My Thoughts.....Michigan

             

The Ohio State Buckeyes played their best game all season in thoroughly demolishing Michigan and their top-ranked defense.  The 62 points is the most, by far, Ohio State has ever scored against Michigan (50 in 1961, 1968).   

The offense was on fire from the get-go.  For the first time since the opener, the offense scored a touchdown on their opening possession.  Dwayne Haskins again had himself a stellar game, throwing for 396 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions.  In fact, I counted only one bad throw that could’ve been intercepted.  He was aided considerably by an offensive line that played better than they have all season.  Only once, on a designed run, was Haskins tackled for a loss.  Other than that, Michigan’s supposedly vaunted defensive line didn’t even come close to Haskins the entire game.  The result was Haskins picked them apart from beginning to end. It was like the Michigan defense couldn’t handle a crossing route and was utterly burned by the speed of Ohio State’s receivers.  Michigan’s defensive backs were getting away with defensive holding (they were called for it a couple of times); they were holding because they were getting beat so bad by the superior speed and route running of Ohio State’s defense.  Chris Olave made his mark on The Game by hauling in two touchdown receptions and blocking a punt that was returned by Sevyn Banks for a score.  Parris Campbell flashed his legendary speed as he hauled in six catches for 192 yards and a touchdown.  His 78 yard jet sweep was a thing of beauty and you knew once he turned the corner, there wasn’t anybody for Michigan who could catch him.  Mike Weber ran for 96 yards and J.K. Dobbins for 46.  Dwayne Haskins continues to improve on his QB run plays, running for nine yards on the first play from scrimmage and netting 34 yards on seven carries.  But, the play of the offensive line, maligned for most of the year, was superb as they completely dominated the Michigan front seven, paving the way for 247 yards on the ground.

At first glance, giving up 39 points doesn’t sound like a great day for the defense.  But the muffed kickoff in the second quarter and several ticky-tack, very questionable pass interference calls, the defense would’ve looked better.  They didn’t allow any long plays against a decent quarterback and running back, and they had two interceptions of Shane Patterson.  Tuf Borland led the way for the defense with 10 tackles.  Malik Harrison and Pete Werner had their best days this season.  Harrison had a sack to go along with his seven stops and was in the Michigan backfield quite a bit.  Werner had six stops and broke up a pass on one of Michigan’s two-point conversion tries.  The Michigan offensive line was never able to get any consistent movement against the front seven and there were very few missed tackles.

So, the big win earns the Buckeyes a trip to Indianapolis to try for their second consecutive conference title against the Northwestern Wildcats.  The biggest challenge is to avoid a letdown after a big win against the rival.