GAME 4: Ohio State v Western Michigan

GAME 4       OHIO STATE v WESTERN MICHIGAN

September 26, 2015               Ohio Stadium              Columbus, OH

Western Michigan Broncos

Location: Kalamazoo, MI

Stadium: Waldo Stadium (30,200)

Coach: P.J. Fleck (3^rd year): 10-18 at WMU/overall, 0-5 v B1G, 0-0 v OSU

Series: First Meeting

Coach Meyer: (4^th year): 41-3 at OSU/145-26 overall, 28-2 v B1G, 1-1 v WMU

2014 Western Michigan Broncos (9-4)(6-2)MAC    2014 Ohio State Buckeyes (14-1)(9-0)B1G

34        at Purdue                    43                                34        at Navy (Baltimore)    17

45        at Idaho                       33                               21        Virginia Tech               35

45        Murray State               14                                66        Kent State                    0

17        at Virginia Tech            35                                50        Cincinnati                    28

19        Toledo                         20 (OT)                       52        at Maryland                24

42        at Ball State                 38                                56        Rutgers                        17

26        at Bowling Green         14                                31        at Penn State               24 (2OT)

42        Ohio University            21                                55        Illinois                          14

41        at Miami University      10                                49        at Michigan State         37

51        Eastern Michigan           7                                31        at Minnesota                24

21        at Central Michigan      20                                42        Indiana                        27

21        Northern Illinois           31                                42        Michigan                      28

24        Air Force                     38                                59        Wisconsin                      0

            (Idaho Potato Bowl)                                                    (B1G Championship)

                                                                                    42        Alabama                      35

                                                                                                (Sugar Bowl)

                                                                                    42        Oregon                        20

                                                                                                (National Championship)

2015 Western Michigan Broncos (1-2)                    2015 Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0)

24        Michigan State            37                                42        at Virginia Tech            24

17        at Georgia Southern   43                                 38        Hawaii                           0

52        Murray State             20                                 20        Northern Illinois           13

S26      at Ohio State                                                               Western Michigan

O3                                                                                           at Indiana

O10     Central Michigan                                                        Maryland

O17     at Ohio University                                                       Penn State

O24     Miami University                                                        at Rutgers

O31                                                                                        

N7        Ball State (N5)                                                          Minnesota

N14      Bowling Green (N11)                                                at Illinois

N21      at Northern Illinois (N18)                                          Michigan State

N28      at Toledo (N27)                                                        at Michigan

For the second straight week, the Buckeyes find themselves hosting a MAC opponent at home for their first-ever meeting against the Western Michigan Broncos.  The Buckeyes will look to make progress in solving some of the issues on offense.

Western Michigan offense v Ohio State defense: The Broncos feature a high-powered offense returning six All-MAC players on that side of the ball, more than any other MAC school.  Redshirt junior Zach Terrell will be under center for the Broncos, and he has already had a most productive 2015.  After throwing for 365 yards against a stingy Michigan State defense in the opener, Terrell promptly went 25 for 30 for 355 yards, four touchdowns and no picks against Murray State, after throwing for over 3400 yards in 2014.  He will be handing the ball off to first-team MAC RB sophomore Jarvion Franklin.  Slowed by injury in the first two games, Franklin appears to have recovered nicely, running for 161 yards last week.  Terrell has thrown downfield early and often in their three games this season, often to junior WR Daniel Braverman who has recovered nicely from an ACL injury a year ago and is their fastest, and leading receiver with 40 receptions for 398 yards and three scores.  Fellow classmate Corey Davis can also be a deep threat at WR, who has hauled in 18 catches for 309 yards and three scores.  Senior Kendrick Roberts has good hands and can catch the tough ones over the middle, while sophomore TE Donnie Ernsberger provides solid blocking on the outside, although has yet to figure in the passing attack.  The offensive line has two experienced returnees from a year ago in seniors Willie Beavers at LT and James Kristof at LG.  They pair up with true freshman center John Keenoy, junior Taylor Moton at RG, and sophomore RT Chukwuma Okorafor. 

The Ohio State defensive line and linebackers showed their mettle against Northern Illinois after being put in a bad position by the offense by limiting Northern Illinois to only one sustained drive.  They should be to contain this offense just as well, taking advantage of the lack of experience on the right side of Western Michigan’s line.  WMU will have to counter by utilizing screens and short passes to the tight end to counter the pressure.  If they can’t, WMU’s offense will go nowhere as their offensive line will not be able to match up.

                                            QB Zach Terrell

Western Michigan defense v Ohio State offense: It remains to be seen if WMU’s defensive coaching staff will switch up alignments, as Northern Illinois did, to confuse the Ohio State offensive line.  The defensive line, probably the best unit on this team, returns DT senior Cleveland Smith and senior DE Jarrell McKinney.  Smith comes in with eight tackles and a TFL, while McKinney has four and also one TFL.  Redshirt sophomore Andre Turner mans the other DE spot, while junior NT David Curle will take care of the middle.  Although, the only have six and five tackles respectively, they have shown ability to get into opposing backfields and cause opposing quarterbacks to hurry their throws.  The linebacking corps features talent, if inexperience, but WLB sophomore Robert Spillane is already showing remarkable ability with 21 tackles and a tackle for loss, while SLB sophomore Austin Lewis is right behind him with 19 tackles.  Caleb Bailey, a redshirt sophomore, mans the WLB position.  His quickness has enabled him to lead the team in TFLs with three, while garnering 17 total tackles.  The secondary features two experienced seniors in SS Rontavious Atkins and CB Ronald Zamort.  Atkins will blitz occasionally and can cover deep, with a pass breakup and a fumble recovery, while Bailey will come up from his corner position to play the run well, with 17 tackles and three tackles for loss.  Redshirt sophomore Darius Phillips will man the other corner position and is perhaps WMU’s best cover man.  In addition to his ten tackles, Phillips has a tackle for loss, an interception and five pass breakups.  Sophomore FS Asantay Brown is the leading tackler on this team with 24 as he has shown the speed and ability to read plays and track down ball carriers.  The Ohio State offensive line will be up against another decent, but not great, defensive line and should be able to wear them down as the game progresses, with straight ahead runs by Jones and Elliott and some misdirection.  The secondary, while quick and hard-hitting, should not be able to stop the deep routes to Michael Thomas or keep up with Braxton Miller running a deep route. 

                                             FS Asantay Brown

SPECIAL TEAMS: Senior kicker Andrew Haldeman is 3 out of 4 on field goal attempts with a long of 34 yards, while senior punter Jay Schroeder (from St Charles) is averaging 39.3 yards per punt with a long of 52.

SUMMARY: After much speculation, Coach Urban Meyer has decided Cardale Jones will be his starting quarterback, so this is the opportunity for he and the offensive line to recover from the putrid performance last week against Northern Illinois.  Look for Jones to throw deep early and often to try to utilize mismatches with Michael Thomas and Braxton Miller on wheel routes.  This will (hopefully) pave the way for improved offensive line play, which will enable Ezekiel Elliott to get to the second level of defenders, which he has not been able to do much since the Virginia Tech game.  On defense, there’s not much the Buckeyes need to fix.  They will be able to shut down the run and tee off on Terrell, forcing mistakes.  Ohio State makes some improvements on the offensive side of the ball and wins comfortably.

                                 OHIO STATE 42, WESTERN MICHIGAN 13