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Game Thread Akron at tOSU, Sat. Aug. 31, 3:30pm ET, CBS

Henderson averaged 8.1 ypc. Perhaps part of the problem was with Q who could have been a bit more patient on a few of his runs. Like you said, not the end of the world.

Will have to go back to watch, but it felt like Q’s runs were between the tackles more than Trey. Trey’s runs seemed to be designed to be outside where Q was run into the middle a lot more.
 
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Didn't see the OL getting to the second level much (LBs). Could be that I missed on them, but not that great a push. On the other hand, kept Will 'clean' without any sacks, don't believe too many hurries. OK, first time that the QBs black shirt was off, and our all-american OL missing. Surprising that Severeid was tapped to be starter. Thought Hinzman was to be first off bench. Tried to watch our OGs, but cameraman wasn't very cooperative. Guess that's why these body-bag games are played early on. Go Bucks!
 
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Didn't see the OL getting to the second level much (LBs). Could be that I missed on them, but not that great a push. On the other hand, kept Will 'clean' without any sacks, don't believe too many hurries. OK, first time that the QBs black shirt was off, and our all-american OL missing. Surprising that Severeid was tapped to be starter. Thought Hinzman was to be first off bench. Tried to watch our OGs, but cameraman wasn't very cooperative. Guess that's why these body-bag games are played early on. Go Bucks!
I need to go back and watch the game on record at home for a full assessment. But during the game the OL seemed much, much better in pass pro. To the point where I just said throw the ball every down almost. There were a few hurries but Will did a great job of moving away from pressure in the pocket and avoiding a sack. I get the sense that edge pressure will not be a huge issue if the interior holds given Howard's mobility in the pocket (and outside of it really).
 
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I think too when you have a team this good you sort of think teams are just not going to show up.

Akron had a nice plan early and it took 1.5 quarters for our guys to understand that “oh they’re here to play”.

In hindsight I might have been a touch too hard on the OL yesterday. They were missing their best OL after all and it was the first game. I think it was good to have them in late though to work it out.

Really need to put these bottom teams out quick though. Downs playing in the game midway through the 4th vs Akron isn’t ideal at all.

The positives-

The defense was very disruptive. 5 sacks and 10 TFL is a great start and a far cry from last years average.

The defense adjusted fairly quick to the flat routes which was good to see.

I thought Sonny Styles looked very comfortable at LB and wow he looks like he put on a good 20 pounds. Noticeably bigger.

There wasn’t many busts on defense either but both were at the expense of Burke. First one was Burke going for a pick and the second he left his man to come up in run support. Two gains of 20 ish yards though won’t kill us and when they did happen you saw 2-3 buckeyes closing so you knew it wasn’t going far.

On offense- I thought Will Howard looked tremendous. He was accurate, seemed to know where to go with the ball, and he’s as advertised when he’s on the move. Hadn’t multiple drops and obvious if JJ catches that 2nd down and 1 that’s a 60+ yard TD. Could’ve easily been a 20-25 300 yard 4 TD sort of day.

I thought the OL really pass blocked well and when there was pressure Will Howard really showed a great understanding of where it was coming from so he was able to move in the pocket and avoid pressure. Had a few very nice runs which kept us on schedule

I thought the WRs looked great and IMO our best offense would be to have 3-4 WR or 2 backs. I think going multiple TE hurts our approach unless it’s at the goal line.

Brings me to the negatives-

I thought the OL struggled run blocking early but we didn’t really have any big bursts which inflated our numbers either so that 170 yards is a pretty consistent 170. It wasn’t like we ripped off 80 yards with 1 run or something.

I thought the TEs struggled all game too. Both catching but particularly run blocking. I’d like to see more of Will Kacmeric because I thought Therman and especially Scott would like to forget this one. Maybe even Bennett Christian who’s a bigger blocking type would be beneficial.

We really need to find a way to start better though. We had focus issues with drops and penalties early and we got caught out of position on defense a few times early. Not saying you need to start with touchdowns because that’s not realistic. However, just playing clean really would be a big help.

One other thing- is it me or was the special teams playing with purpose again? Multiple times it felt like we could’ve broke one for a score. Then the kicker nails a longer FG too.
 
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Didn't see the OL getting to the second level much (LBs). Could be that I missed on them, but not that great a push. On the other hand, kept Will 'clean' without any sacks, don't believe too many hurries. OK, first time that the QBs black shirt was off, and our all-american OL missing. Surprising that Severeid was tapped to be starter. Thought Hinzman was to be first off bench. Tried to watch our OGs, but cameraman wasn't very cooperative. Guess that's why these body-bag games are played early on. Go Bucks!

I need to go back and watch the game on record at home for a full assessment. But during the game the OL seemed much, much better in pass pro. To the point where I just said throw the ball every down almost. There were a few hurries but Will did a great job of moving away from pressure in the pocket and avoiding a sack. I get the sense that edge pressure will not be a huge issue if the interior holds given Howard's mobility in the pocket (and outside of it really).

This was briefly discussed during the game under the topic of the OL looking bad. Ultimately, it comes down to the play that is called. If it’s an RPO, in college, the OL cannot be more than three yards beyond the LOS. 1-yard in the NFL. There were a lot of RPOs last night where, had the OL been able to get upfield, would have looked very different. But alas… RPO.

While that may be true, I hesitate to suggest that the run plays called for Q that were between the tackles were RPO. In those cases, I think that it speaks to the interior of the OL experience with each other. I suspect that they will get there, but that was the only consistent issue I saw with the OL.
 
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