The Grumpy Old Buckeye: OSU vs. Indiana
It’s me, the Grumpy Old Buckeye, writing with the voice of negativity (kind of), even when things are generally pretty great. In this space, I point out the things from each game that make me want to walk out onto my lawn in my bathrobe and yell at people about it. This week we’re talking Ohio State vs. Indiana in a homecoming extravaganza.
Slow Start
Ohio State got off to a slow start the week after the entire world talked about how the Buckeyes got waxed by Iowa last year the weekend after an emotional comeback win. The defense continued to disappoint, giving up plays of 15 and 45 yards on the first series, allowing Indiana to march right down the field and take an early lead. It could have been seven instead of three points on the first drive if not for a couple of penalties on the Hoosiers. The Buckeyes still have no answer for the slant pass on a run-pass option and still can’t take a proper angle to the ball carrier. How is this still an issue in the sixth week? After talking about how last year couldn’t happen again, it seemed for a long time that it could, conceivably, happen again.
Worst Play Call of the Year?
It was third and nine from the Indiana 40 on Ohio State’s first drive and the Buckeyes called a straight run play up the middle. Not only did it have zero chance of picking up the first down, but Mike Weber also coughed up a fumble to give Indiana good field position. A good way to let bad teams hang around is to do stupid things on game day. Did Penn State’s coaching staff hack into the headsets and call that play? It’s not like the Hoosiers had been getting pressure on Dwayne Haskins to that point. A rare poor throw to a wide open K.J. Hill on first down for what would have been a touchdown made the situation that much worse.
Tackling is Hard but Not That Hard
Ohio State continued to help Indiana on the second Hoosier drive. Pete Werner missed a tackle on first down to set up short yardage with two plays to get the first down. On third down, Jonathan Cooper had Stevie Scott behind the chains and missed the tackle to keep Indiana’s drive alive. Missing tackles is another good way to allow an underdog to hang around.
Uncoverage
Malik Harrison and Damon Arnette were both burned deep in the first half, but luckily the ball was overthrown. Then Arnette did it again and gave up a touchdown. Jeffrey Okudah did them one better by getting beat for Indiana’s second touchdown, trying to commit pass interference to prevent the touchdown, and then…failing to prevent the touchdown even while interfering. The secondary is a dumpster fire right now by Ohio State standards. It got better in the second half but only in the not-allowing-30-plus-yarders-every-few-plays kind of way.
Dwayne is Not J.T.
I like J.T. Barrett. Urban Meyer loves J.T. Barrett. Dwayne Haskins is not J.T. Barrett, but there was a determined effort to make him more Barrett-esque in this game, especially during early drives. The quarterback runs on zone read didn’t work and they stalled some drives, wrecking the team’s momentum and, as a result, helping Indiana hang around. Let’s let Dwayne be Dwayne, okay? He seems pretty good at being Dwayne.
The WWE Broke Out
One play before Haskins threw his first interception, the Buckeyes ran one of those idiotic zone read plays. Haskins was stopped for no gain and the whistle blew for forward progress being stopped. Indiana’s defense then pushed Haskins backward a good three yards and body slammed him to the turf. The quarterback’s head snapped back and hit the turf hard on the play. I’m not saying it caused an errant throw on the next play (defensive pressure did that), but it should have been a penalty and a first down for Ohio State. Play is supposed to stop when the whistle blows, which is why forward progress is a thing, but to push a player back several yards and then throw him down after the whistle is unnecessary and easily preventable, and there are rules in the game to protect players from exactly that kind of extra damage.
Entire article:
https://theozone.net/2018/10/the-grumpy-old-buckeye-osu-vs-indiana/
