Tequilla's Ohio State Post Mortem Thoughts

[TheHB]

@Canadawg
Define what you mean by saying that "we have the players"
We do have players … there's a really good chance that we can finish as a Top 15-20 team this year whether via the polls, metrics, or all the above. If all goes right we might finish a bit higher.
But I don't think it's really that crazy to say that we don't have the same kind of talent that the #1 team in the nation, defending national champion, and the definition of what a blue blood has.
That's not to say that we shouldn't expect to be able to compete with them … and we did.
That's not to say that we didn't have at least a puncher's chance of winning the game … and we did.
We're closer to competing at that level today than we were last season.
We'll get another chance to show how much we've improved throughout the year when we play Oregon at the end of the season.
We'll very likely be closer to competing at that level next season than we were this season.
It's fine for us all to be frustrated by things here and there … notably the fake FG call that isn't explainable. It's frustrating to me to see Fisch not take accountability for it.
But this idea that things need to be blown up because we lost to #1 that so many UW fans have right now … it's really over the top.

UW's offensive and defensive lines are above average — maybe. But they aren't close to good enough to compete with playoff-caliber teams. There are good players, but there is little depth. It's just a fact. UW isn't "there" yet.

 

[Fire_Marshall_Bill]

@Tequilla how do you see the lineplay? I see an echo chamber saying "that's what happens when you get wrecked on both sides of the line" but I thought it was relatively even

The line play definitely held its own and I think we should walk away from the game encouraged but by no means looking at it as a finished product or not in need of further talent improvements.
From an OL standpoint, I thought that they opened some decent creases in the run game. If you take Demond out of the rushing picture (due to the sacks) you're looking at 17 for 89 … I'd take that. The downside to that was that when it got into the red zone and the sledding got tougher they weren't able to rise to the challenge. On one of Jonah's carries Q got beaten badly to the inside blowing up the play. Consistency was a bit of a problem as well … but it wasn't bad.
From a DL perspective, it was clear to me that Ohio State's initial game plan was to try to lean on the run and run it down our throats. That wasn't successful. Getting a key 4th and 1 stop on the 1st drive was the high water mark for the defense … really good to see. The Ohio State run game was largely pedestrian and their longest run came on a 3rd and 16 in the 4th quarter that probably shouldn't have happened (bad play call there IMO). While Ohio State averaged 4.4 yards per carry, my thought is that the favorable run D that we saw through 3 games is more real than not and we should have some confidence that it's going to be hard to just line up and beat us via the run this year.

Their run gayme was effective and gradually wore "us" down. People make fun of Ryan Day, but he keeps winning and it was smart to just play conservative football with a freshman quarterback on the road versus a team that hadn't lost at home in two or three years.

 

[Fire_Marshall_Bill]

I care so much to hear myself talk that I rarely post anymore … only tend to do these types of things for big games or before/after the season
There's a lot to like with what happened Saturday … far more than to be concerned about
It wasn't perfect
There were things to learn from for both players and coaches
Fans of this program need to get rid of the sky is falling mindset … particularly when losing to the #1 team in a competitive fashion

18 point loss isn't competitive

 

[WoolleyDoog]

I'm not willing to doog on the OL again yet, especially after losing Willis. Not being able to run straight up against the Coug the same way they couldn't in 2024 was a quiet red flag which got explained away with "they were just keying on Coleman," but I'm not sure I buy it yet.
The DL can't pass rush to save their lives and I don't think I've seen a blitzing Husky LB not disappear into the LOS other than when we rushed RApp in 2018 out of desperation and got him hurt btw in like 10+ years. I was mildly encouraged by the run defense against Ohio State and #11 looked 100x better than he had looked before. But a million have pointed out Ohio State was just kind of methodically running basic runs a lot and running clock and not necessarily trying to blow them out of the water every play.

