Our Biggest Strengths Against Ohio State is...

What happened to the REAL Troy Smith at the NCG? Where was he? And who was the imposter?? Could it have been that he was playing against a team the likes of which he had no experience playing against?:thumb:

Listen, you can try that on here...but believe it or not, many of us WATCHED the game. Troy Smith didn't just get slow between the UM game and the UF game. He was playing against athletes that were on a different level than he was used to...plain and simple. People like to talk about the "speed of the SEC", but it's not as simple as some make it seem. We aren't talking about the speed at WR, or CB. We're talking about the speed of DE's that can flat out run down a Heisman winning QB from behind like he's standing in wet cement, man.

The Heisman is a joke anyway. Go back and tell me how many of the past 20 Heisman winners amounted to anything in football again.

I'm surprised more people didn't notice that. That was arguably one of the fastest guys on Bama's squad, and Hester ran him down like nothing. I believe Hester is as fast as he needs to be...his speed comes from somewhere other than his feet and legs.

 

we dont have speed on the edges. maybe alem, but hes played so little i dont know how fast he is. jackson and pittman/jean-francois dont run like moss and harvey. the speed of lsu's D only comes from two places--highsmith and jones.

 

He fled the country in fear after taking one look at Jarvis Moss.

Just cause you only have six less Heisman winners than we do doesn't mean you have to get all pissy about it.

 

You answered your own question on this one as far as Heismans are concerned. AnnArborbuck has a point, the Troy Smith that played in the NC game wasn't the one during the season. Some of that can be chalked up to Moss, Harvey, Everritt, etc.; however, don't discount the banquet circuit effect that ALL Heisman winners go through--Smith admitted he didn't watch any film on UF until 3 weeks prior to the game (at the earliest)--he definitely looked lethargic as much as slow. These are not excuses, just facts and TS did not prepare--that's on him (see his ESPN First Take earlier this week)...

 

Wow...only 3 friggin' weeks, huh? 21 days. Man, it all makes sense now.:rolleye33: He had no business on the same stage with McFadden...and even...(excuse me a minute, this is hard to say)...Br...Brady Qu...Brady Quinn. <throws up in mouth a little bit> Congrats on all your Heisman winners, though. We prefer great TEAMS over overrated players, thanks.

 

Fishhead,

Maybe you're right, but by your logic--maybe Quinn didn't show up in NOLA or prepare last year against y'all, and/or McFadden didn't prepare for Wisconsin--neither had strong performances...Look, you can bash Smith all you want as he is accountable for his actions, I don't care. I was/am still frustrated that he and the Bucks last year laid an egg. Hopefully, for us, THIS year's team will play like they did when they were huge underdogs to Miami in 2002....

 

And anyone who WATCHED more than one game last season knew Troy did not win that heisman with his feet. He made very few plays as a runner, and was more of a mobile pocket passer last season. Part of this was by design, part by size (he came back stronger but slower before the 06 season). He was much more of a runner in 04 & 05. By 06, Todd Boeckman was actually faster in the 40 yd dash.

Florida's DEs whipped OSU's tackles last year, no two ways about it. In contrast, the one drive OSU actually let Pittman & the large OL attack that undersized D, they drove down for a score. Ironically, Tressel forced the issue with the pass (to a fault), despite a long history of favoring the run. Lots of strange coaching decisions that day (ie soft zone rather than following the blitz blueprint vs leak).

Ironically, one of the only OSU players that executed well that day, Wilson, might enter this game completely under the radar... having missed almost all of the season with an injury. He entered this season as OSU's best DE, largely due to being a complete player (vs Gholston's tendency to disappear vs run at times).

Speed is generally more about execution than raw speed or god-given "geography"

OSU's defense in 06 was actually "faster" individually than their 05 version (with Hawk, Carpenter, Youboty, Whitner), but their execution & consistency was not in the same zip code.

If OSU had Mike Doss (slow speed) and not Jamario O'Neal (electric athlete) at safety, the defense may have been more aggressive. That is a noticeable difference in this year's secondary (Russell was the starter pre-injury last year), far superior speed & athleticism... but most especially instincts & ball skills.

 

Didn't watch McFadden against Wisconsin...but Quinn suffered from the same affliction that TS did...a real defense. To his credit, his coach pretty much took them out of the Sugar Bowl as well, with his lack of confidence in his team. (going for it on 4th down in our territory, IMHO, gave the impression that it was do or die...desperation...even though it was still early) It was all downhill from there for him/them. If they would have kept running the ball, they would have fared better...they were killing us on the ground.