Brett Ludwiczak
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Wrapping up Ohio State’s win over Marshall with works from Billy Crystal
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The famous actor attended Marshall on a baseball scholarship, but the program was suspended when he was a freshman.
Following their first of two bye weeks this season, Ohio State was back on the field on Saturday, having little trouble closing out the non-conference portion of their regular season schedule with a 49-14 win over Marshall.
The performance by the Buckeyes was reminiscent of what we saw in the season opener against Akron, with Ohio State coming out of the gates a little rusty before quickly finding their rhythm and burying their overmatched opponent.
When looking at some of the famous alumni from Marshall, I was surprised to find out that Billy Crystal actually attended the university on a baseball scholarship. This is probably the first you are hearing of this as well since the baseball program was suspended during Crystal’s freshman year and he didn’t return to Huntington as a sophomore, instead deciding to return to New York City.
Since we recapped the Akron win with help from musicians from the city, and the Western Michigan win with episode titles from Home Improvement, we might as well keep the weirdness going when it comes to summaries by using works from Billy Crystal to describe what we saw at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.
Even though Crystal only played a small uncredited role in this movie, it still shows up on his filmography, so we’ll use it to describe Ohio State’s Rocky and Bullwinkle: running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. Following a rather quiet season debut for the combo against Akron, Henderson and Judkins have been dominant over the last two games.
After both running backs had two touchdowns against Western Michigan, they accomplished the feat again against Marshall. Henderson only carried the football six times, making the most of his carries by racking up 76 yards. Judkins had the best game of his short Ohio State career, finishing with 173 yards on 14 carries, highlighted by an 86-yard touchdown run. Had it not been for a holding call a couple weeks ago, Judkins would have touchdown runs of at least 70 yards in back-to-back games.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25633452/2173564432.jpg "Marshall v Ohio State")
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
What Judkins and Henderson did against the Thundering Herd goes so much beyond the stat sheet. The two running backs had some physical runs in the game, earning a good chunk of yardage after contact. Even more impressive is they are putting up these numbers without being used heavily. So far this season, Judkins has 36 carries and Henderson has 24 carries.
Day and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly know the Rocky and Bullwinkle of the Buckeye offense are going to be needed more as the season goes on, so they are using them enough to strike fear in future opponents but not so much to wear they’ll be worn out in November and beyond.
When it comes to Ohio State wide receivers so far this season, most of the attention has deservedly been paid to true freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Against Marshall, Emeka Egbuka reminded people that he is still the leader of the receivers.
On Ohio State’s second offensive play of the game, Egbuka took a screen pass 68 yards to the house, scoring his first touchdown of the season. The senior from Washington finished with five receptions for 117 yards and a score.
With his effort today, Egbuka moved up to 12th in school history in career receptions and yardage. Egbuka entered the game three catches away from moving ahead of Ted Ginn Jr.’s 135 career receptions and less than 100 yards shy of moving past the 2,090 yards Dee Miller amassed as a Buckeye.
With six more receptions, Egbuka will move past Santonio Holmes, Parris Campbell, and Garrett Wilson for ninth-most in school history, To reach the top-10 in receiving yards, Egbuka needs just 130 receiving yards.
What makes Egbuka’s totals so impressive is he has done it rather quietly since becoming a Buckeye. There always has been a superstar overshadowing Egbuka. Earlier in his career, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marvin Harrison got the headlines when it came to Buckeye receivers, and now Jeremiah Smith is getting the same treatment. Overlook Egbuka all you want, but eventually he is going to make opponents pay for focusing their attention elsewhere.
On my way into work this morning I was listening to the Ohio State pregame show on the radio and was surprised to hear that Tyleik Williams wasn’t going to play against Marshall. I completely understand why he didn’t play, since Ryan Day can afford to let Williams rest up in a game like this ahead of the start of Big Ten play next week. It was obvious the defense wasn’t quite the same without the big defensive tackle on the field, though.
The Buckeye defense didn’t look quite as dominant without Williams in the lineup. On their first drive, Marshall went down the field and not only became the first team to run a play in the red zone against Ohio State this year, they also scored the first touchdown against the Buckeyes. Jim Knowles’ crew just wasn’t quite as crisp as we saw against Western Michigan, where they allowed less than 100 yards of offense.
