I can sit here and diagnose and guess all I want why..... but the team just didn't come out on all cylinders emotionally. If you watched the body language there was more urgency in their play in the second half.
Frank Solich saw something on film and had KU off balanced on defense. If you go back and look at some of the big quarterback runs it was bad play by the DE on contain on the edge. Ohio rushed for 250 yards last week so the KU defense should have been prepared for the run game.
The week before some of Rhode Island's best plays came when they got to edge and the DE didn't contain. Ohio ran 90-plus plays and KU's DE only had a total of six tackles. The interior had 12 tackles.
That squarely falls on the coaching staff as well as the players who at some point have to make a play. It seems like the adjustments take a while to make. Maybe the players are being told what to change and aren't adjusting.
Through the first quarter and the first three minutes of the second quarter Windham had 111 yards rushing. After that they started to clamp down on him but it was almost too little, too late. Again this goes back in the end on coaching.
Two things on the positive side I saw on defense:
As much as they were on the field they kept plugging away. They were put in several bad positions through much of the day. In the last 10 Ohio possessions from the early second quarter on KU only gave up field goals. Ohio took over three possessions inside the KU 29 yard line or better three times.
Daniel Wise was really good. Eight tackles and four for a loss from a DT position is solid. Now you wonder if teams will look at doubling him.
Like the defense it took the offense a while to adjust and maybe even longer. I thought it was interesting Cozart said in the post-game the receivers said at half they felt they could blow by the Ohio secondary so they adjusted.
Cozart didn't play bad. He wasn't great. But he was good enough that Beaty stayed with him. He threw two TD and no picks.
"Ryan knows the things that he's got to get better at, and so does Montell. Montell, we had planned for the second half to put Ryan in on that third series, but we came out and Montell had a hot hand," Beaty said. "He was going pretty good. We scored back-to-back drives, and the thing that I really was proud of those guys on, particularly Ryan, he kept his demeanor good. He kept everything about him really, really good. Now, he's a competitor. He wants to play. He wants to play."
Just my thoughts during the game I thought basically Beaty was making the decision Cozart is his guy right now. Willis only threw five passes.
The biggest impact for the offense right now is the OL. They went with the same starting five. That's a right tackle who just showed up in late June, two walk-ons, a converted guard from right tackle to left tackle in Banks, and Rhodes a juco transfer.
The only other two OL I believe who got snaps were Bragg and Hughes. Last year Hughes and McCauley started several games and played a lot. Hughes is a back-up and McCauley hasn't seen action yet. Jordan Shelley-Smith is still out. This area is my biggest concern right now on the team.
I thought McCauley and Hughes after getting experience and adding the weight they did would be seasoned for a better sophomore year. But they obviously have been beat out.
When you look at Ohio they have one redshirt sophomore in their two deep on the OL. Yenser has one senior in his current two deep if you take Shelley-Smith out who is injured. At some point the the guys will have to grow up but it might be year two for growing pains as some of the guys get their first college action up front.
I thought the OL pass protected well. But they never got in a groove running the ball. First off they only handed the ball off eight times.
I don't think anyone expected to see the OL be great. But you hoped some of the experience from last year would pay off. And it still might. I thought Adeniji did well in pass pro. But he's 270 pounds dripping wet.
There was also some negative things.... like when Fish got the personal foul face mask. KU had just stopped Ohio on third down it was 22-0. KU blitzed Windham and Dineen hit him hard. The ball was thrown wild. There was no reason for a face mask. Just didn't expect that come from Fish.
Then Sims gets the celebration penalty after a score. You don't celebrate down 28-7. Gonzalez two punts he dropped were big. Moos only averaged 32 yards a punt. I know many were in the wind. You have to wonder if Thompson gets a crack at it.
Ohio was coming off a loss and was ready to play. KU was coming off a win and they were sluggish to start. Maybe Beaty can light a fire under them and have them ready to go for Memphis. You also wonder if getting a win can effect how a team handles it. Last week there were a lot of positive vibes and everyone felt good. You also wonder if they knew how to handle a week with a win. It was their first one in quite a while.
So hopefully that ignites them to get back to work.
I watched some of the early clips of Memphis. They have some athletes but they aren't the same team as last year. Again I don't see any reason Memphis should dominate KU.
My last thought is sitting around watching TCU and Texas Tech I saw mobile quarterbacks to a lot of things with their feet. Both of those teams run air raid offenses. They just look different and one thing that stands out is QBs who can do things with their feet. That added element makes a defense prepare extra. I felt Ohio was pinning their ears and jamming the run game. They never feared the QB. I don't know if that's part of the package or not. I'm not questioning the strategy I'm just saying Cozart and Willis aren't true runners.
I think they can get out of pressure and Willis is a better athlete than he gets credit for. But sitting back with the young, inexperienced OL with guys at new positions it gets difficult to play straight-up football.
