The offense played up to everyone’s completely unrealistic expectations, and it was glorious. That was the single best offensive performance I have seen since 2014 Cincinnati. What a masterpiece. They did this with limited snaps from JSN as well, which was a concern going into the game.

When I say that everything was working, I mean everything. Running the ball. Excellent. Throwing the ball. Even better. The offensive line blocked well against the pass and against the run. CJ Stroud had 3 questionable throws the entire game, and one of those was a huge gain. Harrison had another huge game. Egbuka continued his hot streak. Fleming caught a couple of touchdowns. Cade Stover continued his dominance.

It is hard to believe that this was the offense that people were calling “clunky” just last week. For me, I attributed it to a couple of different things, but the absence of JSN was paramount. CJ Stroud has a great connection with JSN, and he didn’t look like he had the same trust in the other guys. Arkansas State looked better than Notre Dame, and this game looked even better than that. While it is certainly going to get lost in the narrative of this game, Toledo has a significantly better defense than Arkansas State, and at least to me, it looked like it based on their coaching. They consistently mixed up their looks and overall looked well-coached. While Arkansas State basically had one adjustment switching from a 4-3 to a 3-3-5 halfway through the game, Toledo would sometimes have three different formations in a single drive. This was a significantly better defense that Ohio State dominated.

Here is the play-by-play:

The story of this game was primarily the sheer numbers that were put up. 77 points with nearly 750 yards. That is nearly a perfect offensive performance. The offense genuinely looked as good as could be expected.

I think the bigger story of the game is that Ohio State answered one of the various concerns that had popped up over the year – their running back depth. After Evan Pryor’s injury and Henderson getting knocked out of the game, the Buckeyes were down to one returning scholarship running back in the game. Dallan Hayden was going to have to play in this game, and his readiness would be tested.

He passed with flying colors.

So too did TC Caffey, who looked plenty competent even as a freshman walk-on. After that game, I think Ohio State could get away with playing either of those two in a pinch. While Henderson’s injury hopefully isn’t too serious, Ohio State can feel comfortable with those guys in the game. Hayden’s 45-yard run (3Q 14:32) and Caffey’s TD (4Q) were two of the best plays of the day, mostly because of what they meant for the rest of the team. Chip Trayanum can stay and work at linebacker.  The team doesn’t have to worry about Henderson and Williams as much; they can be relied on more as there is a solid spare.

A final note about the running backs: I have seen it said that Henderson looks like he is trying to break everything, and I just don’t get it. That is how he looked last year, no doubt. This year, he looks much more patient to me. Is he perfect? No, not at all. Still, unlike last year when he either tried to hit the big play or just lowered his head for every defender that came near, he seems to be getting much more comfortable with his skillset and the needs of a P5 running back. He tries to slip by defenders instead of just trying to run them over unless he can run them over. He cuts it upfield on outside zone runs more often, leading to more 5-7 yard gains, even if it is at the expense of more 20 yard gains. He looks better in between the tackles and is at times trading efficiency for big plays. In this offense though, that is exactly what is needed. This offense is plenty explosive in the passing game. An added element of efficiency allows this offense to get whatever it needs whenever it wants. Maybe I am crazy. I just like what I’ve seen from him more this year. He and Miyan Williams both look much improved from last year.

Regardless, here is how the rest of the offense turned out:

The best place to start is with the offensive line, first by directing you to that protection number at +7/-0. That is the best protection I have graded in the last couple of years. While this may not seem like a big deal, the one area on Toledo that has some genuinely good talent is the defensive line, and the front seven in general. This was a great performance from them.

The offensive tackles played well. I haven’t had a game where both tackles scored this highly. I changed the way I do protection grading, and I think it may have helped this out. To get a neutral protection score, the offensive line has to hold for around 2.5 seconds, which is the length of the average pass play from last year (that I charted). If they hold longer than that, they will get points based on the difficulty of the protection. If, for example, Dawand Jones is one-on-one with an end and blocks him for 5 s, he will receive +2. Both tackles had some excellent protection in this game, and it showed up in their scores. Well done to the both of them.

