Ohio State’s 28-17 win over Penn State on Saturday was far from perfect, which might lead to a record number of Peeves this week.
I don’t know what the record is, but it’s probably proportional to the Buckeyes’ margin of victory. And with this being the smallest margin this season by double — or half? — there’s probably some harsh criticisms coming.
Sure, the Buckeyes got out to a 21-0 lead, but it should have been 28-0 and it never should have ever gotten to 21-17.
But there were some positives as well.
At least on the defensive line.
Caroline Rice
I have to give a Buckeye Leaf to Chase Young. But I also think there are a lot more guys on the defense who deserve leaves. Ryan Day talked all week about how each play would matter and there were a few guys on Saturday who stepped up to make big-time plays in a big-time game on that side of the ball. I think Zach Harrison deserves a leaf, Justin Hilliard, Baron Browning, and Jashon Cornell. Their efforts and big plays can’t go unnoticed.
Brandon Zimmerman
Buckeye Leaf for JK Dobbins. He was front and center into a backasswards game plan and he carried this offense today.
Look, it’s really hard to be upset after a Top 10 win, but I’ve got a peeve for the play calling. Penn State came into this game with a very strong rush defense and a lousy pass defense which had been fleeced by subpar quarterbacks in the last two weeks. For some reason, the coaching staff decided to run JK Dobbins and Justin Fields 57 times! It worked, but it subjected the two best players on offense to more hits than they have faced at any points of their college careers. Not surprisingly, Fields was banged up by the end of the game. This game was harder than it needed to be. The coaching staff is to blame for that. Great win. Not the greatest coaching performance we have seen from Ryan Day.
Michael Citro
I’m giving a leaf to each of the guys who wear No. 2 again because I’m unaware of any limits on my leaf-giving powers and also because they both excelled in the game.
I’m giving my peeves to a coaching staff that watched Penn State’s defense give up 700 passing yards in two games and decided to run it 61 times. It worked, I guess, but I didn’t have to like it.
Chip Minnich
Leaves to the pair of deuces on the Ohio State roster who played tremendously well against Penn State at crucial times — Chase Young and J.K. Dobbins. Young was as dominant as possible, even with blatant holds not being called by the officials. Yes, Dobbins had a costly fumble, but his 157 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns were the steady part of the offense against the Nittany Lions.
Peeves for the careless fumbling that allowed Penn State to get back into the game. Ball security must be paramount for this week’s preparation for THE GAME.
Peeves for the offensive play calling in the second half that was predictable. Ohio State cannot play like that at That Team Up North next week against a better defensive opponent in the Wolverines.
Tony Gerdeman
My R-S-T-L-N-and-E Buckeye leaf goes to Chase Young because duh. He is the best college football player I think I’ve seen since Orlando Pace. Even when the crowd is at its loudest, you can still hear a quarterback’s spleen cry out for help.
Leafs also to linebackers, every single one.
A leaf to Ryan Day for spreading the offense out and finally getting the most out of Justin Fields’ ability to run.
A rare peeve to Fields for taking a bit long to throw his deep balls and thereby underthrowing Chris Olave a few times.
Well, Penn State can give up 350 yards passing, and still win. So I think maybe part of the plan could have been, let’s run the ball, run clock, make this a 65 play game. And when it’s 4th quarter and we’re up 35-7 (as we should have been) we’ll put in Chugs and Master Teague and Harry Miller and just keep Penn State at bay.
The fumbles messed that up. So I’m hoping it proves a valuable lesson for The Game. Pretty sure against TTUN we will throw for 250 and run for 250.
Brandon Zimmerman, you nailed it man!
Good win for the Bucks! But it should have never been that close. Turnovers are costly! Can’t do that going up north this week. Worst play calling i have seen out of Ryan Day and staff all season. Not only did they run Dobbins a lot, but at one time kept running the same play to the left, even after the Lions adjusted and stopped it. Once the Lions defense starting creeping up for the run, why didn’t Bucks throw more? Hope they get some things fixed , because the team up north is vastly improved from the first of the season and Bucks are not the home team with crowd this week. Also i believe the weak link in the Bucks is QB Justin Fields, if he gets hurt, the ship will go down. Go Bucks!
I just don’t buy the argument that Fields is not tough. He took a lot of hits in this game and came back on offense. Criticism for fumbles is justified, but not claiming he wants to avoid contact. Also, anyone who thinks Braxton Miller was not tough did not him in the bowl game against Clemson. He absorbed an enormous amount of punishment which probably led to his should problems. By the way, there are two ways for a runner to gain yards – ru. over the tackler or avoid him. Either way works.
Leaves: Chase Young. 3/4 for the defense. Dobbins for a yeoman’s 4.4 over 36 carries.
Peeves: The Buckeyes could have tied a 116 year old record and spit the bit. Unlike others I’m not gonna peeve running so much because pass pro is where our O-line is weakest and Penn State chewed us up for a few sacks even as little as we did throw. However some of the playcalling deservedly has heads scratching. Also how can the Buckeyes have had such a string of great running QBs from Braxton Miller all the way to Justin Fields and not have a clue how to stop an opposing QB who runs well?
