COLUMBUS — In his first-ever game as an Ohio State Buckeye, sophomore quarterback Justin Fields was named OSU’s offensive player of the week for his performance in the Buckeyes’ 45-21 win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday. Fields completed 18-of-25 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 61 yards on 12 attempts.
In total, Fields accounted for five touchdowns and led Ohio State on six touchdown drives.
On the defensive side of the ball, junior defensive end Chase Young and senior linebacker Malik Harrison shared the Buckeyes’ defensive player of the week award.
Young finished with five tackles and 1.5 sacks with a pass breakup. Harrison also tallied five tackles, but added two tackles for loss and a sack.
They were two key members of an Ohio State defense that held Florida Atlantic to negative 14 yards of total offense in the first half on Saturday.
The special teams players of the week were junior safety Isaiah Pryor for his tackles and junior running back Demario McCall for his 92 yards in returns.
Ohio State also released the Champions from Saturday.
The entire offensive line earned the honor, which may come as a surprise considering the difficulty the Buckeyes had running the ball. Not earning a Champions’ grade, however, was junior running back JK Dobbins.
His backup — redshirt freshman Master Teague — did grade out a Champion, however.
Junior tight end Jake Hausmann, senior receiver Austin Mack, and sophomore receiver Chris Olave were the other Champions on offense.
Senior defensive tackle/defensive end Jashon Cornell was named a Champion after having arguably his best game as a Buckeye. He finished with four tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.
He was joined by defensive tackles Robert Landers and Davon Hamilton. The only other linebacker to earn the grade on Saturday was junior Pete Werner. Junior cornerback Jeff Okudah and senior safety Jordan Fuller were also named Champions.
When offensive linemen earn ‘champion’ grades for as pathetic of a run game and some 3 quarters of putrid offense that says 1 of 2 things: either the skill positions are nowhere near where we need them to be (and that seems not to be the case with a QB and 3 receivers also ‘champions’) or else this public parading of ‘champions’ is a dog-and-pony show for the media and in no way reflects what actually happened on the field. Jonah Jackson probably deserved his champion grade individually. But in addition to feeble yards per attempt rushing the line also allowed Fields to be pressured for most of 3 quarters leading to a precipitous drop in his efficiency (it’s been reported that he was 15/16 when not pressured). Coach Day, we’re not stupid. Give it to us straight or don’t give it to us.
Andrew I agree, this makes the award of champion a joke. The offensive line was not good and Werner looked like a high school player when he filled the hole on a running play, the guy made a move and he dove and came up with air. Then he blitzed and the QB made a move and he looked foolish again.
Hank — Being named “Champion” isn’t an award as much as it’s a grade for performance based on every play they take part in.