So proud of our guys going out and handling business against PSU. This has to have been the least competitive 13-point win I’ve ever seen. The game felt like it should have been a blowout given OSU’s control and dominance. But ultimately, it was kind of a frustrating win. Let’s get to the analysis (nitpicking).
1) OSU utilized its TEs! Why has OSU not been using it’s tight ends all this time? They were a great addition here and all three got involved with Ruckert having a great game. This forces teams to have to respect their use and not to mention, Ruckert, who Fowler described as primarily a blocking TE, is a beast to cover. Let’s keep this going past one game!
2) This game was clunky as hell with regards to bad ref calls and stupid unforced errors. Sadly, I don’t know what OSU can do about the bad calls (Browning hit on QB and the 2 second kneel-down that Fields was credited for taking 1second to carry out, etc.), but the bad penalties like Vincent losing his cool, the late shot by Brown on the TE, the illegal formation and too many men on the field stuff just felt like we were giving PSU freebies that either killed our momentum or kept their drives going. This is not even counting a couple I saw where guys could have been called like when Smith ripped QB’s helmet off on the ground or a late hit to the QB’s head after he was already down by Browning. We’ll likely be able to get away with that without it hurting us for the remainder of the B1G schedule but that will destroy us against Bama or Clemmie.
3) PSU WR #5, who I had never previously heard of, stole Wade’s soul. Holy cow. Wade is supposed to be our first round draft pick lock down corner! It was like they were picking on Wade. Don’t lie, had that been Arnette letting #5 go off, he would have been brutalized in the comments after. This was just one game and more data points are needed to establish a trend, but I’d be interested in hearing what was going on with Wade there. I’d say it was a little bit lucky with the one handed catches and everything but they kept happening. We’ll give the W to #5 on that battle but we won the war, so hoping Wade can straighten that out going forward (I know, almost Kyle Jones level analysis there).
4) OSU does not have a dynamic run game this year. Run game includes both the run blockers and the RBs. This really is a run game that will help wear down teams and control some clock but it’s not flashy and it kinda hearkens back to the days of three yards and a cloud of dust type of runners. Again, this is fine against the rest of the B1G, but against the big boys, this could be problematic. I was disappointed that Chambers didn’t even get a sniff as a quasi-reward for flashing against Nebraska. Was curious to see what he could do in meaningful minutes.
5) Props- The LBs stepped up! This was the best I’ve seen the core three play I think ever. They all looked great. I was proud of Borland for smashing those ball carriers at the line and reading the plays flawlessly. Werner and Browning (and Proctor) were great covering the TE and Werner running people down and blowing up the blocking RB during passing plays spooking the QB, it was fun to watch. The D-line, with how good Garrett and Togiai are, and the DEs playing much better, this was a big step up from last week. Keep that progress going!
Of course, I know the coaches have forgotten more than I’ve ever known, so I’m not purporting to know better than them, but these were my impressions. Grateful above all that OSU got the W and now has the record of most consecutive road wins against ranked opponents. Anything else stand out to you?