Frank Solich saw something on film and had KU off balanced on defense. If you go back and look at some of the big quarterback runs it was bad play by the DE on contain on the edge. Ohio rushed for 250 yards last week so the KU defense should have been prepared for the run game.
The week before some of Rhode Island's best plays came when they got to edge and the DE didn't contain. Ohio ran 90-plus plays and KU's DE only had a total of six tackles. The interior had 12 tackles.
That squarely falls on the coaching staff as well as the players who at some point have to make a play. It seems like the adjustments take a while to make. Maybe the players are being told what to change and aren't adjusting.
Through the first quarter and the first three minutes of the second quarter Windham had 111 yards rushing. After that they started to clamp down on him but it was almost too little, too late. Again this goes back in the end on coaching.
Two things on the positive side I saw on defense:
As much as they were on the field they kept plugging away. They were put in several bad positions through much of the day. In the last 10 Ohio possessions from the early second quarter on KU only gave up field goals. Ohio took over three possessions inside the KU 29 yard line or better three times.
Daniel Wise was really good. Eight tackles and four for a loss from a DT position is solid. Now you wonder if teams will look at doubling him.
Like the defense it took the offense a while to adjust and maybe even longer. I thought it was interesting Cozart said in the post-game the receivers said at half they felt they could blow by the Ohio secondary so they adjusted.
Cozart didn't play bad. He wasn't great. But he was good enough that Beaty stayed with him. He threw two TD and no picks.
"Ryan knows the things that he's got to get better at, and so does Montell. Montell, we had planned for the second half to put Ryan in on that third series, but we came out and Montell had a hot hand," Beaty said. "He was going pretty good. We scored back-to-back drives, and the thing that I really was proud of those guys on, particularly Ryan, he kept his demeanor good. He kept everything about him really, really good. Now, he's a competitor. He wants to play. He wants to play."
Just my thoughts during the game I thought basically Beaty was making the decision Cozart is his guy right now. Willis only threw five passes.
The biggest impact for the offense right now is the OL. They went with the same starting five. That's a right tackle who just showed up in late June, two walk-ons, a converted guard from right tackle to left tackle in Banks, and Rhodes a juco transfer.
The only other two OL I believe who got snaps were Bragg and Hughes. Last year Hughes and McCauley started several games and played a lot. Hughes is a back-up and McCauley hasn't seen action yet. Jordan Shelley-Smith is still out. This area is my biggest concern right now on the team.
I thought McCauley and Hughes after getting experience and adding the weight they did would be seasoned for a better sophomore year. But they obviously have been beat out.
When you look at Ohio they have one redshirt sophomore in their two deep on the OL. Yenser has one senior in his current two deep if you take Shelley-Smith out who is injured. At some point the the guys will have to grow up but it might be year two for growing pains as some of the guys get their first college action up front.
I thought the OL pass protected well. But they never got in a groove running the ball. First off they only handed the ball off eight times.
I don't think anyone expected to see the OL be great. But you hoped some of the experience from last year would pay off. And it still might. I thought Adeniji did well in pass pro. But he's 270 pounds dripping wet.
There was also some negative things.... like when Fish got the personal foul face mask. KU had just stopped Ohio on third down it was 22-0. KU blitzed Windham and Dineen hit him hard. The ball was thrown wild. There was no reason for a face mask. Just didn't expect that come from Fish.
Then Sims gets the celebration penalty after a score. You don't celebrate down 28-7. Gonzalez two punts he dropped were big. Moos only averaged 32 yards a punt. I know many were in the wind. You have to wonder if Thompson gets a crack at it.
Ohio was coming off a loss and was ready to play. KU was coming off a win and they were sluggish to start. Maybe Beaty can light a fire under them and have them ready to go for Memphis. You also wonder if getting a win can effect how a team handles it. Last week there were a lot of positive vibes and everyone felt good. You also wonder if they knew how to handle a week with a win. It was their first one in quite a while.
So hopefully that ignites them to get back to work.
I watched some of the early clips of Memphis. They have some athletes but they aren't the same team as last year. Again I don't see any reason Memphis should dominate KU.
My last thought is sitting around watching TCU and Texas Tech I saw mobile quarterbacks to a lot of things with their feet. Both of those teams run air raid offenses. They just look different and one thing that stands out is QBs who can do things with their feet. That added element makes a defense prepare extra. I felt Ohio was pinning their ears and jamming the run game. They never feared the QB. I don't know if that's part of the package or not. I'm not questioning the strategy I'm just saying Cozart and Willis aren't true runners.
I think they can get out of pressure and Willis is a better athlete than he gets credit for. But sitting back with the young, inexperienced OL with guys at new positions it gets difficult to play straight-up football.
