Indiana Debriefing: J.K. Dobbins Claims His Throne, Johnnie Dixon is Healthy & Robert Landers' Touchdown Counts in Our Heart

By Kevin Harrish on September 1, 2017 at 8:05 am
J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber.
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Just as everyone predicted.

If you expected the Buckeyes blow the doors off Indiana in the season opener with J.T. Barrett throwing for over 300 yards with three touchdowns, the team combining for 292 rushing yards, the defensive line proving its the best in the country and the secondary picking off multiple passes, then you were absolutely right.

If you expected Ohio State to come out flat, struggle to move the ball through the air, be unable to stop Indiana's passing attack, fail to put the ball in the end zone from the red zone and struggle on the offensive line, then you were also absolutely right.

Let's debrief.

The Short Story

Ohio State came out flat. The Buckeyes couldn't find the end zone, couldn't move the ball effectively through the air, couldn't get any push on the offensive line and couldn't stop the Indiana passing attack. The Hoosiers lit up Ohio State through the air and the Buckeyes seemed to have no answer on the offensive end.

Then it switched.

The defense stepped up, making a few stops and forcing some turnovers while the offense hit a few home runs through the air and continued to ride breakout freshman J.K. Dobbins to a 49-21 victory.

Who Earned a Buckeye Leaf?

Offense: J.K. Dobbins

General rule: When you put yourself in the record books during your debut game as a true freshman, you're getting a Buckeye Leaf. 

Filling in for the injured Mike Weber, J.K. Dobbins was the most impressive, effective and consistent player on the field for Ohio State throughout the game. He rushed for 181 yards on 29 carries, setting a new school record for rushing yards by a freshman running back in his debut.

He started off slow, rushing for under five yards on his first nine carries, but at the beginning of the second quarter, Dobbins finally got loose, jump-cutting his way to a 35-yard run.

Dobbins added 27-yard run on the next drive and showed off his shiftiness, physicality and speed throughout the game. Dobbins played so well that it's not difficult to imagine he supplants Weber as the team's primary running back – which is exactly what I predicted would happen less than a week ago.

From Kevin Harrish of Eleven Warriors:

J.K. Dobbins will be Ohio State's starting running back before the end of the season. I think he'll get plenty of carries out the gate since Weber has dealt with hamstring issues all camp, and he'll look so good it will be impossible to keep him off the field.

Don't get me wrong, I think Weber is a great running back, but I think it's hard to ignore this coming out party from Dobbins.

The most perplexing stat of the night, though, was that it was Antonio Williams, not Dobbins, who led the team with two touchdowns on the ground. Dobbins, meanwhile, had zero despite having over four times the yards on over four times the caries.

Defense: The Defensive Line

The defensive line was supposed to be Ohio State's best unit this season. In fact, defensive coordinator Greg Schiano called it the most talented defensive line he's ever coached.

It lived up to the hype.

The Hoosiers did a great job of getting the ball away quickly to limit the carnage, but the Buckeyes lived in the backfield nearly every, absolutely dominating the line of scrimmage.

Here are some highlights:

 

To be honest, those highlights don't even begin to tell the story because it was outright domination on almost every down – those are just some of the plays that ended in a sack or a tackle for a loss.

The unit finished with five sacks and help Indiana to a whopping 17 yards rushing.

Plays of the Game

Offense

With how Johnnie Dixon's injury-plagued career had gone up to this point, many people – himself included – were skeptical we'd ever see his breakaway speed and athleticism in action.

Many people were wrong.

At the end of the third quarter, Dixon found space within the zone defense, hauled in a J.T. Barrett pass and blazed to the end zone, leaving four Hoosiers in his wake.

The big play essentially broke the game open for the Buckeyes. It put them up two scores, and Ohio State eventually cruised to a 49-21 win.

But more than that, it means Dixon is finally healthy, which is great news because it's almost impossible not to root for him.

Defense

The Ohio State secondary was having a tough time early in the game. Indiana seemed to be targeting new starters Kendall Sheffield and Damon Arnette, and with great success.

Then Sheffield decided he'd had enough of that.

The junior college transfer cornerback made the first big play of his Buckeye career, tipping a pass into the waiting arms of cornerback Jordan Fuller.

There's a chance Fuller would have intercepted the pass regardless, but it was an incredibly athletic play by Sheffield.

The interception saved a touchdown, and the Buckeyes added a field goal at the other end, so the play was essentially a 10-point swing in a close game.

Biggest Surprise

Turns out, Ohio State actually felt the pains of losing three members of its secondary to the first round of the NFL Draft.

