Favorite Stat of the Game: 76. 76 unanswered points. The Buckeyes came out slightly flat to be down to Miami 5-0. Then someone poured gasoline on their fire and they lit up like napalm. 11 unanswered touchdowns, 601 total yards on 72 plays, going for 8.3 yards per play. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the only team that can stop the Ohio State Buckeyes are the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Brooklyn Dagger Award: It may not have been the decisive play of the game but Garrett Wilson’s touchdown catch from Chris Chugonov was the play of the game. It just makes the mind explode to think that this guy is a freshman, a teenager and he made a circus catch. The scary thing for opposing defenses is that his teammates and coaches all say that he does this routinely in practice, and through four games he’s starting to make it the same way during game time.
Dwayne Haskins Award: Justin Fields. Fields was responsible for six touchdowns, in just one quarter. He tossed four and ran two. Fields has more yards and touchdowns through four games than his two illustrious predecessors, Barrett the all-time Big Ten leader in passing and offense, and Haskins the best player in the country in 2018 who set records passing that are as unlikely to broken as Barrett’s. Fields is incredibly great for a guy who has only played four games. His passing with ball placement, giving his receivers a chance and not the defensive backs, his running and reads, his ability to go under center, and his ability to know when to scramble. The most impressive aspect of his game isn’t any of these things though. It’s Fields uncanny pocket presence and footwork. I know a guy got that safety from his blindside but other than that, this whole season, Fields has felt and stepped away from pressure, up to the pocket, or to where his offensive lineman can make a good block to help him. This aspect of his game is what has helped the offense hum the way it has the most. It’ll be a gigantic boon to the Buckeye offense if he can sustain it through the rest of the season the way he did the first quarter of it.
Ryan Shazier-Devin Smith Award: Jameson Williams. Garrett Wilson is the biggest freshman phenom on this team but Jameson Williams is a solid second after he took a simple comeback route and outran the entire defense 61 yards for his first touchdown. The talent that Brian Hartline is working with in Zone 6 is a true embarrassment of riches. The fact that they could reload from Campbell, Dixon, and McLaurin to Mack, Victor, and Hill and next year will be Olave, Williams, and Wilson, who are thriving with this groups crop of seniors. The future is bright at Ohio State.
Dane Sanzenbacher Award: The Slobs. These guys are out of the lime light and honestly that’s a good thing. Linemen usually only get their name called when they are about to be a top ten pick or are causing headaches for the team. In other words, usually no news is good news and that has been the case with these guys this year. Thayer Munford, Jonah Jackson, Josh Myers, Wyatt Davis, and Branden Bowen have been playing at a high level this year and are as much as a part of the success as Fields, Dobbins, or the stable of great wideouts.
Taylor Decker Award: The secondary. They were very maligned last year, mostly with penalties, and big plays. The way these guys have played this season, is as good as Conley, Hooker, Lattimore, or any number of the guys who came before them. Their unit is going to need to their own nickname soon like Zone 6, the Rushmen, or the Slobs, because they are nasty. Arnette and Okudah are future first round picks, and White and Fuller are all-Americans. This group has been fun to watch thus far in 2019.
Fedora Award: Ryan Day. How do you follow Urban Meyer? Out scoring your first four opponents 214 to 36 is a good way to start. Ryan Day has followed Urban better than anyone could have expected but this week he faces a task that had gotten the better of even Urban Meyer the last two seasons, the trap game. A night game, on the road in the Big Ten West, against an up and coming, scrappy team, and worse for this year it’s the week before a huge homecoming match up against what will likely be the best defense they’ll face all season. Regardless of outcome, this weekend will go a long way to defining the 2019 season under Ryan Day. The great thing he and his guys look to be up to the challenge.
Sweater Vest Award: Sevyn Banks and his blocked punt. He returned a blocked punt for a touchdown against ttun last year, and he and Olave have both blocked punts this season. The special teams for Ohio State have been unremarkable in recent years, not bad, but until The Game nothing to write home about. Whatever has changed is working well so far this season, and it’ll fun to see if it can be a game changer like the Banks and Olave play of the finale last season.
Archie Award: The Cassady family. Howard “Hopalong” Cassady passed away at 85 on Friday September 20th, 2019. Hopalong Cassady was an incredible football player. He led the Buckeyes to a 10-0 undefeated, Big Ten, Rose Bowl, and National Championship season in 1954. He won the 1955 Heisman Trophy. He totaled 4,403 all-purpose yards (2,466 rushing) in his Ohio State career. He scored 37 touchdowns in 36 games in his career. He was a phenomenal athlete, but perhaps the biggest praise came from his children who said of Cassady that he was a “Heisman Trophy dad.” His son Craig, also suited up for the scarlet and gray. The Cassady family is a family of Buckeyes. Hop was honored with a moment of silence at Ohio Stadium, a decal of number 40, and though he’s gone he’ll never be forgotten, and not just because his number and name are on the bottom of C-Deck at the Shoe, but because Buckeyes remember their history. Rest in peace, Hop.
