Post Game Recap
1. There's 8:10 left in the second quarter. Ohio State's offense looks disjointed, its defense looks disinterested. Western Kentucky has just scored a touchdown to cap a 7-play, 75-yard drive and cut the Buckeye lead to 14-10. Ohio State is on upset alert, Western Kentucky is swaggering like the 1987 Miami Hurricanes, and Buckeye Nation is blowing up the Internets.
Ryan Day's team has now played 9-and-a-half consecutive quarters of listless, uninspired football to begin the season. Hoping to inject some energy into his floundering team, Day dials up a "go" route to Marvin Harrison Jr. Day knows that Harrison will be open, but will his revamped offensive line be able to hold up under pressure, and will his "rookie" quarterback be able to deliver the ball accurately and on time? Yes and yes, and 10 seconds later Harrison finds paydirt and the rout is on. Kyle McCord's confidence increases by an order of magnitude, the defense suddenly starts flying around like Silver Bullets, and the team's collective heart grew three sizes that day.
That one play certainly changed the course of this game, but did it also change the course of the entire season? Flash back to the 2014 season.... Ohio State opened with a close call against Navy (the Buckeyes were actually down in the 3rd quarter) before suffering a disastrous loss to Virginia Tech in Week Two, being thoroughly outplayed on both sides of the ball by a team that would finish the season with a record of 7-6. After the perfunctory curb stomping of Kent State, the Buckeyes again looked suspect against Cincinnati (the Buckeyes led 33-28 midway through the 3rd quarter before pulling away late). In Week Seven, the Buckeyes needed a walk-off sack from Joey Bosa to beat Penn State (7-6 overall, 2-6 in Big Ten) in double overtime. Then in Week Nine, the #14 Buckeyes played at #8 Michigan State, a game that looked like a definite loss on paper. And sure enough, Michigan State raced out to a 21-14 lead with 4:30 left in the first half ... and then Ohio State fumbled the ensuing kick-off to apparently seal their fate. The Spartans had a chance to finish off the Buckeyes and they almost did, but Sparty Spartied: an 11-yard touchdown run was called back due to offensive holding and the MSU kicker shanked a 39-yard field goal attempt. On the very next play, JT Barrett hit Michael Thomas for a 79-yard touchdown and a tied score. Not only was that play was the turning point in that game, but it was the first time all season that the Buckeyes looked like true championship contenders, a team that has what it takes to win big games against top-notch opponents.
Of course there are two major differences between the 2014 MSU epiphany and yesterday's magic moment: Western Kentucky, as scrappy as they may be, is nowhere near a top-10 team; and a Week Three tune-up at home has only a slight fraction of the pressure of a Week Nine contest on the road against a tough conference foe. Nevertheless, it was good to see this team finally gel and play like a projected playoff team. Can they keep up the momentum next week against Notre Dame? I think that they will.
2. Kyle McCord finished 19/23 for 318 yards and 3 touchdowns; the only negative play was a strip sack midway through the first quarter that led to a Western Kentucky field goal. Marvin Harrison Jr had 5 receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown, and Emeka Egbuka had 4 receptions for 57 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tight end Cade Stover added 5 receptions for 90 yards, but fumbled (recovered by Ohio State) and whiffed on a block on a bubble screen (a recurring theme for him). True freshman Carnell Tate had a pair of catches for 40 yards, including his first career touchdown (28 yards from Devin Brown, his first career touchdown pass).
3. Ohio State ran the ball 33 times for 204 yards (6.2 average) and 3 touchdowns. Starter TreVeyon Henderson had a short afternoon, with just 13 carries for 88 yards and a pair of scores (7 yards; 21 yards); he also added a 27-yard reception. Former linebacker DeaMonte Trayanum seems to have secured his place as Henderson's primary back-up, with 5 rushes for 56 yards and a 40-yard touchdown.
4. The Buckeye offense scored 4 touchdowns in the final 8 minutes of the 2nd quarter. Here is a recap of those drives:
• One play, 75 yards, 10 seconds
• One play, 40 yards, 7 seconds
• Four plays, 48 yards, 85 seconds
• Three plays, 58 yards, 20 seconds
That's a grand total of 9 plays for 221 yards (24.6 yards per play) ... 28 points in 222 seconds (one point every 7.9 seconds) ... 221 yards in 222 seconds (one yard per second).
5. The Buckeye defense finally caused some turnovers, forcing three fumbles (two recovered by Ohio State) and two interceptions. One of the fumbles was recovered in the end zone by defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, who somehow ended up with the football despite being the eighth or ninth guy to jump on the pile. The interceptions were recorded by Steele Chambers (0 yards) and Jermaine Matthews Jr (58-yard pick six); Josh Proctor dropped an easy interception (a recurring theme for him) that would've likely been another pick six. The defense also racked up 8 TFLs, including a pair of sacks (Tyleik Williams and Mitchell Melton, who always seemed to be around the football). Kudos especially to the second and third units, who played with the same intensity as the starters and held WKU scoreless for the final 20+ minutes of the game.
6. Hilltopper running back Markese Stepp played his high school ball in Indianapolis and was recruited by Ohio State before eventually signing with Southern Cal as part of the Trojans class of 2018. Stepp lasted three years at USC before transferring to Nebraska for the 2021 season. After just one year in Lincoln, Stepp transferred to Western Kentucky. Now a sixth-year senior, Stepp is a little-used running back on a team that throws the ball seventy percent of the time. Against Ohio State, Stepp had 8 carries for 19 yards and 2 receptions for 5 yards.
