Game 3: Ohio State v Oklahoma

GAME 3       OHIO STATE v OKLAHOMA

September 17, 2016                           Memorial Stadium                  Norman, OK

Oklahoma Sooners

Location: Norman, OK

Stadium: Memorial Stadium (82,112)

Coach: Bob Stoops (18^th year): 180-47 at Oklahoma/overall, 1-0 v B1G, 0-0 v OSU

Series: OSU 1, Oklahoma 1

Last Meeting: 9/17/1983: OSU 24, Oklahoma 14

Last Oklahoma win: 9/24/1977: Oklahoma 29, OSU 28

Coach Meyer (5^th year): 52-4 at OSU/156-27 overall, 1-0 v Oklahoma

2015 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-1)(7-1)B1G               2015 Oklahoma Sooners (11-2)(8-1)Big12

42        at Virginia Tech          24                                41        Akron                             3

38        Hawaii                         0                                31        at Tennessee                 24 (2OT)

20        Northern Illinois          13                               52        Tulsa                            38

38        Western Michigan      12                                44        West Virginia                24

34        at Indiana                    27                                17        at Texas                      24

49        Maryland                    28                                55        at Kansas State              0

38        Penn State                   10                                63        Texas Tech                  27

49        at Rutgers                     7                                62        at Kansas                       7

28        Minnesota                   14                                52        Iowa State                   16

28        at Illinois                       3                                44        at Baylor                      34

14        Michigan State            17                                30        Texas Christian            29

42        at Michigan                 13                                58        at Oklahoma State       23

44        Notre Dame                28                                17        Clemson                      37

            (Fiesta Bowl)                                                               (Orange Bowl)

2016 Ohio State Buckeyes (2-0)                               2016 Oklahoma Sooners (1-1)

77        Bowling Green            10                                23        at Houston                   33

48        Tulsa                             3                                59        Louisiana-Monroe       17

S17      at Oklahoma                                                               Ohio State

S24                                                                                         

O1       Rutgers                                                                        at TCU

O8       Indiana                                                                        Texas

O15     at Wisconsin                                                                Kansas State

O22     at Penn State                                                               at Texas Tech

O29     Northwestern                                                              Kansas

N5        Nebraska                                                                     at Iowa State

N12      at Maryland                                                                Baylor

N19      at Michigan State                                                       at West Virginia

N26      Michigan

D3                                                                                            Oklahoma State

One of the most anticipated matchups this year will take place in Norman when the Buckeyes take on the Oklahoma Sooners in a game that will surely test the Buckeyes’ mettle; a hostile environment at night.  

OHIO STATE OFFENSE v OKLAHOMA DEFENSE: The Buckeyes will probably try to take a page from Houston’s offense two weeks ago.  The Ohio State offense does present similar matchups against the Oklahoma defensive front, namely a spread offense that almost always can make some big plays.  Houston’s big plays are how they were able to defeat the Sooners two weeks ago and the Buckeyes will look for more of the same.  The Sooners feature a quick, experienced defensive line, led by fifth-year senior Jordan Wade as a down lineman.  This will be the 34^th game of his career, and he played well in Oklahoma’s loss at Houston, racking up four tackles and a sack.  Fifth-year senior DE Matt Dimon started all the games last year and had two tackles against Houston before getting banged up and missing last week’s win over Louisiana-Monroe.  Coach Stoops says he should be ready to go for this game.  Junior Charles Walker, at the other DE spot, was named to the preseason All-Big 12 Team and is also on watch lists for the Bednarik and Nagurski Awards.  Oklahoma’s four linebackers are led by senior ILB Jordan Evans with 18 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and two passes broken up, showing he can play the run and the short passing routes as well.  Sophomore ILB Tay Evans brings speed and great athletic ability to the Sooners linebacking corps, garnering five tackles and a TFL in his first start against Houston.  Juniors Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Will Johnson will be at OLB.  Okoronkwo has played in 22 career games with 29 tackles, 8 TFLs and 6 sacks.  Johnson played very well against Houston with 10 tackles and a fumble recovery.  The Sooners have a couple of All Big 12 candidates in the secondary.  Junior CB Jordan Thomas is also on the watch list for the Bednarik Award and has 82 tackles in his career.  His classmate, Steven Parker, at the SS position, is also on the watch list for the Nagurski Award and has 99 tackles in his career.  Seniors Dakota Austin and Ahmed Thomas will man the other CB and FS positions respectively.  Austin has 23 games under his belt with 36 tackles and three interceptions and Thomas comes in as a preseason All-Big 12 with 82 tackles and five picks to his credit.

