Ohio State came into Saturday’s game against Minnesota favored by 29.5 points, which means they would have needed to shut out the Gophers just to cover.
As we know, that didn’t happen.
Fourteen points given up is pretty good, but it’s a little bit like putting deodorant on gangrene to cover up the smell.
Only scoring three touchdowns with over 500 yards of total offense is not very efficient, and neither is scoring zero touchdowns on three trips into the red zone.
But we can get into that more below.
What have we learned this week?
1. Things are not trending well.
Let’s go ahead and couch this statement by reminding you that this is just October and October frequently has its share of stinkers. September is for pretenders, November is for contenders, and October is just a means to an end. That being said, the Buckeyes are not getting better, and if you’re not getting better, then by football definition you are getting worse.
2. This is probably K.J. Hill’s last season as a Buckeye.
K.J. Hill told me either at the Cotton Bowl last year or the preseason this winter that he was treating this season as his last. As a fourth-year junior, he has another year of eligibility available to him, but as we know, fifth years are fairly rare at the Ohio State skill positions. Plus, it will be difficult for him to stick around with Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, and Johnnie Dixon all leaving. Right now, Hill and Campbell are both on pace for 1,000-yard seasons, which would give the Buckeyes a 1,000-yard receiver for the first time since 2002. If they both get there, it would be the first time in school history that Ohio State had two 1,000-yard pass catchers. With his nine catches for 187 yards and two scores on Saturday, Hill showed that he can do more than move the chains over the middle.
3. The defense looks outnumbered badly at times.
I tweeted this during the game, but so often Ohio State’s defense looks like it’s playing at least a man-and-a-half down. Like it’s 11 guys on offense against 9.5 on defense. There are entire segments of the field completely empty, which makes it look like the guy who was supposed to be there was still on the sideline. This may simply be a matter of unfortunate play calling, but then the question becomes why offenses continue to have success when they do. Other defenses — like Michigan — look like they have 13 defenders out there. That’s rarely been the case for OSU this season.
4. It’s not just Bill Davis’ fault.
Linebackers coach Bill Davis has been a popular punching bag among the fans and media, but you cannot have gigantic voids in the defense as mentioned above and blame it on a position coach. That’s a defensive system or call that is rendering linebackers moot, not coaching or playing. That’s not meant to dismiss the times when the players and coach deserve criticism, but it’s not just the linebackers or their coach’s fault that the defense isn’t right.
5. Sustained drives are worse than big hits.
When a guy goes 93 yards, you can chalk it up to one guy not doing his part. When a team goes 75 yards on 11 plays and then another 75 yards on nine plays, that’s not because of one guy — it’s because of 11. That’s what Minnesota did on their two touchdown drives. Fortunately for the Buckeyes, those were the only two touchdown drives of the game. There used to be a gigantic percentage of OSU’s yards allowed coming via big plays. Against Minnesota, they did a lot more consistent moving of the ball than other teams have done. That’s not a great sign.
6. The Buckeyes found another kicker.
Due to a “minor strain” of some part of his body, starting kicker Sean Nuernberger was out for the Minnesota game. In his place, Blake Haubeil hit three PATs, three field goals, and only allowed one return on his seven kickoffs. The biggest moment of his game, however, came when he hit a 47-yarder straight and true midway through the third quarter to extend Ohio State’s lead to 20-14. With questions about Sean Nuernberger’s accuracy on longer field goals, this has to be good for Urban Meyer to see.
7. The secondary can make plays.
Both Kendall Sheffield and Isaiah Pryor covered a ton of ground to make red-zone interceptions against Minnesota quarterback Zach Annexstad. The throws weren’t necessary, but the Buckeyes were happy to have them. Those two interceptions basically kept this from being a much closer game than it could have been. The interception by Pryor was what he needs to be able to do as the post safety. That’s two weeks in a row he has shown good range in defending a pass.
8. It might be time to move Michael Jordan back to left guard.
Fifth-year senior center Brady Taylor has been hurt and didn’t dress again last week, and there is certainly some trepidation about switching to redshirt freshman Josh Myers at center, but I can’t help but wonder if the running game is missing Michael Jordan at left guard. We talked in the preseason about OSU’s desire to put the best five offensive linemen on the field and weighed that against a lineup that maybe keeps its best players where they can be most effective. I asked offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson after the game if there were possible personnel changes coming, but he said no.
