Michael Smith
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Ohio State Finally looks like the best Football Team in the Country
Michael Smith via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Hello everyone and welcome to my full review of Ohio State’s trip to New Jersey to take on Rutgers.
Last night J.T. Barrett made his 1st start of the year on the road against Rutgers. And what a start it was. This is how Ohio State was suppose to look all year. I wanted to split this up into 2 sections, what I liked and what I didn’t. The problem is there is so little I didn’t like, that section would be too small. Now there was 1 thing I really didn’t like and I’ll get to that later.
First, lets start on the good. Well there was a lot of good. J.T. Barrett looked like we all thought he would — the offense looked like we all thought it would. You really have to wonder why it took so long to make Barrett the starter. J.T. threw for 223 yards, ran for 101 yards and scored 5 total touchdowns as Ohio State crushed Rutgers 49-7 in front of a national TV audience. Zeke Elliot added 142 yards rushing and 2 TDs including a 55 yard TD run late in the game where I pretty sure the closest person to touching him was me clear in Ohio.
After a slow start in the 1st quarter, which did include a fumble in the red zone, Ohio State just dominated the rest of the game. Rutgers never had a chance.
Ohio State ended up with 528 yards of total offense compared to only 293 for Rutgers, and 90 of those were on Rutgers last drive, which I’ll get to later. Ohio State also had no penalties, when’s the last time that happened. Ohio State dominated in every category you can think of. Ohio State had a 27-12 advantage in 1st downs, also won the time of possession battle 32:40 to 27:20.
As great as the offense looked, the much talked about defense played their best game of the year. Rutgers offense is good. They put up 55 on Indiana the week before. Rutgers had no answer though for Joey Bosa, Darron Lee and the rest of the silver bullets. Who held Rutgers under 200 yards of total offense for much of the game.
There were plenty of highlights on both sides of the ball. Braxton Miller continues every week to show the entire country what an incredible athlete he is with a insane 45 yards catch in the 2nd quarter. Another highlight was Michael Thomas’s 50 yard TD catch where he hit the X button and made not 1, not 2, but 3 Rutgers defenders look silly and raced into the end zone. With the game no longer in doubt, Zeke gave Ohio State fans a parting thrill when he took the hand off and ran 55 yards untouched to the endzone to give him over 100 yards for the 13th straight game.
It was the best game Ohio State has played since Virginia Tech and probably the most complete victory Ohio State has had all year. Now with a bye week to get recharged and healthy, Ohio State will look to the month of November where it won’t be easy. Ohio State starts with Minnesota at home, then must travel to the wind tunnel also known as Champaign, IL. After that its that state up north. We get both back to back, first Michigan State on Nov 21 then we travel to TTUN on Nov 28th.
Now lets talk about what I didn’t like.
First, our defense to start games. As good as the defense was last night, they did give up a long drive to start the game, just like they did vs Penn St a week ago. Lucky for Ohio State, Kyle Federico missed a 29 yard chip shot. Ohio State’s defense must get better at the start of games. I can’t tell you if Ohio State has ever gotten a 3 and out or a quick punt on the other team’s first possession this season.
Now I’m going to talk about Rutgers last possession. Let me say first, I understand Ohio State and Rutgers had back ups in the game. They want to play too, they want to show what they can do. That being said, down 49-0 and Rutgers is throwing deep? Are you kidding me? Then with 18 seconds left, still down 49-0, you’re taking time outs just so you can score? Classless, in my opinion. I can understand the other side on that, but that just rubbed me the wrong way.
Now let’s go around College football and I’ll give you some quick thoughts about some other games that caught my eye.
Florida State 16 Georgia Tech 22. Holy cow, did you see the end of this game? First, Florida State was a huge favorite in this game. Georgia Tech had lost 5 straight games coming into this game. However, GT always gives FSU fits and always gives them a good game. This was no different, but the ending, wow, what an ending. Another kick 6! FSU lining up for a game winning FG, but its blocked and returned 78 yards for a touchdown with no time on the clock. What a game.
Utah 24 USC 42. Wow, Utah got destroyed in this game. All week long people were wondering why USC was favored. USC was 3-3 and Utah was ranked #3 and undefeated. Well, someone knew something. USC dominated this game from the word go.
Michigan St 52 Indiana 26. The final score of this game doesn’t do it justice. Indiana’s defense just quit late in the 4th quarter and Michigan St was all too happy to keep scoring. This game was 28-26 with Indiana driving at one point. In fact, if Indiana’s field goal kicker had made all of his kick, Indiana would’ve been winning 31-28 in the 4th quarter. Sorry, I’m just upset cause I had Indiana and the points.
Last but certainly not least I’d like to send out my thoughts and prayers to Oklahoma State and all the families who are effected by that horrible tragedy yesterday. I do hope everyone who was injured recover and my deepest condolences to the families who had love ones pass.
