The Nebraska defense had absolutely no answer for a Buckeye offense that was nearly perfect behind the leadership and play of quarterback J.T. Barrett.
Ohio State’s first three drives went for 97, 85 and 75 yards respectively, all ending in touchdowns and set the tone of total domination the rest of the way.
The Buckeyes put 21 points on the board in the first quarter, 14 of them before the Huskers registered a first down. The onslaught slowed a little in the second period when OSU scored just two more touchdowns to take a 35-0 halftime lead.
Freshman tailback J.K. Dobbins got the scoring avalanche rolling with a 52-yard gallop around left end to make the score 7-0. From that point on it was more of the same for OSU on the ground and in the air. Barrett concluded the second drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, then threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Hill to cap the third scoring drive of the game. The first quarter ended with the OSU offense amassing 203 yards of offense in the first 15 minutes of play.
Ohio State rushed for 279 yards and passed for 354 more as the OSU passing game that has been missing since last season continued to improve under offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. Barrett threw for 325 yards on 27-33 passing. He threw five touchdowns with no interceptions.
Eleven different receivers caught balls for OSU, with H-back K.J. Hill leading the way with seven catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Barrett also rushed for 55 yards on ten rushes that also accounted for two touchdowns to give Barrett of total of seven TDs accounted for against Nebraska.
The OSU offense was unstoppable. The defense wasn’t all that far behind. Nebraska rushed for just 44 total yards and was reduced to a one-dimensional pass offense by game’s end. The Huskers did throw for 349, but most of those yards came late in the game far after the outcome had been determined. Both of their scores came in the third quarter after Ohio State had established a 42-0 lead. Each of Nebraska’s two scores was answered by an OSU touchdown on the ensuing possession.
Ohio State was extremely efficient on third down, converting their first eight in a row and ended the game with 10-of-13 third down conversions. They also converted two-of-three fourth-down conversions.
The game was all Buckeyes on the scoreboard, but it wasn’t all good news. A number of Buckeyes left the game with injuries, among them starting H-back Parris Campbell, starting left tackle Jamarco Jones, defensive end Jalyn Holmes and defensive tackle Haskell Garrett. After the game, Urban Meyer said none of the injuries were significant.
Ohio State has a bye week next week before resuming play at home against Penn State the following week.
I totally agree that Neb. had way too many completions. In the second half the defensive line did not look like they even got pressure on the qb like they did in the first half. Again, special teams had some problems but I will give that the wind was atrocious. The big games that OSU has coming up will not be so forgiving as Nebraska.
The good news is that OSU manhandled Nebraska like it should. It is amazing to me, just how far Nebraska has fallen in the football hierarchy- they are a complete joke. Bad news is for any OSU fans out there who are feeling cocky after the past several weeks worth of results- don’t be! The “real” part of the schedule starts vs PSU, and the following game at Iowa has “trap” written all over it based on what we’ve seen from both Iowa and OSU thus far. Oh, one more piece of good news- the football stars are aligning for OSU believers. Thank yous go out to Syracuse, Arizona State, and Cal. What a crazy weekend!
Problem is, while the defense did very well while the game was in doubt, they didn’t register a sack, allowed Chris Spielman’s nephew J.D. to catch 10 balls for 200 yards, allowed a guy who had 10 INTs coming into the game to not throw even one more and he got 303 passing yards. This against an offense that didn’t have a hope of a run game. Now picture Saquon Barkley who CAN run and is also a very good pass-catcher out of the backfield along with a decent passing offense and a defense that has a better chance of keeping them in the game. There’s stuff to work on the next 2 weeks.
The first half was really good on both sides of the ball. After intermission the Buckeye defense failed to return to the field. The most troubling part of that was the sudden vanishing of a pass rush. That defense got exactly no push or pressure and had their collective asses handed to them by a junk offensive line. As much as I hate to say it, it’s time for Kendall Sheffield to find a spot on the bench. He’s committing way too many penalties and struggles to defend even the second rate receivers Nebraska puts on the field. What the hell was up with the stupidity of shifting to zone defense in the second half? Whoever got that wild hair up their rear end should have their head examined.
JT Barrett put together his, by far best football game as a Buckeye. He fit balls into tight windows and anticipated his receivers routes. He wasn’t good, he was Heisman worthy outstanding. Now? Can he maintain that level of play. If he can maybe this team can earn its way back into the playoff discussion.
Special Teams is still road kill.
Overall it was a good win, but, it was still an unfinished win. The offense should grade champions across every unit. The defense with their second half disappearing act shouldn’t grade a single champion. You just can’t allow a garbage offense like Nebraska’s up off the matt. UNacceptable. It looked for all the world as though the defensive front just played flat and VERY lazy in the second half. They have 2 weeks to figure out why they sucked so bad in the second half last night and to get it fixed.
Coach Meyer has 2 weeks to make the right call and get the KO team taught how to kick the ball out of the back of the endzone. Play that way against Barkley and it will be a loss at home to another team the Buckeyes should smoke.
WHY can’t the Buckeyes just put together even 1 complete game? The offense should be pleased with how they performed. The defense and ST should be ashamed.
This looks like the formation of an F5 tornado. Everything is coming together at just the right time.
I’m pretty sure I will take this offensive performance of Ohio State any day of the week over PSU’s. While the D line may not have registered a sack they were in the backfield quite a bit disrupting the Husker And and their timing. Also, look at this silver lining – it FINALLY appears that the special teams kickoff might be done with stupid corner/out of bounds formation. That has been as an issue and they were HORRIBLE at it.