Had a great turnout for the game watch and had a lot of fun. I'll start by saying that's a great win and getting challenged out of the gate will pay dividends, and the coaches know that. ND played very well and I don't want to negate their play, they did a great job preparing for this game and played their asses off. Here are my bullet points (in no order of importance, just as I watch it chronologically) after getting a chance to watch the game again:
1. So cool that Ohio guys ended up making big plays. Eichenberg, X Johnson, Hall were all fantastic. I thought Eichenberg would take a shine to this defensive scheme and man he was a monster out there for us. Probably gets the game ball from me.
2. Ransom was an unsung hero that made so many critical plays. He may not be a "starter" when you read the depth chart, but he's one of the most important guys on this defense. Always thought he'd be a star, I think we're seeing it come to fruition. Safety play in general seemed very good, Hickman and McCallister also showed up.
3. Defense as a whole looks like a new team is out there...I don't think ND is an offensive juggernaut, but more than capable. That offense would've scored 30+ on us last year. I'm buying Knowles and company being the real deal for now.
4. Mike Hall is going to be a star here, dude is quick, strong and violent. Going to be a monster 3-tech. Special powers with that man, he's going to be really fun to watch. Plays with so much fire, love that kid already.
5. Offensive play calling couldn't be much more vanilla than that, apparently the Tressel tribute extended to our playbook. We can be so much better on offense than what we showed. JSN being out hurt, but still need to be better than that.
6. Not a great night overall for Stroud, missed quite a few throws he usually makes in the first half. Also several instances where yet again he could have run for the first down without even getting hit, but instead tried to throw to a guy that was well covered. That has got to get better. But I'll give him credit for making plays when it mattered the most in the second half. His stats will be huge this year, but he did gut out a great win.
7. Zero points in the second half, unreal. Game ball actually goes to the entire defense. That said, Cam Brown looks like a liability, wouldn't mind seeing JK and/or Hancock mix in.
8. I'm beyond happy for Xavier Johnson, he works so damn hard as a walk on and puts up huge plays on the big stage. I hope he has a huge year this season, but either way he etched his way into Buckeye lore on Saturday with that performance. Catches a huge go ahead TD, then runs down on the kickoff to tackle the returner behind the 20. Legend.
9. Meatball! Miyan, what a damn performance, ran angry like the entire ND defense insulted his mother. Love the way he runs the ball. Really closed out the game for us and we needed that. But maybe even cooler is Henderson getting amped on the sideline to see his fellow RB seal the deal, could have been pouting for not being on that drive, but instead was a great teammate and you could tell how happy he was for Miyan. A lot of respect for Tre, that's something not many people would catch, but he deserves recognition for that. Then he comes in and rips a 13 yarder the next drive to get the nail much closer to the coffin.
10. Chambers had a hell of a game too, feel very confident with him and Tommy at LB, with Simon more than capable coming in.
Hey, wasn't the prettiest win in program history but give ND a lot of credit for playing tough. We're 1-0 and the chance to go 2-0, and stayed relatively healthy. Very proud of this team. Go Bucks.
