For the second week in a row Ohio State's struggling offense overshadowed a stellar effort by the defense as the Buckeyes held on to defeat Northern Illinois, 20-13, improving to 3-0 on the young season.
The win left Urban Meyer scratching his head over his quarterback situation as both Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett looked awful as the Buckeyes turned it over five times and put up just 298 yards of offense no thanks to continued struggles from the Slobs.
It will certainly be an interesting week in Columbus as Meyer deals with the reality that he'll likely have to pick one quarterback, give that guy 95% of the reps in practice, and stick with it for the betterment of the team if not for the psyche of the odd QB out.
Ahead of all that drama and next Saturday's tilt against Western Michigan, we look back at Five Things from the underwhelming win over the Huskies.
SECONDARY TO NONE
While the entire defense has done a great job carrying over its post-season success into the 2015 slate, the secondary is shaping up to be one of the best in school history led by safety Vonn Bell.
Bell, a true junior likely playing his last season of college ball, has been Ohio State's best defender and chief playmaker since the middle of last season and is unquestionably the school's surest tackler since Mike Doss.
Last week, Bell was all over the field with three PBU, an interception (with a couple other drops) and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. He picked up where he left off yesterday with 10 tackles – many of which came in the open field to stifle potential big gainers – along with another PBU as the secondary dominated NIU quarterback Drew Hare.
Though not quite at his level, the rest of the secondary has carried its weight. Eli Apple is barely being targeted and still managed an interception yesterday. Gareon Conley has been the breakout player on defense showcasing both an ability to defend the run (eight stops versus Va. Tech) and shut down the pass while safety Tyvis Powell has been steady.
Through three games, the back four has five interceptions. Over the last two games, the group has helped hold opposing quarterbacks to a ridiculous 34% completion rate (21/55) for just 147 yards with the noted four picks.
BALL OF CONFUSION
It's hard to quantify just how badly Ohio State misses former offensive coordinator Tom Herman but there's no question the 2015 offense looks like a shell of itself compared to its 2014 counterpart.
After struggling last week with little time to prepare for Hawai'i following a physical battle against Virginia Tech, much was expected of the offense after a full week to recover and get things right. Instead, the Buckeyes put forth their worst effort to date.
A sampling of the ugly numbers include:
- The Buckeyes were just 2/13 on 3rd down conversion tries including just 1/5 on short yardage 3rd down attempts. They rushed it three times on 3rd down for just 10 yards and one conversion. Through the air, they were 4/10 passing for 33 yards and one conversion. One of the five turnovers came on 3rd down.
- Out of 16 total possessions (not counting the knees taken to end both the 2nd and 4th quarters), the offense turned it over 5 times and went 3-and-out five times.
- Twelve of 16 possessions failed to generate at least 20 yards.
The offensive line continues to be a huge reason why the Buckeyes can't seem to get anything going but the lack of stability at quarterback is now front and center.
The quarterback flip-flopping has contributed to fielding an offense with no true leader and no identity. Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett are simply different personalities with different strengths and weaknesses and the lack of continuity is an issue. Jones is the pro-style guy running at a slower tempo then Barrett comes in and Meyer/Warinner immediately try to speed up the offense. The result has been a ton of penalties and and a unit looking unsure of exactly what they are trying to do. Plus, it's easy to wonder how much better one of the quarterbacks would be performing if they were getting 95% of the practice reps.
I continue to believe it's a good problem to have but with Urban even finally saying there might be truth to the notion Ohio State needs to pick one guy and go all in, this is going to be a critical week of practice for Jones and Barrett.
Compounding the concerns, Ohio State's bevy of talent at the non-tailback skill positions and the lack of clarity around how to utilize Braxton Miller is contributing to the lack of continuity. It feels like Warinner/Meyer are still trying to figure out exactly what they have and who should play which, when combined with playing two quarterbacks plus employing the wildcat is making it difficult to develop the chemistry that comes with personnel and playbook familiarity.
SEEING RED
One of the few areas of opportunity for last year's offense was the lack of dominance inside the red zone. The 2014 team scored just over 85% of the time it reached the red zone (63/74) which was good for only 55th in the nation. Of those 63 scores, 53 were touchdowns (72%).
Last week, the Buckeyes scored four touchdowns in five trips inside the red zone as part of a 38-0 win. Yesterday, they technically reached the red zone three times but one occurred as they took a knee on the last two plays of the game to run out the clock. On the two legit trips, things weren't pretty with both resulting in field goals.
