2016-2017 NBA predictions and problems
October 25, 2016LeBron on Tuesday night: “A day that will go down in history”
October 25, 2016Saturday night, the Ohio State Buckeyes saw their dreams of an undefeated season end when they unexpectedly lost to the Penn State Nittany Lions in Happy Valley. Whether it was coaching, special teams, the offensive line, or just the fact that the Bucks didn’t come to play, the team lost for the first time this season, it’s as simple as that. But, there were still a few good things that came out of the game, along with plenty of bad and ugly things. Let’s look closer into the final statistics:
The Good
J.T. Barrett
He may have struggled at times during the game, but J.T. Barrett was one of the lone semi-bright spots on Ohio State’s offense Saturday night. Whether it was with his arm or his legs, the redshirt junior did his best to lead the Buckeyes to a victory. Although the offensive line arguably played their worst game of the season in Happy Valley, Barrett was still able to complete 28-of-43 passes for one touchdown, along with running for 64 yards on 17 carries. Unfortunately, with sacks factored in, he had just 26 yards on the ground.
Many may blame No. 16 for Ohio State’s poor showing, but the offensive line and wide receivers (outside of Curtis Samuel) didn’t come to play, at least for the majority of the game.
Curtis Samuel (yards)
Once again, Curtis Samuel proved that he is Ohio State’s top playmaker this fall. Whether he was in the backfield alongside Barrett or out wide, line up as a wide receiver, No. 4 showed just how fast he is when he has the ball in his hands. In the loss, he finished with two carries for 74 yards and a touchdown and eight catches for 68 yards.
When Samuel has the ball in his hands, he makes (positive) plays happen. So, why did it only get 10 touches? That will be talked about in the “ugly” section.
Mike Weber
He may not have gotten in the endzone, but Mike Weber was able to put up positive yards throughout the game, whether Ohio State’s offense was struggling or not. The running back finished with 21 carries for 82 yards, to go along with eight catches for 36 yards.
Eight catches for a running back is high, especially when it leads the team for the game (tied with Samuel). Whether it was due to the fact that Penn State’s cornerbacks shutdown the Buckeyes’ receivers or Barrett continued to check down and throw it to his RB, Weber most likely won’t have eight catches in a single game again this season.
Marcus Baugh
Who would have ever thought that the tight end would be the best wide out in the game? For the first time this season, Marcus Baugh made the “good” list after grabbing five catches, 55 yards, and caught Barrett’s only touchdown of the game.
https://vine.co/v/5w2EYFTBKwD
There were many negative things surrounding Ohio State’s offense in Happy Valley, but at least Baugh had a breakout game. If the tight end can continue this momentum into the rest of the season, he can be a big bright spot and would bring another dimension into the Bucks offense.
Malik Hooker
Has there been a game yet that Malik Hooker hasn’t made the “good” list? Arguably the best safety in college football, the junior proved that he not only can help in pass coverage, but does a great job stopping the run and in the opponent’s backfield as well.
Saturday night, his seven tackles led the team, to go along with two tackles for loss and one pass breakup. Hooker is one of the main reasons why the Silver Bullets have impressed so much this season, except for the final quarter against Penn State Saturday night.
Raekwon McMillan
Like Hooker, Raekwon McMillan has been a mainstay on the “good” list so far this season. The quarterback of the defense, the junior finished with six tackles. But, what isn’t on the stat sheet is that the middle linebacker did a great job in pass coverage as well and even finished with a pass breakup that, if he hadn’t hit away, the Nittany Lions would have had a touchdown.
Marshon Lattimore
Even in the loss, Marshon Lattimore proved yet again that he can be listed among the best cornerbacks in the country. The defense may have struggled at times (especially in the fourth quarter), but he finished with three tackles and two pass breakups, doing his best to lockup Penn State’s best receivers.
Chances of making the College Football Playoff
The current polls don’t factor into the College Football Playoff rankings, which are figured out by a select committee, but the fact that the Buckeyes remained in the Top 8 in both polls says a lot. If they win out, which is real possibility, they will have beaten two more Top 10 teams (Nebraska and Michigan) to go along with whoever they would go up against in the Big Ten Championship.
To make it simple, if the Buckeyes win out from here, the selection committee would have a very hard time keeping them out of the Playoff.
The Bad
Referees
In a loss, it’s easy to blame the referees at times. While the Buckeyes may have been out-coached and out-played for most of the game, the refs cost Ohio State a big-time play and automatic first down on their final drive of the game when they (somehow) didn’t call this a pass interference penalty.
Not pass interference, huh? pic.twitter.com/0mi4p0IwIb
— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) October 23, 2016
Tyler Durbin
While it was blocked and partially not his fault, Tyler Durbin missed his first field goal of the season against Penn State, which turned into the Nittany Lions picking up the blocked kick and running it back for the game-winning touchdown.
The senior walk-on also missed his second extra-point of the season, which is inexcusable. Hopefully, he will get back to normal the rest of the season and learn from these two big mistakes in the loss.
