Game Thread Ohio State @ Indiana - 09/14/19, 12:00PM (FOX)

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FIVE THINGS: BUCKEYES CHEW UP BIG RED

Ohio State improved to 3-0 following a 51-10 blitzkrieg of Indiana yesterday afternoon in Memorial Stadium.

Justin Fields wasn't quite as dominant as we had seen in the first two games yet still racked up 210 total yards and four touchdowns but the story of the day was Ohio State's rushing attack churning out 314 yards led by J.K. Dobbins and a hungry Buckeye defense that continued it's stellar improvement over last season.

The Buckeyes used a 37-yard touchdown toss from Fields to Chris Olave, a punt block for a safety and a 9-yard Fields-to-K.J Hill connection to score 16 points in less than three minutes and take a 23-3 lead midway through the second quarter and never looked back.

Next up for Ohio State is a date with the Miami RedHawks next Saturday in the Shoe but before we turn our attention to another non-conference foe, here are Five Things from yesterday's big win over the Hoosiers.

CHASE-ING GREATNESS
So, Chase Young owned the line of scrimmage again.

After recording 1.5 sacks in each of the first two games of the 2019 slate (along with a PBU and a blocked field goal), Young was back it versus Indiana.

The potential No.1 pick in next year's NFL Draft tortured the Hoosiers with three stops, 2.5 TFL and a pair of sacks before watching a sizable portion of the second half from the bench with Ohio State in control on the scoreboard.

Young's sack for a 5-yard loss on a 2nd-and-10 play put Indiana in a hole leading a punt that Chris Olave promptly blocked for a 16-3 Ohio State lead early in the second quarter.

He posted another 5-yard sack later in the half and opened the second half with intense pressure on a 1st-and-10 play leading to a punt three plays later.

I cite this play as it is an example of even when Young didn't register a tick-mark in the stat sheet, he still impacted the game which is commonplace in between the sacks.

Speaking of, Young now has 5.0 through three games. It's early, but it might be wise to make a mental note of Vernon Gholston's single-season school record of 14.0 sacks set back in 2007.

J.K. LEADS THE WAY
Ohio State's junior tailback, J.K. Dobbins, continued his resurgent play with 193 yards rushing on just 22 carries, good for 8.8 per try, with one touchdown in a dynamic performance.

Only a lopsided score kept Dobbins from eclipsing the 200-yard mark after he gouged the Hoosiers for 175 yards on 20 carries in the opening half – the 6th-most for an OSU back in one half in school history.

Dobbins was downright nasty in the second quarter in particular as he went for 125 yards on 11 tries (11.4 ypc) including a 56-yard jaunt through the Hoosiers defense and another 26-yard effort for a touchdown.

The 56-yarder would set up a Justin Fields to K.J. Hill connection four plays later for a 23-3 Ohio State lead and his 26-yard burst through at least six broken tackles made it 30-3 good guys with 4:09 left before halftime.

Dobbins had just one carry for negative yardage, a second quarter run that went for -1 but otherwise he looked quick, ran hard, took care of the football, and appeared to hit all the holes in his best game since hammering Maryland for 203 yards on 37 carries in a 52-51 overtime win last mid-November.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...9/106755/five-things-buckeyes-chew-up-big-red

 

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Ten Things We Learned From Ohio State’s 51-10 Win Over Indiana

What can be learned from Ohio State’s 51-10 win at Indiana on Saturday? How about that we shouldn’t take these Buckeyes too lightly moving forward. This was an impressive win once again and they are answering every single question with emphasis and confidence.

The Buckeye offensive line has become a dominant force and is now challenging the Ohio State defensive line for “OSU Trench of the Year.”

JK Dobbins and Master Teague combined for 299 yards rushing, and the Indiana running game was held to just 42 yards on 31 carries — and 20 of those yards came from a 20-yard quarterback scramble.

For the third week in a row, Ryan Day called off the dogs before the fourth quarter, which makes you wonder what this team could look like with four full quarters of free reign.

Maybe we’ll get to see it in two weeks. Or maybe we won’t even need to.

But that’s a Ten Things for another day. For now, let’s talk Indiana.

1. Chris Olave and Binjimen Victor are consistent.
Chris Olave is third on the team with 10 receptions and second with 198 yards. Binjimen Victor is second in catches (11) behind KJ Hill (13), but leads the team with 200 yards receiving. The impressive thing about those yardage numbers for Olave and Victor is just how consistent they are game to game. Olave’s season low is 60 yards in a game and his season high is 70 yards. Victor, meanwhile, has a low game of 65 yards and a high game of 69 yards. Having a brand new starting quarterback meant that the Ohio State receivers would need to step up. They have done just that. There will come days when there may be a 120-yard day one week followed by a 25-yard day the next for somebody, but right now the Buckeyes are getting exactly what they need from Victor and Olave.

2. JK Dobbins’ has his moves back.
Go back and watch the first half of Saturday’s game and even on JK Dobbins’ “lesser runs,” he was as shifty as he ever was in 2017. Quick and decisive, and then powerful and determined. We are seeing the best possible version of Dobbins right now, and it doesn’t matter how or where he gets the ball. The offensive line has been dominating — and also providing help at the second level — but when Dobbins meets up with a tackler one-on-one, that tackler rarely stands Dobbins up for no gain or a loss.

3. Damon Arnette has earned some celebration time.
I don’t know if Damon Arnette still has haters, but I do know he still had complainers. He was great in this game and even had a tackle on Jeff Okudah. Oh, and he also had a 96-yard interception return for a touchdown and two other pass breakups on top of that. If he wants to dance after a play or celebrate a little, that’s just his personality shining through. That’s practically how cornerbacks breathe, so just let him breathe. He’s earned it.

