OSU- Better matchup?!

[brcane1]

Having an accurate QB in college is a cheat code because the windows are simply so much bigger. I know the wind was a factor yesterday, but look how many inaccurate passes Reed threw that could have been completions. This is where Taint kills you because you can’t cover their WRs and their QB is deadly accurate. Our chance in this game is by pressing Sayin. If you give him time to throw the ball from clean pockets to JJ and Tate, you’re dead. But we have the best DL they’ve seen all year, so we have a shot.

But no, it’s absolutely not a better matchup because Reed sucks. Sayin doesn’t. I have been saying though I’m very interested to see how our offense plays. I think it’s a better matchup for Beck because he’s not going to be playing in a hurricane with 100k people screaming at him. Taint also doesn’t rush the passer as well as A&M does. I think we’ll have opportunities to throw the ball form clean pockets, in a dome, in a reasonably comfortable environment.

Everyone, myself included, said Beck didn’t need to play his BEST game to beat A&M, he just needed to play clean. And we were right. Clean isn’t good enough to beat Taint. We’re not holding them to 3 points. Beck has to play his best game for us to win. And I think he’ll have a chance to. My biggest concern is can we get open against their DBs? Beck and Dawson, this is your game. We need 20+ to win. 10 ain’t gonna cut it.

Everything Beck wanted from his last season is right there in front of him.

He has to go take it.

 

[Texas Cane]

The only advantage tamu has over taint is the OL. Thats it.

TAMU 3rd down d is better.

 

[Calinative]

Imo defensively this game 100% comes down to our DBs. Ohio St knows what just happened to Sayin against Indiana when they got pressure on him. Sayin has been incredibly efficient this year and is more than able to just do a bunch of quick easy passes all game long. And they have a good run game. They will absolutely see how Louisville drove down the field against us and try to implement that. But we played off coverage way too much that game and allowed them to get everything underneath and it removed our Pass Rush from the game essentially. This game we are going to have to have our DBs all over their WR to take away the short stuff. Which imo means we're going to need our Safeties playing over the top a lot. I want Fitzgerald helping deep ALL GAME LONG. We will also blitz a lot more like we have all season cause Sayin isn't a scramble threat. Shut down the Run, press up on the WRs and Lucas/OJ/OConnor NEED to have their best game. And our safeties need to protect the deep shots.

Offensively Beck has to be on and we have to push the ball 10-20 yards down field far more often. Ohio St won't just get ran on inside all game. Also they saw how successful A&M was with the disguised stunts+Blitz on 3rd down and how panicked Beck got from that. Need to have a gameplan and need to get better than constant 3rd and 6 or further. Keep running pistol with Fletcher. Keep using Toney how we are just with a little more use purely as a decoy AND ACTUALLY USE HIM AS A REAL WR!. The past few games Dawson has only been geeting Toney heavily involved behind LOS basically. Get Trader/moore/marion use on crosser and 10 yard routes....

 

[Brains]

Our kicker has to be perfect in this game. The game is over if we leave any points on the field.

 

[TboneJones]

I see comments about OSU replicating Louisville’s game plan. I feel confident we can replicate Indiana’s game plan versus OSU.

 

[ageezy]

Not saying it will be easy and yeah we might come up short, but disappointing and lame that some canes fans are counting us out already.

almost as if they didn't watch the indiana game

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

So Indiana has a better defense than us? Because Sayin didn’t ball against them.

He completed 72% of his passes for 258 yards. He played well. I don’t think Indiana has a better defense than us, but it’s very good, and I don’t anticipate nearly the same situation. I actually put a decent bit of money on Indiana in that game because I felt taint would have a big let down after the Michigan game. Yes, I know it was for a Big 10 title. I didn’t care, that means a **** of a lot more to Indiana than it does taint. Finally beating Michigan was their “championship”. Anything can happen, but I expect their offense to be way sharper against us. They still moved the ball pretty well, they kicked a FG down deep, they got stopped on the 5 yard line on a sneak, and they missed a chip shot FG. Where I have optimism is Indiana sacked him 5 times. We need to do the same. I don’t expect them to go up and down the field on us by any means, but I’ll be pretty surprised if they don’t score 20 points.

