Matt Tamanini
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Scientifically ranking all six of Ohio State’s touchdowns against Iowa
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
We are using a scientific set of rules to systematically rank all of OSU’s touchdowns by degree of difficulty, athleticism, entertainment value, and anything else we want to judge them by.
There were a lot of touchdowns scored by the Buckeyes against the Iowa Hawkeyes, seven of them to be exact. So, since we live in a listicle world, we are breaking them down, scientifically, of course.
And since this is my column, I reserve the right to change my judging criteria week to week, heck, even touchdown to touchdown. In some cases, I will judge a play by its importance in the grand scheme of the game, others will be by the degree of difficulty, backstory, and sheer entertainment value.
If you disagree with my ranking (which my six+ years here at LGHL tells me you absolutely will), feel free to share your list in the comments below.
Ok, now, without further ado, drumroll, please.........
Sixth Place: Touchdown No. 1
Miyan Williams 2-Yard Run
This one is a fairly non-descript short-yardage rushing touchdown, but it gets the benefit of some extra love because Miyan Williams has back in the rotation for Ohio State after missing the Michigan State game. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a ton of success in this game — 19 yards on 10 carries — and he didn’t look. tobe 100%, especially as the game went on.
Hopefully he just needed to knock some rust off, because having him (and TreVeyon Henderson) healthy for the stretch run will be monumentally important to Ohio State’s title chances.
Fifth Place: Touchdown No. 6
Mitch Rossi 3-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud
Look, we love any pass play called specifically for the fullback, but this one was actually a pretty impressive design. On the play-action, Mitch Rossi slides out into the flat and makes himself available to C.J. Stroud. The quarterback does a good job of not firing the ball at his FB and giving him a soft, simple pass to catch before turning up-field.
The linebacker was initially sucked in on the fake (and never expecting a third-and-goal pass to go Rossi’s way. However, once he realizes what’s going on, he tries to catch up, but Rossi is too strong to go down before getting to the end zone.
Fourth Place: Touchdown No. 3
Marvin Harrison 6-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud
Marv’s gonna Marv and he went down and got this somewhat off-target throw from Stroud. I also didn’t love the play design on a fourth down to roll your quarterback to the side of the field where he only had one option to throw it to.
Fortunately, it worked out and Harrison Jr. got the score, but it was just a wonky, short-yardage play that looked to be far more difficult than it needed to be.
Third Place: Touchdown No. 2
Tommy Eichenberg 15-yard interception return
Look, Tommy Eichenberg is one of the best linebackers (if not the best linebacker) in the country, but because he didn’t come into the season with as much hype as Noah Sewell or Henry To’o To’o did, I don’t think that he's getting nearly as much love as he deserves. While scoring touchdowns obviously isn’t the thing that Tommy does best, having this on the resume can certainly help when it comes to Butkus voting time.
Not only does Eichenberg display some pretty impressive hands here, but he also makes a cut back to the middle of the field to get into the end zone that makes it look like he could be an emergency running back option along with Chip Trayanum.
Second Place: Touchdown No. 5
Julian Fleming 79-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud
This was an almost perfectly thrown ball that essentially hit Julian Fleming in stride. It was such a well-placed pass that even though the Iowa defender had relatively decent coverage, he had no chance of making a play on the ball and when he tried, he completely took himself out of the play.
Had the corner not fallen down, I think that Fleming still likely has a chance to score, just because he is that fast and that strong.
First Place: Touchdown No. 4
Emeka Egbuka 13-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud
Literally, the only thing keeping this from being one of the best TDs of the year is the fact that it was relatively short and the Iowa defense had essentially already given up at this point. The touch that Stroud puts on this ball is unbelievable and the way that Emeka Egbuka calmly watches the ball sailing through the air, only to put his hands up to make the catch at the last possible second is exactly what you want from an elite receiver.
