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Western Michigan Recap

The Buckeyes finished their non-conference schedule with a record of 4-0 and they stand as the number one team in the country. Western Michigan was the latest victim, falling 38-12 yesterday in The Horseshoe (or the Bronco Hoof, if you prefer). Here are some takeaways from yesterday's game:

1. Facing the 109th ranked run defense in FBS, the offensive staff did a better job of getting the ball to their tailbacks. Ezekiel Elliott had 16 carries for 124 yards and a touchdown and Curtis Samuel had 2 carries for 55 yards and a touchdown. Elliott had long runs of 15, 20, and 26 yards, while Samuel's runs went for 15 and 40 yards.

2. As noted in the pre-game report, Zeke broke off an 80-yard touchdown run on his first carry of the season. After that great start, he managed to gain only 251 yards on his next 60 carries (4.2 yards per carry) with a long run of just 13 yards. On his first run yesterday, Zeke broke out of his little slump by going for 26 yards. He also added a 20-yard run late in the third quarter.

3. Last season, Elliott rushed for 1,878 yards (125.2 per game; 6.88 per carry) and 18 touchdowns (1.20 per game). So far this season, Elliott now has 455 yards (113.8 per game; 5.91 per carry) and 5 TDs (1.25 per game). The big difference is in the yards per carry, which is down almost 1.0 yard this year compared to last year.

4. If Elliott were averaging 6.88 yards per carry this year instead of 5.91, he would have 530 yards rushing (+75 total yards) for an average of 132.5 yards per game (+18.7 yards per game).

5. With his 124 yards rushing against WMU, Elliott now has 2,595 career rushing yards. Yesterday he moved past Jim Otis (2,542 yards) and Cal Murray (2,576 yards) into 13th place on the list of Buckeye career rushing leaders. Next up on the list is Raymont Harris (2,649 yards).

6. With his 288 yards passing, Cardale Jones now has 1,485 career passing yards. Cardale moved into 23rd place on the list of Buckeye career passing leaders, jumping past Pandel Savic (1,260 yards) and Rod Gerald (1,273 yards) and Greg Hare (1,338 yards).

7. Cardale's 288 yards passing was a career high. The Buckeye record for passing yards in one game is 458 by Art Schlichter against Florida State in 1981, which is the only time that a Buckeye quarterback has ever cracked the 400-yard barrier. Jones under threw several deep passes to open receivers. If he would've had better timing on his deep routes then he might have become the second Buckeye to enter the 400-yard club.

8. Cardale had a tendency to under throw deep routes last season as well, but Devin Smith was almost always able to bail him out. During the Buckeyes' 2014 championship run, Smith had 7 receptions for 269 yards for a ridiculous average of 38.43 yards per catch; six of Smith's receptions went for 39 yards or more. Smith had excellent body control and knew how to shield defenders from the ball; the current crop of receivers simply don't know how to get into position and fight for the ball the way Smith did. I'd be willing to bet that Smith would have come up with a couple of Cardale's poor throws yesterday.

9. Besides under throwing receivers, Cardale has a tendency to retreat in the pocket when he is under pressure. That is almost always a recipe for a huge negative play for any quarterback and yesterday was no exception. Under an intense rush late in the second quarter, Cardale drifted back in the pocket and was grabbed by a defender. He attempted to throw the ball away as he was being spun to the ground, but the "pass" turned out to be a lateral. Instead of an incompletion the play was a fumble that resulted in a 14-yard loss for Ohio State.

10. Michael Thomas had 6 receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown. Thomas now has 1,059 career receiving yards for Ohio State. He needs just 59 yards to move into the top 25 at Ohio State (Billy Anders, 1118 yards).

11. Last season, Thomas had 54 receptions (3.6 per game) for 799 yards (53.3 per game; 14.80 per reception) and 9 TD (.60 per game). This season, Thomas is slightly ahead of last year's pace: 16 receptions (4.0 per game) for 238 yards (59.5 per game; 14.88 per reception) and 3 TDs (.75 per game).

12. I define a "big scoring play" as an offensive play of 20+ yards or any defensive or special teams touchdown. Last season, Ohio State scored 90 total touchdowns, with 37 of those (41.1%) coming on big plays (30 on offense, 6 on defense, 1 on special teams). This season, Ohio State has scored 18 total touchdowns, with 12 of those (66.7%) coming on big plays (9 on offense, 3 on defense). On the one hand, it is great that the Buckeyes have even more big play ability this season; on the other, it would be nice if they could sustain drives better. They will need to do so when the level of the competition improves.

13. As evidence of the Buckeyes' inability to sustain drives: Last season, Ohio State punted 48 times in 15 games, for an average of 3.2 punts per game. This season, the Buckeyes have punted 18 times in 4 games, for an average of 4.5 punts per game.

