Brett Ludwiczak
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Using songs from Akron artists to wrap up Ohio State’s 52-6 win
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
There are five songs that help to put a bow on Saturday’s win over the Zips
Ohio State kicked off their 2024 season on Saturday afternoon with a 52-6 blowout of Akron in Columbus. The Buckeyes started off a little slow against the Zips but turned things on in the second half to register the 46 point victory, falling just a couple points shy of covering the point spread. The win was the 25th straight season-opening victory for Ohio State.
To wrap up the triumph for the Buckeyes, we are going to lean on some of the most famous musicians from the city of Akron. Aside from The Black Keys, who are the most famous recent act from the “Rubber City”, there are a number of other notable musicians from the city just a little under two hours from Columbus. There are five songs from Akron’s finest musicians that perfectly summarize what we saw in Ohio Stadium yesterday.
Even before wide receiver Jeremiah Smith arrived on campus in January, there has a been a massive amount of hype surrounding the wide receiver. After seeing Smith during the spring game, as well as hearing coaches and teammates gush about him over the last few months, it was finally time to see Smith in action in his first collegiate game.
There may have been a few early jitters for Smith, who had a drop and a penalty on Ohio State’s first drive of the game, but he quickly put the negative plays aside and went to work. Smith scored Ohio State’s first and second touchdowns of the season, become the first Buckeye freshman wide receiver to score two touchdowns in his debut since Michael Wiley in 1996. Along with his two scores, Smith finished with six catches for 92 yards, both high marks on the day among Ohio State receivers.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25598489/2169655396.jpg "Akron v Ohio State")
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
With his impressive debut, we are already wondering if there is anything Smith can’t do. While Emeka Egbuka returned for one more year, and Carnell Tate is looking to build off his solid freshman season, it looked obvious that Smith was quarterback Will Howard’s favorite target. Then again, it’s hard to blame Howard from targeting Smith so much since it seems Smith can do everything, including walk across water.
That’s exactly what the Ohio State defense did to Ben Finley and the Akron offense. The first snap of the game was ugly for the Buckeye defense, as Davison Igbinosun hit a sliding Finley to draw a personal foul with targeting penalty for the cornerback. After review, the targeting was taken away, allowing Igbinosun to stay in the game. With Finley in the locker room, Akron would put together a drive that ended in a field goal, giving the Zips an early lead.
Finley would soon return to the game, but the NC State and Cal transfer might have been better off staying on the sidelines. Jack Sawyer would lay a couple punishing hits on Finley, leading to the Akron quarterback leaving the game for good in the first half. Finley’s final stat line would see him go 8/14 for 53 yards and an interception. Tahj Bullock wouldn’t fair much better, passing for 68 yards on his nine completions.
This Ohio State defense has a mean streak to them and it is going to be fun to watch the physicality they bring to games as the season moves along. The only thing the Buckeyes have to be careful about is make sure their aggression is controlled, unlike Igbinosun’s hit. While the Buckeyes were able to avoid the dreaded targeting call in this situation, they might not be so lucky in a bigger game later in the year.
No, this one isn’t about Ryan Day. Here we are going to focus on the Ohio State rushing attack, which had a hard time getting going on Saturday. While some of the mediocre ground game can be attributed to guard Donovan Jackson being a surprise scratch from the game, Quinshon Judkins averaged just over four yards per carry in his Buckeye debut. TreVeyon Henderson was a little better, finishing with 65 yards on eight carries. Overall, Ohio State ran for 170 yards in the game.
The good news for the Buckeyes is they didn’t need to go crazy on the ground since Will Howard found his rhythm through the air as the game went on. At least Ohio State will have a few dress rehearsals to fine-tune the run game before the Buckeyes move into Big Ten play. What is for certain is Henderson and Judkins will have to be better next month in Eugene and at the end of November against Michigan. The running backs and offensive line will probably have Day and Chip Kelly in their ears a lot over the next few weeks to get that aspect of the offense sharper than we saw on Saturday.
Lead singer Chrissie Hynde is from Akron and the 1994 hit from The Pretenders works well with Ohio State’s pass protection in Saturday’s game. Even though there were some lapses in run blocking for the offensive line, the same can’t be said for the unit’s pass protection. Akron wasn’t able to record a sack in the game, marking the first time since 2022 against Wisconsin that Ohio State didn’t allow a sack in the game.
It also helps that Howard does have some mobility that allowed him to escape pressure on the rare occasions he saw some. The ability of Howard to move is what is going to set him apart from what was seen from Kyle McCord last year. There still may be things for the Ohio State offensive line to work on, but they are headed in the right direction, and things will be even better when Jackson returns to the field. Even though Howard isn’t going to go the whole season without being sacked, the line has the ability to keep him clean more often than not, and with this year’s season being the longest we’ve ever seen, keeping your quarterback healthy is going to be crucial for those teams looking to contend for a national title.
Another lead singer who is from Akron is Maynard James Keenan of Tool and A Perfect Circle. On Saturday the Ohio State secondary looked pretty invincible after they regrouped from Igbinosun’s early penalty. Denzel Burke nabbed an interception in the first half and Lathan Ransom led the team in tackles and returned a fumble for the touchdown. The only downside of the performance was we didn’t see a whole lot from Alabama safety transfer Caleb Downs.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25598492/usa_today_24129541.jpg "Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch")
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
The secondary is going to be the strength of the defense this year. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles wants to see more turnovers and that’s exactly what he got in the opener, as the defensive backs accounted for two of the three turnovers. With Burke, Igbinosun, Ransom, Downs, and Jordan Hancock it’s going to be extremely tough for opponents to find success through the air. This group has the potential to be one of the best collection of defensive backs we have ever seen at Ohio State.
