Post Games News and Notes
1. Ohio State is an excellent football team, but let's take nothing away from Nebraska - the Cornhuskers are pure crap. It's hard to believe that Big Ten football writers picked the Huskers to win the West Division. Unless the Huskers can dramatically improve in the second half of the season, they are going to struggle to become bowl eligible. The Huskers already have two losses; they beat lowly Illinois by just four points; and they needed two defensive touchdowns and a punt return to beat South Alabama. If Nebraska is ever going to return to glory, it won't be for several more years.
2. Scott Frost is the Harbaugh of the West: a résumé with little real substance behind it. Frost will live off his one dubious accomplishment - a 13-0 season at some mid-major program - for several years, and he'll get several more for being a local Husker hero, but so far he has shown nothing that would place him anywhere near the coaching elite.
3. In the preseason, the so-called experts declared that Husker quarterback Adrian Martinez was a dark horse Heisman candidate, and that Justin Fields would be lucky to beat out Gunnar Hoak for the Buckeyes' starting job. Well, those tables turned quickly. Martinez is a turnover machine (5 interceptions, 4 fumbles) who talks a good game but can't beat anyone with a pulse, while Fields is putting up historic numbers as the successor to Dwayne Haskins, the guy who basically rewrote the Buckeye record book last season.
4. Now on to the Buckeyes. J.K. Dobbins was once again fantastic, with 24 carries for 177 yards (7.4 average), including eight rushes of 10+ yards. Dobbins is showing much better patience and vision than last season, and he is running with uncharacteristic power as well. Master Teague (12 carries, 77 yards, 2 TDs) and Marcus Crowley (4 carries, 45 yards, long of 36 yards) also helped to power a Buckeye rushing attack that racked up 368 yards (6.9 average) on the ground.
5. When Justin Fields (15/21, 212 yards, 3 TD) makes his read quickly, he is lethal. Other than barely overthrowing a wide open Chris Olave (3 receptions, 30 yards) at the end of the first half, Fields consistently delivered the ball on time and on target. Fields's issues arise when his first read isn't there, and that's when he misses receivers and throws late. Fields didn't have to do much against a vastly overmatched Nebraska squad, and his most important contributions came in the running game (9 rushes, 93 yards, long of 41 yards, TD).
6. The Buckeye defense held Nebraska to 7 points and 231 total yards; forced three turnovers (2 interceptions by Jeff Okudah; interception by Jordan Fuller); and sacked Adrian Martinez four times (including once on 4th-and-goal to kill a potential TD drive). However, the run defense was semi-porous, allowing 184 yards on 39 carries (4.7 average). Granted, much of Nebraska's success in the ground game came in the second half when the outcome had already been determined, including a 56-yard run by Adrian Martinez (the longest play allowed by Ohio State this season); but Nebraska did have 11 rushes for 58 yards (5.3 average) in the first quarter. If we eliminate the outlier (56 yard run) and the sacks (4 for -23 yards), then Nebraska had 151 yards on 35 carries (4.3 average). The Buckeye defense will need to tighten up a bit against Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Penn State.
7. Baron Browning (7 tackles, 2 TFL, .5 sack) is just so much better than Tuf Borland (1 tackle). The coaches know what they are doing, of course, so there must be some reason why Browning had seen so little action prior to this season. I hope that Browning's issues are now behind him and that he will continue to see major playing time at MLB (although Borland is still the nominal starter), because the kid flashes whenever he's on the field. A rising star.
8. Chase Young had (for him) a rather "meh" game, with three tackles and a strip sack. Nebraska only ran 21 pass plays all game (8 completions, 6 incompletions, 3 interceptions, 4 sacks), so Young didn't have many opportunities to make plays. Jashon Cornell continued his impressive senior campaign, with 3 tackles, 2 TFL, and .5 sacks; for the season, Cornell has 13 tackles, 5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. True freshman Zach Harrison had two tackles, both for losses. One of last year's whipping boys, linebacker Pete Werner, has been much improved under new coaching in 2019, and last night he had the hit of the game (and maybe the season):
I saw Cooper-coached teams beat Notre Dame and Ped State by 4+ TDs in back-to-back weeks. Both were highly ranked at the time of their beatdown. Then he lost to dUMb and the bowl game. :(
