Favorite Stat of the Game: The offensive numbers against the number one defense in the country were fantastic. 431 yards on 72 plays, averaging six yards per play, and 38 points. This against the number one statistical defense in college football on a cold, wet and slippery day, in which you expect a good deal of sloppiness. The Buckeyes were anything but sloppy with only two penalties for 15 yards and no turnovers. You can’t ask an offense to play any better in those conditions against that good of a defense.
The Brooklyn Dagger Award: A lethal combination that has been a dagger multiple times this season, Fields to Olave. The 27-yard connection between these two gave the Buckeyes a 10-0 lead at halftime and more importantly showed everyone that the weather wasn’t going to keep Ohio State from being balanced. It would be the score that ultimately doomed Wisconsin too thanks to the Buckeye defense, so it was only fitting that a 4-yard connection in the fourth quarter between these two would finish the scoring and cap a great game for Ohio State.
Dwayne Haskins (Player of the Game) Award: He’s being mentioned like crazy and rightfully so. Chase Young had a GOAT game today. The player of the game usually goes to an offensive player, but Chase Young was just too much of a monster. He’s the best college football player in America. End of discussion. Buckeye defensive lineman Matt Finkes tweeted that if Chase Young doesn’t get to New York the Heisman Trust should stop giving out a trophy. I whole heartedly agree.
Defensive Player of the Game: Chase Young of course. October 25th was the five-year anniversary of Penn State thinking they could block Joey Bosa with a running back, and in honor of that, Wisconsin decided to out do PSU by attempting on multiple occasions to block Chase Young one-on-one and even with a tight end. I have not seen such a man to man mismatch since Khalil Mack as a senior beat up on sophomore Taylor Decker in 2013. And every mismatch today was even worse. The Wisconsin linemen could end up like Decker too, first round picks and long time NFL starters. It just didn’t matter. Chase Young can’t even be slowed down one-on-one. The thing we will be seeing the rest of the season is teams scheming away from Chase Young in every facet of the game, so I hope Hafley, Johnson Sr., and company have him lining up all over to make it that much harder to take him out of the game. He’s taking away whatever part of the field he’s lined up on.
Ryan Shazier-Devin Smith Award: Josh Myers. This team is loaded with star talent and in the next couple of seasons Ohio State fans everywhere will be in awe that Josh Myers, who will likely be a Rimington Award winner was part of the 2019 Buckeyes. The center has always been the leader of the Slobs and this iteration of that unit is playing as elite as any of the ones before them and it starts with Josh Myers. Michael Jordan showed us last year that it’s not easy taking over at center, but Josh Myers has done it even more seamlessly than the three-year starter and all-American Jordan did. Myers is reminiscent of Jacoby Boren, Thayer Munford of Taylor Decker, and Wyatt Davis of Pat Elflein. The offensive line play of the last eight seasons has been the best it has ever been in Buckeye history, and this year it starts with the sophomore center from Miamisburg, Ohio.
Dane Sanzenbacher Award: Ryan Day and Chris Olave. You know you’re quietly doing your job when your predecessor looks at you with the pride of a father looking at his son like Urban Meyer did with Ryan Day after this win. You also know you’re quietly doing your job when you have 7 catches for 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns and you’re at best being mentioned fourth amongst players of the game and that was Chris Olave against the Badgers. Those are ridiculous numbers for a receiver most days but especially on such a rainy day. When you’ve got three Heisman candidates being mentioned ahead of you, even the potential national coach of the year and one of the best receivers in the game can fly under the radar. Ryan Day nailed it though when he said having three Heisman candidates is how it should be at Ohio State. All of these guys are about the team winning.
Taylor Decker Award: The Slobs. The big fellas up front gave up four sacks in the first half, against a good defense in the rain, but they bounced back in the same game. They up one in the second half and paved the way for the offense to outscore Wisconsin 28-7. In these conditions and in this situation, the was a good bounce back performance and all in one game.
Fedora Award: The way Justin Fields has stepped in so seamlessly and in his own way for Dwayne Haskins, this may become the Bruce-Fields Award in the future (and maybe have to tie in Ryan Day too). Haskins rewrote the Ohio State record books in stone last year. I kept thinking all off season that I don’t think I’ll see anyone ever sniff the record of 54 touchdowns responsible for again in a single season. I knew this Fields kid was good, but could anyone be ‘throw 50 touchdown passes at Ohio State in a single season’ good again? Through eight games and in his own way, Justin Fields has been as good this season as Haskins was in 2018. He’s been able to make big time throws and put his team on his back in certain moments. Ryan Day is 11-0 now as the head coach. Fields has 1,659 yards passing for 24 touchdowns, and 319 yards rushing and nine rushing touchdowns for 33 on the year with 5-7 games left in the season. Buckle up, Buckeyes, we’re just getting started.
