Ohio State’s Scarlet team defeated the Gray team, 20-14, Saturday on a cold, gray afternoon at Ohio Stadium. Braxton Miller looked good throwing hitting on 24 of his 31 attempts for 258 yards and one interception. Backup QB Kenny Guiton looked the best we’ve seen him hitting 17-of-26 passes for 191 yards with a 28-yard touchdown reception to Devin Smith.
True freshman receiver Michael Thomas was the highlight of the day catching 12 passes for 131 yards. Nick Vannett a red-shirt freshman tight end caught five passes for 52 yards.
Urban Meyer wanted to really focus on the passing game which has been an after thought in recent years. The hurry-up offense was an exciting sight to see and hopefully by the start of the season some of the kinks will be worked out.
Before the game, Ohio State coaches set up their “circle drill” at midfield where two players square off in a one-on-one battle of strength and dominance. Twitter was blowing up with excitement around the “circle drill” a welcome change in the program. Below are some player quotes about that.
A crowd of 81,112 was on hand to watch the debut action of Coach Urban Meyer’s first Ohio State team.
Kenny Guiton
“It is really fun. It’s something we do before practice most days. We [Guiton and fellow quarterback Braxton Miller] both got caught in there today.”
Michael Bennett
“It gets guys amped. When the guys go out there and win a battle it gets everyone all amped up and ready to go. We didn’t expect the quarterbacks to get out there today. That was the biggest one. But you have to expect to get thrown out there or you’re going to get embarrassed.”
Urban Meyer on the game
“I really appreciate that,” he said of the turnout, the largest since 95,722 attended the 2009 version. “It was not a very pretty game or scrimmage, but we had to get some things accomplished. We had to evaluate some skill players and I think we did that. I want to start out by saying thank you to them and thank you to the best band in the land.”