14. Another reason that the Buckeyes are having difficulty sustaining drives is turnovers. The Buckeyes were not particularly careful with the football last season, committing 26 turnovers in 15 games (1.73 per game). This season they are even worse, with 10 turnovers in 4 games (2.50 per game). The Buckeyes were able to survive sloppy play against MAC patsies (7 total turnovers vs NIU and WMU), but they won't be able to do so against the better teams on their schedule.

 
My pet peeves as it pertains to sustaining drives are:

1) Braxton in the wildcat. Until he demonstrates his willingness to throw, he will not have any lanes to run.
2) Give the ball to Zeke.
3) Run the jet sweep with Marshall & Samuel more.

It seems to me that too often drives stall when the staff gives away a down running a play with personnel that don't fit the play design. Announcers have harped on it. Viewers can see it. Stop doing it.

CJ does have a bad habit of bailing backwards under duress, but the stalled drives are not solely on him. I understand the staff is probing for things that work ... I just don't understand why they're continuing to try stuff that clearly doesn't work.
 
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I don't get the giv the ball to Zeke bit. He's had it plenty. I think he can continue to get his current reps and I hope we can find more reps for Samuel somewhere.

And yeah, ball security hasn't been top notch. If we were a bit more solid in this area, watch out.
 
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3. Last season, Elliott rushed for 1,878 yards (125.2 per game; 6.88 per carry) and 18 touchdowns (1.20 per game). So far this season, Elliott now has 455 yards (113.8 per game; 5.91 per carry) and 5 TDs (1.25 per game). The big difference is in the yards per carry, which is down almost 1.0 yard this year compared to last year.
After four games last year, Zeke had 55 carries for 333 yards (6.05 ypc), so he's only about five inches per carry under last year. I'll go out on a limb and say that defenses this year are probably keying on Zeke just a tad more than they were this time of the season last year...
 
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I don't get the giv the ball to Zeke bit. He's had it plenty. I think he can continue to get his current reps and I hope we can find more reps for Samuel somewhere.

And yeah, ball security hasn't been top notch. If we were a bit more solid in this area, watch out.

What I mean by that is that rather than giving Elliott the ball 20 times per game with most of that coming in the second half, I'd rather see him getting his 20 carries in the first three quarters so he's not needed in the fourth.

The speed option and wildcat packages aren't doing anything for this offense. If there are ten of those plays in the first half, I'd rather see those play calls be Elliott and Samuel running down hill.
 
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What I mean by that is that rather than giving Elliott the ball 20 times per game with most of that coming in the second half, I'd rather see him getting his 20 carries in the first three quarters so he's not needed in the fourth.

The speed option and wildcat packages aren't doing anything for this offense. If there are ten of those plays in the first half, I'd rather see those play calls be Elliott and Samuel running down hill.
I agree with all of this. Run 'em down hill and take the 3-5 yards.

I've been impressed by the MAC QBs this year! A lot look the equal of Big QB's.
Is the MAC a QB driven league? Maybe.
NIU and Central Mich and Bowling Green all have excellent QBs and are not "patsies" by any stretch.
Even Western M has a very solid QB and WRs.
This looks to me like a very good year in the MAC.
 
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My pet peeves as it pertains to sustaining drives are:

1) Braxton in the wildcat. Until he demonstrates his willingness to throw, he will not have any lanes to run.
2) Give the ball to Zeke.
3) Run the jet sweep with Marshall & Samuel more.

It seems to me that too often drives stall when the staff gives away a down running a play with personnel that don't fit the play design. Announcers have harped on it. Viewers can see it. Stop doing it.

CJ does have a bad habit of bailing backwards under duress, but the stalled drives are not solely on him. I understand the staff is probing for things that work ... I just don't understand why they're continuing to try stuff that clearly doesn't work.
I hate the wildcat. They can just rip that play out of the playbook. The only time I like the wildcat is when our opponent is running it.
Never thought about CJ bailing backwards but yes that is a big problem. He needs to get comfortable standing in the pocket. DEs will only hit him sooner if he bails. Plus he is excellent scrambling downhill, where JT and Brax scramble to the edge and sometimes break free to the secondary, CJ often loses when he scrambles to the edge, but he get's big gains of usually 5+ if he scrambles between the tackles. He doesn't have the speed to run from CBs, but does have the size to take on the LBs head on.
 
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I agree with all of this. Run 'em down hill and take the 3-5 yards.

I've been impressed by the MAC QBs this year! A lot look the equal of Big QB's.
Is the MAC a QB driven league? Maybe.
NIU and Central Mich and Bowling Green all have excellent QBs and are not "patsies" by any stretch.
Even Western M has a very solid QB and WRs.
This looks to me like a very good year in the MAC.
They also have Toledo as well who has obviously been making waves this year also. This was not as much of a push over as people in the media think.
 
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They also have Toledo as well who has obviously been making waves this year also. This was not as much of a push over as people in the media think.
WMU is a fine team. But if this game was not a pushover, that is entirely because of Ohio State, not them. Bucks simply aren't the same team they were at the end last year. Hopefully as the season goes on they will continue to grow and improve And become something similar to what they became last year.
 
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