9. There are too many injuries not to be noticeable.
Nick Bosa went down early in the third quarter of the TCU game, but the entire defensive line responded well and won that game for the Buckeyes. At the time it was a great story, but also one that we knew couldn’t be sustained. Eventually, the bills are going to come due. Then defensive tackles Dre’Mont Jones and Robert Landers got hurt. Landers missed a game, but Jones has played hurt for weeks now. Last week, starting defensive end Jonathon Cooper missed the game due to a concussion he suffered the week before. Middle linebacker Tuf Borland said he’s good to go, but we’ve seen that he wasn’t 100% just a couple of weeks ago. Starting Will linebacker Malik Harrison missed the Minnesota game with a concussion as well. Cornerback Damon Arnette went down early in the game. Basically, this is a depleted Ohio State defense right now, so difficulties should expect to be occurring. That being said, there were also difficulties when all of those players were healthy. Can everyone get healthy in time to also fix those problems that were occurring before they all got hurt? Maybe.
10. The offensive line needs a change in attitude.
I’ll write about this a bit more after this, but Kevin Wilson said after the game that when it comes to the running game, the offense needs something to hang its hat on. They can do so many different things with formations and play calling, but when we’re talking about running the ball, the offensive line simply has to have the mentality that it doesn’t matter how many defenders are lined up on the other side of the ball, they are going to move them backwards. I asked him if it was about mentality rather than physicality and he told me, “No doubt.” So he believes this group is capable, they just now to need to turn on whichever switch engages the proper determined mindset. If they can’t find that switch, good luck finding a running game.
This is a minor point…but if we win the coin toss, anybody else think we should go on offense first? I’ve always been of deferring till the 2nd half–but with this team, seems like putting the defense on the field first sets a bad tone. It would be nice to get the offense out there and maybe score right away. Again–probably minor, but in a sport where momentum is so important, the tone at the beginning is critical.
Anyone else notice how their QB would hard count, find out what our LB was doing (coming up to the line to stop the run or drop back in pass) then look at their sideline, then snap the ball and run the perfect play?
I’m not sure who is at fault there, should the LB wait to disguise his assignment or should our defensive coaches check out of that play after their QB reads our LB? Seems like our defense is so easy to read these days that all they have to do is find one LB… and expose him.
And in other news four of the top 10 rated teams lost and Ohio State has moved up to #2 in the polls.
They might be ranked number 2 but their current playing ability is not of a top 10 team. Sadly it requires more than bringing in top talent to be a great team. It also requires coaches (not friends of the HC) to develop that talent into a high powered offense and defense.
I agree 100%
I’ve never seen linebacking play where their first move is to run up to a blocker. No reading, no mobility, no lateral movement whatsoever. They take themselves out of so many plays, doing the offensive lines work for them. Whatever happened to linebackers making reads to see where the flow is going and filling? Or dropping back and taking away quick slants? Aren’t the linebackers supposed to be the leading tacklers anymore? It’s just mind-boggling.
I hate to say it but we are not real contenders for a NC. Too many weaknesses and too one-dimensional. This is really a poorly coached team.
Haskins,the recievers and running backs are good,the O-line is bad and the defense is bad at times and reminds me of a big12 Defense,the Bucks better get it fixed on both sides of the ball or they are about ready to lay an egg like at Iowa last year!
Yes, but the defense is more like the bottom feeders of the former Big East Conference. I wouldn’t insult the Big 12 by comparing THIS Buckeye defense with even their bottom feeders.
I wonder at times if this offensive line is too big. Are they struggling, especially at guard, to get leverage because of their height?
Secondly, it seems to me that the running game is struggling in part because the opposing teams are sending everyone not to simply stop the run but to get pressure on Haskins. In the process, you also stop the run because six and seven guys are coming so it effectively does both. Not sure the solution but I wonder if the screen pass that hurt PSU needs to be a larger staple in this offense.
The DL is not doing the synchronized sideways slant to basically shut down the line and protecting the.LBs from free running OLs.
Gotta differ with you on Davis, Tony. The reason you see the emptyness you do IS because of coaching. It’s just 2 coaches rather than one. As I wrote on another article I’m not sure if it’s Greg Schiano or Alex Grinch but the DBs aren’t communicating and that’s 1/2 of the problem. The other half is our LBs have not been the same since Coach Fickell left and that’s obviously Davis. Having 1 inadequate coach is bad (see what happened with Withers here, then gone). Having 2 and the only thing keeping this team afloat is the good fortune that is Zach Smith being relieved and Brian Hartline actually knowing how to coach at this level. Yes, I give Dwayne props, but at this point I’d bet the farm that every fan that’s crapped on J.T. Barrett would be singing his praises with another Natty if Hartline had been coaching his receivers. Tom touched on this in Accost the Field’s Instant Reaction so now we all know where I stand on which was the problem before this year and Hartline.
