The 2016 Cleveland Indians: A Love Story
November 8, 2016Where does Cody Kessler stand among rookie quarterbacks?
November 8, 2016In their best game of the season thus far, the Ohio State Buckeyes put on one heck of a show on all sides of the ball Saturday night in their dominating 62-3 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Whether it was the throwback uniforms to commemorate the 1916 season, the primetime game under the lights in Ohio Stadium, or the fact that they were just trying to show that they are one of the best teams in the country, the Bucks came out with something to prove and did just that.
Lets look at some of the good, bad, and just straight ugly stats. Spoiler alert: Outside of a joke, there’s only one “bad” thing and plenty of “good” this week.
The Good
J.T. Barrett
From start to finish, J.T. Barrett was impressive Saturday night. He stepped up big-time in Ohio State’s biggest home game of the season outside of The Game. Whether it was with his feet or his arm, the redshirt junior was able to light up the scoreboard against Nebraska, completing 26-of-38 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns to go along with eight carries for 39 yards as well. His 26 completions tied a career-high and the 38 attempts were a career-high.
Barrett attributed the play of the offensive line, along with preparation to why the Buckeyes were so successful on offense Saturday night.
“Good execution, but the main thing was the offensive line. I was able to distribute the ball and when the offensive line plays like that, it’s easy to win games. This week, Coach Beck was great at preparing me.”
If he can play like this the rest of the season, the Buckeyes will be hard to beat. Not only will his impressive passing game be able to open up the run attack, but it will also take some pressure off of Ohio State’s defense as well.
Mike Weber
He may not have gotten in the endzone, but Mike Weber did what he was asked to do whether the ball was in his hands or he was blocking in the backfield. When the ball was in his hands, he averaged 6.5 yards per carry (11 carries, 72 yards). That not only made it easier for Barrett to throw the ball and find open areas on the field, but also allowed the Buckeyes to dominate the time of possession and keep the Cornhuskers’ offense off the field.
Demario McCall
Outside of getting in the game when it’s already in hand, he may not have received a lot of significant playing time prior to Saturday night, but Demario McCall was impressive once again and may have just earned himself more playing time, whether it be as a punt returner or at running back. The true freshman finished with 16 carries for 73 yards to go along with one punt return for 15 yards (of three punt returns by the Bucks, his was the only one that was returned for positive yards).
Curtis Samuel
It’s truly amazing what happens when Curtis Samuel has the chance to make plays with the ball in his hands. Whether it’s on the outside as a receiver or in the backfield as a running back, he is one of the top playmakers in the country. Saturday night, he totaled eight catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns and added five carries for 41 yards as well.
Samuel admitted that as an team, they didn’t do anything different, they just executed their gameplan much better than in previous weeks.
“We played a good game today, everything was clicking. We didn’t really do anything different; it’s about execution. In previous weeks we didn’t execute at the highest-level whereas today we did.”
He is now the only player in the country with at least 500 yards both rushing and receiving and has a grand total of 1,270 all-purpose yards now on the season. For his performance against Nebraska, he was named co-Offensive Player of the Week in the Big Ten.
Red-zone offense
A perfect 6-for-6! Although two of them were field goals (four were then touchdowns), the Buckeyes converted on all six of their red-zone opportunities. It will be hard to stay perfect, but if they can stay close to perfect and score points on every red-zone opportunity they have the rest of the season, that would be impressive. With playmakers like Barrett, Weber, and Samuel, among others, it’s hard for any opposing defense to defend Ohio State inside the 20-yard line.
Third- and fourth-down offense
They were perfect in the red-zone, and they were close to perfect on both third- and fourth-down Saturday night. Barrett and company converted 11-of-15 third-downs (wow!) and their lone fourth-down attempt. This is not only the reason why they were able to score 62 points, but also the reason why the offense dominated as well.
Sam Hubbard
The Silver Bullets leading tackler with five tackles against Nebraska, Sam Hubbard was in the backfield a lot and added 1.5 tackles for loss as well. Arguably the Buckeyes top defensive lineman, Hubbard will need to continue to rack up tackles and get in the backfield if Ohio State wants to continue to wreak havoc on opposing offenses.
