My Thoughts.....Western Michigan

              The maligned Ohio State offense, which seemed asleep last week in the win over Northern Illinois, took a step in the right direction during Ohio State’s 38-12 victory over Western Michigan.  The defense scored another touchdown, while holding Western Michigan to 106 yards in the second half.  The win moves Ohio State to 4-0 and sets the stage for the B1G opener next weekend at Indiana. The Hoosiers are also 4-0 with an average margin of victory of 6.3 points against Southern Illinois, Florida International, Western Kentucky and Wake Forest. 

Coach Meyer, earlier in the week, reaffirmed Cardale Jones as his starting quarterback and perhaps with clarity being made with that situation, Jones played better than he had against Hawaii and Northern Illinois, completing 19/33 passes for 289 yards with two touchdowns against one interception.  His 58% accuracy on the day was far from spectacular but still his best mark since week one against Virginia Tech and those 288 passing yards were 101 better than his previous season high. In fact, over the last two games, Jones threw for just 147 yards with zero touchdowns and two picks.  Cardale's outing wasn't without its issues, however. I counted five instances where he under threw his receiver on a deep ball which was his strength in the three games he started last year that won the national title. On each of those five deep throws I mentioned, it appeared Jones was slow to read or at least slow to release the ball and seldom stepped into the throw leading to one interception and failing to hit open receivers for touchdowns on two other occasions.  Perhaps he is still used to last year when he had a tremendous deep route receiver in Devin Smith, who could make any QB look well on deep throws.  It is good that Coach Meyer is letting him take those deep shots and Jones should improve on that aspect of his game as the season wears on.  On the other hand, Jones used his cannon of an arm superbly on numerous throws posting his highest yards per completion (15.2) since the season opener (18.7) and he was at his best in the 1st half posting 226 passing yards on 13/19 with two touchdowns. His 37-yard post to Jalin Marshall was pretty, the 40-yard throw to Curtis Samuel was even prettier and I saw him make a great read on the wide-side linebacker on a 16-yard completion to Nick Vannett, leading to a field goal and a 17-6 lead. Jones was also sharp with his accuracy and timing on two curl routes to Dontre Wilson and Marshall to move the chains.  I also liked the play of Curtis Samuel.  In just four offensive touches, he garnered 104 yards and a touchdown.  Lining up at various receiver spots despite being the second-best running back on the team, Samuel has evolved into a versatile weapon with great hands.  The offensive line broke out of the funk it had been in and paved the way to 511 total yards on 7.3 yards per play including 223 rushing yards on 6.6 per play. The crew surrendered just one sack and ensured Ezekiel Elliott would crack the 100-yard mark for a ninth straight game. 

The defense came up with its usual stellar play despite, at times, having trouble with Western Michigan’s inside zone run.  Raekwon McMillan had his most prolific day as a Buckeye with 16 tackles, a sack and a hurry. In the first half alone he tallied 11 stops.  It’s a defensive linemen’s dream to score a touchdown and Adolphus Washington was living the dream.  Just after Jack Willoughby kicked a 30-yard field goal to put the Buckeyes up 17-6, Western Michigan took over at their own 25 following a touchback on the kickoff. On first down, Broncos quarterback Zach Terrell dropped back and tried to drop a screen pass in to his running back. Adolphus Washington drifted back, got his big paws on the ball and rumbled 20 yards to the end zone to break the game open. It was a big play by a big man.

I also couldn’t help but notice the punting and punt coverage is better now than it was at this time last year.  Yesterday, Cameron Johnston booted it four times for a 51.5 yard average placing three inside the 20 and two inside the 10 with just one touchback.  Through four games, Johnston and the punt coverage unit have allowed only three punt returns for a ridiculous eight yards with three of four games resulting in zero return yards.

Although there are still issues to work out with Cardale’s deep passing game and a few offensive line adjustments, the Buckeyes managed over 500 yards of total offense and Ezekiel Elliott gained 124 yards, averaging 7.8 yards per carry, which is much more in line with his typical average and something to build on as Ohio State starts conference play next week.