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Ohio State Shakes off Rust and Hawaii 38-0
Eric via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
After sitting idle for eight months, Ohio Stadium finally saw some gridiron action today. Hawaii traveled over nine thousand miles for the opportunity to play the Buckeyes, and gave Ohio State a surprisingly challenging dogfight for it. The Buckeyes only managed to pull away in the final quarter when they fully gained control of both sides of the ball, finishing the game with a respectable 38-0 win.
Both Cardale Jones and JT Barrett saw time at the QB position with Jones going 12 for 18 for 111 yards, and Barrett going 8 for 15 for 70 yards. Ezekiel Elliott had the biggest day for the Buckeyes, carrying the ball 27 times for 101 yards and 3 touchdowns. Braxton Miller carried 8 times for 57 yards, and also had 2 receptions for 16 yards. Michael Thomas led the Buckeye receivers with 5 catches for 52 yards. For Hawaii, Max Wittek threw 24 times for 7 receptions and 67 yards. Paul Harris carried 14 times for 46 yards, while Isaiah Bernard had 3 receptions for 18 yards, and Dylan Collie had 29 yards on a single reception.
Despite the Haka war dance, the Buckeyes were not intimidated by the Rainbow Warriors on the first few possessions. Hawaii took a quick 3 and out followed by a rough punt to set up a decent Ohio State drive, including a nice 24 yard scamper by the Bucks young QB starter. Surprisingly to some who thought Barrett would get the nod, that starter turned out to be Cardale Jones today. Jones put together an 8 play drive to get the Bucks deep inside Hawaii territory, but a pass from punter Cameron Johnson fell incomplete on 4th and 13 gave the ball back on Hawaii’s 29 yard line.
The Buckeyes would strike first after being pinned deep in their own territory. Using a steady diet of Ezekiel Elliott balanced with a few passes and Braxton Miller runs, the Buckeyes marched 77 yards in five and a half minutes to score their first touchdown of the game. The score came on a one yard plunge into the middle of the line by Elliott, following several plays inside the 10 to set up the score.
Hawaii begain to get things working on the following possession, earning their first first down of the game with the first two plays from scrimmage on the drive. This allowed the Warriors to sneak into Ohio State territory, but the Bucks D stiffened and stopped the Warriors from getting much further. Following the punt, the Bucks started near their own 10 yard line and looked like they were going to make short work of Hawaii. A gaggle of penalties kept the 1st quarter alive on untimed downs, and negated a near 30 yard gain off a catch by Paris Campbell and personal foul facemask call.
Things fell apart for Ohio State following the intermission. A missed deep pass and a fumbled snap in the backfield killed the drive and forced Cameron Johnson to punt it to Hawaii who received it deep in their own territory on a fair catch. Hawaii wasn’t able to do much with the football, and were forced to punt it again leaving the Buckeyes with excellent field position just on the OSU side of the 50. Jalin Marshall started the drive with a fantastic opening run on the end around for 20 yards. Unfortunately the Bucks couldn’t do anything with the field position and took the first couple sacks of the season to kill the drive. Fortunately for Ohio State their punt teams were having a spectacular day, and pinned Hawaii inside the one yard line.
OSU’s defense looked excellent for three straight plays, stifling Hawaii’s offense and forcing a punt deep in their own endzone. It was all for naught, however, when Darren Lee tried to block the punt, but hit the punter far too late, drawing a roughing penalty and giving Hawaii another free drive starting from their 20. Gareon Conley changed the momentum by hopping a 2nd down route on the edge for an interception.
Looking for a change, the OSU coaching staff switched to JT Barrett at QB. Barrett wasted no time hitting Samuel in the flat for a short gain, which was followed by an Ezekiel Elliott run for a first down. Barrett then fed Hawaii a steady diet of Braxton Miller on the ground and through the air to get inside the 10 yard line. They then went with Ezekiel Elliott until he pounded the ball into the endzone from 3 yards out for his second touchdown of the day.
