On Saturday night in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Cornhuskers hosted the Ohio State Buckeyes in the team’s first Big Ten home game. For the first time, in a long time, the Buckeyes entered a game as the heavy underdog. Regardless as to what the spread says (Cornhuskers were a 10 point favorite), no one – not (many) fans, not the media, not the “experts” – gave the Buckeyes a chance against the Cornhuskers. The game had a feel about it that made it seem as if the Buckeyes were a 20 point underdog, not 10.
Ohio State not only gave Nebraska all they could handle, they felt, until the last 23 minutes of the game anyway, like the Buckeyes of old. When all was said and done, and the scoreboard displayed the home team’s 34-27 victory, all we were left with was a broken heart, and a 4th Quarter just like all the rest.
All week, we heard the media and experts on ESPN tell us how Ohio State had one of the worst offenses they had ever seen on the college level. For the most part, they were right. Although the playmaking ability is certainly there, the offense is really – really – young, and it’s going to take a couple years for those young guys to reach their maximum potential. Win or lose, the Buckeyes offense has been the focal point for every Ohio State game so far, mostly because of their dismal performances.
In the first half of Saturday night’s game against Nebraska, the Buckeyes had seemed to be silencing their critics one play at a time. For 37 minutes, Ohio State seemed to finally be embracing the “shock the world” mentality. Led by freshman Braxton Miller, the Buckeyes displayed an offense that would not only shock the world, but give most of their critics, ahem, Mark May, a heart attack.
Braxton Miller – who was making is second career start – was having a stellar game. It was as if Miller was growing-up right before our very eyes. He knew what he had to do to help his team win, and he was doing it extremely well. Luke finally had the benefit of deflecting criticism for the offensive effort for the first 37 minutes of the game. He took a ton of pressure off of Miller, calling only six passes. Miller completed four of those passes for 68 yards and a touchdown. Late in the 1st Quarter, junior tight end Jake Stoneburner decided to finally make an appearance for the Ohio State offense, and was on the receiving end of a 32 yard strike from Miller for the first touchdown of the game.
By halftime, it had become clear that the Buckeyes were pulling their best “Tressel-Ball” effort. Miller passes six times, but ran seven and was the team’s leading rusher with 79 rushing yards at the half. Jordan Hall started behind Miller at tailback, but it was Carlos Hyde that provided the play of the half for the Buckeyes. (By the end of the game, Hyde would become Ohio State’s go-to guy out of the backfield.) With 12:56 left in the 2nd Quarter, the Ohio State offense took over after holding Nebraska on downs. Before their first play of the drive, J.B. Shugarts was called for false start, bringing-up 1st & 14 for the Buckeyes. Regrouping, Miller then snapped the ball and handed it to Hyde. Hyde scrambled 63 yards to the end-zone to give the Buckeyes a 17-3 lead early in the 2nd.
Drew Basil started the year 0/2, but hasn’t missed a field goal since. In the first half of the Nebraska game, Basil was 2/2, connecting from 35 and 41 yards. Luke’s misuse of Basil late in the game, was potentially a big decision for the Buckeyes, but I’ll get to that later.
When all was done, and the first half was over, the Buckeyes were manhandling the Huskers in nearly every aspect of the game, and were up 20-6 at the final whistle of the first half. The Buckeyes defense, who had played a phenomenal first half, forced the Nebraska offense into a three-and-out to start the second half. Ohio State then took control for their first possession of the second half, and put together a scoring drive, highlighted by a 10-yard holding penalty by the Nebraska defense, and a 27-yard pass completion from Miller to Corey Brown. Hyde added his second score of the game, running in from 1-yard out on his first touch of the drive. Just like that, 27-6 Buckeyes.
But then it all fell apart. It was like watching a train-wreck. You didn’t want to watch it, but you were compelled to. Ohio State’s defense forced another three-and-out, and the Buckeyes again took control on offense, this time from their own 12-yard line. Remaining committed to the run, Jim Bollman (OSU offensive coordinator) called three-straight running plays, the third in which was called in Miller’s favor. Miller had the ball stripped away by Nebraska’s Levonte David, and just like that, the Huskers had the ball deep in Buckeye territory.
Even after Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez scored on an 18-yard run to cut the deficit to 27-13, it still felt as if the Buckeyes had a firm grip on the game. Little did we know, but David’s strip on Miller, would end-up being the start of the unravel of the Buckeyes.
On Ohio State’s next drive, disaster struck again – Joe Bauserman entered the game. Miller was having an outstanding game despite the one fumble, and the night was ruined when the freshman sprained his ankle and was knocked out of the game with just under half of the 3rd Quarter remaining. From there, the rest is history.
If Bauserman was naive enough to make himself believe that he silence his critics last week against Michigan State by ensuring the Buckeyes weren’t shut-out, his game against Nebraska surely brought him back to reality. In truth, no one was impressed with Bauserman against the Spartans. In fact, most of us were mad that Luke favored Bauserman over Miller late in the game.
Against Nebraska, Bauserman showed his true colors. He was the quarterback everyone knew he was, ending any delusional notion that he, himself, may have had prior to this game. The Buckeye offense continued a horrible trend with Bauserman at quarterback. With Miller in the game, the Buckeye offense had gained 307 yards of total offense. With Bauserman leading the charge, they gained 17. Bauserman finished the game 1/10 for 13 yards and 1 interception. All of his incompletions were way-off, and more often than not, didn’t even come within 20 yards of a receiver. His appearance in the game, meant the end of a great night for the Ohio State football team and Buckeye Nation.
What had started as a blow-out, turned out to be a familiar nightmare. Just when everyone, Mark May included, was thinking that maybe – just maybe – the Buckeyes were starting to turn the corner on offense, in comes Joe Bauserman and those thoughts were suddenly erased.
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This game really bothered me, obviously, but for a lot of reasons.
For starters, it angered me, sort of, that the Ohio State offense was able to move the ball as well as they did against Nebraska’s “Black-Shirt” Defense. On the road, with a true freshman QB, and against all odds, the Buckeye offense took it to the Huskers’ defense for 37 minutes. But last week, at home, in their Big Ten opener, the Buckeyes couldn’t manufacture a scoring drive until their last possession of the game – and that was against a Spartan team that’s not nearly as good as Nebraska,
The thought that we could’ve entered the game against Nebraska 1-0 in the Big Ten had they offense played this well at home, was overwhelming. If I had a dime for every time I said, “Where was this at last week?!”, I’d be rich.
There were, however, some things I was really happy with from the team, and Luke. (I still refuse to call him Coach until he proves himself competent.) Jim Bollman finally realized that the best opportunity for success, was through the running game. The Buckeyes were executing on offense, and for once, it didn’t matter that Luke didn’t know anything about the ‘O’.
I’m not sure of the extent of Miller’s ankle sprain, but the it was disappointing that he didn’t even at least try to come back into the game. I know I’m wrong, at least hope I am, but it seemed as if Miller had, had enough, and injuring his ankle gave him reason to leave the game. Maybe expectations are a little high here, but I really thought Miller would try and weasel his way back into the game. He was having the best game of his young career, and for the most part, was playing mistake-free football. Because of that fumble, I really thought Miller would want to be back out there, if nothing else, to prove that the fumble was uncharacteristic of his play, especially on the night.
If Miller is going to be out against the Illinois Fighting Illini, I really hope that Luke looks at Kenny Guiton or Taylor Graham, preferably Guiton. At worst, they play as bad as Bauserman, but at least it’s an effort to try and better the team, and make some much needed changes. Again, only if Miller is out.