The first occurrence saw the offense set up shop with 1st and 10 at the NIU 18-yard line with Braxton in the wildcat. After a 3-yard pop-pass to Jalin Marshall, Miller bobbled a direct snap right into his chest upsetting the timing of the 2nd and 7 play to force 3rd and 6. From there, Urban reinserted Jones at quarterback and after Taylor Decker's man flushed Jones from the pocket, he appeared to miss a wide open Marshall what would have been a 1st down, forcing a field goal cutting NIU's lead to 7-3. Continuity, anyone?
The next red zone visit occurred on Ohio State's first possession of the 2nd half with Barrett under center and the game tied at 10 apiece. Things were looking good as the offense had 1st and 10 at the NIU 14 evolve into 2nd and 5 at the NIU 9 after sweep left from Curtis Samuel.
Rolling right, Barrett attempted to find Corey Smith in heavy traffic in the right front corner of the end zone. The play was awkward in that Smith didn't appear ready for the football and tight end Nick Vannett – and his defender – were in the immediate vicinity making the pass a dangerous one that luckily fell incomplete instead of resulting in Ohio State's third interception of the day. On the ensuing 3rd down call, Ezekiel Elliott couldn't reach the second level as Vannett, in motion on the play, could not slide over to his man fast enough resulting in an easy tackle following a modest two-yard gain.
Yet to possess the lead and facing 4th and 3, Urban couldn't pass up 24-yard field goal putting OSU in front 13-10 (despite announcer Ed Cunningham thinking every team should go for every 4th down ever).
FRONT FOUR PLAY
Though the secondary stole the show, Ohio State's defensive line had a solid day helping hold the Huskies to 2.6 yards per rush and 2.6 yards per play.
With Joey Bosa back from suspension, the staff has settled on a starting four, from left to right, of Tyquan Lewis, Tommy Schutt, Adolphus Washington and Joey Bosa. That said, Ohio State's best front four would look more like Lewis, Washington, Bosa and Sam Hubbard.
I'm obviously not expecting Bosa to permanently shift inside but with nose guard easily being the weakest link up front and Hubbard being a worthy starter, reshuffling the deck puts Ohio State's best four on the field especially on anything not resembling a glaringly obvious rushing down.
Yesterday, the combo of Washington, Lewis, Bosa and Hubbard combined for 20 tackles, four sacks and three hurries.
Lewis was on fire with seven stops and a big sack to help salt the game away. Of note, three of squad's sacks came on 3rd down as the Buckeyes held NIU to 6/20 on 3rd down conversions.
Washington is playing at an elite level. Yesterday, he triggered Apple's interception drilling Hare as he let go of the ball, smoked Hare on the very next possession and late came up with one of those sacks on 3rd down. When you consider the depth at tackle, Washington is probably Ohio State's most indispensable defensive player.
Bosa also had his best game so far with six stops, 2.5 TFL, half a sack and three hurries (all of which came on 3rd down). Hubbard saw the least snaps by a wide margin but still chipped in two stops and 1.5 sacks.
'PEATIN' AIN'T EASY
Meyer isn't going to make excuses but there are a host of reasons why only four programs have repeated as national champions in the last 40 years.
Large swaths of each team's fanbase during that span including Ohio State's this year surely felt like their team was immune to pitfalls of trying to repeat but the struggle is real.
Ohio State this year, just like many of the champions before them, finished on a such a high the previous season that maintaining that focus and intensity is easier said than done. For OSU in particular, perspective says they are only roughly eight months removed from the most magical run of wins in school history.
The sheer magnitude of those wins: dumping Wisconsin 59-0 on the heels of a teammate's suicide to even earn a spot in the playoffs, exorcising an SEC demon in a convincing win over Alabama and finally running over Oregon to win the school's first title since 2002, undoubtedly makes it hard to get up for games like Hawai'i and Northern Illinois.
Throw in the fact the team lost its offensive coordinator, now has two accomplished quarterbacks with contrasting styles to choose from, welcomed back a two-time B1G player of the year to a new position and boasts a ton of talented guys with varying degrees of track records and it makes it a little easier to understand why the offense is off to a rough start.
No coach in the land is going to feel sorry for Ohio State considering this is their definition of plight but the reality is that it will take time to figure all these things out and while it has sometimes been painful to watch, the process hasn't cost the Buckeyes a game.
Other fanbases might think looking at these types of things as "issues" is lamer than Quick Cals (they'd be wrong) but this is probably a good time to remember that even last year's team was a work in progress.