 

[TheShredder]

I think some of y’all are underrating A&M WRs and TEs. Aside from Jeremiah I don’t think OSU has a better receiver unit (I’m including TEs) than A&M. What A&M did to ND in the air was shocking to me. I don’t think OSU with Jeremiah could play better than A&M’s receivers did against ND.

We shut A&M’s receivers down.

Didn't A&M shut our WRs down and Ohio State back 7 is way better than A&Ms. Not to mention they actually are good aganst the run.

Also Tate is going in the 1st round this year at WR

 

[Kn[]_[]ckles3o5]

Having an accurate QB in college is a cheat code because the windows are simply so much bigger. I know the wind was a factor yesterday, but look how many inaccurate passes Reed threw that could have been completions. This is where Taint kills you because you can’t cover their WRs and their QB is deadly accurate. Our chance in this game is by pressing Sayin. If you give him time to throw the ball from clean pockets to JJ and Tate, you’re dead. But we have the best DL they’ve seen all year, so we have a shot.

But no, it’s absolutely not a better matchup because Reed sucks. Sayin doesn’t. I have been saying though I’m very interested to see how our offense plays. I think it’s a better matchup for Beck because he’s not going to be playing in a hurricane with 100k people screaming at him. Taint also doesn’t rush the passer as well as A&M does. I think we’ll have opportunities to throw the ball form clean pockets, in a dome, in a reasonably comfortable environment.

Everyone, myself included, said Beck didn’t need to play his BEST game to beat A&M, he just needed to play clean. And we were right. Clean isn’t good enough to beat Taint. We’re not holding them to 3 points. Beck has to play his best game for us to win. And I think he’ll have a chance to. My biggest concern is can we get open against their DBs? Beck and Dawson, this is your game. We need 20+ to win. 10 ain’t gonna cut it.

Igbinosun plays DB like an octopus. If the refs don't let him get grabby on every snap he will be had.



For the record he still plays the exact same way he just got called on it less this season.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

Igbinosun plays DB like an octopus. If the refs don't let him get grabby on every snap he will be had.



For the record he still plays the exact same way he just got called on it less this season.

I just hope we have the time to throw that we’ll need to take advantage of some of the kids on their back end. I was pretty disappointed at how much pressure A&M was able to get on Beck. However, they did lead the country in sacks and they did have one of the literal best 3rd down defenses in the last 20 years. Yes, that’s a correct stat. So if I’m being optimistic, I’ll say that yeah Taint has a great defense but they don’t rush the passer nor play as well on 3rd down as A&M does.

 

[Scorpioncane]

It’s next to impossible to guard their WRs. If we don’t get pressure on Sayin, we’re in trouble. Our secondary can’t hold up for more than a few seconds. That’s not a slight on them — I don’t think any DB group can.

But if we can get pressure and confuse Sayin pre-snap by changing the picture, he might get rattled and make some costly mistakes.

The offense can’t leave points on the board. We will need to score at least 20 to win this game. They will 100% play man coverage most of the time and add an extra hat into the box to slow down our run game. Beck is going to have to make some big-time throws down the field and our WRs are going to have to win their one-on-ones opportunities against probably the best secondary in the country.

I have a lot of faith in Mario getting our guys motivated and ready to go, though. We thrive in the underdog spot. Win or lose, we will prove we belong in this game. I have a good feeling about that.

Indiana did!

 

[NYCCaneadian]

In a weird way, I see this as a rematch of the 2002 game but the teams have flipped. Ohio State is the team loaded with NFL talent in all groups team, coming off a national championship and favorites to repeat, but Miami now has the clear D-Line advantage to make things uncomfortable for their pocket passing QB and get their offense off rhythm.

