Welcome to the Nebraska edition of the Grumpy Old Buckeye, the voice of negativity even when things are generally going pretty great, which they have not been the last few games. This is the place where I 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 vs. Nebraska in blackout conditions.
Noon Blackouts are Lame
Look, if we’re going to do the gimmicky thing and have fancy alternate uniforms and ask fans and students to dress up in non-traditional Buckeye garb for a game, do it at night. I realize the school has only so much power in these decisions and there is no home night game in 2018, but noon blackouts just seem dumb.
I am admittedly biased but I love Ohio State’s scarlet jerseys and grey helmets, and I don’t see a need to break with tradition (does Bama ever do this?). Even though I do think these black uniforms were among the better alternate uniforms Ohio State has had in recent years, I’d still rather go with traditional Ohio State uniforms and a sea of scarlet.
Why FOX Gotta Hate?
The Ohio State-Nebraska broadcast opened with a montage of Ohio State’s lowlights from the Purdue game. That’s understandable. After the first segment, the broadcast came back from commercial to even more Purdue game footage and talk. I don’t understand why they didn’t show footage of the death of my childhood dog or maybe my grandmother’s last words or something. Really go for the throat next time, FOX.
If you Commit PI, Don’t Allow the Catch
Does any team do this more than Ohio State? Tuf Borland tried to stop a fourth down pass on Nebraska’s opening drive and although his positioning was pretty good, he panicked and grabbed the tight end, who caught the pass anyway. Commit a pass interference penalty to prevent a huge play if you must, but in this case there was not only no reason to grab the tight end, because it wasn’t going to be an explosive play anyway, but the first down was conceded either way. Borland would have been better off to just hope the guy dropped the pass at that point rather than ensure that the reception didn’t even matter.
Play Calling Shouldn’t Be This Hard
The play call on third down on Ohio State’s first drive was abysmal. Running wide has been the Buckeyes’ biggest problem all season and so obviously they decided to run it wide with the least likely player to break a tackle in Parris Campbell. Not Weber. Not Dobbins. Naturally, the play blew up and nearly lost a bunch of yards before Campbell got back close to the line of scrimmage.
Then the Buckeyes failed to convert on fourth-and-short on the play they should have run on third-and-short. As we saw throughout the game, the running game was better on the day and there’s no need to overcomplicate short-yardage situations the way Ohio State often does. If you’re going for it on fourth down, minimize the chance of a negative play on third.
In the fourth quarter, Ohio State got the ball twice while up two scores with a chance to put the game away. Instead of running the ball the way the Buckeyes did successfully most of the day, they threw three incomplete passes on the first of those drives and threw incomplete on two out of three plays on the next one. That was an excellent opportunity to shorten the game while holding a two-score lead and Ohio State blew it twice through poor play calling. It likely also kept Mike Weber under 100 yards on the day, as he finished with 91 yards on just nine carries.
I get that it’s easy to sit at home on the couch and call plays, and coaches (rightfully) shouldn’t worry too much about what fans say about play calling, but the above things seemed like pretty basic things to me.
What is Pass Interference?
Binjimen Victor was penalized 15 yards for offensive pass interference on Ohio State’s third drive but it wasn’t anything even remotely akin to pass interference. Victor simply slapped at the defensive back’s hands to keep him from grabbing and there was no real contact of any kind. At least there was a makeup call on Bootle two plays later. Then, in the fourth quarter, there was an obviously early hit that prevented Terry McLaurin from catching a pass deep in Nebraska territory that went uncalled.
What is Targeting?
Everyone involved in creating, determining, reviewing, and enforcing the targeting rule should feel bad about themselves and go find jobs in things other than college football. The rule doesn’t work, isn’t properly applied the majority of the time, and never takes the intent of the player into account. Jordan Fuller did everything he was supposed to do and yet when a tight end stumbles after Fuller already committed himself to his action, it ends up not only being called targeting, but then “confirmed” after video review.
Fuller didn’t launch himself and didn’t lead with the crown of his helmet. He did make forcible contact with the receiver’s head but only because the tight end stumbled and he’d already committed to going low on a much bigger opponent that he couldn’t possibly have known would stumble at that exact moment, thus putting his head in the hitting zone. Given Fuller’s size, if the tight end catches that and doesn’t stumble, that’s possibly a long touchdown if Fuller hadn’t done exactly as he did.
It didn’t make me any less grumpy on the next Ohio State drive when a potential targeting on Nebraska was denied due to Johnnie Dixon supposedly making a “move” after the catch. His move was to duck. He may not have been considered a defenseless receiver but the hit looked precisely the same, with forcible contact to the head.
What’s Wrong with Dre’Mont?
What is going on with Dre’Mont Jones? He had two pre-snap penalties in this game after his egregious roughing the passer against Purdue. Jones is a veteran player and is supposed to be a leader on the defensive line, but he’s making freshman mistakes. You can’t have those kinds of errors by your top players and it’s a microcosm of the team as a whole throughout this season.
Fumble-aya
Ohio State kept Nebraska in the game in the first half, and in fact gifted the lead to the Cornhuskers with a pair of turnovers in the first half. Dwayne Haskins’ second-quarter fumble was the result of both he and protector Mike Weber missing a blitz from the non-blind side. K.J. Hill’s fumble was the result of playing stupid football and not protecting the rock when the tackler approached. If I had won the Mega Millions, I’d have just shattered my television and brought out a new one after that play, but I couldn’t do that and it only made me even more angry.
Haskins Not Right
A couple of terrible passes to end the first half seemed to be an aberration when Haskins led the Buckeyes right down the field to start the third quarter. Then he decided to throw into double coverage in the end zone with a wide open McLaurin underneath (and Hill available wide, although it would have been a tougher throw). This is the kind of thing I expected more of early in the season with a first-year starter but, with two-thirds of a season under his belt, it’s a new problem that shouldn’t be cropping up now. The perfect recipe for losing to a 2-6 team is to help them beat you with dumb plays like that. Haskins’ numbers overall weren’t terrible, though (18/32, 252 yards, two touchdowns, one interception), so maybe he’s spoiling me at this point.
Find the Dang Ball
At times, Ohio State’s receivers seemed to not understand they might be the recipient of a throw from Haskins on Saturday. Sure, they were out there running routes, but that’s just fun exercise, not a necessary part of the passing offense or anything. There seemed to be at least five or six times a receiver didn’t look back at all or did so late enough to where it looked like they thought they were a decoy on the play or something.
Werner One-on-One
Nebraska climbed back within a score late in the game because linebacker Pete Werner was lined up in coverage on the Cornhuskers’ best wide receiver, JD Spielman. It’s not the first time we’ve seen that this season and it’s never a good thing. Werner was picked on the play and it probably should have drawn a flag, but he’s not the man you want on the opponent’s most dangerous weapon in space. This is a schematic problem that Ohio State must either find an answer for, or if it happens in a crucial situation it would be beneficial to call a timeout and change up the defensive call. Better to give up a timeout than seven points.
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Those are the things that made me want to punch puppies* on Saturday. Which ones bothered you the most and what else did you see that made you want to rampage? Let me know in the comments section below and we’ll be back to do this all again after the Michigan State game.
*Important note: I have never punched a puppy. Do not @ me about it.