Debriefing: Curtis Samuel & Malik Hooker Lead Buckeyes Past the Hurricanes Despite Hurricane-Like Conditions

By Kevin Harrish on September 11, 2016 at 9:15 am
It should rain every Saturday.
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There was no real chance Ohio State was going to top last week's 77-10 obliteration of Bowling Green, but they decided to give it a shot anyway.

Tulsa came to Columbus following a 35 point beatdown of San Jose State in which it only allowed 53 rushing yards. A solid defense combined with inevitable inclement weather seemed to be a recipe for at least a little concern.

Turns out, despite a slow start in which the Buckeyes outright refused to score touchdowns in the redzone, everything turned out fine. The secondary was awesome again, Curtis Samuel is still a superhero and evidently the team loves rain.

Here are your talking points for Saturday's 48-3 win over Tulsa.

The Short Story

It's safe to say the Ohio State offense struggled early. The Buckeyes failed to score touchdowns in the redzone twice, leading to just six offensive points in the first half. The defense, however, came to play. The Silver Bullets intercepted three passes in the first half, two of which they returned for scores. Despite a monsoon, the Buckeye offense got going in the second half, the defense kept going and Ohio State downed Tulsa 48-3.

Who Earned a buckeye leaf?

Offense: Curtis Samuel

Confession time: I used to see Curtis Samuel as a talented yet positionless player who would have a hard time finding a place in the offense. Turns out, he could basically just be the offense.

Samuel had eight rushes for 78 yards and led the team with five catches for 62 yards. He made plays out of the backfield, as a receiver, took direct snaps and was almost solely responsible for J.T. Barrett's first rushing touchdown when he destroyed a defender on a block.

If only he could play defense...

Defense: Marshon Lattimore

Ohio State sent three of its four starters in the secondary to the NFL and somehow ended up with a team full of ball-hawks. The Silver Bullets have seven interceptions over two games, which is good.

Last week, Malik Hooker snagged two interceptions in his debut as a starter. This week, Marshon Lattimore called Hooker's two interception game and raised him a touchdown.

Gareon Conley, of course, had to get in on the fun. He intercepted a pass himself later in the game.

Plays of the Game

Offense

Curtis Samuel is the most dynamic player on the field for the Buckeyes and it's really not that close.

Saturday, his play of the game came not as a runner, but as a receiver. Samuel escaped out of the backfield on a wheel route and blew past the coverage. J.T. Barrett found him, but his pass was slightly underthrown.

Samuel reached back and plucked the pass right off the shoulders of two defenders, setting up Mike Weber for his first-career touchdown.

Defense

This may shock you, but Malik Hooker once again made a great play in the secondary. This time, it was a house call.

The half was coming to a close and the Buckeyes held just a 6-3 lead. Hooker, unenthused with the score, took matters into his own hands.

The breakout safety picked off a Tulsa pass and pranced 18 yards into the end zone to give Ohio State a 13-3 lead.

Hooker's play turned out to be a game-breaker – the Buckeyes went on to score 35 more points and Tulsa did not score again.

Biggest Surprise

Ohio State punted the ball five times and kicked two field goals. The Buckeyes held a 6-3 lead after 27 minutes of football. This did not look like an Urban Meyer coached football team, especially in the first half. Which leads us to...

Jim Tressel's Least Favorite Moment

(I excluded this section last week, but the people told me I was wrong to do that. The Vest returns!)

An afternoon shower cut Jim Tressel's neighborhood bike ride short, forcing him inside on one of the last late-summer days remaining. No matter – he flipped on his trusty tube TV and tuned in to check on his beloved Buckeyes. Tressel has no disillusions in 2016. He knows how it goes – there will be no short punts, no long field goals and power is run rather sparingly.

That said, Tressel nearly dropped his unsweetened iced-tea when he saw the statline – two field goals, three punts and two defensive scores. Now it looked like Meyer was content to run the clock in the second half with a few handoffs (outside handoffs and quarterback runs – a bit unorthodox, but it'll do). Had he finally learned?

Tressel thought it safe to take a nap, but awoke just in time to see his new favorite player, walk-on kicker Tyler Durbin, split the uprights with a 45 yard field goal in the name of sportsmanship and quality reps for a new placekicker – or so he thought. A single tear rolled down his cheek when he saw J.T. Barrett stroll onto the field.

Biggest Blunder

The Ohio State defense got off to a great start. Less than a minute into the game, Marshon Lattimore dove and intercepted a tipped pass, setting up the offense with spectacular field position inside the Tulsa 15 yard line. The offense sputtered, gaining only four yards and only managing a field goal.

Spectator Quote-Book

First Quarter
  • "Why beat them if we can let them beat themselves? That seems to take less effort."
  • "Wait, they're the Hurricanes? Are they sure? Isn't Oklahoma land-locked?"
  • "Couldn't we just play them next Friday on our way to Norman? You know, kill two birds with one stone?"
Second Quarter
  • "Tyler, you're never going to get on TFM. Stop tweeting at that account," said a fan. "Dude, I swear I will. I'm funny," said Tyler (presumably).
  • "I don't think the rain is supposed to last long. Has anybody watched the weather?"
  • "Do you think I should go get more water, or will the rain fill my cup?"
Third Quarter
  • "Honestly, wandering around wet and shirtless in the student section while singing 'Purple Rain' might be the highlight of my college career."
  • "I don't want to be here at all, but where else am I going to go?"
  • "I think coming into this game thinking 'everything about this is going to suck' helped a lot, because I don't hate this as much as I thought I would."
Fourth Quarter
  • "I want this drive to last 12 minutes without the clock stopping."
  • "It lasted less than a minute, which is also fine I guess."
  • "The stadium is half full, but just as loud as it was at the beginning because the people who left don't make any noise anyway."

Underrated Moment of the Game

Cameron Johnston just barely got his fifth and final punt of the day off in time, narrowly avoiding having it blocked. The Tulsa player who got closest to Johnston seemed to have a few things to say to the Aussie after the punt.

Of course, Johnston is a wizard and not only got the punt off in time, he pinned the Golden Hurricanes inside their own one yard-line. Being the swaggernaut he is, Johnston promptly marched right up to a Tulsa player and had a few words with him.

It was Over When

It started raining. I don't know why, but all it took was a little rain to ignite the crowd and the team right before halftime. After the prolonged intermission, Tulsa melted like the Wicked Witch of the West in the conditions while the Buckeyes finally found their offensive stride and dominated. It should always rain.

Biggest Question Going Forward

Can Ohio State score in the red-zone? At times, it seemed like the Buckeyes were playing with both hands tied behind their backs when they got inside the Tulsa 20 yard-line. It all worked out, primarily because the defense saved the day, but Oklahoma will be much less forgiving. 

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