4. Master Teague is a sizable piece of this puzzle.
I have now heard Buckeye fans compare Master Teague to Maurice Clarett, Joe Montgomery, Raymont Harris, and Eddie George. For me, he doesn’t remind me of anybody else. Yeah, he runs hard like each one of those guys, but he’s faster than all of them. That doesn’t make him better, I just like to state facts. His role in this offense is only going to grow. And that might not mean more than his 10 carries that he got against Indiana, but it means when teams prepare for the Buckeyes, they can’t just gloss over Teague. He’s too good for that. If Teague and JK Dobbins can split 30 carries a game, that could result in some very positive ball control for an up-tempo team. By the way, Teague is currently on pace for 1,003 yards rushing over a 14-game slate.

5. The Buckeye wideouts have corners concerned.
Binjimen Victor, Austin Mack, and Chris Olave are running great routes right now. Combine that precision with fearful cornerbacks who don’t want to give up the big shot and it creates a lot of room to maneuver underneath. There are 15-yard gains available for days right now. That will obviously get more difficult as the schedule gets harder, but the execution is already there. What may be the one thing missing is a faster anticipation time for Justin Fields, who is still waiting for guys to come open at times. It feels silly to criticize him at this point, but this is our cross to bear.

6. This play-action is going to continue to hit home.
Ohio State brings in a second tight end with this offensive line and they go under center. If a safety doesn’t step up to help stop the run, JK Dobbins or Master Teague could go a long way. The problem with helping out against the run, however, comes when the safety sees that Justin Fields still has the ball and now a wide receiver is running down the field in one-on-one coverage with no other safety help. At this point, Fields can throw a receiver open, or at the very least, toss it up for a 50/50 ball. The Buckeyes haven’t gotten to the need to go 50/50 yet because everything else is working right now.

Entire article: https://theozone.net/2019/09/ten-things-learned-ohio-state-indiana-2/

 

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The Grumpy Old Buckeye: Ohio State at Indiana

By now you should know that the Grumpy Old Buckeye column aims to be the voice of negativity, even when things are generally pretty great. I point out the things from each game that make me want to walk out onto my lawn in my bathrobe and yell at people about it. This week, we’re discussing Ohio State’s first road game and first conference match-up of 2019, as the Buckeyes visited Indiana.

Fields’ Inaccuracy
It took some time for Justin Fields to settle down in his first ever Big Ten road start. His passes weren’t off by much, but just by being a little bit off target cost Ohio State some early points on possessions. At least the Buckeyes were able to run the football early to make up for the passing game being a bit out of sync.

Not Finishing Early
Ohio State got greedy with the play calling on its first drive and it caused things to bog down in the red zone. Then Blake Haubeil missed a chip shot field goal. The Buckeyes had such reliable placekicking for years but recently that’s an area of concern. Do you feel comfortable if a game came down to a last-second kick? I don’t.

Dobby’s Drop
Ultimately it didn’t hurt the Buckeyes but J.K. Dobbins can’t drop wide-open touchdown passes that hit him in the hands. There wasn’t a Hoosier within 10 yards of him and the pass, while not 100% perfect, wasn’t difficult to handle. Dobbins is normally a reliable receiver and I don’t expect this to be an ongoing problem, but a bit more concentration on the play would have made all the difference. At least it came on first down and Fields scored on a keeper one play later.

Chase’s Face
Last week Cincinnati was permitted to egregiously hold Chase Young much of the day. Indiana tried a different approach, by jamming a hand into his facemask to keep him at bay on a drive that ended in a field goal for the Hoosiers. Look, maybe he’ll murder offensive players if he’s not fouled. Maybe he won’t. But penalties are penalties and should be called. We saw this with the Bosa brothers and now with Young. A referee isn’t there to prevent sacks and quarterback hurries. A referee is on the field to enforce the rules. So…let’s enforce those.

Arnette’s Pick
No, not that one, the other one. The Hoosiers picked up 28 yards on a play in which Jeff Okudah ran right into teammate Damon Arnette. The Buckeye-on-Buckeye pick allowed the excellently named Whop Philyor to make a big play for Indiana. Ohio State shut down the drive a few plays after that. It was simply a moment of embarrassment for both defensive backs and had the potential to injure one or both of them. Okudah was a bit slow to get up but was able to continue.

Obvious Gadget Play is Obvious
About an hour of real time before Indiana ran a trick play for a touchdown, I noticed that the Hoosiers had thrown a few early backward passes out into the flat against Ohio State’s fast defense. It smelled strongly of an attempt to set up something later in the game and I mentioned it at the time.



Sure enough, toward the end of the first half, the Hoosiers ran that play again and this time sprung their surprise that even a yahoo like me could see coming from a mile away. Donavan Hale took the backward pass from Peyton Ramsey and fired it downfield to a wide open Peyton Hendershot for the easy touchdown. (Seriously, Indiana, how many Peytons do you need? Spread the Peyton wealth.) Am I a defensive genius who should be getting paid millions or just a guy sitting on his couch? I’m perfectly willing to relocate and watch from the press box every week if I’m the former.

Entire article: https://theozone.net/2019/09/grumpy-old-buckeye-ohio-state-indiana/

 

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[JCOSU86]

This was a VERY impressive win. Do you know why? Because I have on SOUND authority that Indiana is better than Ped and dUMb. Looks like a cakewalk to the playoffs!

 

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For those that like stats: