With a 28-14
win over Minnesota, Ohio State won its 29th straight regular-season
B1G conference game, and with a win over Illinois next week, will set the
national record for consecutive conference wins.
The offense
struggled, and Cardale Jones showed the same inconsistencies as he did in the
early part of the season. Jones
completed only 55 percent of his throws, looked uncomfortable checking down to
his second and third receivers, killed a promising drive with a fumble inside
the 20, and still showed inconsistency on some deep throws. However, he made a couple of very nice deep
throws, one a 44-yarder to Jalin Marshall and another to Braxton Miller for 45
yards that nearly went for a touchdown.
Jones also continued his ability to make several tough runs up the
middle, including his 38-yard scoring run to seal the game. The offensive line struggled a bit in pass
protection, as I noticed that Minnesota’s defense would blitz the wide-side
corner or outside linebacker, which caused a bit of confusion in the offensive
line. In the second half, the Ohio State
offense was able to adjust to this somewhat by “rolling the pocket” and having
Jones roll to one side in front of a moving pass protection scheme, which
seemed to help. Still, I was
disappointed in the overall performance of the offensive line as they paved the
way for only 189 rushing yards on 4.3 yards per carry, one of the lowest
rushing totals this season. Blown
assignments led to the four sacks on Jones, as Taylor Decker seemed to have an
off night, as well as Chase Farris and Jacoby Boren with holding and false
start penalties. Pat Elflein and Billy
Price seemed to be consistent and they have improved the most on this offensive
line as the season has progressed. The
offensive line made some adjustments from the second quarter on as they paved
the way for Ezekiel Elliott to garner 123 yards on the ground. Jalin Marshall also had a big game; in the
seven total times he touched the ball (5 punt returns, 2 receptions) he racked
up 120 yards. On the season, Marshall
sits fourth in the conference averaging 13.3 yards per punt return. Despite playing a new position and missing a
game due to suspension, he ranks second on the team in receptions (23) and
yards (357) behind Michael Thomas.
The defense,
until the fourth quarter, played nearly a perfect game, stuffing any semblance
of a running game and harassing Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner out of any
consistency. Vonn Bell was easily the
defensive star of the game, as his pick-six sparked the team out of its
lethargy. I saw Bell all over the field,
leading the team in tackles with 10 and saved a touchdown in the fourth
quarter. Also having a great game was DE
Sam Hubbard, with three tackles and a sack that stopped a Minnesota drive that
looked like it was going somewhere. The
defense held the Gophers, who ran up and down the field against Michigan the
week before, to only 314 yards of total offense and forced them to punt eight
times, while holding them to a measly 33 yards on the ground.
What is
puzzling is the lack of consistency in the kicking game. Last year, freshman Sean Nuernberger
connected on 13 of 20 attempts, with five of those misses coming from 40+ yards,
and while those numbers weren’t great, the general thought was he’d improve
with experience. However, the coaching
staff decided to go a different route in bringing in graduate transfer Jack
Willoughby, who won both the kickoff and place kicking duties. Willoughby has
connected on seven out of 11 field goal attempts, while missing on all three of
his attempts beyond 40 yards and last night missing badly on a 35-yard
attempt. Considering his numbers are no
better than Nuernberger’s, it is rather puzzling Nurenberger hasn’t been given
a shot at all this season.
Next week,
the Buckeyes travel to Illinois who have been inconsistent this year, defeating
Nebraska and playing Iowa tough, but also getting crushed by Penn State. J.T. Barrett returns from his one-game
suspension as the Buckeyes look to win their 23rd in a row.
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