In the grand landscape of college football, all signs pointed to Ohio State being head and shoulders above everyone else heading into their national title defense this season.
Double-digit starters returned from a team that ripped through the first-ever College Football Playoff to put the Buckeyes back atop the sport, leading to talk to be of how much offensive talent rested in Urban Meyer's hands and a defense that was only going to get better in Year 2 of its press-quarters scheme.
Three games deep, Ohio State doesn't look overwhelming powerful like many thought it would be prior to the 2015 season. Its latest chapter is a 20-13 victory against Northern Illinois at home, a game that saw the offense struggle yet again while the defense dominated.
"So the best thing about 3-0 is a chance to go 4-0," Meyer said. "And ever since last year, the end of last season, our defense was playing exceptionally well. I think they held that out to whatever yards they did, well below their average. And five turnovers on offense, that's exceptional play by our defense."
The Buckeyes only tallied 298 yards of total offense Saturday, including just 14 first downs. It turned the ball over an astounding five times, while their counterparts only managed 10 first downs on 190 total yards of offense. The dysfunctional nature leads to lingering questions about what Meyer intends to do a quarterback moving forward.
Cardale Jones started his third game of the season, only to be benched in the second quarter after a pair of interceptions and his team trailing 10-3. J.T. Barrett helped the Buckeyes get the win, but wasn't his usual efficient, distributive self, missing targets and also tossing an interception.
"I don't think there was duress on any one of them," Meyer said of the interceptions. "It's just not fair for me to say — I'm not a big BCV guy, I'm not going to complain and defend. I'll have more information for you next week after we decipher what exactly happened."
Ezekiel Elliott ran for 108 yards, his eighth straight game of eclipsing the century mark, though it took him 23 carries to get there. The unit had a chance to put the game away in the fourth quarter on a 3rd-and-2 with less than three minutes remaining, but couldn't do it. The power rushing attack isn't where it used to be, the team doesn't possess a deep threat like Devin Smith anymore and even the intermediate throw game leaves plenty to be desired.
"We’re a power running team with the inside zone then we take shots down the field," Elliott said. "Plus, we establish the run. The thing is, on our drives, we’re not starting out well. Then we get behind and we’re not able to run the type of offense that we’re used to running. That’s a problem. We just gotta pay attention to detail, not shoot ourselves in the foot, and come out there and play Buckeye football."
Fortunately for the guy on the short list of preseason Heisman Trophy favorites, his teammates on Luke Fickell's defensive unit showed up to play for the second consecutive week. Against Hawai'i, Vonn Bell put a cap on a 38-0 victory by returning a fumble for a touchdown. Saturday, it was Darron Lee who intercepted a Drew Hare screen pass attempt and raced 41 yards to the end zone for what ultimately ended up being the game-winning touchdown.
"Just seeing how tight he was, we just knew he was going to run a bubble," Lee said. "That’s my job is to eliminate all bubbles in any way I can so really just saw it, made a play. They ran a couple of them in the first half so."
The play was preceded by a 10-10 halftime deadlock, even though the Buckeyes were favored by more than 30 points in the game. Lee, though, said he never thought the outcome was in doubt.
"Never. We don’t panic, that’s the worst thing you can do. We don’t panic and we don’t feel pressure at all. The bond we have eliminates pressure if that makes sense."
Sam Hubbard and Joey Bosa combined on a sack in the fourth quarter that helped seal it, one of four times Buckeye defenders got to Hare, who also threw two interceptions.
"I felt real good," Hubbard said. "It felt great to get out there and have an impact, be fresh when the line was a little tired. When Tyquan (Lewis) and Joey went out I got to go in fresh, fly around and make some plays and that’s what we’re looking forward to do the rest of the season."
Vonn Bell and Joshua Perry each led the way with 10 tackles on the day for Ohio State, who moved to 3-0 despite missing opportunities and committing six penalties. They didn't exactly look like the nation's best team at times, but still managed to win a close game at home.
"It's still high," Bell said of his team's confidence. "We gotta a little wrinkles to roll out. We'll see. We're going to keep on getting better and better in practice every day. Each and every week, keep on challenging each other. A win’s a win. It's hard to get wins nowadays, so you gotta enjoy this win and go back and fix all the mistakes and get back to work."
Be that as it may, Ohio State still has loads of work to do on offense to feel comfortable with where it is heading into Big Ten season. The last audition before is next Saturday at home against Western Michigan, a game Meyer isn't even sure who he plans to start at quarterback yet.
"I'm not prepared to tell you right yet. I'll give you a little bit more insight next week.
"I'm OK with winning games. I'm not OK with five turnovers and lacking execution and not being able to control the line of scrimmage, because that's a recipe for failure, at some point you'll fail miserably. Turnovers, if you can't control the line of scrimmage, you're not going to win a big game. And those two things have to get fixed fast."
