Each week after re-watching the Ohio State game I bring you my take-aways from the game in a little something I call the Buckeye 12-Pack…
Note: I wrote about Braxton Miller gaining confidence and the offense playing better on Monday. Couldn’t wait. So that piece may have to count for a few bullet points here.
No. 1- What a big win. As good as it felt from a fan’s perspective, I can’t even imagine the relief/redemption that the players must have felt after that one. Especially guys like Mike Brewster and John Simon. The Buckeyes were manhandled last year against Wisconsin, and many (including me) figured this year wouldn’t be much different. With all the distractions and turmoil this season, that win had to be one of the highlights of the Seniors’ careers.
No. 2- Congratulations Coach. If Luke Fickell wants to keep this job, he had to have a couple signature victories. Nebraska could have been one. This one will most certainly count as such. It is amazing to think how close it came to being a defeat instead. Wins over Penn State and Michigan could keep Luke around past this season.
No. 3- Let’s start with the special teams. For the most part, they were outstanding. I can’t be the only one who anxious to see what Ryan Shazier does when he gets playing time at OLB. This kid is a play-maker. He is constantly around the ball on kick coverage, and that block was fantastic. Buchanan did his thing, pinning the Badgers deep several times, and of course Basil made his kicks, even if he had to call bank on one of them.
Jordan Hall, on the other hand is going to give me a heart attack. Someone needs to drill into his head the rules of returning punts. Specifically, the fair catch rule, and that he can actually walk away from a punt and let the kicking team down it in heavy traffic. Two fumbled punts, one that we were fortunate enough to get back. The other resulted in a Wisconsin TD, when the defense had shut them down. However, his kick return to near mid-field on Ohio State’s last possession made Braxton Miller’s heroics possible.
No. 4- Let’s switch to the defense. Several things stood out. I tweeted at the beginning of the game that if Ohio State was going to have a chance the linebackers would have to have their best game of the year. I think it is safe to call that their best game. There were still issues, but a much better performance all around. Andrew Sweat had a really good game. He finished with 8 tackles and was right at the point of attack all night. Sabino made several plays on the edge in the running game, and stretched the play wide so that the pursuit caught up to the runner.
Storm Klein played his best game this season. I saw him step into a hole and make a nice play on Montee Ball. He did have a hard time covering the fullback out of the backfield, and missed a chance at a tackle for no gain on a third down, but the secondary stopped him short of the first down anyway.
No. 5- Speaking of the linebackers and Storm Klein in particular, kudos to the coaching staff for playing Tyler Moeller as much as they did. Tyler replaced Klein for a good portion of the game, seemingly bumping Sweat over to the middle, or at least the strong side. Moeller responded with his best game of the year.
No. 6- The defensive line all deserve their own bullet points, but I won’t go there. They were all really good. Bellamy doesn’t get much press, but played a very good game. He had a big sack at the end of the second quarter when Wisconsin was flirting with being in field goal territory. He also made a few nice stops in the running game. Garrett Goebel had a pretty quiet game.
Jonathan Hankins continues to impress me. I’ve been paying attention to Rubin and Taylor so much this season on the Browns’ defensive line, and I’m telling you Hankins has that kind of potential. His pursuit is amazing. Several times Hankins chased runners down the line and made a play for little or no gain. He’s just a beast. Seven tackles for the game. Forget about ‘going to be special sometime down the line’ this guy has already achieved it. He is the real deal.
No. 7- As impressive as Hankins is, John Simon has just been a hair more. Simon makes the big plays when his team needs it. He is relentless. Now, I’m not sure how well Simon’s game will transfer to the NFL. He doesn’t have the ideal size for an NFL DT. He may be one of the players that gets a tad overlooked, but in the end he is just ‘a football player’ and he makes it anyway. I hope so. He has the heart and drive.
No. 8- Let’s talk about the secondary. First off, there were some very good tackles in the open field. Text-book form, and by several players. CJ Barnett, Travis Howard, Christian Bryant and Bradley Roby all made outstanding plays. Unfortunately, there were a couple of breakdowns. On Wisconsin’s first touchdown, Bryant went for the interception, and it cost the Buckeyes a score. That one is a little easier to swallow I suppose. What happened at the end of the game was a bit troubling.
For 3 and a half quarters, Ohio State held Wisconsin in check. Then the Badgers gained 150 of their 340 total yards. It isn’t even really the ground that Wisconsin covered, it was how east they did it. Both TD passes were way too easy. How do you allow a guy to get that wide open for a 49 yard TD pass while playing some version of a prevent defense? Not good.
No. 9- On offense, I’m puzzled by a couple of things. The first was the stubborn refusal to let Carlos Hyde have a few of those goal-line carries. For the record, I’m fine with Herron getting as many carries as possible. He’s your horse, ride him. But when Herron had to be spelled, why Hall on the goal-line? Especially against a bigger front seven like Wisconsin. Hyde is more of the battering ram type of back. He should have gotten a call there. Fresh legs too. Didn’t make much sense to me. Yes, Ohio State did score on those possessions. It took four downs and a sensational broken tackle by Miller on the first one though.
No. 10- I’m also kind of puzzled by the read options that the Buckeyes have been running. I wish I had better tape of it than just the broadcast. It seems that there is too much hesitation by Miller as to what he is going to do with the ball. I’m not sure why that is. I did notice a couple of times he seemed to be reading the end, but there was also a defender in the middle of the line as well, either on a blitz or unblocked by design I guess. This seemed to confuse Braxton and led to a couple of tackles for loss. The end is typically the read for the QB on these plays. If he is committing to the running back then the QB pulls the ball and darts around the end. If he freezes, the ball is supposed to go to the back inside or even backside. I’d love to sit in the offensive meetings and figure out what is wrong.
No. 11- Speaking of the running game, I think Ohio State has some of the slowest developing run plays I’ve ever seen. The offensive line has to get a huge congratulations for holding their blocks through some of those plays, especially from the pistol formation. Eventually, the Buckeyes need to run some play-action from that set, maybe with a bootleg left and throw back to Stoneburner on a crossing route over the middle or post.
No. 12- Indiana is up next. Young teams often have a problem with consistency. They also tend to have let down games after big wins. Indiana does score a lot of points. If the defense came out flat, and Ohio State found itself down quickly… never mind.