Horned Rimmed Glasses Award: In his first game at Ohio State, Urban Meyer beat Miami (Ohio) 56-10. Ryan Day sort of said “I see you, Master Yoda. Watch this.” And he led his guys to score 20 more points and allow 5 fewer. And let me tell you, the lightning strike that called the game with 2:40 to go was mercy. Ohio State could’ve scored over 80 easily in this game. The defense might have done it and got in on the scoring fest too. Urban had to be thinking afterward; “Done well, you have, Young Skywalker.”
Bad Coaching Moment of the Game: It wasn’t the safety, it was the drive that Miami took into the RedZone for their field goal after the free kick. That shouldn’t happen, but to the Buckeyes credit, it woke the dragon. They took control with a rage and crushed Miami.
Urban Meyer Moment of the Game: Ryan Day’s fourth down aggressiveness. I love going for it on fourth and short. Whether you’re rolling and just want to keep your foot on the gas, or it’s a tight game and you feel like it’s the time to make something happen, or you’re in the gray zone where you’re too close to punt and too far to kick a field goal. It’s an aspect of a coach that I greatly admire and one that I think is required to be a big time coach.
Glass Half Empty: The easy games are all (except for Rutgers) behind the Buckeyes. It only get’s more difficult from here. The Spartans always play the Buckeyes tough, we have two road, night games in the Big Ten West (which have been nasty the last two seasons), Wisconsin is easily one of the top two teams in the Big Ten and will likely be playing in Indy regardless of the outcome of their trip to Columbus, Penn State is quietly flying under the radar, and that team up north will be in desperation-play-for-the-coach’s-job mode when Ryan Day has to debut in The Game. The rubber is about to meet the road.
Glass Half Full: The firepower that this team has on both sides of the ball could stock an armory. The way Day has Fields, Dobbins, Zone 6, the Slobs, Young, Landers, Okudah, and Arnette playing as sharp as a razor. They are so good, so talented, so well coached that when they are playing up to their potential there is no ceiling, no limit to how good they can be and what they can accomplish.
2014 Moment: K.J. Hill’s bomb reception on a 53-yard pass from Justin Fields. It looked like Barrett/Jones to Thomas. Fields hit Hill in stride, and Hill did the rest, keeping the Redhawk defense on their heels for the rest of the game, and from that point the route was on.
2002 Moment: Chase Young is a defense. When this season is over, he might have had a better career than both the Bosa brothers. When Miami had their field goal drive the defense looked a little sleepy. Except the Predator. Young was destroying his guy off the line. I said to anyone within earshot; “He’s gonna get there eventually.” And he did, and it was explosive. Young had two sacks in which he forced fumbles that were recovered by the Buckeye defense. This guy has seven sacks on the year and it’s only a quarter of the way over. He’s the game changer of defensive players.
1968 Moment: It was the effort that the Buckeyes put in during the second half. With most of the first team of both offense and defense on the bench, the young guys further down the depth chart got into the game for maybe the last significant time of the year for some of them and made the most of it. They kept the offensive barrage going and the defense kept the shut down going. Guys like Chugunov and Hoak got some very important reps along with Jameson Williams, Master Teague, Steele Chambers, Zach Harrison, Noah Potter, and Marcus Crowley. Ohio State will need the depth of these youngsters if they continue their march to a championship.
To my readers, I’m thinking about replacing Bad Coaching Moment and combine it with Good Coaching Moment and making it the Urban Meyer Coaching Moment of the game. And then adding a defensive player of the game award, what do you think? I appreciate any, and all feedback.
If you haven’t read my Ohio State articles before, feel free to find them in the archives of my profile here on MySportsVote.com
I’ll always be thankful to Eleven Warriors for giving me a platform to start writing about the Bucks! In this off season I landed my first gig as a sports writer. It's at an upstart site and app called MySportsVote.com. Check it out, it's like the poll portion of this great site but on sports nationwide. I'll give them a quick shout with every article I post here for my fellow Dubbers. You can find more about them and me in my profiles here, on Twitter, my own site, and their site and app. I love this site, and everyone who has helped me enjoy and write about Ohio State! O-H!