Sweater Vest Award: Drue Chrisman and Blake Haubeil again. Special teams always makes me nervous in the rain. You know you have two of the best when you really don’t have to worry about it. Not only did these guys keep the kicking game mistake free, which is difficult for guys who handle the ball so infrequently yet so critically. Haubeil was six for six, five extra points and a field goal made. Chrisman punted three times for 123 yards, a long of 50 for about a 42-yard average. These guys are defeating probably the Buckeyes’ biggest opponent in the past decade and that is implosion. The fewer the mistakes you make the more difficult you make it for your opponent or yourself to defeat you.
Archie Award: Justin Hilliard. Hilliard only had one tackle, but it was for a loss and was early against Jonathan Taylor and Wisconsin. It was in only his second start that looked like it would end multiple times by injury. Hilliard got the start as Ohio State opened the game in a 4-4 defense in an early effort to stop Jonathan Taylor and the Wisconsin running game. Hilliard’s tackle for a loss set the tone as the Buckeyes limited Taylor to 52 yards on 20 carries. Hilliard has shown an old school type of grit and class in career at Ohio State. Grit and class that has to be searched for to be seen. Ryan Day said it best; “I think Justin Hilliard, the story of him playing the way he played and being able to step up in a game like that and help us is a story that really isn't being told for whatever reason, but this is a guy, with today's day and age with portals and everything else, he stuck through it. He worked through injuries, he worked through playing time issues, and then he steps up in a huge moment for us to beat Wisconsin and plays really well and makes some big-time tackles. That goes to show you what kind of a kid Justin Hilliard is.” I’m more than happy to join Coach Day in mentioning what this young Buckeye from Cincinnati, Ohio has done throughout his journey.
Horned Rimmed Glasses Award: Ryan Day joined Urban, Fickell, Coop, Earle, and Woody with winning his first against Wisconsin and winning his first at home against Wisconsin. Ohio State is now 60-18-5 all-time against the Badgers and 32-7-2 against them at home. Maybe being sick had me down, but until J.K. Dobbins put Ohio State up 24-7 in the third quarter, the rain had me thinking of the 2003 game against Wisconsin that snapped a 19-game winning streak by the Buckeyes. It was nice to see the Buckeyes write their own chapter of history more similar to 2014 than to 2003.
Urban Meyer Coaching Moments of the Game: It wasn’t a coaching moment, but I think it probably didn’t make Ryan Day so happy when the Ohio State music D.J. played Jump Around in the second half. You never want to give them reason to play tougher the next time. Whether that’s the next regular season match up or in Indianapolis before the next one currently on the schedule. The good things by the coaches today were beyond good really. When the running game and offense were being inconsistent at best, Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson called Justin Fields number in the running game. It’s something they’re reluctant to do, due to not wanting to see Fields get hurt but it was nice to see them use him that way when needed and to open up the rest of the offense. Another thing done right was staying balanced in bad weather, the numbers weren’t insane as far as passing in the rain goes but they did enough to keep a good Wisconsin defense honest and it led to 38 points and a 31-point win. The final great thing the coaches did was 14 points off of two turnovers. It was great to see this and contrast it with the last game at home. In that one the Buckeyes had two quick forced turnovers but only scored three points. Today they got the most out of great defensive play getting two touchdowns off of two turnovers.
Glass Half Empty: We might get these guys again with revenge on their minds, indoors, being smart enough to block Chase Young with more than one guy, and after Penn State and that team up north, and against an offensive line that they got the better of in the first half. Also, every season reminds me of one I either experienced or have read about and watched old film of. For some reason, maybe it’s because of how flawless we’ve looked and how maligned they’ve been, the one that comes to mind first is 1969. That team was averaging a 46-9 win in every game through their first eight, leading up to The Game. This team is averaging a 48-8 win in every game through their first eight. Maybe it’s that this team and the one 50 years ago were that good and that clearly the best in the country. Maybe it’s how good the Rose Bowl winning teams of ’68 and ’18 were. Maybe it’s a maligned and desperate Jim seeming more like an upstart Bo than he ever has. Whatever it is, it’s a feeling I can’t shake, and a feeling I hope Day, Fields, Dobbins, Young and the Buckeyes crush and feed it to me in the form of delicious crow on November 30th.
Glass Half Full: Three and a half tough games away from the playoff. Rutgers should be an easy win; Maryland should be a win after about half a game and not the nail biter it was last season. That leaves a Penn State game that will probably be as close as the series has been in the past three, which were all instant classics and signature wins for the winning team, and then those dirty blues who, while it was a soggy game against an overrated Notre Dame, are getting their swagger back, and a tough game in Indy against either Minnesota, Iowa, or a rematch with the Badgers. Another way to see the glass as more than half full is how this team keeps answering the bell. Got the Big Ten West night game monkey of the back emphatically and then stomped on it. Took on the Spartan voodoo at night and beat them by 27. Stomped another tough Wisconsin team with a Heisman candidate running back and a tough defense. Up next, no hiccups against Maryland this year. Still up, against Penn State, a game which the past three times has been decided by a combined five points, and then The Game. But the Buckeyes are answering the bells.