At least it sounds like the injury to Williams is minor and he should be back out on the field as early as next week. Had this been a game against Oregon, Penn State, or Michigan, I would have to imagine Williams would have played. Keeping Williams healthy is going to be a key for the defense. While Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau will get more of the attention on the defensive line, it’s obvious Williams is the straw that stirs the drink.
I’m not exactly sure what Ryan Day is doing with quarterback Devin Brown. When Buckeye games turn into blowouts the rest of the season, I’d. much rather see Julian Sayin as the first quarterback off the bench to take over for Will Howard.
Not only do I think Sayin would give the Buckeyes a better chance to win if Howard is injured at some point this season, Sayin is also the quarterback of the future. Why are in-game snaps being wasted on Brown when it is obvious he has hit his ceiling in Columbus?
Brown has had two chances to win the quarterback job at Ohio State and both times he fell short. Even when he started the Cotton Bowl against Missouri, he didn’t look all that good before getting injured. Day not getting his backup quarterbacks enough snaps to prepare them for the future has been a problem in the past.
Even when Day has had the opportunity this year to get the backup some work, he is giving the wrong quarterback snaps. Brown has fought hard during his time as a Buckeye, but the smart move for him is to hit the transfer portal after this season since Sayin is the favorite to start for Ohio State in 2025.
Can we all acknowledge just how terrible the referees were in Saturday’s game? There were numerous frustrating calls that were made by the officials, thankfully it didn’t have a major impact on the game, the terrible calls were just annoying.
Some will argue the illegal formation that was called on Marshall where they recovered a muffed punt was a huge swing in the game, but it would have only delayed the inevitable when it came to the result. The targeting call on Caden Curry towards the end of the first half felt like about the only thing the officials got right in the game.
It just feels like there is so much bad officiating going on throughout college football so far this season. Apparently even when a call is painstakingly obvious there is still a need to review it, which makes games last even longer. What made this game last even longer is how slow the officiating crew in Saturday’s game took to make calls. Maybe they just loved having their little private conferences on the field before letting everybody know what the penalty was.
You would think with how hot it was on the field at Ohio Stadium during the game the officials would want to get out of there as soon as possible.
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The famous actor attended Marshall on a baseball scholarship, but the program was suspended when he was a freshman.
Following their first of two bye weeks this season, Ohio State was back on the field on Saturday, having little trouble closing out the non-conference portion of their regular season schedule with a 49-14 win over Marshall.
The performance by the Buckeyes was reminiscent of what we saw in the season opener against Akron, with Ohio State coming out of the gates a little rusty before quickly finding their rhythm and burying their overmatched opponent.
When looking at some of the famous alumni from Marshall, I was surprised to find out that Billy Crystal actually attended the university on a baseball scholarship. This is probably the first you are hearing of this as well since the baseball program was suspended during Crystal’s freshman year and he didn’t return to Huntington as a sophomore, instead deciding to return to New York City.
Since we recapped the Akron win with help from musicians from the city, and the Western Michigan win with episode titles from Home Improvement, we might as well keep the weirdness going when it comes to summaries by using works from Billy Crystal to describe what we saw at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Even though Crystal only played a small uncredited role in this movie, it still shows up on his filmography, so we’ll use it to describe Ohio State’s Rocky and Bullwinkle: running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. Following a rather quiet season debut for the combo against Akron, Henderson and Judkins have been dominant over the last two games.
After both running backs had two touchdowns against Western Michigan, they accomplished the feat again against Marshall. Henderson only carried the football six times, making the most of his carries by racking up 76 yards. Judkins had the best game of his short Ohio State career, finishing with 173 yards on 14 carries, highlighted by an 86-yard touchdown run. Had it not been for a holding call a couple weeks ago, Judkins would have touchdown runs of at least 70 yards in back-to-back games.
What Judkins and Henderson did against the Thundering Herd goes so much beyond the stat sheet. The two running backs had some physical runs in the game, earning a good chunk of yardage after contact. Even more impressive is they are putting up these numbers without being used heavily. So far this season, Judkins has 36 carries and Henderson has 24 carries.
Day and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly know the Rocky and Bullwinkle of the Buckeye offense are going to be needed more as the season goes on, so they are using them enough to strike fear in future opponents but not so much to wear they’ll be worn out in November and beyond.
