Toledo Recap
There's not much point in preparing a detailed analysis of a 77-21 blowout, so I'm not gonna do it. The offense produced a near-record 763 total yards (second only to the 776 yards against Bowling Green in 2016), 9.8 yards per play, 36 first downs, 11/13 on 3rd down, and 35:26 time of possession. The stars of the offense were the usual suspects: CJ Stroud (22/27, .815, 367 yards, 5 TDs, no INTs); Emeka Egbuka (7 receptions, 116 yards, TD + rushing TD); Marvin Harrison Jr. (6 receptions, 102 yards, 2 TD); and Miyan Williams (10 carries, 77 yards). TreVeyon Henderson had 4 carries for 19 yards and a TD before leaving with an apparent injury. Jaxon Smith-Njigba (2 receptions, 33 yards) and Julian Fleming (3 receptions, 23 yards, 2 TDs) both returned from injury to have productive games, while tight end Cade Stover had a breakout performance (3 receptions, 83 yards).
In a lopsided contest, some lesser-known players will get a chance to shine, and quite a few Buckeyes had their moments last night. Quarterback Kyle McCord completed 5 of his 7 passes (.714) for 115 yards and a TD, with most of those throws going to Jayden Ballard (4 receptions, 113 yards, 72-yard TD). True freshman Dallan Hayden led the team in rushing with 17 carries for 108 yards (long of 45) and a TD, while walk-on TC Caffey added 6 carries for 57 yards, including a 49-yard TD run that was the highlight play of the game. In a call straight out of the Jim Harbaugh playbook, tight end Mitch Rossi lined up as a fullback in the I-formation and scored a TD on a dive play. True freshmen QB Devin Brown (1-yard rush) and WR Kyion Grayes (2-yard reception) each made it onto the stat sheet for the first time.
The defense wasn't quite so hot as the offense, surrendering 21 points and 307 yards to a MAC team. Granted, quarterback Dequan Finn (223 total yards) deserves a higher platform on which to display his talents than Toledo can provide, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that he's the second coming of Michael Vick. We can try to rationalize the defense's lackluster performance by noting that the Rockets had only four big plays all night, but three of those resulted in touchdowns (23-yard run; 40-yard pass; 50-yard pass). One of the long touchdowns was essentially an arm punt that the Buckeye defender (Denzel Burke, channeling Shaun Wade) didn't react to quickly enough, but the other two were cases of a bad team simply out-executing a good team for huge plays. On the positive side of the ledger, the defense did produce 3 sacks, 6 other TFLs, and a pair of turnovers, and held Toledo to 5 of 15 (.333) on 3rd and 4th downs.
Overall, the game reminded me somewhat of the 2018 Oregon State contest in which the Buckeyes scored 77 points and piled up 721 total yards, while the defense gave up 392 yards and 31 points, 21 of which came on three longs plays (49-yard pass; 78-yard run; 80-yard run). If I recall correctly, the BP Community was furious with the defense's big play failures against lowly Oregon State, but strangely enough most of us seemed to accept the defense's big play failures against even lowlier Toledo. Are we seeing actual substantive differences in the level and style of play between 2018 and 2022, or are we still in the honeymoon phase with new DC Jim Knowles?