The Iowa defensive back likely wasn’t going to break up the pass anyway, but the fact that Egbuka didn’t tip his hand that the ball was coming ensured that there was no chance of a deflection. Excellent work on this one.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
We are using a scientific set of rules to systematically rank all of OSU’s touchdowns by degree of difficulty, athleticism, entertainment value, and anything else we want to judge them by.
There were a lot of touchdowns scored by the Buckeyes against the Iowa Hawkeyes, seven of them to be exact. So, since we live in a listicle world, we are breaking them down, scientifically, of course.
And since this is my column, I reserve the right to change my judging criteria week to week, heck, even touchdown to touchdown. In some cases, I will judge a play by its importance in the grand scheme of the game, others will be by the degree of difficulty, backstory, and sheer entertainment value.
If you disagree with my ranking (which my six+ years here at LGHL tells me you absolutely will), feel free to share your list in the comments below.
Ok, now, without further ado, drumroll, please.........
Sixth Place: Touchdown No. 1
Miyan Williams 2-Yard Run
This one is a fairly non-descript short-yardage rushing touchdown, but it gets the benefit of some extra love because Miyan Williams has back in the rotation for Ohio State after missing the Michigan State game. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a ton of success in this game — 19 yards on 10 carries — and he didn’t look. tobe 100%, especially as the game went on.
Hopefully he just needed to knock some rust off, because having him (and TreVeyon Henderson) healthy for the stretch run will be monumentally important to Ohio State’s title chances.
Fifth Place: Touchdown No. 6
Mitch Rossi 3-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud
Look, we love any pass play called specifically for the fullback, but this one was actually a pretty impressive design. On the play-action, Mitch Rossi slides out into the flat and makes himself available to C.J. Stroud. The quarterback does a good job of not firing the ball at his FB and giving him a soft, simple pass to catch before turning up-field.
The linebacker was initially sucked in on the fake (and never expecting a third-and-goal pass to go Rossi’s way. However, once he realizes what’s going on, he tries to catch up, but Rossi is too strong to go down before getting to the end zone.
Fourth Place: Touchdown No. 3
Marvin Harrison 6-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud
Marv’s gonna Marv and he went down and got this somewhat off-target throw from Stroud. I also didn’t love the play design on a fourth down to roll your quarterback to the side of the field where he only had one option to throw it to.
Fortunately, it worked out and Harrison Jr. got the score, but it was just a wonky, short-yardage play that looked to be far more difficult than it needed to be.
Third Place: Touchdown No. 2
Tommy Eichenberg 15-yard interception return
Look, Tommy Eichenberg is one of the best linebackers (if not the best linebacker) in the country, but because he didn’t come into the season with as much hype as Noah Sewell or Henry To’o To’o did, I don’t think that he's getting nearly as much love as he deserves. While scoring touchdowns obviously isn’t the thing that Tommy does best, having this on the resume can certainly help when it comes to Butkus voting time.
Not only does Eichenberg display some pretty impressive hands here, but he also makes a cut back to the middle of the field to get into the end zone that makes it look like he could be an emergency running back option along with Chip Trayanum.
Second Place: Touchdown No. 5
Julian Fleming 79-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud
This was an almost perfectly thrown ball that essentially hit Julian Fleming in stride. It was such a well-placed pass that even though the Iowa defender had relatively decent coverage, he had no chance of making a play on the ball and when he tried, he completely took himself out of the play.
Had the corner not fallen down, I think that Fleming still likely has a chance to score, just because he is that fast and that strong.
First Place: Touchdown No. 4
Emeka Egbuka 13-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud
Literally, the only thing keeping this from being one of the best TDs of the year is the fact that it was relatively short and the Iowa defense had essentially already given up at this point. The touch that Stroud puts on this ball is unbelievable and the way that Emeka Egbuka calmly watches the ball sailing through the air, only to put his hands up to make the catch at the last possible second is exactly what you want from an elite receiver.
The Iowa defensive back likely wasn’t going to break up the pass anyway, but the fact that Egbuka didn’t tip his hand that the ball was coming ensured that there was no chance of a deflection. Excellent work on this one.
Continue reading...