Also Ohio State offense in 2002 was run heavily through Clarrett in multiple ways with a decent supporting cast. Now in 2025, we have the star “do it all gadget player” in Toney with a decent underrated supporting cast (not comparing the two players just stating how what we want to do offensively runs through one guy as a similarity)

 

[Genghis Cane]

Indiana did!

They made Sayin uncomfortable, which nullifies their advantage at WR. We have to do the same. That’s the key.

 

[CaneMutiny06]

My biggest concern is can we get open against their DBs? Beck and Dawson, this is your game. We need 20+ to win. 10 ain’t gonna cut it.

Same. Dawson needs to get his head out of his *** and find a way to scheme some open guys. And Beck can’t force it if it’s not there.

But I disagree with the last part. I think 17 points *could* win it. In fact , with how slow both play and the expected low number of possessions, I’m actually a little skeptical either team breaks 20 (depending on turnovers).

 

[Canenok66]

This is pure copium. Ohio State is way way better than Aggie. I actually thought we would beat Aggie pretty convincingly. I would be elated but shocked to win this one. I give the Canes a 15% chance. Even so, I am thrilled with the season.

Not copium at all. Look at the Indiana and Tex game as to why I think our defense matches up better against OSU than AtM. Both defenses gave OSU fits. I think we have a comparable if not better than both. My concern is our offense against their defense and Beck being able to not throw int’s.

 

[UMFarArcher]

I'm curious.

Just how accurate is Jus' Sayin while flat on his asc?

 

[WndyCityCane]

We just won on the road in one of the toughest environments in all of college football.

You think the neutral-field Cotton Bowl will even be close to that hostile?

We are tested - and can win this.

Go Canes!!

 

[supacane]

All 3 of Ohio State most talented opponents rushed for over 100 yards on them. They out rushed Michigan 186 to 100, Indiana 118 to 58 for Ohio, Texas 166 to 77 for Ohio.

Miami top 3 talented opponents, none went over 100. Canes 134 ND 93, Canes 186 UF 80, Canes 175 A&M 89.

They really made their living off beating down the worst of their schedule. Something we need to get better at. But make no mistake this is where the game is.

 

[West Coast Cane]

Same. Dawson needs to get his head out of his *** and find a way to scheme some open guys. And Beck can’t force it if it’s not there.

But I disagree with the last part. I think 17 points *could* win it. In fact , with how slow both play and the expected low number of possessions, I’m actually a little skeptical either team breaks 20 (depending on turnovers).

That sounds like a problem and why they struggle with teams with legit DL and why its way more even than the initial narrative. We said it for years, u can have all the skill, and that matters but its highly ineffective if you have no time to throw and cant run the ball with the RBs.

I am sure Heatherman will have a great game plan.

My two cents are to mix-up coverages with three safeties and one linebacker on second and third down and long.

In this pass coverage we double cover Smith (6'3") with Lucas (6'2") and Fitzgerald (6'0") and Tate (6'2) with OJ (6'0") and Poyser 6'2"). I doubt they do any significant damage if they are double covered even if Sayin has some time to throw. There are very few quarterbacks that want to test Fitz when he is in double coverage.

Scott can definitely shut-down an over-rated Innes by himself.

Thomas should be able to handle their "average" pass catching tight end.

Bissainthe can take their running back.

Our front four should be able to dominate their offensive line. We had seven sacks against the best offensive line in the SEC and one of the three or four best offensive lines in the CFP. We would have had a few more sacks, except that Reed is such a great athlete.

Our defense is getting better as the year progresses. We have 11 days to prepare for them before our third trip to Texas. Ohio State will likely run fewer offensive plays than Texas A&M keeping our front four fresher in the critical fourth quarter.

I like our chances to stop them and to find a way to beat them. Especially, if the refs actually call penalties on a secondary that gets away with a lot of holding and pass interference.