Gene Ross
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Ohio State’s 38-7 win over Michigan State
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images
The Buckeyes earned a lopsided victory to open their Big Ten schedule.
Ohio State came out of the gates a bit slower than you would like, especially defensively, but ultimately it was another relatively easy victory as the Buckeyes opened up Big Ten play with a 38-7 win over Michigan State to move to 4-0 on the season.
Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Ohio State’s victory over the Spartans.
Jeremiah Smith
I should probably just reserve a spot in the ‘Good’ column the rest of the season for Jeremiah Smith, who through four collegiate games is already starting to get some buzz about being the most talented wide receiver to ever play at Ohio State.
It was another standout performance for the freshman phenom on Saturday, as he continued to put on a show — this time in his first game away from the home crowd. He finished the night with five catches for 83 yards and a touchdown, but it was his back-to-back one-handed grabs to end the first half that really caught the national attention.
With under a minute to go in the second quarter, Smith skied over two defenders and snagged the ball with his right hand before bringing it down for a gain of 27 yards along the sideline. Two plays later, and with Will Howard temporarily knocked out of the game, Smith reached out with one hand to haul in a slightly overthrown ball from Devin Brown as he scampered into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown, giving Ohio State a 24-7 lead at the break.
Both plays were extremely impressive and had social media going nuts. Smith was also credited with a rushing touchdown after scoring from 19 yards out on an end-around play earlier in the quarter.
Forcing Turnovers
While Ohio State again struggled defensively in the first half — we’ll talk about that in a bit — the Silver Bullets were able to keep Michigan State at bay by taking the ball away. After not creating any turnovers against Marshall a week ago, the Buckeyes took the ball from the Spartans three times on a pair of fumbles and an interception — and technically four times if you include a fourth down stop on Michigan State’s opening drive.
The Spartans had the ball in Ohio State’s territory on their first drive of the second quarter and were moving with relative ease. Then, after a 26-yard gain by tight end Jack Velling that would have put Michigan State in the red zone, Jordan Hancock knocked the ball free and it was recovered by Sonny Styles at the 10-yard line.
It was a very similar situation later in the quarter. The Spartans worked the ball into the red zone, looking to make things interesting with the score sitting at 17-7. On a 3rd-and-short play from inside the 20-yard line, Aidan Chiles had the ball punched out by Lathan Ransom, and Jack Sawyer fell on the ball as the Buckeyes again halted the Michigan State drive with a fumble recovery.
The third and final takeaway came late in the third quarter, when Chiles threw a ball directly into the hands of Denzel Burke for an interception. Burke returned it 31 yards all the way to the Michigan State 12-yard line, setting up an eventual touchdown run by Howard to make it 38-7, which would be the final score of the game.
Chip Kelly’s Offense
This Ohio State team has some flaws, but moving the ball on offense under the guidance of Chip Kelly has not been one of them. The Buckeyes have been picking up yards with ease through each of the first four games of the season both on the ground and through the air, and with so many weapons at their disposal, it is really a pick your poison for opposing defenses.
Kelly must have liked something he saw from Michigan State’s secondary in this game, as for really the first time this season Ohio State favored the pass over the run. The Buckeyes threw for 298 yards and ran for 185, averaging 6.4 yards per play overall. Howard wasn’t at his best in this one, but still completed 21-of-31 pass attempts for 244 yards with two touchdowns and a pick. He also scored a touchdown with his legs.
On the ground, TreVeyon Henderson ran for 69 yards on seven carries, while Quinshon Judkisn ran it 11 times for 54 yards. Emeka Egbuka led the way through the air with seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, followed by the aforementioned Smith and Carnell Tate, who caught three balls for 52 yards. Tight end Gee Scott Jr. got in on the action as well with his first touchdown reception of the season.
TreVeyon Henderson’s Blocking
I would be remiss if I did not mention Henderson’s work in pass protection somewhere in here. The running back has not been known for his ability to help in the blocking game to this point in his career, but the senior was excellent on Saturday not, helping spring a handful of Ohio State’s big plays with critical blitz pick ups. The broadcast mentioned how well the Buckeyes’ skill position players were blocking, and Henderson was a big part of that.
