Offensively impotent Buckeyes win 16-3

It was another game that wasn’t pretty and wasn’t watchable.  In fact, I don’t think I would wish that kind of offensive performance on some of my enemies.  However, it was another win in the column for the Buckeyes as they improved to 3-0 in conference with a 16-3 win over the Boilermakers.  The lone touchdown in the game came in the first quarter by virtue of a blocked punt by Malcolm Jenkins, returned by special teams superhero Etienne Sabino for six.

It also wasn’t the kind of performance to inspire any kind of confidence in the Buckeyes as an elite team.  For the second straight week, the Buckeyes remain anchored at the no. 12 spot in the AP polls due in large part to the play of the offense.  It was also the kind of performance, in light of Penn State’s 48-7 thrashing of Wisconsin, that would have the astute observer coming to the revelation “dear God, we’re going to have our asses kicked by Penn State at this rate”.  Yet, if nothing else, at least the Buckeyes didn’t have an Appy State redux type of game, and came away with a victory over a team that it was supposed to beat.

Most importantly, though, Purdue played like a team (especially on offense in the first half) that wanted to get routed by 30 points.  Unfortunately, our offense was not willing to oblige.  Before this season, the Buckeyes were last held without a TD in 1996.  This year, the feat has already been accomplished twice.  So what is there to make of the run of play from the offensive and defensive units?

Offense

First and foremost, the offensive line took enormous steps backward this game.  It’s puzzling how an offensive line that features 3 (or 4, depending on the lineup) seniors and 3 (or 4) returning starters can be so awful.  Honestly, the best performers on the line this season have been the two underclassmen (Brewster and Browning).  A good friend of mine in Ohio asked me over the phone a week or two ago, after the USC debacle and the news that Cordle might be moved to guard and Brewster put in at center, what should be made of Rehring when he came back from injury.  Honestly, my response was “Who says he has to be put back in the game?”.  That matador look he gave while in at right tackle more than confirmed the validity of that comment.  It’s just so curious after the Florida, LSU and USC games how the veterans one the line can pick up on absolutely none of the lessons learned from that game.  Evidently Brock Spack, Purdue’s defensive coordinator, did.  In each of those games, the opposing defenses split their rush ends wide and came off the edges because our tackles don’t show the speed necessary to pick them up at that angle.  It’s a longer route to the quarterback, but one that gets to the QB quicker because our tackles can’t consistently pick it up.  And, if anyone is doing their homework in the Big Ten, it’s going to be one that we see every game on passing downs going forward.  The misfires weren’t just limited to Rehring, as Ben Person and Jim Cordle were beaten more than a few times as well.  No other indicator is necessary to explain the root cause of Ohio State being held without an offensive touchdown, being held to 4/14 on 3rd downs, and Purdue’s 3 sacks and 5 TFLs.  I remind myself, though, that at least next year, our offensive line should have weeded out the elements that have seemingly become corrosive.  Adams-Browning-Brewster-Boren-Shugarts can’t come soon enough.

Terrelle Pryor continues to make freshmen mistakes at a clip to where they become less “freshmen mistakes” and more regular mistakes.  The missed read on the zone read option with Beanie, where Beanie had the clear path to the end zone is a mistake, not a freshman mistake.  The culprit here appears to be his reticence to commit to anything unless he can calculate, to 100 percent certainty, whether the decision is right or not.  In the latter stages of the 4th quarter, this problem became so pronounced that Ed Cunningham, color commentator for the game, was yelling “GO!” to Pryor as he scrambled out of the pocket, looking downfield for someone to pop open.  In fairness to Pryor, it’s good to hear that he’s always at the WHAC doing game preparation.  Further, his offensive line gave him basically no help this game.  However, I keep saying the staff needs to take a cybernetic approach to Terrelle Pryor, purposely telling him not to get lost in the details.  If this is the approach the staff is taking (from what I’ve heard on the television), they need to make sure Terrelle knows that most importantly.  Sadly, as a true freshman thrown into a starter situation mid-season, he just doesn’t have time for the nuances.

Beanie had a good performance and more than a couple awesome stiffarms.  His 22 carries and 94 yards were good enough to put him within the top 10 in all-time rushing at Ohio State.  However, it’s clear that the toe injury and the lineman boot he has to wear to compensate have taken away his top-end speed.  There were at least 2 plays that could’ve been enormous gainers, and probable TDs, if not for the diminished top-end speed post-injury.  Sadly, it’s something that’ll probably hold Beanie back for the rest of the season.  When Beanie needed a breather because of the injury, Boom Herron was more than a capable substitute.  However, with his brains scrambled last week against Wisconsin, the staff opted to put Mo Wells in lieu of Brandon Saine.  Better yet, the put Mo Wells in… wait for it… the I-formation.  If what follows seems unnecessarily critical of Mo Wells, it’s not meant to be.  However, Mo Wells is far and away the least powerful runner, and probably the least powerful runner Ohio State has ever had under Jim Tressel.  That’s fine if Mo Wells is a natural scatback, but playcalling needs to reflect that accordingly.  Handing the ball off to Mo Wells out of the I in anything other than a draw was an instant momentum killer this game.  There were more than a couple stretches in the second half where Purdue was able to make a stop of Beanie for minimal or no gain on first down, which caused the Buckeyes to sub in Mo Wells for Beanie.  The end result was soul-crushing disappointment.  I can’t think of any handoff to Mo Wells out of the I this game that was anything other than a loss of yardage.  Worse yet, we kept going to the well (no pun intended).  If Beanie needs a breather and Mo Wells comes in for him, we should probably go to the shotgun or the Buckeye Pistol.  The playcalling for Mo Wells and Terrelle Pryor was so much better in the Youngstown State game.  So why did we go away from that?

