Ken
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2nd Thoughts: Ohio State Slips By Indiana 34-27
Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
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Well, that was more exciting than it needed to be. The Buckeyes remain undefeated after escaping Bloomington IN with a 34-27 win over the Hoosiers on Saturday. There were stretches of sketchy play (1st half), some stretches of great play (whenever Ezekiel Elliott touched the ball) and some stretches “meh” play (everything else). Last week, I thought the offense made a step forward with cohesiveness. That was not the case against Indiana.
Before I get into this, I want to tip my hat to the Indiana Hoosiers. Despite being nominally out-manned and heavy underdogs, they scrapped for the entire game. They came within a bad snap from possibly upsetting Ohio State.
So, here we go…
Special Teams
Cam & Co averaged 43 yd/41 net on 7 punts. He had a 60 yard and a 50-yd punts, but also clanked two punts in the 30’s. It was pretty dicey punting conditions and nothing seemed to hurt OSU, so it wasn’t too bad of a day.
On to kicking. Field goals were 2-3. Kickoffs? Willoughby kicked off 7 times and had 2 touch-backs and there were no kick-offs out of bounds. Again, a good day that contributed to the win.
Defense
The defensive effort was overall pretty good, all things considered. By all things, I mean dealing with an explosive Indiana offense and a Ohio State offense that can’t stay on the field. The Silver Bullets were on the field for 91 plays. Part of the reason the OSU defense couldn’t get off the field was their undisciplined play; they committed 5 penalties that totaled for over 70 yards. Two penalties were of the pass interference type, and three were face-mask calls.
Continuing with the game stats, Raekwon McMillan (14 tackles) again led the team in tackles. Adolphus Washington, also coming up empty in the INT category, recorded 10 tackles. A very nice performance for an interior defensive lineman. Tyquan Lewis had a productive afternoon with 7 tackles; 3.5 TFL’s including 1 sack.
The defense scoring streak at three games. I guess that all things must come to an end.
Offense
The reverted back to their early season “Wander in The Wilderness” philosophy. This was a step back from the previous week. Despite evidence to the contrary from,well all season, Ohio State’s first play from scrimmage was a “parallel to line of scrimmage” play to Braxton that resulted in a 9 yard loss. The passing game was efficient enough, in spots, but a “how did you not see it?” interception by Cardale in Red Zone territory that short-circuited a Buckeye score and the Hoosiers scored a TD on the following series.
Rushing
On the surface, the OSU rushing game looks pretty solid; 34 carries, 272 yards, 3 TD’s, 8 YPC. However, when you peel away the Elliott’s 3 TD runs that totaled 195 yards, the running game isn’t too imposing. Those numbers are 77 yards on 31 carries (2.5 YPC) and no touchdown’s. Except for three bursts of excellence, the running game could not get any traction. There were three instances of solid play-calling and blocking. Other than that, nope.
Playcalling
There are still way too many plays that run parallel to the line of scrimmage. If this is a power running team, they need to start, and finish, perpendicular to the line of scrimmage. Downhill, guys, downhill.
Red Zone play-calling is a mess. There were 3 trips to the RZ by OSU’s offense and they came up with 2 FG’s. Rather than ride Zeke or use him as a decoy using play action, OSU decided to call drop back pass plays. This is a case of not using a team’s talents. No Zeke. No play-action. Curtis Samuel had only one carry.
Tis used to be an offense that scared opponents. No more.
Other
Urban stated the 3 turnovers are an ongoing problem that needs to be fixed. He is absolutely correct. Another ongoing problem that needs to be fixed is their penchant for committing a lot of penalties; in this case 8 penalties for 109 yards. Last week it was 12 penalties for 86 yards. I hope this lack on discipline gets addressed this week.
I don’t want to anything out of the WHAC this week about Indiana’s odd-man front presenting blocking problems for the offensive line. All season long, the “odd front Indiana defense” was cited as an issue. I’d have hoped that whoever is coaching the line would have worked with his unit some. Taylor Decker has commented that the odd-man front created issues, such that OSU was unable to get double-team’s and power their opponents off the line to create gaps. I’m assuming that OSU recruits more talented players than their opponents. So, am I to take this statement from Decker that OSU’s talent can move their opponent mano-a-mano? Maybe they ought to be coached to take appropriate blocking angles to create the gaps/creases that Zeke needs.
Right now this is team is treading water. There were some defensive lapses against Indiana, which were somewhat understandable, since the Hoosiers have a very good offense. However, the 2 Hoosier TD’s in the 4th quarter were powered by Indiana’s backup quarterback and backup running back. Hopefully the Buckeyes will show some improvement against Maryland this Saturday.
Urban, at times, looked concerned on the sidelines. He should be. Future opponents should be concerned, too, because Urban is not going to put up with this level of play.