First Half Defense
For the second week in a row, Ohio State’s defense came out of the gates slow. The Buckeyes were getting gashed early on by Chiles and the Michigan State offense, and if not for those turnovers deep in their own territory, this could have been a much closer game at the half.
The Spartans put up 186 yards of offense over the first two quarters, with Chiles completing 10 of his 13 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown. Ohio State’s defensive backs for the last two games have started off the game playing way too far off the receivers, allowing opposing quarterbacks to dink and dunk them down the field. They have also gotten very little from the pass rush without Tyleik Williams up the middle, who was available on Saturday but held out for precautionary reasons.
It is very strange that they have done this twice in a row, especially with Jim Knowles making adjustments at half and the Silver Bullets looking like a completely different group out of halftime. By comparison, Michigan State totaled just 60 yards in the second half.
I’m not sure if the group just plays with more confidence after their offense has gotten them a big lead, but Ohio State certainly cannot afford to spot a team like Oregon some free points in the first half with a lackadaisical performance over two quarters of the game. The Buckeyes may also have to take a look at their linebacker rotations, as both Sonny Styles and C.J. Hicks have struggled at the Will so far this season.
Throwing Into Double Coverage
By far the worst play of the game for Ohio State was Will Howard’s interception. On 3rd-and-4 from their own side of the field, Howard threw a ball into double coverage that never had any chance of being completed, and it was summarily picked off by Michigan State’s Jordan Turner. It was unclear what exactly Howard was looking at on the play, as it was just a really bad read by the quarterback who has been otherwise very good for the Buckeyes.
The interception set up the Spartans’ lone touchdown of the night, as the 36-yard return set up a 12-yard touchdown pass from Chiles to Jaron Glover to make it a slim 10-7 lead for Ohio State at the time.
They’ll go over it in film and figure out exactly what went wrong on that play, but it couldn’t be left out of the ‘Ugly’ section because it was definitely that: Ugly.
Continue reading...
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images
The Buckeyes earned a lopsided victory to open their Big Ten schedule.
Ohio State came out of the gates a bit slower than you would like, especially defensively, but ultimately it was another relatively easy victory as the Buckeyes opened up Big Ten play with a 38-7 win over Michigan State to move to 4-0 on the season.
Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Ohio State’s victory over the Spartans.
The Good
Jeremiah Smith
I should probably just reserve a spot in the ‘Good’ column the rest of the season for Jeremiah Smith, who through four collegiate games is already starting to get some buzz about being the most talented wide receiver to ever play at Ohio State.
It was another standout performance for the freshman phenom on Saturday, as he continued to put on a show — this time in his first game away from the home crowd. He finished the night with five catches for 83 yards and a touchdown, but it was his back-to-back one-handed grabs to end the first half that really caught the national attention.
With under a minute to go in the second quarter, Smith skied over two defenders and snagged the ball with his right hand before bringing it down for a gain of 27 yards along the sideline. Two plays later, and with Will Howard temporarily knocked out of the game, Smith reached out with one hand to haul in a slightly overthrown ball from Devin Brown as he scampered into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown, giving Ohio State a 24-7 lead at the break.
Both plays were extremely impressive and had social media going nuts. Smith was also credited with a rushing touchdown after scoring from 19 yards out on an end-around play earlier in the quarter.
Forcing Turnovers
While Ohio State again struggled defensively in the first half — we’ll talk about that in a bit — the Silver Bullets were able to keep Michigan State at bay by taking the ball away. After not creating any turnovers against Marshall a week ago, the Buckeyes took the ball from the Spartans three times on a pair of fumbles and an interception — and technically four times if you include a fourth down stop on Michigan State’s opening drive.
The Spartans had the ball in Ohio State’s territory on their first drive of the second quarter and were moving with relative ease. Then, after a 26-yard gain by tight end Jack Velling that would have put Michigan State in the red zone, Jordan Hancock knocked the ball free and it was recovered by Sonny Styles at the 10-yard line.