Pryor had only 97 yards passing this game, much of it the product of his own reticence and the play of the offensive line.  However, Hartline (1 catch, 5 yards) had a drop that was more than frustrating.  Robiskie (2 catches, 19 yards) let up on a deep ball that seemed catchable, though Pryor probably put a little too much on it.  The leading receiver for the game was DeVier Posey, with 2 catches for 28 yards.  The Pryor-Posey connection is promising, though there’s still a lot of things to work out in the receiving game.  Pryor and Posey almost had their first TD combination, if not for Pryor doing a double set of his feet, allowing the Purdue defender to catch up and break up the pass.  Further, Pryor is locking in on Posey a little too much.  At least, that was the case this game.  I didn’t see much of it in other games, since Pryor seemed to be liking Dane Sanzenbacher too.

Defense

The defense needed to show up and did this game.  Indeed, given the struggles of the offense, and controlling for the special teams TD in the first quarter, the Boilermakers would’ve been playing for the win deep in the 4th quarter.

The defensive line performed better this game, but did lose the sack and TFL battle again.  The best performers on the line are clearly the defensive ends, and it’s good to see Thaddeus Gibson becoming a force for opposing offensive lines.  Take away Malcolm Jenkins’ obscenely good effort this game and Gibson’s 6 tackles (4 solo), 2 TFLs, sack and forced fumble would be good enough for defensive MVP honors.  I know I’m watching for him mostly because I know his mom reads this blog and because I wrote a BKAB feature on him back in the day, but Nathan Williams is arguably the second best defensive end on the team at the moment.  I have an eye for #43 on the defense, and he’s consistenly getting pressure.  Now the counter-argument could be made that his performance on the line is ultimately no better or worse than Wilson or anyone else we put in at the end, but remember: Williams is a freshman who missed summer camp for having to take a summer course to enroll.  Again: freshman, and no summer camp.  What’s setting Williams apart is that he’s basically a monster truck anthropomorphized and he has no off-switch.  In this game, he only had one tackle, but it was an assisted TFL where he and (I think) Lawrence Wilson equally blew up a play behind the line of scrimmage in the second half.  Keep an eye out ot for this one, especially if Lawrence Wilson is going to miss time for the next couple games.

As you might have inferred from the image, the defensive tackles had a pretty good game too.  Nader Abdallah (3 tackles, 1 solo) had a key sack (for 11 yards too) on Curtis Painter in the 4th quarter on 3rd down.  Better yet, this elicited the coolest image of the game: Jim Heacock chestbumping Nader Abdallah.  Todd Denlinger also made an appearance with 2 tackles and a TFL.  Doug Worthington had 3 tackles, 2 solo.

The defensive line made it a little easier for the linebackers, but they still had great games individually as well.  James Laurinaitis had 10 tackles again, split evenly between solo and assisted, and broke up two Curtis Painter passes.  Marcus Freeman had 9 tackles with 7 of those assisted.  Ross Homan, a top performer for the past few games, only had one assisted tackle.  There were, however, a few missed tackles that I didn’t particularly care for in this game, but overall, the linebackers did very well.

The secondary was instrumental in getting some coverage sacks for the defensive line.  Malcolm Jenkins was beat once or twice on a play, but was the team’s MVP for basically stifling the top passing offense in the Big Ten.  He had 4 tackles, but broke up a pass, and intercepted another that he stole from Kurt Coleman.  While they don’t show in the stats column, Jenkins took the lead in covering up Purdue’s top receiver and forcing Curtis Painter incompletions.  That’s not even factoring in the blocked punt Jenkins had as well.  Elsewhere in the secondary, Chimdi Chekwa is showing how life in the secondary next year with Malcolm Jenkins will still be bright.  Further, I’m a big fan of how well his play this season has kept Donald Washington off the field.  Kurt Coleman also chipped in 3 solo tackles.

Miscellaneous Observations

• Maybe Ohio Stadium patrons were as sick as I was watching the offense, but that was a very quiet 105, 378 people.  As a guy who may never get to go to Ohio Stadium ever again, I feel compelled to remind anyone reading who does have the honor of attending Ohio State home games that you will have plenty of time to sit down and be quiet when you’re dead.  Now make some fucking noise and make it before James Laurinaitis has to command you to make it.
• Katie Smith, WNBA Finals MVP and Olympic Gold Medalist, was honored at halftime.  Dog on the WNBA all you want, but Katie Smith can ball.  She’s probably the best basketball player in Ohio State history in either the men or women’s programs.  I’m still tempted to defer that honor to Jerry Lucas, but the argument could be made.
• The option game needs a LOT of work.  Terrelle Pryor telegraphs his pitches and Beanie doesn’t know how to trail the QB.
• Is Etienne Sabino the best special teamer in the country?
• I have to find that image of Heacock chestbumping Nader Abdallah…

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