With the first half coming to a close, Hawaii finally managed to get their offense rolling – but not without the help of the Buckeye defense. An unfortunate penalty on Eli Apple following a tremendous Joey Bosa sack gave the Warriors a first down which they used to cross into OSU territory on a big QB scramble. On the following play, the Hawaii QB tossed a pass over the middle of the field that got tipped and intercepted by Vonn Bell with a circus catch. Ohio State wasn’t able to make anything happen with the opportunity, and eventually punted on 4th and ten from their own side of the 50. Hawaii struggled with the ball and were forced to punt after another three and out, but OSU was similarly unable to sustain a drive and ended the half with a near 40 yard pass into the endzone that went incomplete.
Following the half, the Buckeyes went back to Cardale Jones under center. The Bucks tried to spread the field horizontally with a couple passes to the flat, but didn’t gain much on either play. The coverage on third down was excellent, which forced Jones to hold on to the ball for too long, which allowed Hawaii to pick up a sack when he tried to escape. On the following possession, the Warriors made some progress down the field, but couldn’t cross the 50 before being forced to punt.
The Buckeyes continued to struggle on offense, particularly when it came to throwing and catching the ball. The coverage from the Hawaii secondary was surprisingly good, limiting OSU’s opportunities and allowing the Warriors to stuff the middle. This limited Ezekiel Elliott and maximized opportunities for sacks, something the OSU offense doesn’t usually give up. It is particularly surprising facing a Norm Chow squad that the defense would give more trouble than the offense, but perhaps that is a testament to the quality of OSU’s defense this season.
On the next Hawaii possession, Darren Lee broke into the backfield from the left edge, hitting the Hawaii QB from his blindside and forcing a huge fumble that was recovered by the Buckeyes at the 6 yard line. Not surprisingly for this game, Jones and Elliott miscommunicated on the handoff and ended up having to recover a fumble of their own on the 10 yard line. Two additional runs for Ezekiel Elliott put the ball on the three, but the Bucks chose to take the field goal instead of going for the touchdown.
Late in the third quarter Hawaii finally managed to sustain a drive deep into OSU territory. They needed a huge conversion on 4th and 3 in OSU territory to keep it alive, but a QB scramble for five yards made that happen. At that point the Buckeye defense stiffened, getting a couple incompletions and then a big sack on third down to force a punt instead of allowing Hawaii to sneak onto the scoreboard.
With the ball at their own 10 yard line, the Buckeyes went to their workhorse Ezekiel Elliott to get the offense moving. Once he picked up a first down, the Bucks turned to Braxton Miller to try to get a spark. Miller managed to tear off a big chunk of yardage before Cardale Jones tried to hit Michael Thomas for a 40 yard touchdown. The Hawaii corner realizing he had been beaten committed pass interference to prevent the play, but putting the Buckeyes again in good field position. All it took was more feeding of Elliott to get the ball in for Elliott’s third touchdown of the day.
The Bucks were able to follow that up with another quick touchdown with great defensive play. Starting their drive deep in their own territory, Hawaii found a quick first down and were looking like they would move the ball effectively. On the subsequent play, a bad exchange caused a fumble that bounced around for a while as both teams tried to fall on it. Eventually Vonn Bell scooped up the football with momentum and nothing between him and the endzone, notching another 6 on the board. With the two quick touchdowns, the scoreboard finally started to resemble the kind of game people had expected.
With the score, the defense started to look like they had more energy. Another big sack on third down from Darren Lee really got the defense excited. However, the stat of the game had to be the passing yardage. Coming in to the ball game, Hawaii had thrown for 100 yards or more in 213 consecutive football games. This Buckeye defense held Hawaii to a mere 85 yards passing for the day.
The offense returned to the field starting inside Hawaii’s territory with JT Barrett under center again. Barrett smartly engineered a short drive with a few smart short passes to Samuel and Vannett. From five yards out, JT Barrett handed the ball to Bri’onte Dunn for the fifth Buckeye touchdown of the game, and a well deserved score for the backup runningback.
The last time the Buckeyes shutout an opponent was Wisconsin in the 2014 Big Ten Championship game. The previous time they shutout a team in the home opener was Akron in 2011 by a score of 42-0.
The Buckeyes will next play Northern Illinois in Ohio Stadium. That game will be played at 3:30 and air on the Big Ten Network.