2014 Moment: J.K. ‘All Day’ Dobbins. It’s crazy when you are as good as J.K. Dobbins (named all day by Gus Johnson), a Heisman candidate, who’s setting records that only the only two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin has ever set in school history and you still may be the second-best guy wearing your number #2 on the team. Maybe we can use this to convince Dobbins to return for his senior season and finish claiming just about every Buckeye rushing record. Dobbins totaled 221 total yards (163 rushing, 58 receiving) and a pair of touchdowns. Dobbins has 1,242 total yards of offense on the season (1,110 rushing, 132 receiving) and 11 total touchdowns (10 rushing, 1 receiving). Heisman numbers in his own right.
2002 Moment: Chase Young’s record shattering day. Chase finished the game with 6 tackles a school record tying 5 for a loss and a school record tying 4 sacks and forced 2 fumbles. His five tackles for a loss are tied for the most with Ryan Shazier (vs IU 2013), John Simon (vs NEB 2012), Andy Katzenmoyer (1997 Rose Bowl), Jason Gwinn (vs IU 1993), and Judah Herman (vs Iowa 1991). His four sacks tie John Simon (at Wisconsin 2012), Vernon Gholston (vs Wisconsin 2007), Bobby Carpenter (vs MSU 2005), Jason Simmons (vs Washington St. 1991). Young now has 27.5 career sacks, tied for second all-time by a Buckeye with the aforementioned Simmons and surpassed Joey Bosa and Matt Finkes in this game. His season total is already 13.5 sacks tied with Joey Bosa (2014) for second most in a season. A half a sack more and he’ll tie Vernon Gholston’s all-time record of 14 in a season by a Buckeye set back in 2007. If he averages just a sack a game for the rest of the guaranteed season (five more games) then he’ll have 18.5 on the year and 32.5 for his career. Depending on how many post season games the Buckeyes play, it’s definitely not out of the question for Young to tie or match the career mark of 36 set by future Hall of Famer Mike Vrabel. All of that and being the best player in college football is why Chase Young should win the Heisman Trophy.
1968 Moment: 50 carries for 264 yards and three touchdowns on the ground for the Buckeyes. Went out and pounded the rock as a team when everyone and their brother knew that is exactly what you’d have to do in that weather, and they did it against the best rush defense in the country. They got some good run stopping defenses left on the schedule too in PSU, TTUN, and a potential Big Ten Championship opponent. Running like that against Wisconsin in the ran when they knew it was coming should give this team the confidence to continue to run when they need to down the stretch.
Postscript: This article was titled ‘from the Aisle/Couch’ because I have been ill. I got sick the Monday after the game against the Spartans and have been sick ever since. I woke up early on Saturday morning and drove up Columbus, parked, walked to the Shoe and clocked in and felt fine. After I climbed the stairs to the section in south stands where I work, I was exhausted. It felt like I had just run a marathon. After waiting around near the portal I work in for a while, I still felt like I’d gone a few rounds with Buster Douglas. I sat down nearby and was approached by my fellow ushers who could tell I was sick. I told them I’d been feeling under the weather and asked my supervisor if I could leave, he insisted I get checked out by the medics at Ohio Stadium. The medics came, checked me out and insisted I go to a Columbus Fire Department first aide station in the Horseshoe. After these kind and hard working first responders made sure my vitals were okay, they informed me that it would be a very poor decision to stay and try to work through being sick. I returned to my little corner of the Queen City by half time and watched the rest of this brilliant victory from home. I am forever grateful to the paramedics of Columbus FD for taking care of me and making it clear that if I had stayed and stood in the cold rain for four to six hours with an exhausting respiratory illness I would likely would have ended up in the hospital. Now instead I get to gripe about little things like missing the game, making Wisconsin the only Big Ten team I have not seen play in Ohio Stadium, and missing my first Buckeye home game since 2015 against the Spartans. As I sit here finishing this article, I’m afraid I might miss back-to-back Buckeye home games for the first time since WMU and NIU in 2015, as this illness shows no sign of clearing up by the Buckeyes November 9th game against Maryland. The illness is also to blame for the tardiness of this article, yet I’m very thankful that I am blessed to live in America and Ohio where I can get great medical care and am normally healthy year-round. If you’ve read this far, know that I’m thankful for you, your time, and your readership! Go Buckeyes!