The post 2nd Thoughts: Ohio State Slips By Indiana 34-27 appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
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Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Well, that was more exciting than it needed to be. The Buckeyes remain undefeated after escaping Bloomington IN with a 34-27 win over the Hoosiers on Saturday. There were stretches of sketchy play (1st half), some stretches of great play (whenever Ezekiel Elliott touched the ball) and some stretches “meh” play (everything else). Last week, I thought the offense made a step forward with cohesiveness. That was not the case against Indiana.
Before I get into this, I want to tip my hat to the Indiana Hoosiers. Despite being nominally out-manned and heavy underdogs, they scrapped for the entire game. They came within a bad snap from possibly upsetting Ohio State.
So, here we go…
Special Teams
Cam & Co averaged 43 yd/41 net on 7 punts. He had a 60 yard and a 50-yd punts, but also clanked two punts in the 30’s. It was pretty dicey punting conditions and nothing seemed to hurt OSU, so it wasn’t too bad of a day.
On to kicking. Field goals were 2-3. Kickoffs? Willoughby kicked off 7 times and had 2 touch-backs and there were no kick-offs out of bounds. Again, a good day that contributed to the win.
Defense
The defensive effort was overall pretty good, all things considered. By all things, I mean dealing with an explosive Indiana offense and a Ohio State offense that can’t stay on the field. The Silver Bullets were on the field for 91 plays. Part of the reason the OSU defense couldn’t get off the field was their undisciplined play; they committed 5 penalties that totaled for over 70 yards. Two penalties were of the pass interference type, and three were face-mask calls.
Continuing with the game stats, Raekwon McMillan (14 tackles) again led the team in tackles. Adolphus Washington, also coming up empty in the INT category, recorded 10 tackles. A very nice performance for an interior defensive lineman. Tyquan Lewis had a productive afternoon with 7 tackles; 3.5 TFL’s including 1 sack.
The defense scoring streak at three games. I guess that all things must come to an end.
Offense
The reverted back to their early season “Wander in The Wilderness” philosophy. This was a step back from the previous week. Despite evidence to the contrary from,well all season, Ohio State’s first play from scrimmage was a “parallel to line of scrimmage” play to Braxton that resulted in a 9 yard loss. The passing game was efficient enough, in spots, but a “how did you not see it?” interception by Cardale in Red Zone territory that short-circuited a Buckeye score and the Hoosiers scored a TD on the following series.
Rushing
On the surface, the OSU rushing game looks pretty solid; 34 carries, 272 yards, 3 TD’s, 8 YPC. However, when you peel away the Elliott’s 3 TD runs that totaled 195 yards, the running game isn’t too imposing. Those numbers are 77 yards on 31 carries (2.5 YPC) and no touchdown’s. Except for three bursts of excellence, the running game could not get any traction. There were three instances of solid play-calling and blocking. Other than that, nope.
Playcalling
There are still way too many plays that run parallel to the line of scrimmage. If this is a power running team, they need to start, and finish, perpendicular to the line of scrimmage. Downhill, guys, downhill.
Red Zone play-calling is a mess. There were 3 trips to the RZ by OSU’s offense and they came up with 2 FG’s. Rather than ride Zeke or use him as a decoy using play action, OSU decided to call drop back pass plays. This is a case of not using a team’s talents. No Zeke. No play-action. Curtis Samuel had only one carry.
Tis used to be an offense that scared opponents. No more.
Other
Urban stated the 3 turnovers are an ongoing problem that needs to be fixed. He is absolutely correct. Another ongoing problem that needs to be fixed is their penchant for committing a lot of penalties; in this case 8 penalties for 109 yards. Last week it was 12 penalties for 86 yards. I hope this lack on discipline gets addressed this week.
I don’t want to anything out of the WHAC this week about Indiana’s odd-man front presenting blocking problems for the offensive line. All season long, the “odd front Indiana defense” was cited as an issue. I’d have hoped that whoever is coaching the line would have worked with his unit some. Taylor Decker has commented that the odd-man front created issues, such that OSU was unable to get double-team’s and power their opponents off the line to create gaps. I’m assuming that OSU recruits more talented players than their opponents. So, am I to take this statement from Decker that OSU’s talent can move their opponent mano-a-mano? Maybe they ought to be coached to take appropriate blocking angles to create the gaps/creases that Zeke needs.
Right now this is team is treading water. There were some defensive lapses against Indiana, which were somewhat understandable, since the Hoosiers have a very good offense. However, the 2 Hoosier TD’s in the 4th quarter were powered by Indiana’s backup quarterback and backup running back. Hopefully the Buckeyes will show some improvement against Maryland this Saturday.
Urban, at times, looked concerned on the sidelines. He should be. Future opponents should be concerned, too, because Urban is not going to put up with this level of play.
The post 2nd Thoughts: Ohio State Slips By Indiana 34-27 appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...