Driving into work this morning, and then reading some of the blogosphere, there seemed to be an overwhelming consensus about why LSU beat Ohio St. 38-24 in the BCS Title Game last night: The Tigers simply had better athletes than the Buckeyes. "Too fast, too strong, too tough to contain!" is the refrain that I'm hearing over and over again. And while yes, the conventional wisdom is that Big Ten teams simply don't have the elite level of athletes that SEC schools do, I don't think it's that simple.
Getting past our preconceived notions, last night's game was simple, and brought up an equally disturbing trend that I've noticed among Big Ten schools: they simply cannot pass block. A big part of this, I think, goes back to where you come from. While Big Ten schools like Ohio St. might go cross-country to recruit skill players, the meat of their offensive line recruiting comes from the Midwest. And most high school teams in the Midwest are still run-first in nature. Offensive linemen don't work on pass blocking in the Midwest as much as they do in the West Coast or the South, where high school teams have much more balanced offenses. And pass blocking is a technique-based skill, versus run blocking which is much more about physical ability, size and power. You can try to teach pass blocking in college, but if the skills weren't developed in high school, you've got a long way to go.
I'll use my personal observations watching USC play Big Ten teams in the recent Rose Bowls as an example. In last year's Rose Bowl, Michigan's Chad Henne was sacked six times. In the 2004 Rose Bowl, Michigan's John Navarre was sacked nine times. This would kind of lead you to believe that this is just a problem with the Wolverines' offensive line. But in this year's Rose Bowl, Juice Williams was sacked five times by USC. The same "elusive" Juice Williams that was supposed to give USC fits all game. And make no mistake, the Illini has a lot of talent on offense - besides Williams, Rashard Mendenhall is going to be playing on Sundays, and Arrelious Benn was heavily recruited by USC.
But Illinois, like Michigan teams before them, could not cope with a sustained pass rush, and had no idea how to adjust to the variety of blitz packages USC was sending at them. These weren't just sacks, they were "linebackers coming in untouched and crushing the quarterback like an empty beer can" sacks.
Flash forward to last night. Ohio St. had shown early on that they had speed and athleticism at skill positions - witness Beanie Wells blowing past everyone for a 65-yard TD run on their first series. But if your line is getting pushed back play after play, it's going to wear on your line and they are going to start getting killed in the second half. And that's just what happened. They couldn't run, and Boeckman was scrambling for his life. Five sacks of Boeckman and a costly fumble on fourth down later, and that is pretty much that.
Again, it's history repeating - the Buckeyes were sacked five times in last year's BCS Title Game loss to an SEC team (Florida). Say all you will about "coping with speed" or "athletic disadvantages" - the thing that is holding the Big Ten back is their total inability to pass block, plain and simple. Get a Big Ten team down, where they have to pass and the defense can pin their ears back and rush hard? Look out.
5 comments:
Wait, so you're saying that athletes in the south aren't actually faster than athletes in the midwest? This can't be true.
Great observation, that's good stuff there Mr Smartypants.
speaking of history repeating, this is the second time for LSU winning the BCS and many many pepole (at least in states where it's illegal for siblings to marry) are certain that there's a better team out there that they didn't play.
although it's harder to make the case that USC got jobbed out of a spot in the title game this time around.
If by better team they haven't faced you mean Georgia and by harder to make the case they got jobbed you mean impossible to make the case, than you'd be right.
Even the most hardcore of hardcore USC fans has to acknowledge the fact that a loss to The Harbaugh of Stanford sealed their fate and rightfully so.
well, LSU lost to an unranked team at home much later in the season (admittedly not a 41-point dog). the blame for losing to the farm definitely rests within the USC organization for not pulling a QB with a broken throwing hand and letting him throw it away 4 times in a half.
I would say that by bowl time, USC was playing better than LSU, and that the way the system supposedly works, neither team should have been allowed into the title game.
mainly, I'm just sick of hearing about how the SEC is supposedly the toughest conference just because Jim Tressel can't figure out how to coach against them.
Don't put too much stock in the win against those stinking Sun Devils. Their qb is after all the one and only Rudy Carpenter. I hope he breaks his leg in the first spring practice.
Point well taken though. And I couldn't agree more about the supposed superiority of the SEC. Blows my mind that OSU crapped the bed yet again.
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