Really? He made the right reads and got excellent pressure. He did a hell of a lot more than Dorsey did, it was just a story of different talent levels. Boeckman played HORRIBLY, so don't tell me about Dorsey's sack or any of LSU's sacks. Countless times in the run game, Gholston made the right read and his teammates f#cked it up for him (I'm mainly looking at the OSU linebackers: Grant, Laurinaitis and Freeman) when the play went to his side. Gholston consistently beat his man when pass rushing and made the right reads and cut off the outside to the runningback. One thing I was extremely disappointed about? No hustle. If it was a toss to the other side, he gave up on the play. I've seen plays where the linebacker gets beat and eventually takes down the ball-carrier because the secondary slows him down and the linebacker hustles to the ball. No hustle is a very, very bad thing.
Quack, I agree with everything about your post except for this: Dorsey, as always, was excellent.... He consistently took on two blockers and collapsed the pocket.... I saw him get pushed back off the line twice all game, both times by double teams.... Even on a few outside runs, Dorsey got a surge, and disrupted OSU linemen who were trying to pull out to block, opening the door for the other defenders to make plays on the ballcarrier...
I don't know about consistantly. He did make right reads but was too slow in reacting to them , which is no use at all. Bearing in mind how much OSUs D has been vaunted these last few weeks , I was surprised how lack-lustre the whole D was. I wonder if some of them have one eye on the draft and were looking not to get injured???? Dorsey finished up top tackler , he was solid.
Dorsey got penetration on offensive miscues (OG expects help from center, center doesn't give it and OG leaves a hole to the backfield) and he read plays extremely well. Like you said, on outside runs he moved with the play, preventing the cutback and making pulling blockers think twice about going to the second level without at least chipping him to help the lineman on him. He had lots of help, however. When Dorsey made the right plays, his linebackers finished the job. LSU's defensive ends did an excellent job of containing Boeckman (except on that one scamper he had for a first down which was just deep coverage and the offensive line holding up for once), too. When a unit performs well, everyone in it performs better. Don't get me wrong, Dorsey is by far the best defensive lineman in the country. You simply cannot, however, throw one player under the bus for OSU's horrible performance last night. In case anyone doesn't understand what I'm saying, I'm reiterating my utter disappointment in the OSU linebacking corps and am in no way knocking Glen Dorsey. Additionally, Vernon Gholston rushed from a stand-up position several times last night and did just as well as he does from a 3-point stance, which is a good sign.
