Ohio State should flex some muscle against Utah
The great exclaimer John Madden once knew football’s ferocious fundamentals the way a plumber knows pipes. Coach Madden, and later broadcast-booth Madden, made his money focusing on the down-and-dirty workings of the game.
Not big on finesse, Madden preferred ferocity to the finer points. Wide receivers tiptoeing the sidelines? Bah, Madden wanted games won in the trenches and got excited when linebackers hunted quarterbacks like wolves attacking elk in Yellowstone.
Madden’s enthusiasm for tough-guy football
came through when he channeled the old Batman TV series while diagramming plays during NFL games.
“Look at how his body bounces off those shoulder pads. Pow! See the left tackle drive his man into the ground. Bang.”
Or as Madden put it back in the day, “You got one guy going boom, one guy going whack and one guy not getting in the end zone.”
Madden described his ‘All-madden” team in one of his books: “What does it mean to be ‘All-madden'? It's a whole range of things. For defensive linemen and linebackers, it's about Jack Youngblood playing with a busted leg, Lawrence Taylor wreaking havoc on the offense and Reggie White making the other guy wish he put a little more in the collection plate at church. It's about a guy who's got a dirty uniform, mud on his face and grass in the ear hole of his helmet.”
Good stuff. But then Madden sold out, trading real football for the fake kind provided by EA Sports. Ask anyone under age 35 if they have heard of Madden and the ready answer is “Of course, he's the video game guy.”
I mean no disrespect toward Madden, who proved himself a worthy businessman, or those who love Madden NFL, which is fun and harmless entertainment.
But that's the point. Except for eye strain and potential carpal tunnel syndrome, the video version of real football is harmless. The crushing hits don't hurt. Electronic linemen don't pinch flesh at the bottom of the pile. Digital football is a game of finesse.
Ironic, right? Madden, who made toughness famous, now is best known for putting his name on a football forgery. You can “play” football one minute and fill your tank at the fridge the next.
I mention Madden's video game only because it dawns on me that Ohio State may be moving in the same direction — from a show of force to a world built on football finesse.
Not long ago it would have been unimaginable for any opposing coach to label the Buckeyes as soft, as Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis did after the Wolverines outmuscled OSU last month.
“They're a finesse team, they're not a tough team,” Gattis said, explaining how UM first noticed the Buckeyes' lack of toughness in their 35-28 loss to Oregon in Week 2. “Oregon was the most physical team on the field. That's the way (Ohio State) lost, and we committed to that recipe, and it paid off.”
There are a couple of ways to interpret Gattis' comments, including one that has him painting a picture of Ohio
State as a weakling to damage the Buckeyes' recruiting. But while Gattis may have been working the recruiting angle, clearly the Buckeyes did not “ball out” against Michigan, particularly on both the offensive and defensive lines.
Will that change against Utah in the Rose Bowl? It better if Ohio State expects to win. The Buckeyes' talent won't be enough to trump Utah's toughness. Football remains a game of imposing your will against the opponent.
My hunch is OSU is tired of hearing how it is built on finesse and will show up ready to rock against the Utes. But the Buckeyes also have had only five weeks of basic training to improve their toughness, so it will be interesting to see if a team can flip a switch that quickly.
Doubters have reason to wonder, given that players tend to take their cues from their coach, and Ryan Day is a finesse-first offensive play caller. That doesn't mean the Buckeyes are inherently soft, but Day should be overemphasizing toughness to balance his own tendencies.
Hiring tough-minded defensive coordinator Jim Knowles out of Oklahoma State is a step in the right direction. And, yes, more irony.
Not long ago the Cowboys were soft as warm butter. Now Ohio State hires away their DC to make sure the Buckeyes don't become the Oklahoma State of old.
That's the change that needs to happen when your defense ranks seventh in the Big Ten (fifth against the run; 12th against the pass).
As much as the defense has looked timid at times, the running game is why Ohio State increasingly is viewed as a finesse team. It's not that the Buckeyes can't run; their 5.5-yards-per-attempt average leads the conference. It's more that they don't run. Ohio State ranks 13th in the Big Ten, ahead of only Purdue, with 403 rushing attempts. Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota all are over 520.
Certainly, the numbers are skewed by Ohio State's potent passing game, but since we're addressing toughness more than effectiveness, the saying “You have to run the ball in November in the Big Ten” clearly is not gospel in the OSU game planning.
When a team like Ohio State can — but won't — run, it sends a message, not only to the opposing defense but also to the offensive line, that finesse is favored over force.
It's time that message was returned to sender. Ohio State wins the Rose Bowl if it goes old-school Madden on Utah. Tailback Treveyon Henderson averages 7.0 yards per carry. Give him 2025 carries and get out of the way. The game is played on grass. Time to get down and dirty.