Know Your Opponent: The Oklahoma Sooners
September 9, 2017Browns comeback effort falls short in 21-18 loss to Steelers
September 10, 2017Heading into Saturday night’s top-5 matchup, many predicted that the winner of the game between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Oklahoma would be in the driver’s seat for a one of four spots in the College Football Playoff at season’s end. With the game in Columbus and after what the Buckeyes did to the Sooners in Norman, Oklahoma last season, many expected the scarlet and gray to take care of business again Saturday night.
Well, that didn’t happen.
Quick recap
Like they did in their season opener against Indiana, the Buckeyes’ offense started slow. But this time, they didn’t make many halftime adjustments and their offense was stagnate in the second half as well.
The Buckeyes scored the first touchdown of the game on the opening drive of the second half thanks to a 56-yard kick return by Parris Campbell. Besides that, their offense was very lackluster for much of the game, including J.T. Barrett’s passing attack.
Oklahoma on the other hand was very good offensively. Although it was just 3-3 at halftime, the Sooners had plenty of chances in the first half if it weren’t for crucial turnovers that stalled their drives. They dominated the second half and went on to upset the Buckeyes in the Horseshoe, 31-16, in a game that seemed much more lopsided than just a 15-point game.
The turning point
For much of the game, the crowd inside Ohio Stadium was awfully quiet. They were watching an Ohio State offense that was virtually non-existent for much of the game. Following the Buckeyes quick touchdown after halftime, the crowd got into the game again with their team holding a 10-7 lead.
Then Oklahoma answered back with a quick 67-yard touchdown drive to tie the game at 10. The Buckeyes then answered with a field goal to take the lead once again, but following a four-play, 92-yard touchdown drive by the Sooners, the crowd was out of it again and never really came back. Ohio State was only trailing 17-13 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter, but with how bad the offense had played, even that four-point deficit seemed like it was too much to overcome.
When the Sooners scored two touchdowns on their following two drives, they secured the win with just over nine minutes left in the game. There’s not too many times that many Ohio State fans begin filtering out of the stadium with over nine minutes left in a game, but they did Saturday night.
Top performers
J.K. Dobbins: 13 carries, 72 yards, one touchdown
He may have only received 13 carries, but the true freshman made the most of them. He also scored the first (of many) touchdowns in scarlet and gray.
Drue Chrisman: four punts, 45.8 yards per punt
The offense struggled, but Chrisman did his best to give Oklahoma bad field position every chance he could. All four of the freshman’s punts landed inside the 20-yard line.
Chris Worley: nine tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble
He flew around the field to start the game and was arguably played the best on Ohio State’s defense, at least for anyone who wasn’t on the defensive line.
Sam Hubbard: five tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss
He didn’t have any must-see plays, but Hubbard was able to get in the opponent’s backfield and cause some havoc.
Nick Bosa: 2.5 tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss
When Ohio State was still in the game, the sophomore had a huge sack on quarterback Baker Mayfield that was very close to a safety.
Top plays
J.K. Dobbins scores his first touchdown of his young Ohio State career for the Buckeyes only touchdown of the game. He did LeBron James’ “The Silencer” as his celebration.
Ohio State’s passing attack was virtually non-existent, but this catch by Austin Mack was quite impressive.
Nick Bosa looked like his older brother, Joey, on this sack that was very close to a safety.
To cap off the horrible night for the Buckeyes, Baker Mayfield planted the Oklahoma flag inside the Block O on the 50-yard. The Buckeyes players and fans were not happy.
On to the next one
The Buckeyes take on Army on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. ET at the Shoe.
5 Comments
This is the risk part of the risk/reward of having Urban Meyer, and will be the foreseeable future of the Buckeyes. Urban attracts talent for NFL potential, and these kids go to the NFL as quickly as they can, and Urban has no problem with it (for the record, neither do I). But as long as we’re only going to get 1 to 2 years of starting from anyone (except JT Barrett, who seems to have been here since Woody), we will always be a young team of potential but no real experience not quite ready for any primetime. Oh well. Beat Michigan.