Luke squandered an important decision to start the 4th Quarter. Ohio State’s offense had made it’s way to the Nebraska 32 yard line, thanks to Bauserman’s only completion of the game, and a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty against the Huskers. The 32 yard line was well within kicker Drew Basil’s range. Instead, Luke opted to take the delay of game penalty and punt the ball back to Nebraska. Assuming Basil makes the FG, the Buckeyes then have a 10 point lead. Up two scores on Nebraska in the 4th Quarter probably gives the offense a little bit of confidence, and the defense a little bit of inspiration to finish the game.
Instead, none of that happened. As momentum continued to shift towards the Huskers, thanks mostly to an incompetent Buckeye QB, Nebraska tied the game on a 30-yard pass from Martinez to fullback Rex Burkhead. The night came to a fitting end when Bauserman was picked-off on the next possession of the game, and the Huskers sealed the Buckeyes fate with a 17-yard touchdown run from Burkhead.
It seemed as if the coaching staff, Luke and Bollman in particular, panicked and abandoned what had given them the most success. Miller was able to successfully move the ball because he had the running game to depend on. In the first half, Miller had only thrown six passes. After taking over late in the 3rd Quarter, Bauserman finished the game with 10 pass attempts, completing only one. Understand, the Nebraska defense was suddenly inspired, but a continued commitment to the running game would’ve limited (potentially) some of the Huskers possessions in the 4th Quarter.
Hyde was having a huge game for the Buckeyes, and should be named the starter in the backfield. He’s a big, bruising back with deceptive speed. All this time, it should’ve been Hyde starting with Hall spelling him. With the return of Daniel “Boom” Herron this week against the Illini, it’ll be interesting to see what Luke does with the three backs.
During the off-season, there were rumors that Hall would play from the slot, giving a bulk of the carries to both Herron and Hyde. I think this is something that will benefit whoever is the Buckeyes QB. It gives them another legitimate weapon on offense, and the team another playmaker. Corey “Philly” Brown finally made his return against the Huskers, and played well. A combo of Brown, Herron, Hyde, Stoneburner and Hall would give the Buckeye offense a formidable threat.
I was extremely upset when Ohio State lost to the Hurricanes. I don’t think anyone in Buckeye Nation expected things to be this bad. When the Bucks easily defeated Colorado, I fell into a false sense of hope. The offense looked really good that day too, as did the defense. After losing to the Spartans in quite possibly the most uninspired effort I’ve ever seen from an Ohio State team, I had become completely numb to the fact that my beloved Buckeyes simply were not that good.
Had they scored even 10 points against Nebraska, that would’ve been shocking. The fact that they were up 21 points, and had scored 27, nearly caused me to faint. I must admit, I felt as if things were too good to be true. I kept waiting for the seemingly inevitable to happen, and when it did, damn did it hurt.
Ohio State is now 0-2 in the Big Ten for the first time since the ‘04 season. They play two more ranked teams in consecutive weeks, (#16 Illinois and #4 Wisconsin), before getting to their second round of cupcakes. Assuming the Buckeyes extend their losing streak to four-in-a-row, the Buckeyes will need to win three of their last four games to even become bowl eligible. They should beat Indiana and Purdue. Penn State is having a down year, and that game is probably a toss-up, though it is in Columbus.
As much as it pains me to say this, the team’s last ranked team remaining on the schedule after #4 Wisconsin, is #11 Michigan. Now, the Buckeyes haven’t had a losing season since 1988 when they went 4-6-1 under head coach John Cooper. Even if Ohio State snaps their 21 consecutive winning seasons streak, all will be okay – at least for a day – if the Buckeyes can ruin a potentially undefeated scUM team’s season.
The fact is, we’re halfway home. Six games into the season and the Buckeyes are 3-3 on the year. Certainly not the season we were hoping for, but it’s the season we’ve come to expect. Hopefully the Bucks can string together a few wins, and at least make a push for a bowl game assuming the NCAA doesn’t hit the school with a bowl ban. There’s still a lot of football left to be played.
9-3 is still a possibility, but then again, so is 3-9. Here’s to the Bucks getting it together, and finishing the season strong. Go Bucks!