The post Ohio State Finally looks like the best Football Team in the Country appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...
Michael Smith via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Hello everyone and welcome to my full review of Ohio State’s trip to New Jersey to take on Rutgers.
Last night J.T. Barrett made his 1st start of the year on the road against Rutgers. And what a start it was. This is how Ohio State was suppose to look all year. I wanted to split this up into 2 sections, what I liked and what I didn’t. The problem is there is so little I didn’t like, that section would be too small. Now there was 1 thing I really didn’t like and I’ll get to that later.
First, lets start on the good. Well there was a lot of good. J.T. Barrett looked like we all thought he would — the offense looked like we all thought it would. You really have to wonder why it took so long to make Barrett the starter. J.T. threw for 223 yards, ran for 101 yards and scored 5 total touchdowns as Ohio State crushed Rutgers 49-7 in front of a national TV audience. Zeke Elliot added 142 yards rushing and 2 TDs including a 55 yard TD run late in the game where I pretty sure the closest person to touching him was me clear in Ohio.
After a slow start in the 1st quarter, which did include a fumble in the red zone, Ohio State just dominated the rest of the game. Rutgers never had a chance.
Ohio State ended up with 528 yards of total offense compared to only 293 for Rutgers, and 90 of those were on Rutgers last drive, which I’ll get to later. Ohio State also had no penalties, when’s the last time that happened. Ohio State dominated in every category you can think of. Ohio State had a 27-12 advantage in 1st downs, also won the time of possession battle 32:40 to 27:20.
As great as the offense looked, the much talked about defense played their best game of the year. Rutgers offense is good. They put up 55 on Indiana the week before. Rutgers had no answer though for Joey Bosa, Darron Lee and the rest of the silver bullets. Who held Rutgers under 200 yards of total offense for much of the game.
There were plenty of highlights on both sides of the ball. Braxton Miller continues every week to show the entire country what an incredible athlete he is with a insane 45 yards catch in the 2nd quarter. Another highlight was Michael Thomas’s 50 yard TD catch where he hit the X button and made not 1, not 2, but 3 Rutgers defenders look silly and raced into the end zone. With the game no longer in doubt, Zeke gave Ohio State fans a parting thrill when he took the hand off and ran 55 yards untouched to the endzone to give him over 100 yards for the 13th straight game.
It was the best game Ohio State has played since Virginia Tech and probably the most complete victory Ohio State has had all year. Now with a bye week to get recharged and healthy, Ohio State will look to the month of November where it won’t be easy. Ohio State starts with Minnesota at home, then must travel to the wind tunnel also known as Champaign, IL. After that its that state up north. We get both back to back, first Michigan State on Nov 21 then we travel to TTUN on Nov 28th.
Now lets talk about what I didn’t like.
First, our defense to start games. As good as the defense was last night, they did give up a long drive to start the game, just like they did vs Penn St a week ago. Lucky for Ohio State, Kyle Federico missed a 29 yard chip shot. Ohio State’s defense must get better at the start of games. I can’t tell you if Ohio State has ever gotten a 3 and out or a quick punt on the other team’s first possession this season.
Now I’m going to talk about Rutgers last possession. Let me say first, I understand Ohio State and Rutgers had back ups in the game. They want to play too, they want to show what they can do. That being said, down 49-0 and Rutgers is throwing deep? Are you kidding me? Then with 18 seconds left, still down 49-0, you’re taking time outs just so you can score? Classless, in my opinion. I can understand the other side on that, but that just rubbed me the wrong way.
Now let’s go around College football and I’ll give you some quick thoughts about some other games that caught my eye.
Florida State 16 Georgia Tech 22. Holy cow, did you see the end of this game? First, Florida State was a huge favorite in this game. Georgia Tech had lost 5 straight games coming into this game. However, GT always gives FSU fits and always gives them a good game. This was no different, but the ending, wow, what an ending. Another kick 6! FSU lining up for a game winning FG, but its blocked and returned 78 yards for a touchdown with no time on the clock. What a game.
Utah 24 USC 42. Wow, Utah got destroyed in this game. All week long people were wondering why USC was favored. USC was 3-3 and Utah was ranked #3 and undefeated. Well, someone knew something. USC dominated this game from the word go.
Michigan St 52 Indiana 26. The final score of this game doesn’t do it justice. Indiana’s defense just quit late in the 4th quarter and Michigan St was all too happy to keep scoring. This game was 28-26 with Indiana driving at one point. In fact, if Indiana’s field goal kicker had made all of his kick, Indiana would’ve been winning 31-28 in the 4th quarter. Sorry, I’m just upset cause I had Indiana and the points.
Last but certainly not least I’d like to send out my thoughts and prayers to Oklahoma State and all the families who are effected by that horrible tragedy yesterday. I do hope everyone who was injured recover and my deepest condolences to the families who had love ones pass.
The post Ohio State Finally looks like the best Football Team in the Country appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...