It’s me, the Grumpy Old Buckeye, writing with the voice of negativity (kind of), even when things are generally pretty great. In this space, I point out 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 vs. Indiana in a homecoming extravaganza.
Slow Start
Ohio State got off to a slow start the week after the entire world talked about how the Buckeyes got waxed by Iowa last year the weekend after an emotional comeback win. The defense continued to disappoint, giving up plays of 15 and 45 yards on the first series, allowing Indiana to march right down the field and take an early lead. It could have been seven instead of three points on the first drive if not for a couple of penalties on the Hoosiers. The Buckeyes still have no answer for the slant pass on a run-pass option and still can’t take a proper angle to the ball carrier. How is this still an issue in the sixth week? After talking about how last year couldn’t happen again, it seemed for a long time that it could, conceivably, happen again.
Worst Play Call of the Year?
It was third and nine from the Indiana 40 on Ohio State’s first drive and the Buckeyes called a straight run play up the middle. Not only did it have zero chance of picking up the first down, but Mike Weber also coughed up a fumble to give Indiana good field position. A good way to let bad teams hang around is to do stupid things on game day. Did Penn State’s coaching staff hack into the headsets and call that play? It’s not like the Hoosiers had been getting pressure on Dwayne Haskins to that point. A rare poor throw to a wide open K.J. Hill on first down for what would have been a touchdown made the situation that much worse.
Tackling is Hard but Not That Hard
Ohio State continued to help Indiana on the second Hoosier drive. Pete Werner missed a tackle on first down to set up short yardage with two plays to get the first down. On third down, Jonathan Cooper had Stevie Scott behind the chains and missed the tackle to keep Indiana’s drive alive. Missing tackles is another good way to allow an underdog to hang around.
Uncoverage
Malik Harrison and Damon Arnette were both burned deep in the first half, but luckily the ball was overthrown. Then Arnette did it again and gave up a touchdown. Jeffrey Okudah did them one better by getting beat for Indiana’s second touchdown, trying to commit pass interference to prevent the touchdown, and then…failing to prevent the touchdown even while interfering. The secondary is a dumpster fire right now by Ohio State standards. It got better in the second half but only in the not-allowing-30-plus-yarders-every-few-plays kind of way.
Dwayne is Not J.T.
I like J.T. Barrett. Urban Meyer loves J.T. Barrett. Dwayne Haskins is not J.T. Barrett, but there was a determined effort to make him more Barrett-esque in this game, especially during early drives. The quarterback runs on zone read didn’t work and they stalled some drives, wrecking the team’s momentum and, as a result, helping Indiana hang around. Let’s let Dwayne be Dwayne, okay? He seems pretty good at being Dwayne.
The WWE Broke Out
One play before Haskins threw his first interception, the Buckeyes ran one of those idiotic zone read plays. Haskins was stopped for no gain and the whistle blew for forward progress being stopped. Indiana’s defense then pushed Haskins backward a good three yards and body slammed him to the turf. The quarterback’s head snapped back and hit the turf hard on the play. I’m not saying it caused an errant throw on the next play (defensive pressure did that), but it should have been a penalty and a first down for Ohio State. Play is supposed to stop when the whistle blows, which is why forward progress is a thing, but to push a player back several yards and then throw him down after the whistle is unnecessary and easily preventable, and there are rules in the game to protect players from exactly that kind of extra damage.
Big Plays Continue
The Buckeyes just can’t stop giving up chunk plays. They allowed four plays of 30+ yards in the first half alone, along with 239 passing yards and 317 total yards. A team that held Penn State to 26 points on the road allowed Indiana to have 20 in half a game in Columbus. That’s not optimal. Ohio State wasn’t done. Indiana didn’t break a lot of huge plays in the second half, but there were plenty in the 10- to 15-yard range. At least Indiana wasn’t able to score more on the Bucks than the Nittany Lions did — just the same amount.
Lack of Pressure on Peyton
Peyton Ramsey had so much time to throw most of the day that he looked more like Peyton Manning. Ohio State did not pressure the Indiana quarterback the way it did Trace McSorley at Penn State. Sacks and quarterback hurries were few and far between and Chase Young disappeared at times, although it was notably better in the second half. Young was, in my view, wrongly flagged for a “blow to the head” on a pressure. I’m not a doctor or an expert on human anatomy, but I think I know where the head generally is and he didn’t hit that from the look on my TV, or the replay on my TV, or the additional replay on my TV when I hit rewind on the DVR. Ramsey threw for 322 yards for the game. That’s a better job by Ohio State in the second half but it’s still far too many for a team like Indiana to be getting in the Shoe.
Offensive Line Regression
As we get deeper into the schedule, Ohio State’s offensive line is seemingly getting worse instead of better. Part of that is due to better competition, on average, but by now we shouldn’t be seeing so many issues with holding or guys coming free on Haskins off the edge. Both of Haskins’ interceptions were created by pressure and getting hit while delivering the football. In addition, running the football is still problematic and I thought Malcolm Pridgeon in particular missed some key blocks in the game. The Buckeyes ran for only 155 yards and again didn’t produce a 100-yard rusher. Not being able to handle Indiana’s defensive line doesn’t bode well for games in November against the two schools from the mitten state.
The Shank
Look, Drue Chrisman, we had a deal. You were going to be our MVP and we were going to watch you be our MVP and enjoy it way more than any human should. The booming, unreturnable punts were kind of our thing. Then Indiana shows up and you allow a return on the first one and shank the second out of your own end zone. This is not what we signed up for, you magnificent, bottle-flipping wunderkind. The shank, in particular, could have been costly. The Buckeyes led by nine points and the 31-yard kick set the Hoosiers up in great field position. Eventually, they missed a long field goal and Ohio State took control of the game with a touchdown drive, but that could have gone differently. At least your miss only cut your average on the two punts to 41.5 yards since your other one traveled 52 yards, but it was returned out beyond the 20, so I’m still sad about it. It’ll be fine.
No Record
As the fourth quarter unfolded, Haskins got closer and closer to a new OSU single-game passing record. His sixth touchdown pass of the game — this one to Binjimen Victor — put him within reach and he needed to finish with 459 yards to erase the old record and etch his name in the school record book. The Buckeyes sportingly ran the ball a lot on their final possession, only throwing when in a third-and-long situation. Ohio State then tried to sneak the record with a tap pass to Parris Campbell but when he was tackled with a first down, Haskins was three yards short of tying Art Schlichter and four yards from knocking him off the top spot for yards in a game. Four stinkin’ yards. And then Ohio State took a knee.
These are some of the things that stuck in my craw on Saturday. (Always check your craw, kids!) I could have hit on even more of the same things I’ve discussed in this column throughout the season, but these were the particularly vexing things to me on Saturday.
Meanwhile, there were obviously lots of fun things as well, although as annoying as Indiana has been in recent years, it’s sometimes hard to think of them. The big day by Haskins was one, along with another forced fumble by Tuf Borland, another long Johnnie Dixon touchdown catch, a monster game from Campbell, and watching Terry McLaurin torture the team from his home state.
Which items on the list made you angry? Were there other things that got you riled up? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you next week after the Minnesota game.