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As I was watching the Navy-Ohio Sate game on Saturday, the first half turned out almost as I had scripted in my mind.
What I didn’t factor was Ohio State letting Navy back in the game in the third quarter, missing the knockout blow in the fourth quarter and almost allowing Navy to sink the 2009 Ohio State Football season in week one.
One of the first questions the media asked Jim Tressel following the Buckeyes 31-27 win was the question that was on my mind as Ohio State escaped with a narrow win, “Have you thought about how this performance projects to the USC game?” Tressel’s answer was what you would think a coach would answer “No!”
I’m sure coach Tressel was being honest. He had too many things going through his mind in trying to preserve a win in the fourth quarter of the Navy game rather then thinking about USC.
As we reflect on what happened Saturday, let’s make sure we keep things in perspective.
Navy runs a unique offense. Unfortunately for OSU, they will not play another opponent that uses this scheme. The uniqueness of the offense almost renders the game film useless as a defensive preparation tool for USC.
Ohio State looked to be in a nickel package defensively for most of the game. From a rushing standpoint, the Buckeyes put their arms around the triple option after the first touchdown drive by Navy. They limited the Midshipmen to 13 plays for 37 yards the remainder of the first half.
The second half, Navy was able to get OSU off balance again when it didn’t look like Ohio State was in position to defend Navy’s quick passing game. Ricky Dobbs was using three step drops and getting the ball out of his hand quickly to neutralize OSU defensive line pressure.
Overall, the Buckeyes did a good job defending. The majority of Navy’s 156-yards passing came on two plays. Marcus Curry caught a 16-yard touchdown and 85-yard touchdown. Both formations were almost identical with Curry in the slot defended by safety Anderson Russell.
Ohio State has to be concerned about that particular formation. They will see that again against USC on Saturday and they will have to do a better job defending the slot and getting help from the safety over top. Jim Heacock has to decide if Russell is the best option as the cover man on that formation.
USC runs a traditional pro-style offense. Believe it or not, I’m sure the Buckeye defense will welcome it. The one-on-one match-ups will render a true depiction of who is winning the matchup in the trenches. The trickery will be gone and it will be Trojan “bigs” against Buckeye “bigs” to see who has the better athletes.
Matt Barkley looked solid in his first start. We can all agree USC offense will offer the Buckeyes a different animal and challenge. Likewise, the Buckeyes defense will look much different to the freshman than San Jose State.
It will definitely be interesting Saturday night in the “Shoe.”
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