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- Thread starter ScriptOhio
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Five Things: Buckeyes Escape Bloomington, Hand Indiana First Loss Since December 2024
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
In a stunning development, Ohio State's special teams outperformed the opponent by a pretty wide margin, in a matchup game no less. That's absolutely worth a Thing.Placekicker Connor Hawkins calmly buried a 26-yard field goal to give OSU an early 3-0 lead and later converted a 29-yarder giving the Buckeyes a 13-7 cushion early in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, IU's Nico Radicic doinked a 32-yard try with the Hoosiers leading 7-3 in the second quarter and later didn't have enough leg to connect on a 55-yarder that would've cut OSU's lead to 13-10 late in the third quarter.
Indiana's Billy
In contrast, Ohio State's much-maligned punter, Joe McGuire, popped a 50-yarder to the IU 19, dropped in a 35-yarder to the IU 6 and lifted a 52-yarder to the the IU 22 and after a modest return, still netted 44 yards. Across his five punts, the Hoosiers amassed eight return yards.
On punt return, Phillip Bell took a kick 14 yards from the IU 13 to give the offense some breathing room.
It wasn't a clinic and it wasn't without flaws but for Ohio State's special teams, it was a Herculean effort on a day the Buckeyes needed every hidden yard they could muster.
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And that's the recurring frustration with Day’s program, from the so-called Lunatic Fringe. Broken elements can remain broken for an awfully long time while everyone waits for the original decision to be vindicated. Special teams supplied way too many years of material before Day finally moved on from Parker Fleming and then no coordinator at all.
Then he hired Robby Discher, someone with actual qualifications to run the unit, which should have retired at least one of this column’s recurring grievances. Instead, Saturday supplied another installment. The booming kickoffs and Connor Hawkins’ precision were welcome exceptions, although Hawkins got far too many opportunities to demonstrate his accuracy because the offense becomes a field-goal subscription service whenever it approaches the end zone.
Around those two competent operations, the unit kept finding ways to donate field position. I was notified this week of a new chart builder here at 11W - I’m breaking it in with special teams, whose commitment to supplying fresh data has survived every opponent and the hiring of a qualified supervisor.
Nine procedural flags in eight games. Those are alignment, substitution, false-start and play-clock errors, the sort of work you’d hope a qualified special teams coach could get organized before introducing the complication of an opponent. Ohio State has committed at least one special teams foul every Saturday.
The chart is orderly enough to make this look manageable. To appreciate the full experience, you need this odious inventory crammed into a single sentence, with no television timeout available to collect yourself. Reader, they haven’t played a November game yet.
Then he hired Robby Discher, someone with actual qualifications to run the unit, which should have retired at least one of this column’s recurring grievances. Instead, Saturday supplied another installment. The booming kickoffs and Connor Hawkins’ precision were welcome exceptions, although Hawkins got far too many opportunities to demonstrate his accuracy because the offense becomes a field-goal subscription service whenever it approaches the end zone.
Around those two competent operations, the unit kept finding ways to donate field position. I was notified this week of a new chart builder here at 11W - I’m breaking it in with special teams, whose commitment to supplying fresh data has survived every opponent and the hiring of a qualified supervisor.
Nine procedural flags in eight games. Those are alignment, substitution, false-start and play-clock errors, the sort of work you’d hope a qualified special teams coach could get organized before introducing the complication of an opponent. Ohio State has committed at least one special teams foul every Saturday.
The chart is orderly enough to make this look manageable. To appreciate the full experience, you need this odious inventory crammed into a single sentence, with no television timeout available to collect yourself. Reader, they haven’t played a November game yet.
Five seasons of this. I have abused this space to complain about special teams because the mistakes keep forfeiting margins this program eventually needs, and hiring someone qualified was supposed to make those complaints obsolete. The Indiana win showed what a competent kicking operation can mean in a close game.
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