1. There's 8:10 left in the second quarter. Ohio State's offense looks disjointed, its defense looks disinterested. Western Kentucky has just scored a touchdown to cap a 7-play, 75-yard drive and cut the Buckeye lead to 14-10. Ohio State is on upset alert, Western Kentucky is swaggering like the 1987 Miami Hurricanes, and Buckeye Nation is blowing up the Internets.
Ryan Day's team has now played 9-and-a-half consecutive quarters of listless, uninspired football to begin the season. Hoping to inject some energy into his floundering team, Day dials up a "go" route to Marvin Harrison Jr. Day knows that Harrison will be open, but will his revamped offensive line be able to hold up under pressure, and will his "rookie" quarterback be able to deliver the ball accurately and on time? Yes and yes, and 10 seconds later Harrison finds paydirt and the rout is on. Kyle McCord's confidence increases by an order of magnitude, the defense suddenly starts flying around like Silver Bullets, and the team's collective heart grew three sizes that day.
That one play certainly changed the course of this game, but did it also change the course of the entire season? Flash back to the 2014 season.... Ohio State opened with a close call against Navy (the Buckeyes were actually down in the 3rd quarter) before suffering a disastrous loss to Virginia Tech in Week Two, being thoroughly outplayed on both sides of the ball by a team that would finish the season with a record of 7-6. After the perfunctory curb stomping of Kent State, the Buckeyes again looked suspect against Cincinnati (the Buckeyes led 33-28 midway through the 3rd quarter before pulling away late). In Week Seven, the Buckeyes needed a walk-off sack from Joey Bosa to beat Penn State (7-6 overall, 2-6 in Big Ten) in double overtime. Then in Week Nine, the #14 Buckeyes played at #8 Michigan State, a game that looked like a definite loss on paper. And sure enough, Michigan State raced out to a 21-14 lead with 4:30 left in the first half ... and then Ohio State fumbled the ensuing kick-off to apparently seal their fate. The Spartans had a chance to finish off the Buckeyes and they almost did, but Sparty Spartied: an 11-yard touchdown run was called back due to offensive holding and the MSU kicker shanked a 39-yard field goal attempt. On the very next play, JT Barrett hit Michael Thomas for a 79-yard touchdown and a tied score. Not only was that play was the turning point in that game, but it was the first time all season that the Buckeyes looked like true championship contenders, a team that has what it takes to win big games against top-notch opponents.
Of course there are two major differences between the 2014 MSU epiphany and yesterday's magic moment: Western Kentucky, as scrappy as they may be, is nowhere near a top-10 team; and a Week Three tune-up at home has only a slight fraction of the pressure of a Week Nine contest on the road against a tough conference foe. Nevertheless, it was good to see this team finally gel and play like a projected playoff team. Can they keep up the momentum next week against Notre Dame? I think that they will.
2. Kyle McCord finished 19/23 for 318 yards and 3 touchdowns; the only negative play was a strip sack midway through the first quarter that led to a Western Kentucky field goal. Marvin Harrison Jr had 5 receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown, and Emeka Egbuka had 4 receptions for 57 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tight end Cade Stover added 5 receptions for 90 yards, but fumbled (recovered by Ohio State) and whiffed on a block on a bubble screen (a recurring theme for him). True freshman Carnell Tate had a pair of catches for 40 yards, including his first career touchdown (28 yards from Devin Brown, his first career touchdown pass).
3. Ohio State ran the ball 33 times for 204 yards (6.2 average) and 3 touchdowns. Starter TreVeyon Henderson had a short afternoon, with just 13 carries for 88 yards and a pair of scores (7 yards; 21 yards); he also added a 27-yard reception. Former linebacker DeaMonte Trayanum seems to have secured his place as Henderson's primary back-up, with 5 rushes for 56 yards and a 40-yard touchdown.
4. The Buckeye offense scored 4 touchdowns in the final 8 minutes of the 2nd quarter. Here is a recap of those drives:
• One play, 75 yards, 10 seconds
• One play, 40 yards, 7 seconds
• Four plays, 48 yards, 85 seconds
• Three plays, 58 yards, 20 seconds
That's a grand total of 9 plays for 221 yards (24.6 yards per play) ... 28 points in 222 seconds (one point every 7.9 seconds) ... 221 yards in 222 seconds (one yard per second).
5. The Buckeye defense finally caused some turnovers, forcing three fumbles (two recovered by Ohio State) and two interceptions. One of the fumbles was recovered in the end zone by defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, who somehow ended up with the football despite being the eighth or ninth guy to jump on the pile. The interceptions were recorded by Steele Chambers (0 yards) and Jermaine Matthews Jr (58-yard pick six); Josh Proctor dropped an easy interception (a recurring theme for him) that would've likely been another pick six. The defense also racked up 8 TFLs, including a pair of sacks (Tyleik Williams and Mitchell Melton, who always seemed to be around the football). Kudos especially to the second and third units, who played with the same intensity as the starters and held WKU scoreless for the final 20+ minutes of the game.
6. Hilltopper running back Markese Stepp played his high school ball in Indianapolis and was recruited by Ohio State before eventually signing with Southern Cal as part of the Trojans class of 2018. Stepp lasted three years at USC before transferring to Nebraska for the 2021 season. After just one year in Lincoln, Stepp transferred to Western Kentucky. Now a sixth-year senior, Stepp is a little-used running back on a team that throws the ball seventy percent of the time. Against Ohio State, Stepp had 8 carries for 19 yards and 2 receptions for 5 yards.
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