Sunday, September 24, 2017

Ohio State rolls UNLV 54-21

Ohio State was expected to roll over the visiting Rebels of UNLV and they did so in a 54-21 win that wasn't nearly as close as it looks-which isn't very close at all.

J.T.Barrett threw five touchdowns in less than a half of football to lead the Buckeyes to their victory.
Seven different Buckeyes caught touchdown passes for a Big 10 record (Five from Barrett and two from Dwayne Haskins) in the victory.
Ohio State moves to 3-1 overall (1-0 Big 10) and will travel to Rutgers next week after UNLV completed the Buckeyes non-conference schedule...

Olentangy Offerings

1) These types of games are the hardest games to write about.
Lots of scoring against an outmatched opponent can make it difficult to watch the game as closely as in a normal game.

2) J.T. Barrett rolled up his numbers, but Urban Meyer did the right thing in taking him out in the second quarter.
It limited the injury risk for the starter, but it gave plenty of time to take a look with Dwayne Haskins running the offense, which is good for now and later.

3) Liked what I saw from Dwayne Haskins.
Big arm, great size and like Cardale Jones is far faster than he looks as he looks like he is gliding and runs away from people.
His pick six was a ball that he locked onto a receiver and should have never thrown, but that comes with experience.
Points to the staff for playing him so much and even more for allowing him to actually run the offense!
Usually, in mop-up time, all the reserve quarterback does is hand the football off.,which doesn't help you learn very much.

4) The spreading around of the football to the seven different players that scored touchdowns was a good thing with no player other than C.J Saunders (Six catches) catching more than three balls.
I'm not sure how I feel about this.
It could be a good thing as several players get involved in the offense and playing time, but I really would like to see someone step up as a reliable starter that can be counted on.
There are a few that really intrigues me, but no one has proven themselves yet..

5) The starting defense allowed a touchdown in the first half and the backups allowed a long touchdown run by Lexington Thomas (with a name like that why didn't the Kentucky Wildcats recruit him?), but other than that, the defense was fine against an opponent that they should have dominated and did so.

6) However, the secondary continued with multiple pass interference penalties and I'm concerned how that is going to improve against better teams.
Those better teams won't arrive for a month as Rutgers, Maryland (I wondered a little about them until they were trounced today by Central Florida) and Nebraska (2-2) come before a bye week and then Penn State.

7) If you bet on the Buckeyes to cover the 40 point spread on the betting line, you lost mainly because Parris Campbell and Rashod Berry each fumbled inside the Rebel two-yard line.
So close and so far away.
No such thing as a sure thing-other than Mayweather-McGregor that is!

8) A non-Buckeye note to wrap on.
The Big 10 East has to be wondering just how good they are.
Ohio State lost in their only test, Penn State won over an outgunned Iowa on the last play of the game, Michigan was in a dogfight with Purdue until the 4th quarter and Michigan State and Maryland each was blown out.
I'm wondering how good they really are despite three teams in the top ten...

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