My Thoughts.....Nebraska

Ohio State improved on a few things and showed they still have a long way to go on others, as they struggled before finally putting away Nebraska 36-31.  The Buckeyes seemed to do their best to keep Nebraska in the game.  They fumbled six times and thankfully lost only two of them, both times during the second quarter when they could’ve taken a commanding lead.  Dwayne Haskins had the ball poked away from him when he was sacked and K.J. Hill failed to secure the ball.  Both of which led to Nebraska taking a 21-16 lead into the intermission.  Dwayne Haskins threw an interception in the end zone, a ball that had no chance of being completed, but that seemed to be the only poor decision he made.  On the other hand, it was about time the ground game finally got out of the doldrums, rushing for over 200 yards.  I thought that was the factor that saved the Buckeyes from an embarrassing loss.  J.K. Dobbins had, by far, his best game of the year, going for 163 yards and three touchdowns and Mike Weber had 91, averaging over 10 yards per carry.

The defensive issues are still there.  Nebraska freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez showed he is an up-and-coming young quarterback that will present problems for opposing defenses in the future.  He had notable success against Ohio State’s secondary, going 22 for 36 for 266 yards and a touchdown.  Nebraska’s final drive, in which they cut the Ohio State lead to five, was all Martinez as his dual-threat ability was put on display.  But, I thought Ohio State’s defense deserves some credit.  There were times they forced Martinez into a few bad throws, especially down around the 10-yard line in the second quarter, when they forced a backward pass by Martinez that was recovered by Ohio State, preventing an almost certain Husker touchdown.  

If J.K. Dobbins was the offensive star, on the defense side, it was none other than sophomore defensive back Brendon White.  After Jordan Fuller was victimized by a terrible targeting call, White responded, leading the defense with 13 tackles, two of which were for a loss.  The son of Ohio State standout DB William White in the mid-80s, he could be a star in the making.  Given the struggles of Isaiah Pryor and Jahsen Wint, White should be replacing one of them in the starting lineup.

A better performance, especially on offense, but the defensive effort and scheme still needs quite a bit of work as we come down to the last, critical stretch of the regular season.