Ohio State once again trashed a bombed out and depleted Nebraska squad, this time 56-14 in Lincoln, as J.T. Barrett and the Buckeye offense put up a record breaking performance.
With Barrett tying his own single-game school record with seven touchdowns responsible for, the offense also set a new program benchmark with its fifth-straight game of 500+ yards.
The win served as number 892 in program history, tying the Buckeyes with Nebraska for fourth-most all-time.
Next up for the Buckeyes is an open week to rest up guys like Jamarco Jones, Jalyn Holmes, Mike Weber, Parris Campbell and others while Ohio State's next opponent, Penn State, takes on Michigan at night in Happy Valley.
Before we shift focus to what will be a huge game in determining Ohio State's postseason plans, here are Five Things from the lopsided win over Mike Riley's shell of a program.
STOP SIGNS
I saw a bit of hand-wringing after the final stat line showed Ohio State's defense gave up 393 yards – 349 of that through the air – while failing to force a turnover and notching just one TFL, without a sack.
Yes, that's a lot of yards through the air but remember Ohio State only gave up 116 yards in the opening half – 96 of that via the pass – as the Buckeyes built a 35-0 lead. Also don't forget, Damon Arnette sat out that first half after a targeting call went against him last week.
In that first half, the Buckeyes gave up just five first downs, forced three 3-and-outs and stopped the Huskers on 7-of-9 third down conversion attempts.
Yes, Tanner Lee and his receivers connected on a few gashes in the second half but I have to imagine it's hard to keep up the defensive intensity in the late stages of an ass-kicking.
I will offer a hat tip to the 17-yard touchdown in which Lee dropped a dime on Stanley Morgan as Denzel Ward's decent coverage went for naught.
Damon Webb, Kendall Sheffield and the linebackers must continue evolving their pass coverage skills but the fact remains Ohio State's defense held Lee to a pedestrian 52% completion rate (12/23) as the Buckeyes built that five touchdown halftime lead.
JUST TOUCHDOWNS BARRETT
J.T. Barrett was nearly flawless as he vanquished another subpar foe completing 27 of 33 passes for 325 yards and five touchdowns with another 48 yards and two scores on the ground.
The seven touchdowns responsible for tied his own school record and the five passing touchdowns pushed is season-to-date TD/INT ratio to a stellar 21-to-1.
Completing 81.8% of his throws on the night also moved him to the top of the school's passing accuracy list (min 150 att) with a 63.7% mark.
His night could've been even better as Parris Campbell dropped what should've been an easy grab (looked like he was blocking a volleyball spike) and Barrett also threw away one pass.
Barrett launched a number of precision passes in a somewhat breezy Memorial Stadium, one of my favorites being a 22-yard seed to Marcus Baugh during the opening series of the second half, immediately after he tossed probably his worst throw of the night as he misfired badly in Johnnie Dixon's vicinity.
With Barrett at the controls, Ohio State scored eight touchdowns on eight possessions to open the game with five of those drives spanning 75 yards or more.
While the competition is duly noted, it's hard not to see Barrett gaining confidence with his mechanics, his receivers and with the Kevin Wilson / Ryan Day passing game concepts, especially the host of mesh plays along with Barrett's usual efficiency orchestrating RPOs.
The real test of how far this offense has come since the Oklahoma debacle comes in two weeks but with the cohesion and tempo shown over the past month, consider me bullish on a Buckeye win.
WHOEVER COACHES SPECIAL TEAMS SHOULD BE FI-
A week after a probably the worst special teams performance in the history of mankind, Urban Meyer's group was only slightly better against Nebraska. And by slightly, that just means they didn't give up a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown, botch a PAT, have a field goal blocked and record the ever-elusive delay of game flag before a kickoff.
With such a low bar to reach, Ohio State still flashed major woes within the kickoff team as Blake Haubeil's opening boot sailed out of bounds before the next attempt was more of the pooch variety traveling a whopping 32 yards.
Haubeil's next attempt was deep enough but not perfectly placed and a missed tackle aided JD Spielman's return to the 29 (big ups to that kid, btw). After that, Meyer seemed to wave the white flag as Haubeil booted two straight touchbacks, something that would cause Urbz to flip his lid if he had confidence in the unit.
With the game in hand, Meyer then flipped back to practice mode and Haubeil, to his credit, was a little better.
Beyond the still-shaky kickoff team, the punt return unit wasn't perfect as Hill completely misjudged Nebraska's first punt. He could've caught it around the 20-ish but instead let the ball bounce and roll to the 4-yard line. Later, Hill had a nice return wiped out but a Jeffrey Okudah hold costing the Buckeyes about 25 yards of field position.
Yeah, it was kinda windy and it was a blowout but Meyer needs to tighten up special teams over the next two weeks when such shenanigans could cost the Buckeyes a win.
THE HILL HAS EYES
Don't look now but K.J. Hill is now tied for the team lead in receptions after posting seven for 80 yards and two touchdowns on seven targets.
Hill's first score came via a 16-yard crossing route on 2nd-and-15 to cap an 8-play, 80-yard drive putting OSU in front 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Early the fourth quarter, he put a bow on the Buckeye scoring hauling in a 6-yard toss from Barrett, inflating Ohio State's lead to 56-14.
Hill definitely doesn't have the wheels his fellow H-back has, as evidenced by his 9.8 yards per catch so far this year, but he has twice the hands of Campbell making him another legit option for Barrett whether he's lined up in the slot or out wide.
With only six catches over the last three weeks, I just wanted to give Hill some love for his second-most productive game from a receptions standpoint (8 versus Army) and his first collegiate game with two touchdowns.
BERRY IS SWEET
Redshirt sopomore tight end Rashod Berry is coming on.
We first saw Berry a few weeks ago as he tallied three grabs for 57 yards including an impressive 38-yard bulldozer impersonation on the way to his first collegiate touchdown against UNLV.
Yesterday Berry contributed in a variety of ways including in a role as a lead blocker out of the backfield. On Ohio State's opening possession, Berry led the way on a new wrinkle – and outside zone run with a fullback lead – and paved a lane as J.K. Dobbins scampered 52 yards for six.
The play was just one of a few successful Berry blocks on the night but he didn't stop there. Late in the first half, Berry hauled in back-to-back tosses from Barrett – one for 13 yards and another for 16 – the latter going for Berry's second career touchdown.
Marcus Baugh is the starter for a reason but I'm high on what Berry can bring in a reserve role this year and as a potential all-league performer in 2018.
