Matt Tamanini
Guest
Scientifically ranking all three of Ohio State’s touchdowns against Northwestern
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
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 painfully low number of touchdowns scored by the Buckeyes against the Northwestern Wildcats, five 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.........
Third Place: Touchdown No. 2
Miyan Williams 2-Yard Run
Northwestern scored first, but only once. So, Ohio State’s third touchdown was effectively window dressing, but that doesn’t mean that going up two touchdowns was not important. So, I gave a few percentage points to Miyan Williams for this run and took a few away too.
Pretty simple two-yard run, but Mitch Rossi did do a good job picking up a second-level block to make sure that Chop got into the end zone.
Second Place: Touchdown No. 1
Emeka Egbuka 15-Yard Run
It was obvious early on that throwing wasn’t going to be easy/possible at Ryan Field on Saturday afternoon. On Twitter, I was advocating (only somewhat hyperbolically) that the Buckeyes should completely abandon the pass altogether and just empty the playbook with creative and weird run play calls.
Just run. Every time. Pull out every creative run you have in the playbook. Draw some up on a white board. Ask the o-line what they want to do. Let's get weird.
— Matt Tamanini (@BWWMatt) November 5, 2022
Now, this is neither all that creative or weird, this is one of the few somewhat out-of-the-box plays that Ryan Day is willing to call on a regular basis, but this worked perfectly and couldn’t have come at a better time.
There obviously weren’t a lot of touchdown options today, so normally this wouldn’t have been the second-best score, but we work with what we’re given.
The initial blocking on this rush was good from anyone not wearing No. 34. Mitch Rossi ignored what likely should have been his initial blocking assignment, which fortunately didn’t cost Egbuka. But then, Rossi gave a half-hearted block on the second level and the defender would have been in position for a stop if Egbuka had broken back inside.
Fortunately, he didn’t and instead put a shoulder into a DB to get across the goal line. I still wish we had seen even more creativity in Ryan Day’s play-calling, but I will take this over short-yardage stretch plays any day of the week.
First Place: Touchdown No. 2
Miyan Williams 27-Yard Run
Williams looked out of sorts through most of the first half; whether it was dealing with his hand injury, trying to acclimate to the weather, or frustration with the offensive execution, he just didn’t look like the game and tackle-breaking wrecking ball that we’ve all grown to love. However, this play proved that that specific dog is still very much in there.
This play had everything that you want to see from Miyan; he did not hesitate to run north and south through the hole, he refused to go down and bounced outside, he turned on the jets to run away from defenders, and ran through an arm-tackle attempt to get into the end zone.
I honestly don’t know if Ohio State is a good, average, or awful running team, but if they want to continue to move up that continuum, they will need to keep having runs like this. The Buckeyes have obviously been hurt this season by seemingly dealing with different running back injuries each and every game, but to me, the issue isn’t really Williams or TreVeyon Henderson, the issue is the offensive line. This was relatively well blocked and Willaims gave everything he could to make the most of the opportunity.
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
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
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 painfully low number of touchdowns scored by the Buckeyes against the Northwestern Wildcats, five 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.........
Third Place: Touchdown No. 2
Miyan Williams 2-Yard Run
Northwestern scored first, but only once. So, Ohio State’s third touchdown was effectively window dressing, but that doesn’t mean that going up two touchdowns was not important. So, I gave a few percentage points to Miyan Williams for this run and took a few away too.
Pretty simple two-yard run, but Mitch Rossi did do a good job picking up a second-level block to make sure that Chop got into the end zone.
Second Place: Touchdown No. 1
Emeka Egbuka 15-Yard Run
It was obvious early on that throwing wasn’t going to be easy/possible at Ryan Field on Saturday afternoon. On Twitter, I was advocating (only somewhat hyperbolically) that the Buckeyes should completely abandon the pass altogether and just empty the playbook with creative and weird run play calls.
Just run. Every time. Pull out every creative run you have in the playbook. Draw some up on a white board. Ask the o-line what they want to do. Let's get weird.
— Matt Tamanini (@BWWMatt) November 5, 2022
Now, this is neither all that creative or weird, this is one of the few somewhat out-of-the-box plays that Ryan Day is willing to call on a regular basis, but this worked perfectly and couldn’t have come at a better time.
There obviously weren’t a lot of touchdown options today, so normally this wouldn’t have been the second-best score, but we work with what we’re given.
The initial blocking on this rush was good from anyone not wearing No. 34. Mitch Rossi ignored what likely should have been his initial blocking assignment, which fortunately didn’t cost Egbuka. But then, Rossi gave a half-hearted block on the second level and the defender would have been in position for a stop if Egbuka had broken back inside.
Fortunately, he didn’t and instead put a shoulder into a DB to get across the goal line. I still wish we had seen even more creativity in Ryan Day’s play-calling, but I will take this over short-yardage stretch plays any day of the week.
First Place: Touchdown No. 2
Miyan Williams 27-Yard Run
Williams looked out of sorts through most of the first half; whether it was dealing with his hand injury, trying to acclimate to the weather, or frustration with the offensive execution, he just didn’t look like the game and tackle-breaking wrecking ball that we’ve all grown to love. However, this play proved that that specific dog is still very much in there.
This play had everything that you want to see from Miyan; he did not hesitate to run north and south through the hole, he refused to go down and bounced outside, he turned on the jets to run away from defenders, and ran through an arm-tackle attempt to get into the end zone.
I honestly don’t know if Ohio State is a good, average, or awful running team, but if they want to continue to move up that continuum, they will need to keep having runs like this. The Buckeyes have obviously been hurt this season by seemingly dealing with different running back injuries each and every game, but to me, the issue isn’t really Williams or TreVeyon Henderson, the issue is the offensive line. This was relatively well blocked and Willaims gave everything he could to make the most of the opportunity.
Continue reading...