It is also worth noting that the two that scored lower, Wypler and Matt Jones, were overwhelmingly positive until a little later in the game. One of their worst sets was on Hayden’s 45-yard run, so maybe I shouldn’t have taken points off at all. Still, I like what I have seen from the line this year, though Wisconsin will be around the same level as Notre Dame. They played well in the Notre Dame game, so I think there is a chance that they continue their strong play this weekend. Another good performance against Wisconsin will have me feeling great about this line.

The tight-ends also got a ton of positives for blocking, and very few negatives. I said last week that if Stover had another game like the last couple of weeks I would declare him as an upgrade over Ruckert, and he has done just that. Honestly, Ruckert was one of the only players on the offense who I thought underperformed last year, so I probably could have said it more definitely last week. The biggest question I had though was if Cade Stover was better than himself last year, and he continued to show that he was. The catch along the sidelines while Stroud was scrambling (1Q 1:38) was the most impressive. After these first few weeks, he has shown an ability to make difficult and contested catches that I haven’t seen from a tight end at Ohio State since Heuerman and Vannett. He had two 30+ yard receptions.

His value doesn’t even come mostly from the receiving end, either. He is an outstanding blocker at the position, and he makes nearly every block he’s asked. He feels like a real mismatch out there right now, which is not something I could have ever imagined saying just three weeks ago.

Rossi had another great game, including the touchdown run. His blocking was probably the best of all the tight ends a year ago, but he looks even better now. This position has been massively improved with mostly the same players from last year. Gee Scott Jr. has really looked the part as well. The biggest question for him has always been his blocking, and I haven’t really seen a bad one from him yet. Now, they were two G5 teams, but if his blocking is just fine, he could see more playing time going forward, especially if JSN can’t get fully healthy. I never thought I would be excited about Ohio State’s tight ends, but here I am.

The other big notable takeaway from this game was the variety of new plays and formations. The +11/-0 was also uncoincidentally the only time I can remember giving a perfect play-calling score. The first interesting call I noticed was an RPO Screen to Harrison (1Q 13:19) with the wrinkle being motioning Cade Stover out to the boundary to help block for Harrison. This is the smallest of the plays that I noted, but it was one that I think could work regularly, and it has high upside. Sometimes on these RPO relief screens, the RPO doesn’t provide that much benefit. Sure, there can be a guaranteed 4-5 yards on early downs, but I think a lot of teams will take that. Sending an extra blocker out that way can help the screen out, but it also gives the quarterback a lot of information about where the read is going to go. When Stover motions out wide, Toledo doesn’t send an extra defender to the edge, so Stroud has an easy throw read. However, if a defender follows Stover, that leaves one less defender in the box. With an unblocked defensive end, that could mean a zone read is attached to this play. Combining these concepts could be deadly, though we will have to see if Stroud keeps it in the future. Regardless, I like it a lot, and I think they have a little flexibility with what they can do in the future.

There was also the PA Wheel to Stover (1Q 12:12), which was mostly notable for the type of play-action involved. Instead of faking an inside run, they faked the quick toss that they had run for the past couple of weeks. This was like what Notre Dame ran on Ohio State for one of their three big passes. It’s a great way to introduce a play-action to a concept that is creating greater variation for the run game. It is just wonderful to see the offense having more variety in the run game, and therefore the passing game via play-action.

Finally, the Jet Sweep to Miyan Williams out of the formation where the running back and the receiver essentially switch places (1Q 10:17) was great to see. This was the formation that they used in the Michigan and Utah game to isolate Smith-Njigba on a linebacker/defensive end. The jet sweep from this formation has the most utility if the defenders are playing man and are ready for JSN to line up in the backfield. In this case, a corner will be essentially lining up as a linebacker. A jet sweep then will force said corner/nickelback to fill against the run. In this case, the targeted player runs way up field and JSN easily blocks him to give Williams a huge hole. I never saw the use of putting a running back in the slot, but this call makes complete sense now that I have seen it in action. This was probably my favorite play call of the game. It makes this formation a lot more interesting and more viable going forward.

