Now look, I know that Grambling State was not only the worst team that Ohio State will play all year, but probably the worst team they have played in many years, and that obviously contributed significantly to the Buckeyes’ near-perfect performance on Saturday afternoon in The Horseshoe.
However, we have witnessed plenty of games over the years in which OSU sleepwalked through games against severely
overmatched opponents, so to see the Buckeyes come into the game and look engaged from start to finish was the first positive takeaway from the 70-0 drubbing, but the successes of that game go far beyond that admittedly low baseline.
The first thing that any coach or fan is generally worried about in a game this lopsided is whether or not everyone emerges from the contest unscathed. And, as far as we know, no Buckeyes suffered injuries against the Tigers. So chalk another one up in the productivity column.
From there, we were able to see the offense take things to a level that it did not even attempt against Texas, and the defense was able to remain dominant without having to get too creative and exotic. From an on-field perspective, it is tough to imagine a game going better than what we witnessed in Ohio Stadium on Saturday, but in my mind, that game was more than just a butt-kicking of epic proportions; it was also an entertaining exercise that showed Buckeye fans thrilling glimpses of what the future holds for the program.
Clearly, anytime a team scores 10 touchdowns in a game, there are going to be tons of highlights for fans. But from the opening 47-yard touchdown pass to Will Kacmarek that featured a beautifully thrown ball by Julian Sayin to a record-breaking 87-yard reception by Jeremiah Smith to Riley Pettijohn’s 23-yard scoop-and-score to Bo Jackson’s first career touchdown run, the scores were thrilling, and watching them was fun.
I know that games against teams that put up little to no resistance can be tedious to watch (lord knows we’ve seen a ton of them over the years), but I never felt that way about this game. Part of that is because Grambling State never retreated; they knew that they were severely overmatched, but they kept coming out and throwing punches. Very few landed, but they kept throwing them.
But, for me, the bigger part of why I enjoyed the 70-0 romp is that Ohio State didn’t do what it often does in these situations: shorten up the game by running as few plays as possible and just get out of the game without any injuries.
Instead, Ryan Day and company used every second of the game to get guys much-needed reps. Whether those were for starters, like Sayin, who had never before been asked to actually command a throwing game like he was on Saturday, or for young players who might not never see the field again this season, OSU essentially ran its offense and defense, so that everybody on the field got real, teachable experience against an opponent not wearing the same jersey as them.
That made what we saw far more enjoyable than the Buckeye offense waiting to snap the ball until under five seconds on every play and just running between the tackles on every play because their talent is so much better that there was never any way that they would lose the game. Instead, we saw as legit a version of the Ohio State team as we possibly could, given the circumstance,s and the results were a whole heck of a lot of fun.
While that might be why I found the game to be so entertaining, the fact that 73 players saw the field on offense or defense was incredible. For much of Day’s tenure as the head man in Columbus, many fans and analysts (and LGHL bloggers) have complained about his reticence to get the starters out of the game when it was clearly out of hand.
However, that was not the case against Grambling State. Sayin was gone after halftime, no starter on either side of the ball played more than 32 snaps, and tons of guys saw the first action of the season and their careers. Of course, when you couple that with what I talked about before — that OSU didn’t sit on its 35-point halftime lead and continued to run its normal offense and defense — that means that we got to see our first real looks at players who could have a tremendous impact on the team later this year and in years to come.
Clearly, it appears that running back Bo Jackson could be a near-immediate solution to a somewhat lethargic running game. I am sure that there are things in pass protection, blocking, and reading defenses that he will need to continue to improve upon (as all true freshmen do) to be the type of well-rounded back that Ohio State prides itself on. But, when it comes to a running back’s primary job — running with the football — he seems to be more than capable of contributing right away.
West Virginia transfer C.J. Donaldson and sophomore James Peoples have been fairly solid through two games, but neither brings the dynamism or big-play ability that either TreVeyon Henderson or Quinshon Judkins did a year ago. Admittedly, very few running backs are going to be at the level of those two former Buckeyes, but, despite the limited sample size against sub-par competition, Jackson seems to be the closest to being a difference maker out of the backfield for Ohio State. Personally, I am hoping that Day and running backs coach Carlos Locklyn continue to get him carries while hammering the pass pro stuff that he needs to be an every-down back, so that when we get to November and beyond, Jackson has fully entrenched himself as the team’s RB1.
On the other side of the ball, Riley Pettijohn clearly had a massive day, being named the team’s Defensive Player of the Game, despite only playing 15 snaps. While the linebacker’s path to regular playing time is much more difficult than that of Jackson, recording two tackles, a pass breakup, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a touchdown in those few plays is incredible.
But beyond those headliners from the game, we also saw relatively significant action for Tarvos Alford, Jarquez Carter, Bennett Christian, Zion Grady, Mylan Graham, Eric Mensah, Bryson Rodgers, Aaron Scott Jr., Epi Sitanilei, Tavien St. Clair, Garrett Stover, Gabe Van Sickle, Bryce West, Isaiah West, and many others.
Of course, that playing time was big for those players and their respective developments, but it was also incredibly satisfying for fans who had followed their individual recruitments and are excited to see how ready they are to play at the collegiate level.
While no one is ever going to claim that Ohio State’s 70-0 win over Grambling State was the pinnacle of collegiate competition, I think the exercise more than satisfied both the Buckeyes and fans by providing an entertaining and productive afternoon of football that will hopefully prove to be a constructive blueprint of even better things to come later in the season.
