Yeah man it's a goddamn shit show and I'm not sure what to expect any more.
As you could imagine, the OSU hive mind is in complete and utter meltdown.
The defense is a work in progress as expected with the new DC and it's got the typical problems of a first-year new system where it will look really good for a bit and then have some breakdowns/misses and then adjust and be OK and so on. Like on Saturday they looked completely lost in the first half but then basically managed to stuff South Alabama for most of the second half, but that didn't matter because of the primary problem, which is the complete and utter shit show that the offense is.
And I think that is 100% directly related to the ridiculously stupid way that the QBs have been handled. This "equal" three-man rotation they have been doing has essentially not allowed ANY of the QBs to get into any kind of rhythm, and in fact just about every time one does get into a groove it's time to make way for the next guy because of the "schedule."
They are doing the same thing at the RB position, where (for some reason) our best and most talented RB (Ollie Gordon) got 1 fucking carry in the first half on Saturday and 4 (!!!) for the game. This is a guy who averaged nearly 6 yards per carry in the first two games. He got four motherfucking carries on Saturday.
Honestly, I've been a big Gundy defender over the years but this is the most confounding thing I've ever seen. Like if the QBs are this close to the point that you can't decide then FUCKING FLIP A COIN OR SOMETHING and just go with one of them! For fuck's sake.
There's also the issue that, according to MULTIPLE sources who watched fall/spring practice we spent almost all of our time working in a new run block scheme (adding in a strong helping of gap- vs. they typical inside/outside zone-scheme) and then also running under center. Through three games we've done almost none of that. We've also barely run any play action, RPO and we rarely have any kind of pre-snap motion. It's absolutely bizarre. Like I've never been on the "we save stuff for conference play" train - I tend to think that's an excuse for bad play for the most part - but HOLY HELL... the offense that we are running is the most vanilla of vanilla things I've ever seen ... there are literally high school offenses that do more than we have done in the first 3 games. And I'm not even talking about execution. I'm talking about VERY BASIC things like formations, route concepts, etc. It's all SO FUCKING BASIC and I'm just completely confounded by what I'm seeing.
But alas I'm an OSU fan so I'm used to confounding stomach-punch losses so on to the next one I guess.