The only other interesting nugget was the amount of goal line snaps I charted – 7 times, or around 12% of all snaps I looked at. This is the most I have seen them play goal line, which I appreciate. Seeing that they are more willing to try and score with a power run game is encouraging.

On top of the great line play, the surprisingly excellent running back play, and the phenomenal tight end performance, it would seem totally unnecessary to add anything else. Of course, Stroud had one of his best days throwing the ball too:

Stroud was nearly perfect on a purely throwing basis, maybe the best I have seen an Ohio State quarterback throw. There was only one inaccurate pass and no okay passes. That is exceptional. Every throw except for one was on the money, and that was the missed throw to a wide-open Stover in the endzone. The other two noteworthy negative events was the pass to Harrison that was nearly intercepted and the throw to Stover that was also nearly intercepted.

I do think Stroud was being extra aggressive in this game. There was very little dumping the ball off to the checkdown; Stroud was opting to scramble around for extra time to throw instead. He was going for blood on every throw. Now, this might just be a Toledo thing, but I also noticed a little bit of this against Notre Dame as well. It is something to watch going forward. Another game or two of playing like this and I think we can say it is a permanent change.

Also, while I didn’t chart it, Kyle McCord had the best game of his career. The touchdown pass was solid, but his best throws were the quick outs and hitches to Ballard. He looked comfortable throwing, showing off his arm strength and good accuracy. Hopefully he continues to look like that this year, just in case.

The same can be said of Jayden Ballard, who had a Jameson Williams 2019 against Miami (OH) moment where his speed genuinely shocked me. His touchdown run was a thing of beauty. More than that, he looked comfortable on some of the shorter throws as well.

For the guys that I did chart, here are their catching notes:

Julian Fleming and JSN had solid days on limited opportunities. It was good to see Fleming get a couple of touchdowns, as I know he has been waiting a while to make an impact due to injury. Marvin Harrison has looked like a first-round pick ever since the second-half of the Notre Dame game. He looks like he could be one of the best in the country, as advertised. Emeka Egbuka is also impressive, to the point where I don’t know how you can take him off the field much either. The last touchdown catch he had (3Q 5:10) was particularly impressive, as he recognized the zone, slowed up, and made a wide-open catch after Stroud found him. This was the issue that prevented him from scoring a touchdown against Notre Dame a couple weeks ago – he didn’t sit down on the route, so the throw was behind him. It is a small thing, but small things like this are the difference between touchdowns and missed field goals. 28-10 against ND would feel a lot different than 21-10. The fact that he has made the adjustment after a couple weeks is good to see, and it bodes well for the offense moving forward.

Honestly, for the wide receiver group, as long as you have three of JSN, Harrison, Egbuka, and Fleming, the offense is probably fine. Even if two of them are out, I think that the two tight end sets have been effective to the point that it might not even matter.

What should we worry about for Wisconsin?

It is exceptionally hard to play this well for two straight weeks. This was not an average performance; it was excellent. The only group that plausibly could have underperformed were the starting running backs, and even they just didn’t rack up a ton of positives because the blocking was good. If they play this well against Wisconsin, the ceiling for this offense will look a lot higher. As it stands, I would be a little surprised if they break 40. Still, lots to like from this one.

Also, and it is a small thing, but multiple times the Buckeyes took three downs to get to the endzone on first and goal situations. Is this really a problem? Probably not, but it is worth looking out for just in case.

What should we not worry about for Wisconsin?

The running back depth. I think Henderson’s injury would seem a lot more dire if Hayden and Caffey were less than impressive. Now though? I think Ohio State could survive without Henderson, if need be, though I do think they are best with him. This offense looks to be incredibly deep right now.

What should we be excited about for Wisconsin?

A bunch of things. The tight ends look real, which will be vital against Wisconsin’s front. The wide receivers are continuing to improve every week. The whole offense has continued to improve.

A wildcard here is Stroud’s aggressiveness. This may be good or bad. However, if he can stay aggressive while minimizing turnovers, this offense will be talked about as one of the all-time greats. He needs to show it against a few different good defenses, but it is looking awfully promising.