The post Ohio State Shakes off Rust and Hawaii 38-0 appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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Eric via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
After sitting idle for eight months, Ohio Stadium finally saw some gridiron action today. Hawaii traveled over nine thousand miles for the opportunity to play the Buckeyes, and gave Ohio State a surprisingly challenging dogfight for it. The Buckeyes only managed to pull away in the final quarter when they fully gained control of both sides of the ball, finishing the game with a respectable 38-0 win.
Both Cardale Jones and JT Barrett saw time at the QB position with Jones going 12 for 18 for 111 yards, and Barrett going 8 for 15 for 70 yards. Ezekiel Elliott had the biggest day for the Buckeyes, carrying the ball 27 times for 101 yards and 3 touchdowns. Braxton Miller carried 8 times for 57 yards, and also had 2 receptions for 16 yards. Michael Thomas led the Buckeye receivers with 5 catches for 52 yards. For Hawaii, Max Wittek threw 24 times for 7 receptions and 67 yards. Paul Harris carried 14 times for 46 yards, while Isaiah Bernard had 3 receptions for 18 yards, and Dylan Collie had 29 yards on a single reception.
Despite the Haka war dance, the Buckeyes were not intimidated by the Rainbow Warriors on the first few possessions. Hawaii took a quick 3 and out followed by a rough punt to set up a decent Ohio State drive, including a nice 24 yard scamper by the Bucks young QB starter. Surprisingly to some who thought Barrett would get the nod, that starter turned out to be Cardale Jones today. Jones put together an 8 play drive to get the Bucks deep inside Hawaii territory, but a pass from punter Cameron Johnson fell incomplete on 4th and 13 gave the ball back on Hawaii’s 29 yard line.
The Buckeyes would strike first after being pinned deep in their own territory. Using a steady diet of Ezekiel Elliott balanced with a few passes and Braxton Miller runs, the Buckeyes marched 77 yards in five and a half minutes to score their first touchdown of the game. The score came on a one yard plunge into the middle of the line by Elliott, following several plays inside the 10 to set up the score.
Hawaii begain to get things working on the following possession, earning their first first down of the game with the first two plays from scrimmage on the drive. This allowed the Warriors to sneak into Ohio State territory, but the Bucks D stiffened and stopped the Warriors from getting much further. Following the punt, the Bucks started near their own 10 yard line and looked like they were going to make short work of Hawaii. A gaggle of penalties kept the 1st quarter alive on untimed downs, and negated a near 30 yard gain off a catch by Paris Campbell and personal foul facemask call.
Things fell apart for Ohio State following the intermission. A missed deep pass and a fumbled snap in the backfield killed the drive and forced Cameron Johnson to punt it to Hawaii who received it deep in their own territory on a fair catch. Hawaii wasn’t able to do much with the football, and were forced to punt it again leaving the Buckeyes with excellent field position just on the OSU side of the 50. Jalin Marshall started the drive with a fantastic opening run on the end around for 20 yards. Unfortunately the Bucks couldn’t do anything with the field position and took the first couple sacks of the season to kill the drive. Fortunately for Ohio State their punt teams were having a spectacular day, and pinned Hawaii inside the one yard line.
OSU’s defense looked excellent for three straight plays, stifling Hawaii’s offense and forcing a punt deep in their own endzone. It was all for naught, however, when Darren Lee tried to block the punt, but hit the punter far too late, drawing a roughing penalty and giving Hawaii another free drive starting from their 20. Gareon Conley changed the momentum by hopping a 2nd down route on the edge for an interception.
Looking for a change, the OSU coaching staff switched to JT Barrett at QB. Barrett wasted no time hitting Samuel in the flat for a short gain, which was followed by an Ezekiel Elliott run for a first down. Barrett then fed Hawaii a steady diet of Braxton Miller on the ground and through the air to get inside the 10 yard line. They then went with Ezekiel Elliott until he pounded the ball into the endzone from 3 yards out for his second touchdown of the day.