Following the game, Hubbard made it known that the week prior to the game was very important and that the scarlet and gray had the best week of practice they’ve had so far this season.
“We had a great week of practice. We had our best week of practice and our best week of coaching. It showed on the field today, the focus we had as a team and the attitude we had as a team preparing for a big game. College football is there for the taking and we really had to step up tonight and make a statement.”
Malik Hooker
What can’t Malik Hooker do? With talk this week that he could even play some offense (but it probably won’t happen), the safety has proven yet again why he is arguably the best safety in the country. Saturday night, he not only had yet another pick-six, but also had three tackles and a pass breakup as well. He may be a safety, but the redshirt junior is all over the field on defense, whether it be in the secondary and pass coverage or in the opponent’s backfield.
Damon Webb
He may not be a name every Buckeye fan is aware of, but Damon Webb – along with Hooker – had a pick-six himself against the Cornhuskers. Along with the interception that was returned for a touchdown, he also had three tackles.
Raekwon McMillan
The quarterback of the defense may not fill up the stat sheet, but he proved yet again why he is one of the best linebackers in the country Saturday night. While having three tackles and a pass breakup, what didn’t show up on the stat sheet (for the second straight week), was that McMillan tipped a pass that was eventually intercepted by one of his teammates. This week, it was Webb who came up with the tipped pass.
Denzel Ward
The fastest player on the Buckeyes, Denzel Ward had one of his best games of the season in the demolition of Nebraska. While only getting three tackles, he had three pass breakups as well, which led the team. Ward used his speed and athletic ability to shutdown whoever he was going up against.
Defense (and turnovers)
The Silver Bullets may have only allowed three points – which is incredible against a top 10 opponent – but they also had 14 points of their own. Outscoring the opponent by 11 points themselves is very rare, but they dominated Saturday night. Ohio State’s defense allowed Nebraska to have just 126 passing yards and 78 rushing yards. To say they dominated would be an understatement, honestly. The Silver Bullets were also able to get two interceptions, which both were pick-sixes, as previously mentioned.
Third- and fourth-down defense
We already know that the defense dominated, but just to make it even more known, I will continue to say it. Although they were able to stop Nebraska’s offense on almost all downs, they did very well on third- and fourth-down as well. The Cornhuskers converted just 5-of-16 third-downs and neither of their two fourth-down opportunities.
Red-zone defense
Like Ohio State’s offense, the Buckeyes’ defense dominated in the red-zone. They allowed Nebraska to convert on just 1-of-3 red-zone opportunities. That lone conversion was the Cornhuskers’ only points of the night: a field goal.
Time of possession (especially in second half)
In a 62-3 game, the winning team will almost always dominate the time of possession. Ohio State did Saturday night (37:18 to 22:42), but they held the ball for virtually all of the second half, whether it was with the starters or backups. In the third and fourth quarter, the Buckeyes offense was on the field for 22:53 of the possible 30 minutes.
Tommy Armstrong’s alright
It’s simple: the Buckeyes dominated almost all facets of the game. But, here’s a reminder: it’s just a game. What’s most important is the fact that Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong is alright. He went down hard during the second quarter and layed motionless for several minutes before giving the crowd (both in the stadium and watching on the television) a thumbs up. While it was determined that he was knocked out cold and was alright, while being taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons, it was awesome to see him come back to the stadium and return to the sidelines.
Also, a huge shoutout to the Ohio State fans who chanted “Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!” as he was being carted off the field. It was not only pure class, but it also showed that football is just a game and no matter who the opponent is, every is human.
The Bad
Nah.
The Ugly
Cameron Johnston
With nine friends and family in attendance from Australia, where Cameron Johnston is from, the punter did not see the field Saturday night outside of warmups prior to the game and at halftime. While it’s amazing that the Buckeyes didn’t punt the ball a single time, his family and friends weren’t too disappointed that they weren’t able to see their favorite Buckeye take the field.
2 Comments
What about Dontre Wilson’s muffed punt? That has to fit somewhere in the bad or ugly, doesn’t it?
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