Tim from Varsity Blue hits us with his weekly thoughts on the Buckeyes. Head over to his site to see my views of Michigan's game vs. Minnesota.
What I saw
Ohio State turned in a dominant performance on each side of the ball. Despite a lackluster day from the offensive line, they were able to pound the ball for nearly 250 yards.
Despite wind and occasional rain, they passed for nearly 200. Despite facing a mobile quarterback, which has typically been an Achilles heel of this team, they gave up less than 300 total yards, and only 10 points.
The Buckeyes offense operated primarily on the ground, while taking advantage of the passing opportunities they had.
On defense, Kafka got loose early, but the defense adjusted to prevent him from running, and the Buckeyes built up a solid lead. After that, it was essentially game over.
I also saw Ohio State score a touchdown with under a minute left, prompting some to accuse Jim Tressel of running up the score.
However, I don’t really think running it up the middle with your entire second team offense on the field constitutes poor sportsmanship.
Confirmation that Tressel was merely trying to run out the clock comes by way of the horrified look on his face after Boom Herron scooted into the end zone.
What I didn’t see
Any improvement from the offensive line, despite an entire season to come together and a bye week to get their problems worked out. At this point, I don’t think it’s likely we’ll see the Buckeyes’ OL turn in a good performance against a truly good defense. However, bailing out the offensive line, I also didn’t see…
Any tackling by Northwestern. Beanie and Pryor consistently broke multiple tackles on the way to picking up big yardage by ground and air. Of course, there were the two highlight plays (Wells’s 55-yard run and Pryor’s escape/strike to Rory Nicol), but there were several other instances of Northwestern players not making the tackles that were available to them.
A lot of passing. This is the biggest complaint I’ve heard from Buckeye fans in the after math of the game. If Pryor was having success through the air, why not give him more opportunities? However, I disagree, and think that the play distribution was probably as it should have been. I may be channeling my inner Woody/Bo, but if you can run the ball three times as often as you pass, and still come away with a 35-point win, why bother chucking it any more?
Who I watched
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