I think Irons looked great....but where do you see the 10-15 carries coming from?
OUlette looked good
Papi looked good
Daz looked good

Fact of the matter is that we have too many good Rbs...maybe we should trade one for some prospects

All of our RBs looked promising last night. Papi White can catch passes - he looked electric. Sort of a scatback type like Daz. But our O-Line isn't getting enough credit. They are going to be very good this season. And there's depth there because of injuries to starters the past couple of seasons.

Last night the playcalling seemed much more creative than last season, probably since our passing game was able to dominate right off the bat. I'm looking forward to utilizing the stable (love this term) of RBs.

L.C., I guess I should have said on a real good night in my prime I could have scored on that play. The hole between those two O-line guys was much wider than I have ever been:)

Everyone have a great weekend. If your in cincy, take in the fireworks!

Based on last year and last night...we are. And with four solid ones we should run more two back sets. 😉

Hehe. Well, I never have been wide, but I didn't have the speed, which was why I played line. Speaking of the line, I was watching some of the highlights, and breaking down the blocking, etc.

On AJ's nice run, the blocking was excellent. The left side of the line blocked down, and let the DE crash where he got mowed down by a pulling Wood. Heitzman led the blocking outside of Lucas-McQueen, and took out the OLB on that side, and AJ cut inside. There were four DB's with a shot at stopping the TD. Cope and Reid each took out one, and an official took out a third one. Smith wasn't able to block his man, and that was the only guy able to get between AJ and the endzone. The play was very well executed all the way around, but the gain probably should have been somewhat less. Their #1 should have made the tackle about 10 yards earlier, but ran right into the official.

On Irons' run, it was well blocked by the left side of the line, and as you said, there was a hole between Lucas and McQueen. Behind them should have been the CB, #1. Brunis didn't even attempt to block him, but went inside and cut down a Safety. Never noticing that it wasn't a pass play, #1 was trying to cover Brunis man on man, and chased Brunis all the way to the Safety, by which time it was far, far too late for #1 to even wave at Irons. It was blocked well, but it would have been a nice 7-8 yard gain if #1 had been paying attention.

On the drive with Patterson running, the Idaho defense just looked tired, and of course, Daz had fresh legs. The offensive line was consistently moving the tired defensive line back, and the DBs were slow to fill, and when they did get to Daz, Daz was knocking them back. Maybe they thought he was still 177, like the announcers did, but he was consistently making yards after contact.

Now, looking at their highlighted runs, first the one-yard run. Ohio was overshifted to the left side, inviting them to run right, which they did. Porter and Tautuaiki tied up the middle, but because of the overshift only Blair Brown and Kylan Nelson were in position to make the play. Blair crashed inside was was blocked. Kylan made the tackle, but couldn't keep the big back out of the endzone. There were no major breakdowns, just a play that gave up 3 yards when they could only afford to give up 1. I give credit to Idaho for executing.

On their other highlighted run, a 5 yard run by Penny from the 6, Idaho caught Ohio in a blitz by Daugherty. Purdum and Tautuaiki stuffed the Idaho line, but couldn't tackle Penny, who was able to spin off the pile, and run outside, into the space vacated by Daugherty. Nelson took the wrong angle, and missed the tackle, which ultimately was made by Poling and Layton when Penny was slowed down by one of his teammates.

On the whole, in looking at these highlights I see mostly good things by Ohio, even on the Idaho highlights. There are certainly things to work on, but I'm feeling right now like this season is off to a good start, and that there is a lot of good football ahead.

I think Papi White looks more like he should be lined up at reciever for some quick slant or screen passes, Daz can return kicks and punts and pick up a few carries, and Ouellette should be our workhorse. There was no way that was enough to see if Irons is good. Anyone could have scored on his TD run with that blocking and we know AJ is a capable pass protector and has good hands. No idea if Irons can do either.

Question. You are the Marshall DC. After film study, do you load the box, play cover or what? Monroe?

Agree that the sample size is too small on Irons. Only one way to find out.

If I'm stupd cow, I concentrate on stopping the run. That's almost always the first principle. Plus we haven't shown that we consistently have the qb'ing and passing game to make that a must-stop.

Show me that our passing game can fairly regularly hit when guys aren't wide open and on gotta-have-it long yardage situations and I'll gain confidence that we can MACC.

Sorry coaches,

I now see why Irons was only used at the end of the game. He needs 2-3 consecutive series to see what he can do.

I agree, Bcat2. I know that my knowledge of the Xs and Os of football is quite limited. That doesn't mean that in the heat of passion I won't sometimes criticize a particular play or formation. I still think it would be good to go under center for 3rd (and 4th) and short situations. I also think we should have gone for the tie and OT at Marshall a few years ago instead of the failed two-point conversion. I said so to my wife and others in the stands before the failed attempt. But, in the grand scheme of things I realize that Frank & Company know a lot more about this game than I do and give them due deference.

Slightly, L.C.? I'm pretty sure I'm close when I observe that 2-pt attempts succeed only about a third. Every time I see a coach go for two when a tie would send the game to OT, I'm silently screaming, "Coach, give your kids who've just rallied the best chance of winning. That's OT!"

These numbers are consistent with what I thought, which is that it's about a 45% chance. That's what I was thinking when I said that the numbers slightly favored going for the tie, but that they were close enough that a coach's decision either way could be defended.

I think Mike is right, too. I think that the odds a decade or two ago were closer to 1/3. The rules changes over the years have universally been in favor of more offense, and I suspect that if you looked at the success rate by year, you'd find that the success rate on 2-point conversions has been steadily rising.