Ten Things We Learned from Ohio State’s 52-3 Win Over Rutgers
The Ohio State Buckeyes opened conference play with a dominating 52-3 win over division foe Rutgers on Saturday.
The outcome was not unexpected, as the OSU offense passed for 354 yards and rushed for 225. The defense was, as Ryan Day said after the game, smothering. Everything clicked — as long as we don’t talk about the punt return issues again.
There were questions looking for answers heading into a game that wasn’t going to be ideal in terms of the weather, and those questions were answered emphatically.
There were other questions answered as well.
1. These receivers can catch the football.
Watching the receivers before the game, I saw them dropping some passes in warmups. The rain was constant and so I figured that the drops would continue during the game, especially with the velocity with which Dwayne Haskins throws the ball. Last week, there were a few passes over the middle where the receivers snagged the back half of the football. In this game, I assumed those would be skipping off of the hands of the receivers and becoming possible interceptions for the safeties behind them. That didn’t happen. Instead, the receivers (and running backs and tight ends) caught 30 of the 33 passes thrown their way, and that is pretty darn remarkable.
2. More Shaun Wade is a good thing.
If you were surprised that Shaun Wade had an interception this week, then you haven’t been paying attention. Even though he only had one game under his belt coming into Saturday, he is a natural playmaker when the ball is in the air. He has steadily improved in practice, and so the decision was made to give him the nickel back job. The decision clearly paid off. Wade’s inclusion into the defense has essentially made this a four cornerback rotation now, which is pretty insane.
3. Strong safety still isn’t settled, but it’s settling.
With Jordan Fuller back in the lineup at free safety, Isaiah Pryor was able to move back to strong safety, which is where most of his practice time was spent during spring and fall camp. He responded well and finished with three tackles, but more importantly there weren’t any glaring assignment breakdowns or missed tackles like last week. Greg Schiano said last week that Pryor and Jahsen Wint were still competing for the job, and Wint also played in the first half. Despite the rotation, this is looking more and more like Pryor’s job. We’ll find out more next week against some very talented TCU receivers, however.
4. Jordan Fuller is a difference maker.
You can’t lose your best players in the secondary and not have it affect you, as the Buckeyes saw last week without Jordan Fuller. Yesterday, Fuller was back on the field and the biggest play the Ohio State defense gave up was 15 yards. Greg Schiano said after the game that having Fuller back was huge, especially with the way Rutgers shifts and motions. Fuller kept everybody in the secondary calm and under control before the snap, and that is exactly how they played
after the snap.
5. The linebackers were better.
Maybe it was because Rutgers didn’t have the skill players that Oregon State did, but I thought the linebackers improved from last week. As with the safeties, there were no glaring mistakes leading to home runs. Still, the Ohio State starting linebackers combined for just six tackles. A lot of that is because there were five three-and-outs in the first half, but in 31-odd plays in the first half, you’d think the linebackers would have more than just six tackles.
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7. Chase Young needs to chill, but just a tad.
Chase Young received two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Saturday. The first came when he spiked the football after a sack (which should have been called a strip sack, as you can see in the photo below because the ball is no longer in Artur Sitkowski’s hand), and the second came after Shaun Wade’s interception when he left the sideline to celebrate a great play by his teammate. After the game, Greg Schiano said he loves Young’s “emotion” and “fever”, but added that they have to make sure it doesn’t happen again because next time it could happen in a close game. He chalked it up to Young being a young player, but they will address it.
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Entire article:
https://theozone.net/2018/09/ten-things-ohio-state-rutgers/
