Mike Weber rushed for 104 yards and the game's final touchdown, while Dwayne Haskins threw for over 200 yards and one score.
Ohio State improved to 9-1 (6-1 Big Ten) on the season and will play their final regular season road game next week at Maryland.
Olentangy Offerings
1) I know Michigan State offense is very weak and maybe the weakest one that Ohio State has seen since conference play started, but the defense showed up strong.
The Buckeyes held the Spartans to under 300 yards in offense and forced three turnovers, including the fumble recovery for a touchdown that essentially ended the game.
Let's see what the Buckeyes do in the next two games before saying the tide has turned for good, but this was a good start.
2) BUT, the offense reverted back to form and that's not a good thing.
Michigan State does lead the league in run defense and Mike Weber did rush for 104 yards, but much of that came when the game was decided.
The offense looks more broken than fixed.
3) J.K. Dobbins looked to have gained some confidence last week, but that had to have been hurt on Saturday as Dobbins finished with only 28 yards on 14 carries.
4) The offense looked so stunted at times that Tate Martell entered the game at quarterback to see if he could open things up a bit.
Martell ran for five yards on the first half drive that would eventually see Dwayne Haskins hit Parris Campbell for a score, but a similar second-half situation saw Martell fumble a poor snap and Michigan State recovered.
The mixed results saw the experiment to be worth the time giving Martell a few snaps next week in College Park.
5) I'm not a big fan of some of the receivers on the Buckeyes that seem to avoid contact.
Parris Campbell is the biggest perpetrator of this.
I'm not saying that players have to put their shoulder down on every touch of the ball, but sometimes those few extra yards can make a real difference in a field goal attempt or even an easier attempt for a first down.
Just a little more physicality would be very helpful.
6) My pick for player of the game? Drue Chrisman, the punter that set a new OSU record for the shortest punt in the first quarter with a four-yard boot, but picked up his game thereafter with five punts that were downed inside the Spartans six-yard line on five different occasions.
Punters that can perform like that can be quite the valuable weapon.
7) And give plenty of credit to the coverage team on the Chrisman punts- Terry McLaurin seemed to be flying downfield on every play and the wideouts on those squads were hustling to down those kicks.
It's exactly what you hope to see from your special teams, which has upped their game in recent games.
8) The Buckeyes turned this game on two fumbles that gave them ten points and both were Spartan drives that started deep in Michigan State territory off Chrisman punts.
Considering the Ohio State offense, it was fortunate that Dre'Mont Jones beat Sparty to the ball in the end zone or who knows what would have come about other than a two-point safety?
9) Speaking of safeties, the Spartans gave two points to Ohio State with an odd play,
The Spartans lined up for a punt from their end zone late in the third quarter and what looked to be a miscommunication occurred as one of the Michigan State punters (they used two and I cannot remember which) didn't appear to be ready for the snap and the ball went sailing over his head.
On replay, it was clear that the snap was planned and after the game, Mark Dantonio was asked about it.
It turns out that Dantonio didn't trust his punt team (understandable) against the Buckeye punt rush after their recent success and using inexperienced punters didn't give him faith either.
The call didn't affect the game, but at the time, it looked huge.
10) I've complained about the tackling of late and that was much improved yesterday.
The Buckeyes were flying to the ball and seemed more aggressive with much less read and react.
Some defenses (and defensive players) just need to either have freedom or in some cases discipline to fit their skills.
Perhaps some of the Buckeyes tacklers just needed some freedom to be aggressive?
11) Tate Martell's appearance in the red zone was a move that I thought might be coming.
Urban Meyer used J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones in a similar manner in their 2015 season together at times and I thought this could add an extra wrinkle.
Here's the thing- much like the "Wildcat" dying off in the NFL simply because, without a passing threat, it's just a single wing, If Martell cannot keep defenses honest with his arm- defenses will figure the gimmick out quickly.
12) And if Martell isn't a threat to throw, what will that do to next year's offense with the expected departure of Dwayne Haskins?
I'm not saying Martell isn't capable of doing things with his arm, but he's going to have to prove that to opposing defenses.
13) Michigan State wore white helmets this week vs the Buckeyes.
I much preferred their classic green helmet look, but here is an odd take for me.
I've always been someone that likes the colored jerseys for most teams over their whites, but for the Buckeyes, I do think the white jerseys with the silver pants is my favorite look.
I like the scarlet jerseys too, but the crispness of an autumn afternoon just looks so good with the traditional look of the white road uniforms.
14) I just don't know about two weeks from now.
Michigan looks as strong as they have in years and I just don't feel good about this team right now.
Urban Meyer has often done his best work when ruled out of a game (His Florida team over OSU and OSU over Alabama) and perhaps that can happen again and the game is in Columbus.
If this game was in Ann Arbor, I'd rate the Wolverines a prohibitive favorite, instead, I'm hopeful, but not confident.
See you later with the Browns against the visiting Atlanta Falcons.
No comments:
Post a Comment