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October 20, 2015WFNY’s college football computer rankings
October 20, 2015Ohio State played one of their best overall games of the season when they took down Penn State Saturday night, 38-10. While wearing black uniforms for the first time in school history, the Buckeyes brought plenty of light in the win. Like every week, there are good things, bad things, and just plain ugly things from the game. Let’s dig into the win over the Nittany Lions:
The Good
J.T. Barrett
He didn’t start the game, but he ended it and that’s all that matters. Barrett completed all four of his pass attempts (for 30 yards and two touchdowns) and ran for 102 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. It was the third 100-yard game of his career.
For the second consecutive game, Barrett led a perfect red-zone offense to another 6-for-6 performance (five touchdowns, one field goal). Since becoming the red-zone specialist in the Maryland game two weeks ago, Barrett’s red-zone offense has turned 12 opportunities inside the 20-yard line into 11 touchdowns and one field goal.
Barrett outplayed Jones Saturday night and was the reason why the Buckeyes offense dominated the stifling Penn State defense. It also sounds like Barrett will take the starting reins next week, a move we supported here.
(And that jump pass to Braxton Miller was nothing short of impressive.)
Ezekiel Elliott
Is Zeke ever going to not make the “Good” list? Once again, Elliott ran for over 100 yards, making it the 12th consecutive game he has done so. He finished with 153 yards and one touchdown on 27 carries, and also had four catches for 21 yards. No. 15 went over the 3,000-yard rushing mark for his career in the second quarter; he is the ninth Buckeye to do so.
No matter who is behind center, the offense can always lean on Elliott, and he has proved that that strategy will be a success.
Braxton Miller
Braxton seems to have his best games under the lights and that continued on Saturday. He may have totaled just 63 yards from scrimmage (four carries for 30 yards, four catches for 33 yards and a touchdown), but he was a game-changer against Penn State. He was the Buckeyes’ leading receiver in the win and made things happen from the smallest plays. Whether it was his speed or juke moves, he was hard to bring down Saturday night.
With his touchdown in the fourth quarter, Miller extended his Ohio State record to 88 total touchdowns accounted for, a mark that will be hard to top.
Michael Thomas
Another game, another receiving touchdown for Ohio State’s top receiver. Thomas finished with just three catches for 34 yards and a touchdown, but Thomas made the defense notice his every move, which opened things up for the rest of the Buckeyes offense.
Joey Bosa
Bosa made sure Penn State’s offense line and Christian Hackenberg would have nightmares about No. 97, finishing with While recording a season-high seven tackles, including one sack and three tackles for loss.
Whether it was pushing his offensive into the backfield and almost into the quarterback, fighting through double-teams and opening things up for his teammates, or finishing a move to get past his blocker to sack Hackenberg, Bosa had one of his best games of 2015 against the Nittany Lions.
Adolphus Washington
One of Ohio State’s top defensive lineman so far in 2015, Washington impressed yet again. With three tackles, a career-high two sacks, and two tackles for loss, the big man also had his third career forced fumble, which was recovered by Sam Hubbard.
Cameron Johnston
When the Buckeyes’ offense has struggled, Johnston has saved the day. One of the best punters in the country, he had five punts for an average of 41.6 yards, four of which landed inside the 20-yard line. Johnston has been a game-changer for the scarlet and gray, as he has completely flipped the field position in every game this season.
Red-zone offense
With J.T. Barrett leading the red-zone offense, the Buckeyes almost seem impossible to stop inside the 20-yard line. Against Penn State, they were 6-for-6, with five touchdowns and one field goal in six red-zone opportunities.
Over the last two games, the Buckeyes have converted all 12 of their red-zone opportunities: 11 touchdowns and one field goal.
Offensive line
Saturday night was by far the offensive line’s best game of 2015. They not only gave the quarterbacks plenty of time, but also opened plenty of holes for Ezekiel Elliott to run through. It is no coincidence that Ohio State’s offense had one of its most complete games when the offensive line was at its best.
Third- and Fourth-down defense
While allowing their opponents to convert 31 percent of their third downs (33-of-88) and 33 percent of their fourth downs (4-of-12) on the season, the Buckeyes continued their impressive defense when it was needed the most.
The Silver Bullets allowed Penn State to convert just 1-of-11 third-downs and sacked Christan Hackenberg on both of their fourth-down attempts.
The Bad
Cardale Jones
Although Jones’ stat sheet hasn’t looked that bad lately, he continued to struggle against Penn State. He completed 9-of-15 passes for 84 yards, but his six incompletions were filled with overthrows and miscommunication.
Whether it is the fact that Jones is still developing, or just that he could somehow be too strong and not know how to throw the ball with a soft-touch at times, Jones struggles have been in large part to his overthrows over the past couple games.
The Ugly
Run defense
The Silver Bullets have played very well this season, but allowing true freshman running back Saquon Barkley to run for 194 yards on 26 carries cannot happen. There were times when he broke a long run without even being touched. Yes, Barkley has been impressive when he has been healthy, but the Buckeyes defense cannot allow a running back to run all over them like Barkley did Saturday night.
5 Comments
JT has to start, right? As for the uniforms they were good, bad and ugly. Put ’em away now please.
Ugly: the uniforms. Yikes.
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I think that was the only game I was not anxious watching.
I felt sorry for Hackenberg, hobbling around with no hope of winning.
I’d have no problem with JT starting, but I still go with the template of starting Jones and bringing in Barrett, just as they are. They can develop Jones while winning. If he begins to lose confidence, then you sit him for a while.
Go JT, thank you Cardale.
The unis were cool for one game. I liked it. Past tense.