5 weeks ago people were talking about how crowded with Buckeyes the Heisman invite list might be. Now not a single OSU player is in the Vegas top 5. What happened? Zeke has at least maintained the 100 yd game streak and with a few 200+ breakout games could conceivably work his way back into the mix. I'm afraid Cardale & JT are done and Braxton shouldn't ever been mentioned anyway. Was the Natty 'Ship just a case of catching lightning in a bottle? Its starting to smell like it.

Brax never had a shot in hell and the QB rotating killed any chance.

Zeke is still ok, but he needed to pad his stats against scrubs and it just didn't happen.

Right now it's:

Fournette





Everyone else.

Automatik;1754089 wrote:Brax never had a shot in hell and the QB rotating killed any chance.

Zeke is still ok, but he needed to pad his stats against scrubs and it just didn't happen.

Right now it's:

Fournette





Everyone else.

I agree with this. Also, I could see the QB from Ole Miss getting a look as well. I think when Ole Miss and LSU meet up, the winner of that game could have their player turn into a favorite.

Nick Chubb and Trevone Boykin will be in the discussion as well. Maybe Will Fuller too.

After the last 3 games last year, I think everyone expected zeke to keep going for 200+ every game. When he didn't meet those expectations (and the offense looked very average in general) he dropped off the radar.

If Goff keeps it up, he'll also be in the discussion.

Automatik;1754114 wrote:If Goff keeps it up, he'll also be in the discussion.

My thoughts as well. Saw him play in person against the bucks and he was obviously by far their best player.

Reminded me of Barkley his rookie yr at usc smh. Thankfully bucks got a win.

The team simply hasn't performed well. Still the best team in the country hands down.

Automatik;1754089 wrote:Brax never had a shot in hell and the QB rotating killed any chance.

Zeke is still ok, but he needed to pad his stats against scrubs and it just didn't happen.

Right now it's:

Fournette





Everyone else.

This. OP is an idiot for playing the "I heard the media say this, so since it doesn't look like it'll happen, the team isn't gonna win it all!" card.

I mean, anyone with a memory knows the Buckeyes didn't look like a NC contender for a good part of last year, as they mixed strong title-contender performances with mediocre ones before catching fire. As for the Heisman, whenever a team is said to have multiple contenders, they usually seem to not get the trophy due to having too many elite pieces for one to stand out. IMO, that's a big part of the offensive problems -- they have so many weapons that they're trying to be cute and work in stuff for everyone to excel, as opposed to just doing what works best and dominating behind that. That is what is hurting Zeke as far as that goes, he's not getting the touches you'd expect from a Heisman candidate running back.

As for the others, neither Cardale nor J.T. has been consistent to this point and, as said above, Brax never really had a chance. With inconsistent QB play, his reception #s have suffered and it didn't exactly take defenses long to catch on to little things like "if he gets the ball in the backfield, he always is running", which killed that aspect of his game.

An underlying reason is that the OL, while not starting as badly as they did last year, hasn't started anywhere near the level they finished the season. If they pick up their pace and improve throughout the season like they did last year, I think a lot of the offensive issues will go away. That is the most important thing. Since they did last year and 4/5 guys are back, I have faith they will this year.

Fournette will get injured before the season ends. The way he runs makes him extremely vulnerable to a season ending injury similar to AP.

I doubt he wins the Heisman.

The OP isn't high all the time and doesn't veg out watching Sports Center like the dopers we know on here do.

sleeper;1754341 wrote:Fournette will get injured before the season ends. The way he runs makes him extremely vulnerable to a season ending injury similar to AP.

I doubt he wins the Heisman.

...because besides a fluke ACL injury, Peterson hasn't been durable at all...

And the collarbone injury was a result of him being a dumbass.

Azubuike24;1754371 wrote:...because besides a fluke ACL injury, Peterson hasn't been durable at all...

"Fluke"

Yeah Fournette's injury will be a fluke as well. LOL

I mean, fair...but you realize any player could get a fluke injury regardless of how they play..

Heretic;1754335 wrote:This. OP is an idiot for playing the "I heard the media say this, so since it doesn't look like it'll happen, the team isn't gonna win it all!" card.

I mean, anyone with a memory knows the Buckeyes didn't look like a NC contender for a good part of last year, as they mixed strong title-contender performances with mediocre ones before catching fire. As for the Heisman, whenever a team is said to have multiple contenders, they usually seem to not get the trophy due to having too many elite pieces for one to stand out. IMO, that's a big part of the offensive problems -- they have so many weapons that they're trying to be cute and work in stuff for everyone to excel, as opposed to just doing what works best and dominating behind that. That is what is hurting Zeke as far as that goes, he's not getting the touches you'd expect from a Heisman candidate running back.