 

[Canadawg]

@Canadawg
Define what you mean by saying that "we have the players"
We do have players … there's a really good chance that we can finish as a Top 15-20 team this year whether via the polls, metrics, or all the above. If all goes right we might finish a bit higher.
But I don't think it's really that crazy to say that we don't have the same kind of talent that the #1 team in the nation, defending national champion, and the definition of what a blue blood has.
That's not to say that we shouldn't expect to be able to compete with them … and we did.
That's not to say that we didn't have at least a puncher's chance of winning the game … and we did.
We're closer to competing at that level today than we were last season.
We'll get another chance to show how much we've improved throughout the year when we play Oregon at the end of the season.
We'll very likely be closer to competing at that level next season than we were this season.
It's fine for us all to be frustrated by things here and there … notably the fake FG call that isn't explainable. It's frustrating to me to see Fisch not take accountability for it.
But this idea that things need to be blown up because we lost to #1 that so many UW fans have right now … it's really over the top.

UW's offensive and defensive lines are above average — maybe. But they aren't close to good enough to compete with playoff-caliber teams. There are good players, but there is little depth. It's just a fact. UW isn't "there" yet.

You may be right but people also said that about the oline in 23 that won the best oline in the country award. Hard to evaluate your own team

 

[TheHB]

@Canadawg
Define what you mean by saying that "we have the players"
We do have players … there's a really good chance that we can finish as a Top 15-20 team this year whether via the polls, metrics, or all the above. If all goes right we might finish a bit higher.
But I don't think it's really that crazy to say that we don't have the same kind of talent that the #1 team in the nation, defending national champion, and the definition of what a blue blood has.
That's not to say that we shouldn't expect to be able to compete with them … and we did.
That's not to say that we didn't have at least a puncher's chance of winning the game … and we did.
We're closer to competing at that level today than we were last season.
We'll get another chance to show how much we've improved throughout the year when we play Oregon at the end of the season.
We'll very likely be closer to competing at that level next season than we were this season.
It's fine for us all to be frustrated by things here and there … notably the fake FG call that isn't explainable. It's frustrating to me to see Fisch not take accountability for it.
But this idea that things need to be blown up because we lost to #1 that so many UW fans have right now … it's really over the top.

UW's offensive and defensive lines are above average — maybe. But they aren't close to good enough to compete with playoff-caliber teams. There are good players, but there is little depth. It's just a fact. UW isn't "there" yet.

You may be right but people also said that about the oline in 23 that won the best oline in the country award. Hard to evaluate your own team

I'd trade that OL for this one in a Maryland second.
And yeah, UW is very talented overall. Just not in the places where it needs to be if you are a serious contender. That's on Fisch.

 

[DerekJohnson]

10 consecutive 1 year stops in the NFL says his x’s and 0’s and under pressure play calling weren’t great.

I've been saying almost since day one that something is unsettling with that picture

 

[DerekJohnson]

@Tequilla how do you see the lineplay? I see an echo chamber saying "that's what happens when you get wrecked on both sides of the line" but I thought it was relatively even

The line play definitely held its own and I think we should walk away from the game encouraged but by no means looking at it as a finished product or not in need of further talent improvements.
From an OL standpoint, I thought that they opened some decent creases in the run game. If you take Demond out of the rushing picture (due to the sacks) you're looking at 17 for 89 … I'd take that. The downside to that was that when it got into the red zone and the sledding got tougher they weren't able to rise to the challenge. On one of Jonah's carries Q got beaten badly to the inside blowing up the play. Consistency was a bit of a problem as well … but it wasn't bad.
From a DL perspective, it was clear to me that Ohio State's initial game plan was to try to lean on the run and run it down our throats. That wasn't successful. Getting a key 4th and 1 stop on the 1st drive was the high water mark for the defense … really good to see. The Ohio State run game was largely pedestrian and their longest run came on a 3rd and 16 in the 4th quarter that probably shouldn't have happened (bad play call there IMO). While Ohio State averaged 4.4 yards per carry, my thought is that the favorable run D that we saw through 3 games is more real than not and we should have some confidence that it's going to be hard to just line up and beat us via the run this year.

Their run gayme was effective and gradually wore "us" down. People make fun of Ryan Day, but he keeps winning and it was smart to just play conservative football with a freshman quarterback on the road versus a team that hadn't lost at home in two or three years.

I couldn't have said it better myself Billy