It was a battle for the Buckeye State as Ohio State hosted the Bobcats from Ohio University Saturday night in the Horseshoe.
The defending MAC champs had thoughts of an upset, and although there were aspects of the game that I personally found upsetting — which will not surprise regular readers of this column — the Buckeyes sent the visiting fans home as unhappy Bobcats after a 37-9 Ohio State win.
Here are some of the things I would have liked to have gone better on Saturday.
Red Zone Issues Started Early
The glaring problem on
Saturday was finishing drives, and that started early.
The Buckeyes carved their way right down the field on the opening drive until it got into the red zone, where things bogged down. Two short runs by CJ Donaldson moved the ball from the 9-yard line inside the 5, but then Carnell Tate couldn’t haul in a third-down pass that hit him in the hands (although to be fair, it was a difficult catch under pressure), and then the offensive line picked a bad time to allow the first sack of the year.
While it’s fair to say Julian Sayin had a wide open Donaldson on fourth down, the pressure came from that side, so it’s possible the smallish quarterback didn’t see his running back in the flat to his right initially. I have no problem with the decision to go for it on fourth down there, but against stiffer competition or on the road, I’d have preferred points on the board early.
Disconcerting Signals
Penalties are never welcome. Ohio State had the Bobcats backed up after the failed opening drive, facing a second-and-6. Kenyatta Jackson began clapping for some reason, which is not allowed.
The flag for the hilariously named disconcerting signals moved the ball out to the 19, and Ohio picked up the first down. The defense got the stop on the drive anyway, but there was no need to help the Bobcats get out from under the shadow of their goalposts.
Not Maintaining In-Tegra-ty
On Ohio State’s second drive, senior guard Tegra Tshabola committed a false start that turned a second-and-4 situation into second-and-9. A short run by Donaldson and a throw short of the sticks to Jelani Thurman later, and Ohio State had to settle for a field goal.
Despite dominating the first quarter, the Buckeyes held only a 3-0 lead entering the second.
Tshabola compounded the first error with a second. Later in the first half, he was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after Lincoln Kienholz picked up a first down at the start of the second quarter. It didn’t wipe out the first down, but it lengthened the field unnecessarily for the offense, and those easily preventable mistakes from a senior are extremely disappointing.
More Red Zone Issues
Ohio State again stalled in the red zone early in the second quarter moments after Tshabola’s second penalty. A Donaldson run set the Buckeyes up with first down at the 2-yard line. Sayin faced pressure on first down and had to throw the ball away. Donaldson gained only a single yard on second down. Jeremiah Smith couldn’t haul in an end zone fade on third down.
Jayden Fielding tacked on a second field goal, allowing the Bobcats to hang around.
Turnovers (The Bad Kind)
While I like the flaky, fruit-filled, delicious baked goods known as turnovers just fine, I don’t like the kind when the Buckeye offense gives the ball to the opposition.
Ohio state turned the ball over twice on interceptions Saturday. The first of those came late in the first half and set up Ohio’s first points of the game. The Buckeyes were in their two-minute drill and quickly picked up a first down. However, on the second set of downs, Sayin’s pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and intercepted off a second ricochet.
The Bobcats paid off their good field position with a late field goal to end the half. That drive was helped by a holding penalty on Davison Igbinosun, which made the field goal shorter and is an entirely separate source of aggravation.
On the second, Sayin was trying to avoid the sack. It was a weird play, as the ball just fell into Austin Mitchell’s lap. That was a teachable moment for Sayin, who learned the valuable lesson of living to fight on the next down.
The most annoying part of that turnover was the pressure the line allowed from the blind side.
That’s Not Our Styles
On the second half’s opening drive, Lorenzo Styles Jr. got absolutely abused by a MAC receiver on Ohio’s only touchdown of the game.
Every defensive back allows catches and even big plays sometimes. That’s just part of the job, and nobody’s perfect. Styles was in good position on the second play of the drive but did not locate the football, allowing Chase Hendricks to make the catch.
That’s not ideal, but then he made the situation worse. Catching back up to the receiver crossing the field at the 20-yard line, Styles then made a complete mess of the tackle. Hendricks was then able to cover the final 20 yards and score to make it 13-9 early in the third quarter.
Styles wasn’t the only defender at fault on the play. Jaylen McClain overran the play initially when Hendricks made the catch and wasn’t able to correct course to make the play before the receiver found the end zone. It was a poor play for a secondary that was set up for success and utterly failed to execute, giving the Bobcats hope.
Thankfully for Buckeye fans, Bo Jackson quickly crushed that hope again on the first play of the ensuing OSU drive. Unfortunately, however, Styles himself picked up an injury on the next defensive series.
Those are the major things that had me stewing (if not outright steaming) on Saturday, although not the only things.
An inexplicable penalty for delay of game after Jackson broke off a big run was irksome. That helped stall the drive in the red zone, as did Donaldson stepping out of bounds on what should have been a big boy touchdown, with the running back driving linebacker Michael Molnar into the end zone.
However, there were obviously a lot of positives.
Jackson and Jeremiah Smith balled out on offense. The defense played mostly fantastic football again (one drive, and mainly one big play, notwithstanding). Fielding was accurate kicking the football. And the Buckeyes showed a new wrinkle with a package for Kienholz, which is something future opponents will have to plan for in advance.
Heck, we even (finally) saw a good punt return from Brandon Inniss!
Still, the Buckeyes have a lot to work on during their upcoming bye week, because a trip to play Washington at Husky Stadium is a far cry from facing a MAC opponent at home.
