COLUMBUS — Ten thoughts thinking about Ohio State’s loss to Oregon, without rewatching the game or looking at advanced stats. Here are Doug’s if you missed his.
1. Jeremiah Smith has every right to be pissed off and show it. Frankly, it’s refreshing to see someone show some fire when it’s clearly not coming from the coaching staff. Smith is a great player. I don’t think he was 100 percent comfortable with being a vocal leader when he was deservedly named a captain this offseason, but he’s led by example since day one by not only being the most talented person in the building, but also the hardest worker. He’s like you. He’s fed up with this team’s inability to get out of its own way.
2. I first guessed the Matt Patricia hire mostly because I didn’t think he’d be able to connect with college players. I also had production concerns because he hadn’t coordinated a good defense in a while, and nobody in the NFL seemed very interested in hiring him. But it was mostly about the personality fit. I was wrong on that part. Patricia seems to have fit in well at Ohio State, and the players seem to like him. He’s had more schematic issues than I was anticipating. His inability to understand college spacing, defend up-tempo offenses, and develop effective pressure packages has killed this team.
And, sure, you can say, ‘Well, the talent should be better.’ It should, but Patricia has a hand in that too. Ohio State went out and got the players he wanted. Ryan Day’s performance review of Patricia, as reported by Eleven Warriors in September, included goals such as “assisting with the new structure of college football based on his experience coaching in the NFL” and “assisting position coaches with evaluating recruits that best fit the Buckeyes’ defensive scheme.”
His hands are all over personnel and scheme with this defense, and it’s not good enough.