As for the others, neither Cardale nor J.T. has been consistent to this point and, as said above, Brax never really had a chance. With inconsistent QB play, his reception #s have suffered and it didn't exactly take defenses long to catch on to little things like "if he gets the ball in the backfield, he always is running", which killed that aspect of his game.

An underlying reason is that the OL, while not starting as badly as they did last year, hasn't started anywhere near the level they finished the season. If they pick up their pace and improve throughout the season like they did last year, I think a lot of the offensive issues will go away. That is the most important thing. Since they did last year and 4/5 guys are back, I have faith they will this year.

I don't disagree with anything you said, but Tiernan isn't far off in his post. They have severely underachieved so far this year. Especially on offense.

In the last 3 games last year, Cardale threw for 257 and 3 tds, 243 and 1 td, and 242 and 1 td. Zeke ran for 220 and 2 tds, 230 and 2 tds and 246 and 4 tds. That was against really good competition. We have 4/5 offensive lineman back, and the excuse for starting out slow last year was their inexperience. So what happened to the offense? Was Devin Smith that important?

FatHobbit;1754411 wrote: So what happened to the offense?

Watch the offensive line at the end of last year compared to their recent play.

There is your answer.

Devin Smith wasn't in the trenches making holes. They were destroying opposing D-lines during that hot streak.

Automatik;1754413 wrote:Watch the offensive line at the end of last year compared to their recent play.

There is your answer.

Devin Smith wasn't in the trenches making holes. They were destroying opposing D-lines during that hot streak.

I have to agree with this post. The O-line should be opening up holes in the running game and Cardale should have all day to throw the ball. This is how we beat Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oregon. This year, it seems the O-line effort is lacking at best and is just going threw the motions.

I think the play calling is also to blame. The new OC is trying to be too cute with all the weapons rather than just sticking to the bread and butter of Zeek and more Zeek. Again, the O-line needs to do their job as well.

In the Bama and Oregon game especially, they were just bulldozing up front. Zeke for 10 yards, 8 yards, 16 yards, etc. It looked too easy.

The playcalling has been suspect for sure. It's lessened some, but I'm not a fan of running the read option THAT much with Cardale.

I believe a huge amount of info regarding this team and what to expect the rest of the season will be revealed on Sat. Indy is NOT the usual Indy...they are a very decent offensive football team and servicible defensively. They WILL run the ball until OSU stops it (IF) they can. On the other side (IF) the OSU OL can't control the line of scrimmage against this team it will reveal that it's not a question of will they get better, it's just a matter of time before Sparty blows them up. My fingers are crossed I'm wrong...but when it comes to football I rarely am...my gut says we are in a dogfight for 3 Qtrs and then pull it out 35 - 31.

Tiernan;1754585 wrote:it's just a matter of time before Sparty blows them up.

Deja vu...

It's too bad there isn't a football genius on a message board somewhere who can tell Urban what he's doing wrong so he gets his shit together.

I won't be shocked if we struggle against Indiana offensively because we've struggled against everyone. But right now our defense has been playing pretty well and Indiana's defense may be just what our offense needs to look good for at least one week.

FatHobbit;1754638 wrote:Deja vu...

It's too bad there isn't a football genius on a message board somewhere who can tell Urban what he's doing wrong so he gets his shit together.

I keep wondering when someone from the Athletic Dept. is going to send me some type of stipend for my services last season. Hopefully I won't need to come down so hard on Urbie this year to motivate the entire team. Tomorrow is going to reveal some things - trust me.

Tiernan;1754585 wrote:I believe a huge amount of info regarding this team and what to expect the rest of the season will be revealed on Sat. Indy is NOT the usual Indy...they are a very decent offensive football team and servicible defensively. They WILL run the ball until OSU stops it (IF) they can. On the other side (IF) the OSU OL can't control the line of scrimmage against this team it will reveal that it's not a question of will they get better, it's just a matter of time before Sparty blows them up. My fingers are crossed I'm wrong...but when it comes to football I rarely am...my gut says we are in a dogfight for 3 Qtrs and then pull it out 35 - 31.

Yep pretty much called it

Tiernan;1754948 wrote:Yep pretty much called it

Expect a thread ban soon.