I’m Still Here
When it comes to Ohio State wide receivers so far this season, most of the attention has deservedly been paid to true freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Against Marshall, Emeka Egbuka reminded people that he is still the leader of the receivers.
On Ohio State’s second offensive play of the game, Egbuka took a screen pass 68 yards to the house, scoring his first touchdown of the season. The senior from Washington finished with five receptions for 117 yards and a score.
With his effort today, Egbuka moved up to 12th in school history in career receptions and yardage. Egbuka entered the game three catches away from moving ahead of Ted Ginn Jr.’s 135 career receptions and less than 100 yards shy of moving past the 2,090 yards Dee Miller amassed as a Buckeye.
With six more receptions, Egbuka will move past Santonio Holmes, Parris Campbell, and Garrett Wilson for ninth-most in school history, To reach the top-10 in receiving yards, Egbuka needs just 130 receiving yards.
What makes Egbuka’s totals so impressive is he has done it rather quietly since becoming a Buckeye. There always has been a superstar overshadowing Egbuka. Earlier in his career, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marvin Harrison got the headlines when it came to Buckeye receivers, and now Jeremiah Smith is getting the same treatment. Overlook Egbuka all you want, but eventually he is going to make opponents pay for focusing their attention elsewhere.
My Giant
On my way into work this morning I was listening to the Ohio State pregame show on the radio and was surprised to hear that Tyleik Williams wasn’t going to play against Marshall. I completely understand why he didn’t play, since Ryan Day can afford to let Williams rest up in a game like this ahead of the start of Big Ten play next week. It was obvious the defense wasn’t quite the same without the big defensive tackle on the field, though.
The Buckeye defense didn’t look quite as dominant without Williams in the lineup. On their first drive, Marshall went down the field and not only became the first team to run a play in the red zone against Ohio State this year, they also scored the first touchdown against the Buckeyes. Jim Knowles’ crew just wasn’t quite as crisp as we saw against Western Michigan, where they allowed less than 100 yards of offense.
At least it sounds like the injury to Williams is minor and he should be back out on the field as early as next week. Had this been a game against Oregon, Penn State, or Michigan, I would have to imagine Williams would have played. Keeping Williams healthy is going to be a key for the defense. While Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau will get more of the attention on the defensive line, it’s obvious Williams is the straw that stirs the drink.
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
I’m not exactly sure what Ryan Day is doing with quarterback Devin Brown. When Buckeye games turn into blowouts the rest of the season, I’d. much rather see Julian Sayin as the first quarterback off the bench to take over for Will Howard.
Not only do I think Sayin would give the Buckeyes a better chance to win if Howard is injured at some point this season, Sayin is also the quarterback of the future. Why are in-game snaps being wasted on Brown when it is obvious he has hit his ceiling in Columbus?
Brown has had two chances to win the quarterback job at Ohio State and both times he fell short. Even when he started the Cotton Bowl against Missouri, he didn’t look all that good before getting injured. Day not getting his backup quarterbacks enough snaps to prepare them for the future has been a problem in the past.
Even when Day has had the opportunity this year to get the backup some work, he is giving the wrong quarterback snaps. Brown has fought hard during his time as a Buckeye, but the smart move for him is to hit the transfer portal after this season since Sayin is the favorite to start for Ohio State in 2025.
Standing Up, Falling Down
Can we all acknowledge just how terrible the referees were in Saturday’s game? There were numerous frustrating calls that were made by the officials, thankfully it didn’t have a major impact on the game, the terrible calls were just annoying.
Some will argue the illegal formation that was called on Marshall where they recovered a muffed punt was a huge swing in the game, but it would have only delayed the inevitable when it came to the result. The targeting call on Caden Curry towards the end of the first half felt like about the only thing the officials got right in the game.
It just feels like there is so much bad officiating going on throughout college football so far this season. Apparently even when a call is painstakingly obvious there is still a need to review it, which makes games last even longer. What made this game last even longer is how slow the officiating crew in Saturday’s game took to make calls. Maybe they just loved having their little private conferences on the field before letting everybody know what the penalty was.
You would think with how hot it was on the field at Ohio Stadium during the game the officials would want to get out of there as soon as possible.
Continue reading...