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Brett Ludwiczak 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
There are five songs that help to put a bow on Saturday’s win over the Zips
Ohio State kicked off their 2024 season on Saturday afternoon with a 52-6 blowout of Akron in Columbus. The Buckeyes started off a little slow against the Zips but turned things on in the second half to register the 46 point victory, falling just a couple points shy of covering the point spread. The win was the 25th straight season-opening victory for Ohio State.
To wrap up the triumph for the Buckeyes, we are going to lean on some of the most famous musicians from the city of Akron. Aside from The Black Keys, who are the most famous recent act from the “Rubber City”, there are a number of other notable musicians from the city just a little under two hours from Columbus. There are five songs from Akron’s finest musicians that perfectly summarize what we saw in Ohio Stadium yesterday.
“Walk Across Water” - The Black Keys
Even before wide receiver Jeremiah Smith arrived on campus in January, there has a been a massive amount of hype surrounding the wide receiver. After seeing Smith during the spring game, as well as hearing coaches and teammates gush about him over the last few months, it was finally time to see Smith in action in his first collegiate game.
There may have been a few early jitters for Smith, who had a drop and a penalty on Ohio State’s first drive of the game, but he quickly put the negative plays aside and went to work. Smith scored Ohio State’s first and second touchdowns of the season, become the first Buckeye freshman wide receiver to score two touchdowns in his debut since Michael Wiley in 1996. Along with his two scores, Smith finished with six catches for 92 yards, both high marks on the day among Ohio State receivers.
With his impressive debut, we are already wondering if there is anything Smith can’t do. While Emeka Egbuka returned for one more year, and Carnell Tate is looking to build off his solid freshman season, it looked obvious that Smith was quarterback Will Howard’s favorite target. Then again, it’s hard to blame Howard from targeting Smith so much since it seems Smith can do everything, including walk across water.
“Whip It” - Devo
That’s exactly what the Ohio State defense did to Ben Finley and the Akron offense. The first snap of the game was ugly for the Buckeye defense, as Davison Igbinosun hit a sliding Finley to draw a personal foul with targeting penalty for the cornerback. After review, the targeting was taken away, allowing Igbinosun to stay in the game. With Finley in the locker room, Akron would put together a drive that ended in a field goal, giving the Zips an early lead.
Finley would soon return to the game, but the NC State and Cal transfer might have been better off staying on the sidelines. Jack Sawyer would lay a couple punishing hits on Finley, leading to the Akron quarterback leaving the game for good in the first half. Finley’s final stat line would see him go 8/14 for 53 yards and an interception. Tahj Bullock wouldn’t fair much better, passing for 68 yards on his nine completions.
This Ohio State defense has a mean streak to them and it is going to be fun to watch the physicality they bring to games as the season moves along. The only thing the Buckeyes have to be careful about is make sure their aggression is controlled, unlike Igbinosun’s hit. While the Buckeyes were able to avoid the dreaded targeting call in this situation, they might not be so lucky in a bigger game later in the year.
“Our Day Will Come” - Ruby & the Romantics
No, this one isn’t about Ryan Day. Here we are going to focus on the Ohio State rushing attack, which had a hard time getting going on Saturday. While some of the mediocre ground game can be attributed to guard Donovan Jackson being a surprise scratch from the game, Quinshon Judkins averaged just over four yards per carry in his Buckeye debut. TreVeyon Henderson was a little better, finishing with 65 yards on eight carries. Overall, Ohio State ran for 170 yards in the game.
The good news for the Buckeyes is they didn’t need to go crazy on the ground since Will Howard found his rhythm through the air as the game went on. At least Ohio State will have a few dress rehearsals to fine-tune the run game before the Buckeyes move into Big Ten play. What is for certain is Henderson and Judkins will have to be better next month in Eugene and at the end of November against Michigan. The running backs and offensive line will probably have Day and Chip Kelly in their ears a lot over the next few weeks to get that aspect of the offense sharper than we saw on Saturday.
“I’ll Stand by You” - The Pretenders
Lead singer Chrissie Hynde is from Akron and the 1994 hit from The Pretenders works well with Ohio State’s pass protection in Saturday’s game. Even though there were some lapses in run blocking for the offensive line, the same can’t be said for the unit’s pass protection. Akron wasn’t able to record a sack in the game, marking the first time since 2022 against Wisconsin that Ohio State didn’t allow a sack in the game.
It also helps that Howard does have some mobility that allowed him to escape pressure on the rare occasions he saw some. The ability of Howard to move is what is going to set him apart from what was seen from Kyle McCord last year. There still may be things for the Ohio State offensive line to work on, but they are headed in the right direction, and things will be even better when Jackson returns to the field. Even though Howard isn’t going to go the whole season without being sacked, the line has the ability to keep him clean more often than not, and with this year’s season being the longest we’ve ever seen, keeping your quarterback healthy is going to be crucial for those teams looking to contend for a national title.
“Invincible” - Tool
Another lead singer who is from Akron is Maynard James Keenan of Tool and A Perfect Circle. On Saturday the Ohio State secondary looked pretty invincible after they regrouped from Igbinosun’s early penalty. Denzel Burke nabbed an interception in the first half and Lathan Ransom led the team in tackles and returned a fumble for the touchdown. The only downside of the performance was we didn’t see a whole lot from Alabama safety transfer Caleb Downs.
The secondary is going to be the strength of the defense this year. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles wants to see more turnovers and that’s exactly what he got in the opener, as the defensive backs accounted for two of the three turnovers. With Burke, Igbinosun, Ransom, Downs, and Jordan Hancock it’s going to be extremely tough for opponents to find success through the air. This group has the potential to be one of the best collection of defensive backs we have ever seen at Ohio State.
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