big hit was not seriously injured.
"We had just a regular punt return on and I came down and saw a guy I was supposed to get. I cleaned him up pretty good.
"It kind of scared me a little bit because he didn't move and nowadays you see so many people go down with spinal injuries. I hit him head up so I didn't think it was that serious. I was glad to see him get up," said Hall.
It was a scary moment, one that gave Hall pause for a moment.
"Just hopefully that he gets up," said Hall describing his thoughts at the moment.
"You never want to see anything terrible happen to another player like that. I was happy to see him get up, but when I got up, I was pretty amped up. That return was pretty big."
The hit earned the admiration of his teammates.
"The hit was amazing," said running back Brandon Schnittker.
"I saw the hit and I was pretty pumped up. The guy stayed down and wasn't moving so my next thought was worry for him and concern. But when he got up you feel all right about it. That's the kind of ferocious hitters we want to be. We want to be flying around hitting people and send a message."
Hawk was impressed too, and said he is all-too familiar with the load that Hall can bring when he delivers a block.
"I thought he knocked him out. He might have, I don't know. Roy tries to do that in practice. He'll do a crack back on you, so I know how it feels. It hurts. Roy is 235 pounds, so he can hit," said Hawk.
Seniors Bounce Back: There were a couple of seniors who had some less-than shining moments on Saturday, but came back to redeem themselves. Senior tailback Brandon Schnittker fumbles at the goal line, but made the best of a second chance when he scored OSU's final touchdown of the game.
Senior tight end Ryan Hamby dropped what was a sure touchdown pass last weekend against Texas, then dropped the first ball thrown to him against San Diego State drawing a smattering of boos from the crowd. Hamby admitted that the drop on Saturday was a hangover from his drop against Texas.
"I was playing so many mind games with myself this week, even at practice," said Hamby.
"Last Saturday against Texas, that's probably going to be a memory that when I'm 65 years old watching college football, it's probably going to cross my mind. That's the honest truth."
After the first drop, Hamby isolated himself on the OSU bench.
"It's just the way I am. I like to talk to myself. I was definitely fighting it. It was all in my head," said Hamby.
Hamby held on to the next pass thrown to him and ended up with three catches for 19 yards, one less that OSU's leading received Santonio Holmes who had four catches.
"Once I got that first one there was no doubt in my mind that any ball that came my way I was going to catch it," said Hamby.
"Finally Troy got that first one to me, the second one, the third one and I felt the confidence was back," Hamby said.
"That first one came to me and I was fighting it, trying to catch it too hard."
Have a Seat: Senior offensive lineman Rob Sims is usually a well-composed player on the field, but drew a personal foul penalty against the Aztecs. The flag earned him a trip to the OSU sideline to have a little chat with offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Jim Bollman.
"I was more concerned with with what was going on than his personal foul. He said the foul was foolish. He owned up to it to me after the game," said Bollman.
"I lost my composure. I wasn't very poised," said Sims.
"I was frustrated with what was going on out there as far as not putting it in the end zone."
The transgression put him on the bench, but not for very long.
"We only had two more plays that series and then I came in the next series," Sims said.
Playing Time: The game was hardly one sided, but the Buckeyes still managed to get a good number of young or inexperienced players in the game to get them ready for action in the future. On offense, a number of offensive linemen got in when the game was very much in question.
"I just wanted to get some of those guys in there to let them play a little bit," said offensive line coach Jim Bollman .
"We've made the decision to not redshirt Alex (Boone), so we want to get him in the game so he can get some experience. I think there were eight guys that played significantly.
"I know the third series of the game Steve Rehring was in.
"On the fourth series of the game Steve Rehring, Alex was in and John Conroy was in.
"At the end of the third of the third quarter, Steve and Alex were in. John Conroy was in a little later. Since the beginning of the year Steve Rehring has been number one and has always been in the top six guys and will always play."
Defensive coordinator Jim Heacock also worked in some young players.
"We felt like we had to get some of those young kids in there. Lawrence Wilson played a little bit on the D-Line. We threw some of those freshmen in there. It's a long season. We're going to need all the depth we can get," said Heacock.
Freshman Malcolm Jenkins not only played, but got the first start of his Buckeye career as the OSU defense opened the game in the nickel package.
"I expected for me to come out and be real nervous and be looking at the crowd all the time. Today I seemed to be real locked in on my assignments. After the first drive all the butterflies were gone. I think I executed pretty well," said Jenkins.
"They came out and they hit the play. After the first couple of series, everything started slowing down for me. I was able to grasp things quicker and react quicker."
"It's real fun. I'm enjoying myself out there being a part of the defense. It means a lot to me especially being a freshman especially."
Offense Ordinary: The Buckeye offense was pretty tepid against a San Diego State defense that has not exactly been stout thus far this season. That left a lot of people scratching their heads, including some Buckeyes.
"We're not going to win the Big Ten championship the way we're playing," said tailback Brandon Schnittker.
The offense scored enough to supply a comfortable margin of victory, but almost nobody was happy with the output. They also have not lost confidence that the offense will hit stride.
"We still haven't had that explosive game that we want to have, but we will have it soon," said Roy Hall.
"I think we can keep improving on some things offensively. We can grow into a real dangerous offense," said Troy Smith.
"I believe that every time we get out on the field we should score 42 points. It's not necessarily a letdown if we don't, but we have the weapons to do so," said Smith.
By our count, the Buckeyes were 15 points short of that 42 against San Diego State. Smith says the offense may have some problems now, but they are problems that can be fixed.
"From my standpoint I'm going to try the hardest that I can to get the ball to the receivers in a position where they can get the ball and make a play," said Smith.
Ironically, one of those playmakers is Smith himself. Smith admitted that he had difficulty stepping back into action last weekend after sitting out a two-game suspension for taking money from a booster. Smith said that as that game went on he became more comfortable. He said after his start against the Aztecs that that the process of re acclimatizing to game-speed is still continuing.
"The game slowed down a lot for me as it progressed," said Smith.
"The offensive line did a great job today doing what they do. They told me they were going to give me some time and I had time to sit back and go through my reads and do things right."
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