This might just be the most Jekyll and Hyde Ohio State team of all time.
One week, the Buckeyes are getting blasted by unranked Iowa by 31 points and the next they're handing Mark Dantonio, who's been Urban Meyer's kryptonite throughout his tenure at Ohio State, his worst loss of his coaching career.
A lot went wrong last week, but a whole lot went right this week, and the Buckeyes shanked Sparty 48-3.
Let's debrief.
Quick Breakdowns
Offense
Urban Meyer said the Buckeyes needed to find ways to get his running backs the ball. Folks, they did.
Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins got a combined 27 carries and exploded for 286 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, J.T. Barrett didn't have his best game, as he threw two interceptions, but 183 yards and two touchdowns combined with 55 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground is hardly something to complain about.
The offense wasn't what was broken against Iowa, but Ohio State went ahead and fixed it anyway. Shoutout to preventative maintenance.
Defense
Last week, it looked like Ohio State's linebackers forgot to practice in the days leading up to the game. This week, it switched and they were one of the stronger units on the field.
With both Jerome Baker and Dante Booker out for the game, Tuf Borland and Malik Harrison started while Chris Worley slid outside, and that trio performed to perfection. Meanwhile, the defensive line did its thing and the secondary locked the Spartans down and forced turnovers.
It's tough to complain when a defense gives up just three points to the nation's No. 12 team.
Buckeye Leafs
Offense: Mike Weber
Mike Weber has been the forgotten man in the Buckeye backfield most of this season, and honestly, justifiably so.
Weber was injured to start the season, and freshman J.K. Dobbins exploded onto the scene in his place. By the time Weber was finally healthy, J.T. Barrett was in full predator mode and the success of the passing offense outshone anything the running backs did.
Weber was not forgotten on Saturday. He rushed for a season high 162 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries, averaging 18 yards a carry.
The knock on Weber last season was that he lacked the breakaway speed to be a true home run hitter.
I'd say he put those concerns to rest a little bit.
Defense: The Linebackers
We spoke about this briefly above, but it's really impossible to overstate how atrocious Ohio State's linebackers were a week ago.
That said, this was one hell of a bounce-back performance.
With Jerome Baker and Dante Booker out, Tuf Borland and Malik Harrison got the start and Chris Worley moved to his familiar outside linebacker position. I don't know if it was due to the personnel switch or something else, but the unit looked good on Saturday.
The linebackers combined for 22 tackles, three sacks and four tackles for a loss and a pass breakup.
Malik Harrison living in the Michigan State backfield. pic.twitter.com/Jxn7B6YZDd
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 11, 2017
Plays of the Game
Offense
Full disclosure, Mike Weber's 82-yarder probably should top this list, but we already addressed that.
Instead, we're going to talk about Ben Victor ending Sparty with this touchdown.
First, Victor beats his man off the line and stacks him behind him – the play is over at that point, as long as the pass is on target.
(It was)
Michigan State cornerback Justin Layne knows he just got got, so he doesn't even try to play the ball and instead attempts to mitigate disaster by just making the tackle, which he also fails at doing.
Victor drags him five yards before shaking him in a way that I would call unrealistic if it happened against me in Madden, and scores.
Defense
Damon Webb showed shades of Malik Hooker during a play on Saturday.
Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke threw a duck and Webb made him pay, flying in and making a basket catch like he was playing center field on a baseball diamond.
Damon Webb showing flashes of Malik Hooker on this 4th quarter interception. pic.twitter.com/2aoqCnn2oG
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 11, 2017
Like Hooker always did, Webb's eyes immediately turned to the end zone, and he damn near got there.
Biggest Surprise
I don't know whether to be surprised about this performance, or still surprised about last week, because one of these games makes no sense.
A week after losing by 31 to unranked Iowa in a game where the Hawkeyes dropped 55 points on the Buckeye defense, Ohio State pummeled No. 12 Michigan State, scoring 48 and not so much as allowing a touchdown.
I'm just having trouble making sense of this.
Jim Tressel's Least Favorite Moment
Jim Tressel was a wreck from last week's game. The Buckeyes did everything right on special teams yet still lost by 31. It simply did not make sense.
Heading into this game, he was cautiously optimistic he would see a game where Ohio State's specialists were the heroes. After all, if there's one team in the country the Buckeyes could get in a punt-off with, it's the one whose offense is coached by Jim Bollman.
So after a morning of hard-core garage sale shopping with his wife, Ellen, Jim sat down in his living room and nervously flicked on the television.
It was not the punt-fest he expected, at least not from both teams. The Buckeyes pushed across score after score and the game quickly got out of hand. The few punts Ohio State had, however, were great. Drue Chrisman punted twice, averaging 48.5 yards a boot.
But the Buckeyes never gave him much of a chance to compete, and on the other side of things, Michigan State punter Jake Hartbarger stole the show. He punted an astounding eight times, downing three of them inside the 20-yard line and booming two over 50 yards.
"We may have won the game," Jim said to nobody in particular, "but we let them outclass us where it matters."
Biggest Blunder
Let's get this out of the way: J.T. Barrett's first interception was definitely worse than this one, but this one was was really cool so I'm putting it in here instead.
Barrett made a few questionable throws on Saturday that led to two interceptions, including this one, but he was mostly fine. And Ohio State won by 45, so it's really difficult to complain about it too much.
Underrated Things
Dobbins Reaches 1,000
J.K. Dobbins' superb debut season reached a milestone on Saturday as the Buckeye back became just the third true freshman in Ohio State history to reach 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
Iron Man
Speaking of milestones, Billy Price hit a pretty big one.
Price started his 51st consecutive game on Saturday against Michigan State, breaking Luke Fickell's Ohio State record for most consecutive starts.
I'm not sure I've ever even gone to class 51 consecutive times. Hats off.
No Returns
And speaking of superb debut seasons, Drue Chrisman is also having one of those.
Fun fact, opponents have yet to return a single punt on Chrisman. Chrisman has punted 29 times this season, and all 29 have been unreturnable, which is exactly what Urban Meyer and Ohio State wants.
It Was Over When...
Ohio State scored touchdowns on three of its first four drives while not allowing Michigan State to really even move the ball on the defensive end. It was apparent from the beginning that this was going to be a long game for Sparty.
Biggest Question Going Forward
I cannot believe I'm asking this, given what happened last week, but can Ohio State still make the playoff? The way Saturday played out, there's a realistic chance the Buckeyes are ranked No. 7 or 8 in this week's College Football Playoff rankings. That's certainly within striking distance with three weeks left in the season.
