Arkansas State Recap
1. First, an administrative point: If you get into a fight with a Moderator and say "Ban me", then guess what? You're gonna get banned. We've got better things to do with our time than to fight with fellow posters, especially on game day. So don't make us call your bluff - we will do it.
2. That "hard fought" victory over "top five" Notre Dame doesn't look quite so good in retrospect, now that the Domers have fallen to lowly Marshall in Week 2. It's still early, but right now Notre Dame looks like they will struggle to become bowl eligible.
3. Now on to the Arkansas State game. While the Red Wolves were far from a quality opponent, neither were they the typical early season pushover. Arkansas State has 22 players who transferred in from Power5 schools, 8 of whom are starters, including quarterback James Blackmon (Florida State; 188 yards passing); wide receiver Champ Flemings (Oregon State; 125 all-purpose yards); safety Eddie Smith (Alabama, Illinois; team-high 6 tackles); and linebacker Kivon Bennett (Tennessee; 4 tackles, TFL). Of course there's a reason why players transfer from Power5 to Sun Belt, and that reason is usually lack of talent, but the bench warmers at Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida State were all highly-touted recruits at one time, they are used to big game atmospheres and top-25 competition, and given the opportunity to see the field they can make a few plays against anybody.
4. Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud had a borderline great game (16/24, 351 yards, 4 TDs), but probably not quite the Heisman-level performance that most people were expecting. Stroud seemed a little bit out of rhythm at times, but he also made some truly amazing throws that displayed excellent arm strength and pinpoint accuracy.
5. Marvin Harrison Jr. had an all-time great performance, with 7 receptions for 184 yards (11th best in Buckeye history) and 3 touchdowns. All of Harrison's touchdowns were of at least 30 yards (30, 42, 42), and he became just the fourth Buckeye to accomplish that feat, joining Terry Glenn (1995 Pittsburgh; receptions of 36, 61, 75); Devin Smith (2014 Wisconsin; receptions of 39, 42, 44); and Jaxon Smith-Njigba (2022 Utah; receptions of 30, 50, 52). Emeka Egbuka added 4 receptions for 118 yards (including a 51-yard touchdown), and he also gained 27 yards on a jet sweep.
6. The running game accounted for 168 yards on 26 carries (6.5 average), but the numbers were skewed somewhat by four long runs (23, 25, 27, and 41 yards). The Buckeyes had seven rushing plays that went for negative yards, and seven other rushing plays that went for 3 yards or less. TreVeyon Henderson led the way with 10 carries for 87 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
7. The starting offense seemed disjointed in general. On the one hand, they had ten "chunk" plays (25, 27, 30, 35, 41, 42, 42, 44, 45, and 51 yards) and four quick-strike drives: 2 plays, 59 yards, 0:42 TOP; 3 plays, 75 yards; 0:58 TOP; 3 plays, 75 yards; 1:20 TOP; and 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:33 TOP. On the other hand, they had four 3-and-out drives that netted a combined total of -2 yards.
8. The defense was a little bendy but they didn't quite break. Arkansas State mounted four fairly impressive scoring drives (10 plays, 43 yards; 5 plays, 50 yards; 11 plays, 56 yards; 14 plays, 58 yards), each of which ended in a field goal. The defense gave up only two long plays (receptions of 25 and 58 yards); held the Red Wolves to 6 of 22 (27.3%) on 3rd and 4th downs; and forced 12 TFLs (2 of which were sacks). Defensive tackles Michael Hall Jr. (3 TFL, sack) and Tyleik Williams (1.5 TFL) were disruptive forces in the middle of the defense.
9. The biggest negative in the game were the penalties (9 for 85 yards). For the season, the Buckeyes have committed 16 penalties for 160 yards - not good.