What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder — The Nebraska Week Edition

I know that Cody Simon surprised me a bit when he admitted the pass rush had gotten stagnant. He was asked what the defense needs to do in order to get after the quarterback better. Here’s his quote: “Just change up looks a lot. I mean, I think sometimes we kind of got into a stagnant phase on defense.” That feels very much like getting into a routine and turning it into a rut. You’re supposed to go through the motions in a Friday walk-through, not a Saturday afternoon in a packed stadium.

I think this falls right in line with what I posted earlier in the week about being told that opposing offensive tackles mainly just have to worry about an outside rush. You can see the defensive ends being carried behind the quarterback multiple times against Oregon.

I wonder how much new stuff you need to bring out for a true freshman quarterback like Dylan Raiola. There’s an interesting balance between Ryan Day demanding changes and saving the bulk of those changes for Penn State.

I know that Zen Michalski is the smoothest potential path forward right now for the Ohio State offensive line. He’s played left tackle and he practices left tackle. It’s not a new position or a new side of the field. He doesn’t have to rework his pass sets to fit the proper footwork as a right tackle or right guard would.

I think Zen Michalski has been able to tread water in his time as a Buckeye, but now in year four, he’s gonna have to swim. They’ll stick with him as long as he doesn’t become an anchor.

I wonder if anybody realizes that Jeremiah Smith has now gone 12 days without scoring a touchdown. It is the second-longest scoring drought of his career! Is this what the freshman wall looks like for him? He’s probably not gonna score tomorrow either.

To read the rest of this edition of What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder, you can click here, but you’ll need to be a premium subscriber. Additional topics include more on the pass rushing, how much of a defensive change will we see right away, who is going to step up to replace Lathan Ransom, how long does “day to day” actually mean, more on the left tackle situation, Denzel Burke getting back to basics, Will Howard’s groundhog day, assistant coaches not allowed to have egos, and much more.