The Ohio State Buckeyes pulled away from Oregon State despite some struggles on defense as Dwayne Haskins led the Buckeyes on eight touchdown drives in his first career start. Dwayne Haskins had perhaps the best debut start of any Buckeye quarterback in history. On Saturday against Oregon State, Haskins became the first Ohio State quarterback ever to throw for more than 300 yards in his first debut start, and also threw for five touchdowns, another record for Buckeye quarterbacks making their first start. Haskins hit his first eight passes of the day, and 11 of his first 12. When he came out of the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Haskins was 22-for-30 for 313 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Haskins showed a throwing motion with power and accuracy; only one throw was bad; the interception when he overthrew Johnnie Dixon on a crossing route.
Tate Martell saw a brief appearance in the second quarter, which was planned, as Haskins came back in on third down and promptly picked up the first down on an 18-yard completion to K.J. Hill. Haskins continued his stellar play after a one hour twelve minute halftime caused by a weather delay when on the first play, he threw a perfect pass to Terry McLaurin, who caught it in stride and was never touched on his way to a 75 yard touchdown reception. McLaurin led all Ohio State receivers with 121 yards and two touchdowns on four catches. It was the Mike Weber show on the ground, as he was unstoppable on his way to 186 yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns on the ground and one touchdown reception. Backups Brian Sneed and Master Teague also got into the act with touchdowns of their own.
I was very surprised, and dismayed, the Ohio State defense was gashed at times, particularly on the ground as Oregon State RB Artavius Pierce was able to get free for TD runs of 80 and 78 yards. They also gave up several long plays through the air. I noticed Ohio State linebackers biting on play fakes and misdirection; no question the Beavers made much of their yardage on those types of plays. In total, the Ohio State defense gave up 392 total yards, 196 of which came on the ground. It didn’t help that safety Jordan Fuller, their most experienced defensive back, was ruled out before the start of the game due to a nagging hamstring injury. Sophomores Isaiah Pryor and Jahsen Wint were sometimes caught out of position and over pursued some plays. Oregon State WR Trevon Bradford victimized Pryor a couple of times when he bit on play fakes and while Wint picked up five tackles, I felt he lacked in run support a bit as it looked like he took bad angles on both of Pierce’s long runs, although mistakes by others also contributed to giving up those big plays. On the other hand, DE Nick Bosa is starting where he left off, making life generally miserable for Oregon State’s QBs and jumping on a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. No doubt there is some work to be done here and fortunately the next opponent is Rutgers and not TCU.
Finally, a word on the replay officiating crew, which was not good. We know officials on the field are going to miss a few calls here and there, but the replay crew has the benefit of technology. Mike Weber was screwed out of a touchdown run in which it was thought he stepped out of bounds; the replay crew so ruled. I had a clear view of Weber and his feet through binoculars as his run took place down the side I was sitting on and I could see plain as day he never stepped out of bounds. Fortunately, he got the touchdown back he got screwed out of and it didn’t make a difference in the game. When is the B1G Conference and other conferences going to step up and start demanding better results and performance from their officiating and replay crews?
I will have more to say about this at a later time. For now, the Buckeyes will prepare for Rutgers, which is scheduled for a 3:30 kickoff, on Saturday. There is some thought that the most improvement can occur between the first game and the second game. Buckeye fans hope that is true for Ohio State’s linebackers and secondary.
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