Under normal circumstances, in a normal program, this wouldn't be a surprise at all, but at Ohio State, it is. See, the Buckeyes have had eight defensive backs drafted over the last four NFL Drafts, four of which have gone in the first round. And Ohio State never seems to feel that loss, instead just pumping out more and more draft picks.

So naturally, that's what we, or at least I, thought would happen this time around. With Denzel Ward, Damon Arnette and Kendall Sheffield, I thought the cornerbacks would be absolutely lock-down. I even published my predictions this morning:

I was wrong. Indiana and Richard Lagow lit up the Ohio State secondary for 420 yards and three touchdowns.

It wasn't all bad. There were a few highlights – Jordan Fuller's interception, set up by a Kendall Sheffield deflection as well as Denzel Ward's athletic pass breakups and eventual interception – but the performance was likely not what Buckeye fans were expecting, especially in the first half.

Jim Tressel's Least Favorite Moment

Jim Tressel was pleased to learn his beloved Buckeyes would open the season on a Thursday night this year. Rarely does he have an entire Saturday to dedicate to bird watching, but this week he would! With the extra time, he was certain he would finally catch a glimpse of the elusive Indigo Bunting.

Evening came and Tressel's anticipation for the big game grew. This season, Ohio State was debuting a new punter after the departure of the great Cameron Johnston. Tressel was elated to watch Drue Chrisman, who was sure to be his new favorite player.

Tressel was quite pleased with the young punter, but once again left the game dismayed as a result of a few curious coaching decisions. Urban Meyer elected to go for it on fourth down three times throughout the contest – three times too many.

One conversion attempt, in particular, did not sit right with Tressel. The Buckeyes had the ball, barely on the opponent's side of the 50 – prime punting territory – but Meyer elected to go for it, and failed.

Tressel cringed, knowing the was the perfect opportunity for the young punter to break the game open with an electric punt downed just before the goal line, and Meyer took that chance from him.

"You have to put the ball in the hands of your playmakers on fourth down," Tressel thought. "He's lucky that didn't cost him the game."

Biggest Blunder

We don't have to reach too far for this one.

In the third quarter, Parris Campbell blazed by the Indiana secondary and found himself open deep down field. J.T. Barrett saw him streaking and lobbed a deep pass so perfect you could hardly hand it to him better.

And Campbell dropped it in the end zone.

Fortunately, Campbell responded in a huge way just a few moments later, catching a simple crossing route and using his speed to outrun the entire Indiana secondary 74 yards to the end zone for the first receiving touchdown of his career.

Underrated Things

Slob Shakeup?

You may not have even noticed, but Jamarco Jones actually left the game for a short time during the third quarter. In his absence, Branden Bowen moved to left tackle and Matthew Burrell filled his spot at right guard.

It's not clear why he left the game, but Jones returned the very next drive.

Bottle Flipper Boots Balls

I'm sure the punter was the last person you wanted to watch during a game like this, but freshman Drue Chrisman had a pretty solid debut. Replacing the legendary Cameron Johnston, who graduated at the end of last season, Chrisman downed three punts inside the 20 and averaged 45.3 yards per punt.

Landers Lands in Pay Dirt

The most amazing play of the game ultimately didn't even count.

Initially, Richard Lagow appeared to fumble the football, and Ohio State defensive tackle Robert "BB" Landers was quick to pick it up. What ensued was pure majesty.

Landers was on a mission to find the end zone and he absolutely would not be denied. He even hit the Indiana player with the Braxton Miller hesitation step at around the 15 yard line before bulldozing his way across the goal line a few seconds later.

After review, it was ruled an incompletion instead of a fumble, technically negating the return. But you can't negate it from my heart.

It Was Over When

Jashon Cornell strip-sacked Indiana's Richard Lagow and Jonathan Cooper recovered the ball on Indiana's 20 yard line. The Buckeyes were already up by 14 by then, and that turnover shifted whatever momentum Indiana still had to Ohio State's favor.

Biggest Question Going Forward

Is J.T. Barrett really the guy at quarterback?

Just kidding. There are still a lot of question marks regarding this team: how will the secondary respond from that aerial assault? Will the receivers have success down the road? Will the offensive line start to own the trenches?

But the biggest question for me is this: What do you do about that running back situation against Oklahoma? Do you feed the hot hand and give J.K. Dobbins most of the carries or do you ride with Mike Weber even though he's coming off an injury and hasn't practiced much? I've already made my prediction that J.K. Dobbins will be the starter by the end of the season, but we'll see what happens next week.

Though, it seems like Urban Meyer already has this question answered:

Also, where is Demario McCall?

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