BUCKEYES TO BROWNS
Ohio State defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. is selected 54th overall in the second round of the NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns.
These box scores are always hard to parse.
Ohio State routed Illinois, securing a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game in the process. The game was never in doubt since the Illini players stepped off the bus. However, the game itself was far from the most exciting game to watch, even as far as beatdowns go.
The Buckeyes boat-raced the Illini from the start, daring the No. 126 total offense to keep pace. It could not and fans already started to head for the exit in the second quarter while J.T. Barrett got a (momentary) send-off early in the second quarter.
The weather and the backups constituted a perfect storm for a game that lacked any intrigue and any clean play down the stretch. The game could've ended at halftime and we might have been better off for it.
Alas, here are a few interesting items from the box score of Ohio State's rain-soaked rout of Illinois.
Blame It on the Rain?
It was obvious to everyone watching, either on TV or in their parkas at Ohio Stadium, that the downpour that opened the second quarter made the remainder of the game sloppy and uninteresting. Even in routs, fans could watch the backups execute and improve when the game is nevertheless well in hand. Fans didn't even get that opportunity.
You can incidentally see this effect in the data on drives from Saturday night. The game was dry for the entirety of the first quarter but the rain started on Ohio State's seventh drive with the Buckeyes midway through the 2nd quarter. By that point, Ohio State had accumulated 338 yards and 38 points, scoring on all six of its previous drives (five of which were touchdowns).
The offensive output depreciated substantially thereafter. The Buckeyes final nine drives of the game netted 195 yards in contrast to the 338 yards in the six drives before it. The yards-per-play metric drops substantially too. The Buckeyes averaged 8.79 yards per play on its first six drives and just 3.98 yards per play afterward.
The game was never in doubt but the rain may have spared the Illini further humiliation.
Some of this is no doubt the removal of most of the starters after the sixth drive to put the Buckeyes up 38-0, but even this explanation is incomplete. J.T. Barrett reappeared after the Dwayne Haskins fumble to lead the Buckeyes' 10th drive. That ended in a three-and-out that only became a touchdown on the next drive because Illinois muffed the punt.
Fans will not, and should not, complain about a result that was always a fait accompli and, coupled with Michigan's loss earlier in the afternoon, secured the Buckeyes' berth in the Big Ten Championship Game. It just meant the stats we observe won't communicate a whole lot because of the conditions.
Well, Illinois At Least Did Better Than Maryland...
Ohio State's offense is pretty damn good this year. Illinois's offense is decidedly not good.
Illinois's defense is fine enough and Hardy Nickerson is a quality defensive coordinator. However, the Illini's offense is woeful and puts its defense behind the 8-ball enough to where Ohio State could comfortably hang 543 yards on it.
Indeed, Illinois narrowly avoided the ignominious distinction of putting the fewest yards on Ohio State of any opponent this season. Its touchdown drive on its penultimate possession of the game put it past Maryland's season-low offensive output against an Ohio State defense. The 65 yards Illinois accumulated that drive put it past Maryland's 66 yards of total offense against Ohio State earlier this season.
But for that 65-yard drive in the fourth quarter, this chart could look a *lot* worse for Illinois.
Prior to that, Illinois had 38 yards of total offense before that touchdown earlier in the fourth quarter.
While Illinois at least put up more yards against Ohio State than Maryland did, Saturday night's putrid effort is still comfortably the lowest offensive output for Illinois this season.
Illinois' offense had a very bad day on Saturday
This is another one of those reasons why this box score is hard to parse. Illinois is bad. Ohio State is good. Saturday's game underscored that but nothing here is terribly out the ordinary and the rain complicates a lot of what we can infer from the game. Illinois simultaneously had the worst offensive game of its season but is fortunate it wasn't the worst any Big Ten team had against Ohio State this year.
Mike Weber is Coming on Strong
There were a few areas of intrigue from Saturday's win against the Illini. Seeing the emergence of Mike Weber is one of them.
J.K. Dobbins is nominally the team's starting tailback. Ohio State lists him as "OR" with Mike Weber on top the depth chart but it's Dobbins who usually appears in the huddle to start the game and it's Dobbins who leads the team in rushing. That said, watching Mike Weber come on strong in the past two games has been one of the better developments on offense this season.
This led to some early misgivings on what Mike Weber's role would be when he finally got to the field after his pre-season injury. It seems Ohio State eventually found it first by prioritizing Weber in the red zone. Indeed, Weber has nine rushing touchdowns to Dobbins' six.
Down the stretch, Ohio State has also found Weber to be a home-run threat when given the ball. He's out-rushed Dobbins in each of the past two games despite having fewer carries in both contests.
J.K. Dobbins leads the Buckeyes in rushing but it's Mike Weber that's led the way since the Iowa loss.
This much is a welcome development for fans interested in what Dobbins' emergence would mean for last season's rushing leader. Dobbins is still the focal point of the offense but Weber's role has moved from the red zone option to also being the home run option in the past two games.