Coaching
It’s hard to blame Urban Meyer for anything, really, but he and the coaching staff made one obvious mistake Saturday night that might have cost the Buckeyes the game. Rather than call timeout and take their time, he rushed Tyler Durbin and the field goal team onto the field with just minutes to go. In a hurry, they had to get the snap off prior to the play clock. What’d that play result in? A blocked field goal that Penn State returned for the game-winning touchdown.
Hindsight is 20-20, but Meyer should have called timeout in order to get his field goal team ready.
The Ugly
The entire fourth quarter
It’s simple, the scarlet and gray were outscored 17-0 in the final quarter. It was the pure reason why they suffered their first loss of the season. The fourth quarter Saturday night was by far Ohio State’s worst of the season, on both sides of the ball.
Curtis Samuel (touches)
How does your best playmaker only get 10 touches the entire game, especially when your offense is stagnant and needs a big play (or five). When he had the ball in his hands, Samuel made the most of his opportunity. Unfortunately, he just didn’t get the chance to make plays happen enough. Hopefully, head coach Urban Meyer and the rest of the coaching staff will learn from this and start putting the ball in Samuel’s hands much more.
Noah Brown (touches)
Remember that time in Norman, Oklahoma when Noah Brown shined in the national spotlight with four touchdowns? Yeah, they seems like years ago with the way things have been going for him over the last few weeks. Against Penn State, he had just three catches for 45 yards.
Outside of Samuel, Brown is the Buckeyes best playmaker on the outside. He needs to have more chances to touch the ball if Barrett wants to thrive in this offense the rest of the season.
Special teams
Saturday night was by far the special teams’ worst game of the season. A blocked punt and a blocked field goal were two of the main reasons why the Buckeyes were upset by Penn State. Whether it was the blocking or Cameron Johnston and Durbin, things needs to change going forward.
Ohio State outgained Penn State, 413-276 in total yards. Not to put the blame on one group, but if the special teams plays better, the Buckeyes are still undefeated.
9 Comments
I never like to complain about referees. It’s such a Penn State kind of thing to do (I say this not out of bitterness from Saturday – they just played better – but out of experience living here in PSU country; it’s this fan base’s go-to complaint). That was a bad missed call, but the way I see it, a team should never put themselves in a position to allow a ref to make a game-deciding call (or non-call). And it only would have been 15 yards. I have zero confidence that the offense would have gotten us into position to win. Penn State’s defense was inhabiting our coaches’ headspace.
As for Curtis Samuel, couldn’t agree more. They should have had a whole Samuel-centric gameplan to go to, and there’s absolutely no excuse for that. Best player on the field the entire game.
Re Brown’s touches: It looked to me for much of the game that the PSU DBs were simply outplaying our WRs by a HUGE margin. JT was making bad throwing decisions as a result. Brown wasn’t open. Can’t get touches if he can’t get open.
I was going to write something similar, but coming from a different point of view. It’s real easy to look at a still frame from the TV broadcast at super slow mo and say, “WHY DIDN’T THEY CALL THAT??”
Maybe they *didn’t* see it. Where are the refs in relation to this play? Is there one at the exact angle of this still shot? Is it part of his job on the play to be looking at this? Was his view shielded by one of the players (for example, in the still shot above, if he’s on the sideline slightly downfield from the play, he literally would have no ability to see that grab, especially at full speed)?
Further, they get one look at it, at full speed, while running themselves and possibly trying to look at a number of things. For example, the official watching this play is probably preparing to look at three or four things almost simultaneously: is there contact before the ball gets there, from either player? Is the WR making the catch? Is the WR get his feet in-bounds? Is the WR controlling the ball all the way to the ground and/or maintaining possession before going out of bounds?
So, yeah, in short, it sucks when calls are missed. But, they’re missed in every game. Literally. I still have no friggin’ idea what actually is targeting, and they can even review that!
All great points. That play in particular was a bad miss, I think, because it was pretty obvious, and the ref was standing right there with the perfect vantage point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPP6ttKt06M Still, no excuse for losing the game. Don’t be in a position to let a ref determine the outcome (not that he did – I still don’t think it would have mattered).
Besides, as an Ohio State fan, I can recall a certain game in January of 2003 that was probably decided because of a pass interference call that went our way (the right call, technically, but it probably shouldn’t have been made). Sometimes the flag falls in your favor; sometimes it doesn’t.
Also, not to monopolize your time, but did you see the WV player that was ejected last week for targeting? The most ridiculous, indecipherable call I have ever seen. They really, really need to re-look that policy and give it some sort of concrete direction.
The targeting penalties have been ridiculous this season.
UM has had 2 opponents ejected on terrible targeting calls.
Ok, somebody explain to me, why the hell State Penn was running the victory formation out of the shotgun at the end?
To me, that just invites disaster.
No freaking way man that is pass interference any way you see it from any angle or any seat on the field
I would be more mad if the game mattered but it really doesn’t that much unless we lose another game before tsun