I agree with you mostly. My only complaint about JT Barrett was his ability to read the defense for the passing game. I still to this day believe that JT had a physical “vision” problem. Maybe if he had corrective glasses for the games he’d have seen open receivers just as often as Dwayne does. Those receivers, sure they have a real coach now, but they have been good receivers since they came into the program. Whether JT didn’t trust his arm, his accuracy, or whatever, it was a problem. He still remains the greatest RPO quarterback in the history of Ohio State. That to me puts him at the tip top of a really select group where Rex Kern, Corny Green, Troy Smith, and Rod Gerald roam. But I do confess to taking a dump on his passing ability. It was awful.
Brilliant. Despite the fact that JT is a very bright young man, surrounded by the very best medical staff money can buy, it took you to show us what JT’s problem was. Maybe you could send him a pair, and he can have an outstanding NFL career.
Good advice. I just put my glasses on to reread your comments and they are even dumber than I thought.
Hey look, retard and retard came to join the conversation. Welcome in girls.
LOL!
Did anyone noticed Haskins kept looking to the sideline for the plays to call? It looked like we kept changing the plays. I don’t think they ran too much tempo to keep the gopher defense off balance.
1 and 3. Davis isn’t the DC, but he IS a position coach, and FAR too frequently it’s his unit who are out of position, missing gaps responsibility and looking for the world like they have their feet in sand when pursuing assignments that they have blown. Pop in a game and focus on their alignment, pre snap adjustments and post snap movements. They are lost, confused and lack fundamental skills to play the position. Being that awful can only come from piss poor preparation starting in the film room, and instruction from their position coach.
Combined with extraordinarily soft reactive play from the safeties…….you get “empty field” coverage.
A player might miss an assignment on occasion, or be misaligned on a play or 2 during the game, but this is a constant condition for this Buckeye defense.
I REFUSE to believe that these guys are dumb and suddenly don’t know how to play the game of football. This is a travesty of shitty coaching and no matter who likes it……..Urban included, his best man, Davis, is worse than an off the rails trainwreck. If he knows of a problem in scheme, it’s his DUTY to report the issues with the coach. Apparently he’s just fine playing sissy ball at the behest of of the Greg Schiano Exotic Clown Show defensive scheme. Schiano can take that shit back to frigging Rutgers where it belongs, because it CERTAINLY doesn’t belong at an actual elite blue blood program. We saw an instant drop in 2017 for the caliber of linebacker play, and it’s simply become a shit show in 2018….and that my friend is the result of GARBAGE position coaching.
Schiano couldn’t bully Luke Fickell, but apparently Bill Davis lacks any balls to be a man.
Like I’ve been saying…..the day Schiano is back on the sidelines of a joke in Piscataway New Jersey, will be a GREAT day for Ohio State. God willing he’ll take that flunky Davis with him.
Interesting. Ten things learned.
1. OSU was very lucky that MN missed 3 fgs.
2. Without that 2nd quarter fumble. OSU may have been down 21 to 10.
3. MN really isn’t that good the just made us bite our nails until 2 minutes left
4. MN dominated our lines for most of the 2nd andcm 3rd quarters.
5. Our passing game is nearly unstoppable.
6. I wont lay all of the blame on Davis, but most of it. That is really bad. Urban should think of replacing their LB and DB coach on the Sunday when bye week begins.
7. Yes be cvery concerned with our D. Schiano yelled at the ref following a 3rd and long penalty on a throw it up pass when our DB jumped in the defenders face with no back glance. When might OSU want to teach that? We refused to stop the slant pass, their running game gashed us repeatedly, our LBs got mixed up constantly. Wait until we fsce a. Decent O like Purdue.
9. Prince played like a freshman he stopped 2 drives himself.
10. Should OSU not improve expect a few losses.
Kurt Mews.
1. Yep, VERY lucky.
2. Yep, the demi gods were smiling on the Bucks for that play.
3. Minnesota’s offense S U C K S, and Shiano and his position coaches made them look like Air Coryell with a better rushing attack.
4. Yep……….Minnesota kicked the Buckeyes right in the trenches. EMBARRASSING
5. Unlike some others, I never disliked JT Barrett in the least. He was simply the best RPO quarterback in the Country. Best in Ohio State history, but with Dwayne and that enormously talented receiving group, the Buckeyes have a nearly all timer offense. Too bad we’re saddled with awful OLine play that is personally responsible for the weakest running game in Ohio State history.
