Welcome back to the Grumpy Old Buckeye, the voice of negativity even when things are generally pretty great, which they most certainly were not on Saturday night. Anyway, in this space I feel compelled to write about the things from each game that make me want to walk out onto my lawn in my bathrobe and yell at people about it. This week we’re talking Ohio State at Purdue.
Sleepwalking at the Start
Rashod Berry committed a false start before Ohio State’s first offensive play. The Buckeyes then lined up in an illegal formation on what officially became the first snap on offense. That’s two penalties on one snap. Good start! The pre-snap penalties continued to plague the offense. A false start on Isaiah Prince on the second Buckeye drive on a critical third-and-short was costly as Ohio State failed on third-and-long on the next play. Prince did it again in the second quarter but Dwayne Haskins bailed him out by completing a pass for a first down on the next play.
Purdue Gets Fumble Yardage for First Down
A Purdue fumble at the OSU 17-yard line was somehow spotted at the 11 instead of returning to the spot of the fumble. That helped Purdue keep its first touchdown drive alive to take a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter. The offensive team is not supposed to benefit from a fumble but that’s exactly what happened and Ohio State’s coaching staff has to shoulder some of the blame for not inquiring about the spot strongly enough.
Nothing to Show
The Buckeyes went 83 yards in 16 plays near the end of the first half and ended up with nothing. Blake Haubeil missed a chip shot field goal one play after a pass for Binjimen Victor was knocked out of his hands in the end zone and the Buckeyes had nothing to show for a long drive that could have set the tone for the rest of the game.
Let’s Stay Safe Out There!
I don’t know what Ohio State was thinking by not playing safe on the apparent field-goal attempt near the end of the first half. Knowing Jeff Brohm is a gambler, that was the obvious time to call a fake and he did. Kendall Sheffield, had he just played safe, would have easily blown up the play for no gain or even a loss, making the decision look foolish. Instead, the Buckeyes played it like a legit field goal, which Sheffield tried to block off the edge, and the Boilermakers used that against them, getting a first down and going on to score a second touchdown.
Penalties? Penalties!
Ohio State did better with the flags against Minnesota but those hankies returned in droves at Purdue. In the first half alone, the Buckeyes were flagged for eight accepted penalties that cost Ohio State 56 yards. Several of those calls were on defense, helping Purdue keep scoring drives alive. Others were costly in stalling drives like the false start on Prince mentioned above. I’ll talk about one of the really egregious second-half fouls below, but probably the worst penalty of the game was Dre’Mont Jones roughing the passer on a play where the Buckeyes had stopped Purdue and should have been getting the ball back with still a chance to pull themselves back into the game. The final tally was 10 accepted penalties for 86 yards.
Red Zone Play Calling
The Buckeyes chose to go with horizontal throws in the red zone on first drive of the second half on first and second downs — neither worked. Parris Campbell danced around on the first and gained no further yards after the catch. Mike Weber caught the second one and isn’t shifty enough to beat three guys near the sideline. It put a lot of stress on third down and (after a lot of contact) Victor couldn’t pull down the pass.
What. The. Hell.
Ohio State got within eight points to start the third quarter and then forced a Purdue punt. Davon Hamilton would have none of it. He wanted that Purdue offense back on the field and he got his way, flipping into the punter to extend a drive that resulted in the Boilermakers’ third touchdown. The replay shows Hamilton got chipped trying to turn the corner hard by a tight end but he was either so far out of control that he completely lost it or he tried to sell it. Either way it was ridiculously stupid and extremely costly. Like the field goal discussed above, Ohio State should be playing that safely. Behind on the road and getting the ball back against a team that’s shown it will throw trick plays out there, the Buckeyes should have played it safe, not crushed the punter, leading to another touchdown.
Coaches Quit
Down 15 with less than four minutes to play in the third quarter, Ohio State punted from the Purdue 37. That’s a concession speech and it took Purdue only four plays to get the ball back to that position on the field.
There was more in the fourth quarter but my brain kind of shut down somewhere along the line.
Okay folks, light up the comments section below with all of your characters. Next week is a bye week and don’t even get me started about open dates.