Ohio State took hold of the No. 1 spot in the country after their Week 1 victory over Texas and has held the spot decisively since, but it hasn’t stopped commentators and fans alike from critiquing their performance.
I admit, I’m as guilty of this as anyone: Some of it stems from seeing the amount of talent on this team and, as a fan of both the Buckeyes and great football, desperately wanting to see what happens when they reach their ceiling. Some of this stems from not wanting to sound like a homer.
And some of it has been warranted up to this point. The special teams unit has struggled. There have been moments where the Buckeyes’ run game has lacked last year’s explosiveness (though shifting Bo Jackson to the starting role has proven very successful). The playcalling has been frustratingly safe at times–especially against Washington—despite Julian Sayin’s progress at quarterback.
But at this point in the season, with nearly every other team in the country burning out before our very eyes, the criticisms feel like a stretch, especially coming off a 42-3 conference win.
This game against Minnesota felt like a statement: “We’re here. Our intention is to win back-to-back national titles. We know what our issues are and we’ll fix them, so trust us to do that or pipe down from your couches.”
The Buckeyes played pretty close to a perfect game Saturday against Minnesota, and I, for one, am tired of nitpicking. I’m ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
Let’s run it down:
I’ve written about the special teams woes, particularly on punt returns. But on Saturday, they pulled out (and pulled off!) some weird trickery that almost made me forget everything up to this point. On a punt return, Brandon Inniss caught the ball and ran it a couple of yards. Everyone assumed the plan was for him to return it.
Instead, he surprised everyone by tossing a lateral pass to Lorenzo Styles, who returned the ball an additional 36 yards to set the Buckeyes up on Minnesota’s 20-yard line.
Even a missed field goal on Saturday was completely forgivable, a coaching gamble on a 53-yarder that just didn’t quite pay off. We certainly can’t fault the kicker for missing a kick more than half the length of the field.
Then there’s the run game. Jackson again looked consistent, logging 63 yards on 13 carries against a defense that was a top-5 run defense heading into Saturday’s game, but the most pleasant surprise was James Peoples, who ran for 59 yards on 7 carries, including an impressive 33-yard play, the team’s longest run of the game.
OSU also silenced critics of their game plan through the air. Sayin was 3-for-5 on passes over 20 yards against Minnesota. Those long balls made up 121 of the Buckeyes’ 326 total passing yards, as well as one of three touchdowns Sayin threw for. His completion rate on the day was 85.2 percent,
What continues to impress me most about Sayin is not the moments that go well, though. It’s the way he manages to maintain his poise and lead his team when there’s a bump in the road. It’s an incredible quality at any age, even more for a first-year starter.
It doesn’t hurt that Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith are the exact people you want on the receiving end of the ball, either. Both Tate and Smith have proven that what makes them great is extreme talent mixed with really smart, unselfish football. Both are superstar-caliber players comfortable taking a supporting role when needed, and against the Golden Gophers, it was Tate who got to really shine, with nine catches, 183 yards, and a gorgeous 44-yard touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, there haven’t been too many criticisms (and any of those are definitely nitpicking), but the defense had another red-letter day against Minnesota. It was the third game this season where their opponents failed to reach the end zone, and they once again stepped up big with red zone defense on the opening drive to hold Minnesota to a field goal.
This defense moves like a synchronized swimming team. Matt Patricia has done a spectacular job as defensive coordinator, and the entire defense seems to clearly understand their part of the whole, executing it nearly flawlessly in Saturday’s routing of the Golden Gophers.
All this to say: Short of a loss or some catastrophic error, I’m done criticizing this team for the sake of criticizing them. Ryan Day and Co. have proven—again—that they have a plan.
It’s time to trust them to do so, get hyped, and enjoy the ride in a season in which this team continues to dominate.