6. Davis is responsible for his room. It’s HIS fault the linebackers stink up any field they take. If he claims that the scheme is at fault, he should look in the mirror and point the finger at himself for not being man enough to take it to the Head Coach to get it fixed.
7. Schiano has been completely exposed over the course of the last 2 years. Blough and Purdue have the capacity to utterly dismantle and embarrass Ohio State this coming weekend. If REAL Head Coach pro-active changes aren’t made before then, this season goes down in West Lafayette.
9. It was a really really bad day for the offensive line. They got schooled by a bunch of Junior College level talent.
10. Yep.
I think part of the struggles of the run game is that RBs start too close to the line. They first stand to the side of the QB but behind him. He then signals them and they move to his side but now kind of in front of him. When they get the ball, the exchange takes up a little more ground and the RB is right there at the line. If the hole is not right in front of him, it is hard to cut away from the action to daylight. While this worked with an option QB, it will not put us a s disavantage. If the exchange is done with a good two or three steps from the line, the RB, will have better vision, more space, and time to find a gap.
That’s a generous spin. The reality is that our OL emwas being dominated.
One of the issues.
Bonus: Number 11…we learned that Tony’s predictions have fallen short once again….but hey you still get an E for effort! More seriously, with this team making predictions are difficult at best. Sadly, what should have been a stellar year for the Buckeyes has turned into a disappointment in their performance.
The season started on a sour note with Meyer sidelined for not handling his staff appropriately. Laying that aside, Ryan Day did an admirable job filling in and leading the team. Position coaching is lacking with both the D-Backs and Linebackers. Change needs to be made ASAP….Oklahoma made a change last week when it fired Mike Stoops…he might make a good hire for the Bucks. I am sure there are others who could coach the linebackers as well as d-backs in a more effective manner.
Something needs to change!
Spit on Mike
If urban fired bill davis he would have to fire the guy who was the best man at his wedding and we know he couldnt do that because urban evidently learned nothing from the whole mess that was the entire month of august. Has anyone ever seen this guy or heard him give an interview with the media? I dont think I have.
Tim- you wrote the very same thing I said to another fan today! Is anyone SURE Davis is real? I couldn’t spot him (without cheating by looking in a program) if he walked in front of me. It could be he is the elusive DB Cooper…or maybe Keyser Soze…or perhaps Waldo? One thing is sure- no matter what he looks like, he is a bout the luckiest goofball in Columbus. He gets paid VERY well to wreck our LBS, doesn’t have to face the media, and gets protected by a Head Coach who apparently views himself as Don Corleone, handing out jobs and giving people blessings and his protection.
This might be the saddest Ten Things Learned you’ve ever written. Wish I could disagree with some of it.
Think it is time for a rewrite of title to 10-things reinforced about Buck’s deficiencies and also stop drinking the Haskins for Heisman kool-aid and give credit receivers deserve.
I’ve seen a lot of really good to great quarterbacks. Dwayne Haskins IS one of them added to the list. He’s a better pure passer than Joe Germaine, Bobby Hoying, Art Schlichter, or any other Buckeye QB. His ball placement is off the charts excellent.
Yep, he has some really tremendous receivers at his disposal, BUT, without his arm delivering excellent throws at a really high rate of accuracy, most people still wouldn’t know their names.
Dwayne is easily the best pro prospect QB Ohio State has ever put on the football field. Johnnie Dixon Dixon expressed it perfectly…….”Like catching moms cooking.” NOBODY ever cooks as well as mom, so that’s a rare air compliment to Dwayne.
I was a doubter in Dwayne, but there’s now simply no way to doubt this young mans talent and ability to spray the football anywhere on the football field with lethal accuracy.
Indeed, its hard to believe that all of these great receivers were on the roster last year.
Mr. Mills:
Not positive, but don’t remember ANY of those mentioned quarterbacks being considered a Heisman candidate. Also, think there is a national award for best QB. Heisman is best all-around…
Hoying finished 10th in 1995 and Germaine finished 9th in 1998. So they were candidates on the periphery.
Art Schlichter had moved well up the Heisman charts mentions following his 1979 season, and started out the leading contender for the award in 1980.
I still have a few of the archives of the pre 1980 campaign. Almost every publication had Schlichter on the cover with Heisman hype.
When the 1980 season ended, UPI did a sit down interview and closed it this way. Art said, “‘If the team wins, the individual awards will come,’ he has said on numerous occasions.” “The 1980 season was a perfect example of that. The Buckeyes lost three times and people forgot about Art Schlichter, who only three months before was the toast of the college football world.
Mr. Mills and Mr. Gerdeman:
Excuse me. Should have written LEGIT candidates
🙂