In a game that Buckeye fans will immediately do their best to forget, the Buckeyes managed to get past Northern Illinois in a low-scoring, mistake-filled, mostly unwatchable game.
Ohio State played poorly from the start, with their first possession being pretty much doomed by little mistakes before making a huge one, turning the ball over in their own end of the field. The Huskies scored with ease thanks to a short field, against a Buckeye defense that didn't seem ready to be on the field yet after the sudden change. The Silver Bullets would soon find their bearings, but the offense never did.
The errors on offense were many, and it's difficult to think of players and coaches on that side of the ball who might escape a share of the blame for the performance. Cardale Jones threw two bad interceptions and was completely ineffective before getting pulled in favor of JT Barrett in the second quarter. He would not see any more snaps. Barrett was only slightly less poor - he helped get the Buckeyes back in it by leading their only touchdown drive of day. He threw an interception of his own however, and by all rights should have been picked off on a couple other occasions. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for more than a hundred yards, but he lost a fumble and and was very inefficient. He failed to convert in short yardage a few times. Braxton Miller dropped the football in the backfield, made fantastic hesitation move on a play that went for no game, and was otherwise invisible. The offensive line played passively and made crippling errors that put an already ineffective attack behind the chains.
Ohio State was lucky that they were playing a team like Northern Illinois. The Huskies played that game like they were the favorites, like they expected to win. I do not mean that as a compliment. They completely lacked verve and creativity. Their coaches called a chickenshit game. They were the recipients of five turnovers and managed to score a paltry ten points off of them. They had multiple chances to take calculated, moderate risks that really could have turned the result of the game on its ear. They declined to go for the Buckeyes' throats at every opportunity. The Buckeyes didn't really deserve to win, but neither did the Huskies.
The defense deserves credit. They won this game. They made stops despite facing field position disadvantages most of the day. They made big plays in critical situations. They scored when the Buckeyes needed some breathing room. They only went from being an impenetrable wall to bending slightly in the face of late game pressure only because they had spent so much time on the field. Even then, they didn't break and they closed the game.
Top Plays:
2.) The offense was mostly putrid, but this was a good throw and a great catch:
1.) Darron Lee was the best player on the field today. Enjoy him while we have him Buckeye fans, because next season he'll be wearing an NFL uniform and paying people to count his money:
PATs:
Ohio State played poorly from the start, with their first possession being pretty much doomed by little mistakes before making a huge one, turning the ball over in their own end of the field. The Huskies scored with ease thanks to a short field, against a Buckeye defense that didn't seem ready to be on the field yet after the sudden change. The Silver Bullets would soon find their bearings, but the offense never did.
The errors on offense were many, and it's difficult to think of players and coaches on that side of the ball who might escape a share of the blame for the performance. Cardale Jones threw two bad interceptions and was completely ineffective before getting pulled in favor of JT Barrett in the second quarter. He would not see any more snaps. Barrett was only slightly less poor - he helped get the Buckeyes back in it by leading their only touchdown drive of day. He threw an interception of his own however, and by all rights should have been picked off on a couple other occasions. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for more than a hundred yards, but he lost a fumble and and was very inefficient. He failed to convert in short yardage a few times. Braxton Miller dropped the football in the backfield, made fantastic hesitation move on a play that went for no game, and was otherwise invisible. The offensive line played passively and made crippling errors that put an already ineffective attack behind the chains.
Ohio State was lucky that they were playing a team like Northern Illinois. The Huskies played that game like they were the favorites, like they expected to win. I do not mean that as a compliment. They completely lacked verve and creativity. Their coaches called a chickenshit game. They were the recipients of five turnovers and managed to score a paltry ten points off of them. They had multiple chances to take calculated, moderate risks that really could have turned the result of the game on its ear. They declined to go for the Buckeyes' throats at every opportunity. The Buckeyes didn't really deserve to win, but neither did the Huskies.
The defense deserves credit. They won this game. They made stops despite facing field position disadvantages most of the day. They made big plays in critical situations. They scored when the Buckeyes needed some breathing room. They only went from being an impenetrable wall to bending slightly in the face of late game pressure only because they had spent so much time on the field. Even then, they didn't break and they closed the game.
Top Plays:
2.) The offense was mostly putrid, but this was a good throw and a great catch:
1.) Darron Lee was the best player on the field today. Enjoy him while we have him Buckeye fans, because next season he'll be wearing an NFL uniform and paying people to count his money:
PATs:
- The #FEEDZEKE meme needs to die. It's a take that completely lacks nuance or understanding of the context of the game. He had 23 carries today. That is an ideal number. If he starts getting more carries than that he will wear down as the year progresses, and with the Buckeyes' backloaded schedule they need to keep him fresh for those games where they'll really need him to carry the water.
- The "TERRIBLE PLAYCALLING" meme needs to die too - not because the playcalling has been good, but because it's the hottest of hot takes that nobody seems to be able to follow up with any kind of support or explanation beyond "FEED ZEKE." It's an opinion that again, neglects how the players are executing and the situation of the game. Stubbornly sticking with the run doesn't work when penalties put the offense in long yardage situations. It doesn't work often enough to do it all game when an opponent puts nine men in the box and dares you to throw. It doesn't work when the offensive line is getting their tails whipped.
- The playcalling did stink though. However instead of just sitting here and muttering "DURRRR... PLAYCALLING BAD," lets explore some specifics about why it was terrible:
- The problem with Elliott's touches was not the number that he got, but the situations that he got them in. Out of his 23 carries, only eight of them came on first down. One of those eight was a garbage carry to end the first half. With an offense that was struggling, the best thing they could have done to make things go more smoothly would have been to give themselves manageable second and third down situations. The best way to do that is the run the ball with one of the country's top running backs. I can't recall how many times I saw Miller, Samuel and/or Wilson in the backfield instead of Elliott on first down. It's not a good idea to give Elliott 30+ carries every week, but at least they could stop playing with an arm behind their back on first down as much as they did.
- The situational playcalling at the end of the game was criminally bad. When the coaches just needed to close down shop and preserve the win, they were calling pass plays and snapping the ball with 20 seconds still on the play clock. It was criminally bad clock management. It was like one of those situations in a video game where the CPU decides that everything is going to go against you and a game that shouldn't be close ends up being a nail biter. Instead of keeping a level head and manage it, you take risks to try to restore order. This isn't a video game though, it's real football with high stakes and that sort of mismanagement could have cost the Buckeyes the game.
- The problem with Elliott's touches was not the number that he got, but the situations that he got them in. Out of his 23 carries, only eight of them came on first down. One of those eight was a garbage carry to end the first half. With an offense that was struggling, the best thing they could have done to make things go more smoothly would have been to give themselves manageable second and third down situations. The best way to do that is the run the ball with one of the country's top running backs. I can't recall how many times I saw Miller, Samuel and/or Wilson in the backfield instead of Elliott on first down. It's not a good idea to give Elliott 30+ carries every week, but at least they could stop playing with an arm behind their back on first down as much as they did.
- In the offseason, Urban Meyer spoke repeatedly about the need to battle complacency in this year's team. It would be the team's biggest obstacle he said. He's responsible for battling it, and so far it is a battle that he is losing. In hindsight it also sounds like an arrogant assessment of this team's readiness to play football. The problems we're seeing come down to more than just players' heads not being in the right place. There are fundamental executional problems that need to be fixed. An attitude adjustment would probably go a long way toward getting players to focus on playing crisper football though. Meyer's teams that have started slowly have typically come around on that front, and we'll see if this year's team is another one in that mold.