Oklahoma’s “odd four-I” defensive front is designed to negate gaps and makes it difficult to run against, at least between the tackles, and Oklahoma’s defensive line personnel have more playing time and experience than OSU linemen Michael Jordan, Isaiah Prince, and Jamarco Jones.  How those three handle the crowd noise, a new environment, and bouncing back from mistakes will be key in moving the ball against a somewhat experienced Sooner front seven.  J.T. Barrett will probably try to get the ball out in space to the playmakers: Dontre Wilson and  Curtis Samuel, while mixing in a few option read runs to keep the Sooners honest.  Being able to run Mike Weber on the early downs will also be key if the Ohio State offense can break some plays on this defense they way Houston did.

                                             DE Charles Walker

OHIO STATE DEFENSE v OKLAHOMA OFFENSE: The key to keeping Oklahoma’s offense contained is keeping quarterback Baker Mayfield in the pocket.  The former walk-on turned superstar threw for 3700 yards and 36 touchdowns against only seven interceptions last year.  He also ran for seven touchdowns and more than 400 yards, mainly on scrambles.  Mayfield has thus far, looked for Dede Westbrook down field.  He was named 2015 Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year by the league coaches and he tallied 70 yards on eight catches verses Houston.  Mayfield will also have junior Jeffrey Mead and senior Jarvis Baxter at his disposal in the passing game.  Mead is an Academic All-Big 12 and had seven catches for 72 yards and two TDs last year.  Baxter also returns punts and caught 20 passes a year ago.  The Sooners still like to run the football and they have a couple of good runners in sophomore Joe Mixon and junior Samaje Perine.  Mixon has been penciled in as the starter and leads the team in rushing with 157 yards.  Perine has 3151 career rushing yards and needs just 967 yards to reach the Oklahoma career record held by Billy Sims.  Despite starting three sophomores and a freshman, the Oklahoma offensive line has been getting better.  The line is led by junior center Jonathan Alvarez, who is a legitimate candidate for the Rimington Trophy.  Sophomores Alex Dalton and Dru Samia, who started a few games last year, will line up to the right of Alvarez, along with TE Mark Andrews, who is a preseason All-Big 12 candidate.  Freshman Cody Ford and sophomore Orlando Brown line up at LG and LT respectively.

Ohio State’s defense will need to keep Mayfield from extending plays and also watch out for Mixon and Perine from getting open on the dump off routes (both have five catches a piece already this season).  The need to maintain discipline in their pass rush lanes and sticking with the Oklahoma receivers when Mayfield scrambles will go a long way in containing that offense.

                                             QB Baker Mayfield

SPECIAL TEAMS: Austin Siebert handles both the kicking and punting chores for Oklahoma.  He is preseason All-Big 12 at punter and is on the watch lists for both the Lou Groza and Ray Guy Awards. 

SUMMARY: The Ohio State defense will hope to take advantage of the relative inexperience of Oklahoma’s offensive line.  The onus will fall on DE Sam Hubbard and DE Tyquan Lewis to be able to shed blockers and get into the Oklahoma backfield and keep Mayfield from getting outside of them.  If they can, with some regularity, then Oklahoma will be forced to try to pit their inexperienced line man-to-man against the Ohio State defensive front and Ohio State should be able to keep Mixon and Perine in check.  On the other side, Ohio State’s revamped offensive line will have to deal with Oklahoma’s 3-4, where it is critical they do not miss assignments and not let the hostile crowd distract them.  Honestly, this game is a toss-up but Oklahoma gets the slight edge due to home field advantage.

                                                   OKLAHOMA 28, OHIO STATE 26