centralbucksfan;1562298 wrote:Reps on that. Some people are really clueless. Yes, Braxton didn't play great last nite. But first give credit to Clemson, they had a great plan to contain his running. Second, our Oline didn't exactly protect him real well. He wasn't just bumped around, he was lit up on more than one occasion. But he sucked it up, and stayed in the game and did what he could do considering he was running for his life most of the time. I couldn't believe OSU wouldn't keep a RB in the backfrield to help with protection. I do like Herman as the OC...but I also scratch my head on occasion. But again, when your offense scores 35 pts, you should win the game, period. Our defense consistently put our offense in a situation to HAVE to score to stay in the game. That's a lot of pressure and unrealistic expectations. But again, after this entire season where the OSU offense literally shattered almost every offensive record in OSU history, I can't listen to people rip Braxton or our offense. Anyone with an ounce of common sense, knows where the major issue is. DUH
The D was bad last night, but the O/ ST was a big part of the reason we lost. If Philly Brown catches the punt up 9, we win. Simple as that. Everyone in the stadium could see it. The air was completely taken out of the team when he dropped that punt and they scored. It was over at that point. We were lucky that Clemson tried to Clemson themselves and let us back into the game.
Also, Herman absolutely should be getting way more shit than he is getting. He called WAY too many QB draws and designed Braxton run plays instead of feeding Hyde and doing what was working. We didn't go back to the TE a single time after the long TD pass (and we would have had 2 TD passes to TE if Braxton could throw).
The D was awful, don't get me wrong. THey didn't stop a bubble screen all game long. But I think it's unfair to say the D and D alone lost us the game. It also is IMO ridiculous to say that just because we set records doesn't mean that Braxton shouldn't get shit. We played quite possibly the worst schedule we have EVER played at OSU. We had a dominate O-line and a RB that had he been healthy would have been a heisman contender. We should have put up crazy numbers. We actually put up better numbers when Kenny played than when Braxton played (I understand he played worst teams, I only say so to note that a lot of the good numbers came when Braxton wasn't even in). The fact of the matter is, Braxton is not a good passer. He is an incredible runner and a great all around athlete, but not a great passer. Against teams with slow average defenses we can get away with being athletically superior. Against good D's we need a QB who can read a defense and make the correct throws. Braxton lost to the only two really good teams he played this year. Braxton has never won a bowl game. He just doesn't come to play in big games and even when he does (Wisconsin this year) he just doesn't pass the "look test", he misses throws that a good QB owould make.
He's coming back next year though, so I am going to try to get behind him. I hope he improves, I really do. But if we want a chance of winning it all next year, he's gotta learn to pass instead of just being a good runner, and it remains to be seen if he can do it.