It was a very similar situation later in the quarter. The Spartans worked the ball into the red zone, looking to make things interesting with the score sitting at 17-7. On a 3rd-and-short play from inside the 20-yard line, Aidan Chiles had the ball punched out by Lathan Ransom, and Jack Sawyer fell on the ball as the Buckeyes again halted the Michigan State drive with a fumble recovery.
The third and final takeaway came late in the third quarter, when Chiles threw a ball directly into the hands of Denzel Burke for an interception. Burke returned it 31 yards all the way to the Michigan State 12-yard line, setting up an eventual touchdown run by Howard to make it 38-7, which would be the final score of the game.
Chip Kelly’s Offense
This Ohio State team has some flaws, but moving the ball on offense under the guidance of Chip Kelly has not been one of them. The Buckeyes have been picking up yards with ease through each of the first four games of the season both on the ground and through the air, and with so many weapons at their disposal, it is really a pick your poison for opposing defenses.
Kelly must have liked something he saw from Michigan State’s secondary in this game, as for really the first time this season Ohio State favored the pass over the run. The Buckeyes threw for 298 yards and ran for 185, averaging 6.4 yards per play overall. Howard wasn’t at his best in this one, but still completed 21-of-31 pass attempts for 244 yards with two touchdowns and a pick. He also scored a touchdown with his legs.
On the ground, TreVeyon Henderson ran for 69 yards on seven carries, while Quinshon Judkisn ran it 11 times for 54 yards. Emeka Egbuka led the way through the air with seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, followed by the aforementioned Smith and Carnell Tate, who caught three balls for 52 yards. Tight end Gee Scott Jr. got in on the action as well with his first touchdown reception of the season.
TreVeyon Henderson’s Blocking
I would be remiss if I did not mention Henderson’s work in pass protection somewhere in here. The running back has not been known for his ability to help in the blocking game to this point in his career, but the senior was excellent on Saturday not, helping spring a handful of Ohio State’s big plays with critical blitz pick ups. The broadcast mentioned how well the Buckeyes’ skill position players were blocking, and Henderson was a big part of that.
The Bad
First Half Defense
For the second week in a row, Ohio State’s defense came out of the gates slow. The Buckeyes were getting gashed early on by Chiles and the Michigan State offense, and if not for those turnovers deep in their own territory, this could have been a much closer game at the half.
The Spartans put up 186 yards of offense over the first two quarters, with Chiles completing 10 of his 13 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown. Ohio State’s defensive backs for the last two games have started off the game playing way too far off the receivers, allowing opposing quarterbacks to dink and dunk them down the field. They have also gotten very little from the pass rush without Tyleik Williams up the middle, who was available on Saturday but held out for precautionary reasons.
It is very strange that they have done this twice in a row, especially with Jim Knowles making adjustments at half and the Silver Bullets looking like a completely different group out of halftime. By comparison, Michigan State totaled just 60 yards in the second half.
I’m not sure if the group just plays with more confidence after their offense has gotten them a big lead, but Ohio State certainly cannot afford to spot a team like Oregon some free points in the first half with a lackadaisical performance over two quarters of the game. The Buckeyes may also have to take a look at their linebacker rotations, as both Sonny Styles and C.J. Hicks have struggled at the Will so far this season.
The Ugly
Throwing Into Double Coverage
By far the worst play of the game for Ohio State was Will Howard’s interception. On 3rd-and-4 from their own side of the field, Howard threw a ball into double coverage that never had any chance of being completed, and it was summarily picked off by Michigan State’s Jordan Turner. It was unclear what exactly Howard was looking at on the play, as it was just a really bad read by the quarterback who has been otherwise very good for the Buckeyes.
The interception set up the Spartans’ lone touchdown of the night, as the 36-yard return set up a 12-yard touchdown pass from Chiles to Jaron Glover to make it a slim 10-7 lead for Ohio State at the time.
They’ll go over it in film and figure out exactly what went wrong on that play, but it couldn’t be left out of the ‘Ugly’ section because it was definitely that: Ugly.
Continue reading...