Army 2-1

We came in knowing that Ohio State would be a tough test for Army. I was really hoping that both teams would be tested in this one, but Ohio State really put the screws to Army. OSU opened the game with two perfect touchdown drives where they didn't even get to 3rd down on either drive. Then, after the half, the Buckeyes had two back breaking drives of 2 plays (74 yards) and 4 plays (64 yards) that put the game out of reach.


Personally, I love Andy Davidson's mentality... he rips off a 35 yard run and he's still pissed off he didn't run it out of the stadium. I didn't love his missed assignments though. Obviously #40 can be a playmaker, but I caught more than a couple of times where his missed block ended up breaking the play instead of making the play. Granted when your opponent is Ohio State it's not easy to read the play out at speed - let alone put a block on your man (especially when you haven't gotten a lot of game day reps). It's a strange conundrum. If a traditional passing QB gets into this kind of funk I would say bench him. Seeing the little bit that I've seen this year of Andy Davidson's attitude as a competitor, I think more That's not a knock on anyone else trying to crack the 2-deep, just saying that Davidson can be an asset with the football and I think he has the right attitude to make the right plays both with the ball and blocking out in front of the football. Against the Buckeyes he struck out when he was called on to block in space. And it definitely was not just Andy, there were plays where two men downfield completely missed their man - and those defenders then advanced to the edge to make the tackle. Davidson is a guy I want to see on the field for meaningful snaps, and until Saturday I was kind of scratching my head as to why he wasn't on the field more through the first two games. It seemed to me that #40 saw plenty of important snaps in Columbus and I'm glad he's finding his way back into the mix.


OSU is so big and fast. Ohio State did what they wanted to do in the early stages. Even when they punted they pinned Army in deep. For Army to score there and make it a game says a lot about the capability of the offense despite being seriously overmatched.
Ohio State tore Army's defense apart pretty much all game with the quick WR screen. Those spots where Ohio State got Army into a one on one situation quite often ended up being a broken tackle and a long OSU gain. Army did a decent job mixing up coverage in the first half and they were still outplayed. The whole game was an aggravating slow death of run pass option, inside zone run, WR screen and plays to the wing.


I really can't stand Greg Schiano or his defense. In my life I gave watched a fair enough amount of football each fall, why is it that I never seem to catch defenses lining up offsides on any sort of consistent basis. I only notice that happening consistently when Greg Schiano is coaching a defense. I get trying to get every conceivable advantage in every phase of the game - but it's called a 'neutral zone' for a reason. It's not a "Rutgers helmet zone". It's not an "Ohio State place your hand here zone". Neutral zone. Every game, on every play. With that said, I thought the refs were more than fair to Army. I had a problem with the illegal block below the waist call, but at that point it was 31-7 and the game was very much out of Army's control.


Here's the Ohio State/Army story, stats, highlights and replay.