Tony, I am most in agreement with your analysis here. Well done. I remember the Pancake Server quite well. Wow, what a football player he was. As for Chase, do you remember when everyone thought the sky had fallen when Nick Bosa was hurt? Incidentally, I was at that game (inside Jerry World). It was a 4-hour drive from where I live now.
As for the LBs, Malik was his usual studness. Baron Browning finally had enough meaningful snaps to be the standout many of us always knew he would be. Werner did a formidable job against their all-everything TE. A leaf probably should go to Shaun Wade for virtually keeping #1 (WR) in check. All year I was dreading what #1 would do to us when PSU would come calling. He had almost no impact on the game, thanks mainly to Shaun.
“Even when the crowd is at its loudest, you can still hear a quarterback’s spleen cry out for help.” This is hilarious. I suppose I will be laughing about it even when I lay down to sleep tonight. If we can do the same thing to Mr. Patterson, it should prove to be a long day for the wolfies, barring 3 lost fumbles.
Buckeye leaves to the entire defense. 2 each for Chase, Malik and Pete. On offense? JK Dobbins. The reason only 1 on offense? See Peeves.
Peeves. An offensive game plan that would make Hairball at Varminville have a khaki wrapped orgasm due to sheer jealousy. IT WAS PATHETIC. 2nd Peeve. Not a drop of toughness in the the Buckeye QB.
No toughness in the Buckeye QB?! Either you were sniffing a ton of the good stuff, wrote a typo, or were watching some other game than the rest of us. He played every single (bruising!) snap, according to a competing OSU website. The other option is that you are using deceitful sarcasm. If so, not a fan of that.
Braxton Miller suffered from the same “OH HE TOUCHED ME” syndrome. Afraid of contact. You want to see a QB who runs with bad intentions of his will over yours, watch JT Barrett, or even this year, Joe Burrow or Jalen Hurts. Justin Fields doesn’t have it, but he’s a good game manager otherwise.
James I agree with you 100%
There’s a time to be tough and run physical and a time to not. If he gets injury the bucks season is over. He took lot of hits that game and still got up so to say he has no toughness is dumb as hell. You don’t think the coaching staff has told him try not and take the big hits? Joe borrows gets hurt or Jalen hurts LSU and Oklahoma seasons are over with. When the games on the line if he’s going to run it ya he better run tough as nails then but no point to take big hits for the fun of it ask tua how that worked out for him.
Unfortunately, yeah, I DO believe the staff has told him that. In the process of telling him that they potentially put him in a greater position to get hurt, because, rather than being the aggressor in contact he’s being defensive.
I have no idea what the circumstances were for Tua getting hurt. It sucks for any player to get hurt. Football is a violent enough game without adding the element of wrapping a guy in a safety cocoon in the name of protecting him. But I don’t know the play where Tua got hurt or any of the details……SO!
In any full contact sport the time to be tough is the second the event starts all the way up until the event ends. If you don’t have and keep that mindset, or aren’t instructed to keep that mindset, chances are you’ll get hurt. There’s enough danger in getting hurt so why would anyone think that adding the element of a false sense of security to the equation. In boxing and martial arts we were always instructed to defend ourselves at ALL times. In football we were always taught to go 4-6 A-B and to keep our head on a swivel at all times. Never once in full contact sports did a manager or a coach make the asinine comment that he had to protect me, or us. When the bell or the gun sounds it’s execution the way it’s taught. There’s enough danger of injury without a false protective wall that prevents you from going 100% 4-6 A-B and keeping your head on a swivel.
LOL!
I kinda gotta lean towards James A. Mills on this one. I mean the gameplanning and playcalling kinda forced Fields to prove his toughness (when your square-peg-into-round-hole mentality of forcing it down a top ten run defense’s throat, this creating obvious passing situations, where the defense can pin their ears back…. Clemson in the playoffs anybody?…), and Fields came away wanting. Yes, he was taking hits, yes, our pass pro was exposed. But, just like Haskins last year, when he started hearing footsteps, Fields was obviously rattled. Throwing high… second guessing his reads and throwing late.
Anybody else notice that the only two times we see him visibly shaking that left wrist was right after both of his fumbles? Anyhow, none of this is said to diss the kid. He’s a kid. From the south. Where cold day-long rain like we witnessed yesterday caused entire states to go into gridlock. He’s only played in first halves (3/4 at best) of every other game. He hasn’t had to take being punched in the mouth like he did yesterday. Let’s see how he gets back up! Let’s see how he hits back. The past is the past and the present is Michigan WEEK, so let’s forget about the Pretty Kitties and let’s kick they ass! Go BUCKS!
Exactly…………On to Varmintville and the smelly skunkbears, and the hopes that whoever kidnapped Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson after the Rutgers game free’s them and they’re able to participate with game planning this week.
For the sake of this article though………Great players play their best and their toughest on the largest stages. I think that the defense was rock solid, Chase, Pete and Malik went beast mode. Take away the gifts the offense gave and all anyone would be talking about is the fact that the defense slam dunked another top 10 team, holding them to 7 points at best, and keeping them under 230 total yards of offense.
Fields was so rattled he threw no picks and only six incomplete passes, completing only 72.7% of his throws. If that’s rattled, I’ll take it.