With the first half coming to a close, Hawaii finally managed to get their offense rolling – but not without the help of the Buckeye defense. An unfortunate penalty on Eli Apple following a tremendous Joey Bosa sack gave the Warriors a first down which they used to cross into OSU territory on a big QB scramble. On the following play, the Hawaii QB tossed a pass over the middle of the field that got tipped and intercepted by Vonn Bell with a circus catch. Ohio State wasn’t able to make anything happen with the opportunity, and eventually punted on 4th and ten from their own side of the 50. Hawaii struggled with the ball and were forced to punt after another three and out, but OSU was similarly unable to sustain a drive and ended the half with a near 40 yard pass into the endzone that went incomplete.
Following the half, the Buckeyes went back to Cardale Jones under center. The Bucks tried to spread the field horizontally with a couple passes to the flat, but didn’t gain much on either play. The coverage on third down was excellent, which forced Jones to hold on to the ball for too long, which allowed Hawaii to pick up a sack when he tried to escape. On the following possession, the Warriors made some progress down the field, but couldn’t cross the 50 before being forced to punt.
The Buckeyes continued to struggle on offense, particularly when it came to throwing and catching the ball. The coverage from the Hawaii secondary was surprisingly good, limiting OSU’s opportunities and allowing the Warriors to stuff the middle. This limited Ezekiel Elliott and maximized opportunities for sacks, something the OSU offense doesn’t usually give up. It is particularly surprising facing a Norm Chow squad that the defense would give more trouble than the offense, but perhaps that is a testament to the quality of OSU’s defense this season.
On the next Hawaii possession, Darren Lee broke into the backfield from the left edge, hitting the Hawaii QB from his blindside and forcing a huge fumble that was recovered by the Buckeyes at the 6 yard line. Not surprisingly for this game, Jones and Elliott miscommunicated on the handoff and ended up having to recover a fumble of their own on the 10 yard line. Two additional runs for Ezekiel Elliott put the ball on the three, but the Bucks chose to take the field goal instead of going for the touchdown.
Late in the third quarter Hawaii finally managed to sustain a drive deep into OSU territory. They needed a huge conversion on 4th and 3 in OSU territory to keep it alive, but a QB scramble for five yards made that happen. At that point the Buckeye defense stiffened, getting a couple incompletions and then a big sack on third down to force a punt instead of allowing Hawaii to sneak onto the scoreboard.
With the ball at their own 10 yard line, the Buckeyes went to their workhorse Ezekiel Elliott to get the offense moving. Once he picked up a first down, the Bucks turned to Braxton Miller to try to get a spark. Miller managed to tear off a big chunk of yardage before Cardale Jones tried to hit Michael Thomas for a 40 yard touchdown. The Hawaii corner realizing he had been beaten committed pass interference to prevent the play, but putting the Buckeyes again in good field position. All it took was more feeding of Elliott to get the ball in for Elliott’s third touchdown of the day.
The Bucks were able to follow that up with another quick touchdown with great defensive play. Starting their drive deep in their own territory, Hawaii found a quick first down and were looking like they would move the ball effectively. On the subsequent play, a bad exchange caused a fumble that bounced around for a while as both teams tried to fall on it. Eventually Vonn Bell scooped up the football with momentum and nothing between him and the endzone, notching another 6 on the board. With the two quick touchdowns, the scoreboard finally started to resemble the kind of game people had expected.
With the score, the defense started to look like they had more energy. Another big sack on third down from Darren Lee really got the defense excited. However, the stat of the game had to be the passing yardage. Coming in to the ball game, Hawaii had thrown for 100 yards or more in 213 consecutive football games. This Buckeye defense held Hawaii to a mere 85 yards passing for the day.
The offense returned to the field starting inside Hawaii’s territory with JT Barrett under center again. Barrett smartly engineered a short drive with a few smart short passes to Samuel and Vannett. From five yards out, JT Barrett handed the ball to Bri’onte Dunn for the fifth Buckeye touchdown of the game, and a well deserved score for the backup runningback.
The last time the Buckeyes shutout an opponent was Wisconsin in the 2014 Big Ten Championship game. The previous time they shutout a team in the home opener was Akron in 2011 by a score of 42-0.
The Buckeyes will next play Northern Illinois in Ohio Stadium. That game will be played at 3:30 and air on the Big Ten Network.
The post Ohio State Shakes off Rust and Hawaii 38-0 appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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