Re: ESPN: Don't expect AL D line to fall off (and other fiction)

[1]
Posted: Mar 11, 2016, 3:34 PM

Our O did exceptionally well...but that was still an absolutely savage D-line.

Against most people, it'd be stifling. The problem against us was, our offense has become so complete it can beat you decisively in about four different ways (power-run game, read-option QB run game, short-passing game, long-passing game!). Which means there's just no way to line up on D and just erase it all, especially as complete as our offensive line is becoming.

The NFL draft may confuse, but it seldom outright lies, and that Alabama DL was basically 1st-rounders all the way across. That we beat it as decisively as we did is more about how good our O was, than how good that DL wasn't.

People noticed. It's a good part of the reason we're going to open the season at #1 or very close to it; I'm not sure anyone sees anybody slowing our offense down much next year.

Handling that hype - and staying humble - is probably going to be a bigger issue than tuning out the negative talk this time around. Ohio State struggled under the weight of being the prohibitive favorite for most of the year, had a bunch of so-so games and one really bad against Michigan State, and that was it for their title run. Hopefully we will fare better this year.

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ESPN: Don't expect AL D line to fall off (and other fiction)

Re: ESPN: Don't expect AL D line to fall off (and other fiction)

I think losing Herman hurt OSU the most