Ohio State knocks off Tulsa 41-20

    The Ohio State Buckeye was expected to take out their anger from their loss to Oregon on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in Columbus.

Instead, the problems with the Buckeyes became more visible as Tulsa hung close until the fourth quarter when Ohio State finally busted open the game for the 41-20 victory.

TreVeyon Henderson rushed for an Ohio State freshman record 277 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Ohio State offense.

Ohio State improves to 2-1 on the season (1-0 Big Ten) and will host Akron next week at the Horseshoe.

Olentangy Offerings

1) TreVeyon Henderson's 277 rushing yards set the record for an Ohio State freshman breaking the record set by Archie Griffin against North Carolina in 1972.

Henderson was the offensive bright spot of the game for Ohio State and it's a good thing because at times they didn't have much else going for them.

2) Tim Brando and Spencer Tillman commentated the game for FS1 and I loved Brando's comparison of Henderson to that of Duane Thomas.

When you watch Henderson run, there is a certain amount of glide for Henderson and an ability to change gears that are seldom seen.

I wrote about Duane Thomas in 2016 as part of the Forgotten Superstars series.

3) C.J. Stroud threw for 185 yards with one touchdown and one interception and it seemed like Ryan Day was very protective of Stroud with his playcalling.

After the game, Stroud commented on a "sore arm", which I have to say is concerning from a freshman quarterback that did throw a lot against Oregon but has played in only three games.

4) I was surprised with how many people were just killing C.J. Stroud during the game.

The Buckeye nation has been awfully hard on the redshirt freshman and although he does seem to need some mechanical work on his throws as many of his passes are far too high.

Stroud's a young quarterback that isn't really a running threat, it will take time.

5) Considering all of that, I do wish that we would have seen Kyle McCord at least a little during these three games.

I understand the Oregon loss and the wins over Minnesota and Tulsa were not of the type that is usually expected against the competition of that ilk but McCord should be getting a few snaps in the event of an injury to Stroud.

6) Kerry Coombs was exiled to the press box with Matt Barnes moving to the sidelines.

I saw some improvement in a few areas but Tulsa often seemed to have receivers wide open that immediately made me think of blown coverages or players running to the ball rather than staying at home and taking care of their assignment.

7) Chris Olave was held without a catch for the first time since 2018 and only Garrett Wilson finished with more than 33 yards receiving.

8) I did really like the play of the freshmen corners in Denzel Burke and Cameron Martinez.

The two corners are already the standouts in the secondary and Martinez grabbed an interception for a Pick Six in the waning moments of the game.

By the end of the year, Burke and Martinez could be the stars of a defense in desperate need of them.

9) Tulsa QB Davos Brim finished with 428 yards passing and two scores, so this defensive problem isn't going to be solved overnight.

I did see a few signs of progress but I cannot say that I have no concerns.

Penn State looked very good in defeating Auburn, both Michigan and Michigan State have performed better than expected thus far and Ohio State may be fortunate to not play Iowa or Wisconsin in the regular season.

Unless significant progress is made, this could be (and emphasis on could) a 9-3 or dare I say it 8-4 season, which should be a one-season aberration.

10) Normally, I would brush aside Rutgers and Maryland (the two games following Akron) but Greg Schiano seems to have improved Rutgers to be at least decent and Maryland could have the receiving corps to give the Buckeyes issues.

This is one of those seasons that other than Akron, I won't be taking any team for granted.

Forgotten Superstars-Duane Thomas

We return to the forgotten superstars' universe with one of the most controversial players of his time and for a brief two-year window was one of the most exciting backs to run the football in Duane Thomas.

Duane Thomas is remembered by most for a tenure that saw bizarre behavior such as refusing to speak.
As in at all.
We live in an age where athletes will at times refuse to speak to the media, but in the early 70s, such behavior was downright shocking.
Considering the shunning of the media and adding that Thomas refused to speak to his teammates or members of the coaching staff and that was likely the act of a heretic in 1971.

Thomas and his act wore out so quickly in Dallas that after his rookie of the year season in 1970, Thomas and two other players were traded to the Patriots for running back Carl Garrett and the Patriots' number one pick.
Pete Rozelle then made a decision that hasn't been made since- Thomas and Garrett were returned to back to their original teams because Thomas refused to talk to or acknowledge Patriots coach John Mazur!
New England got Garrett and their top pick but kept the other two players by sending Dallas their second and third-rounders.
Can you imagine a trade being voided for a reason like that today?

Thomas had rolled up over 800 yards in 1970, averaged 5.3 yards per carry, and accomplished these numbers despite only starting eight of the Cowboy's fourteen games.
Thomas returned to Dallas and rushed for just ten yards less than in 1971 despite playing in three fewer games (he carried the ball 24 more times though-finishing with a still good 4.5 YPC) and led the league with eleven rushing touchdowns.
Thomas should have been the Super Bowl MVP in the Dallas win over Miami and reportedly was the winner in the voting, but Sport Magazine, which then gave the award (and car) was supposedly concerned about how Thomas would behave if he even would show up for the ceremony and gave the award instead to Roger Staubach.

Thomas never played another game for Dallas as he was traded to San Diego, where he would dress for one pre-season game, didn't play, and would sit out the 1973 season.
San Diego traded him to Washington, where he put together two pedestrian seasons that were most noted for one Thanksgiving game against- you guessed it, the Cowboys where he scored two touchdowns and would have been the talk of the league had not Dallas won the game on the immortal Clint Longley's bomb to Drew Pearson to win the game with seconds to go 24-23.
Thomas would leave Washington to play the 1975 season with Honolulu of the World Football League, which would fold in the middle of the 1975 season.

It's too bad that Thomas is remembered more for his personality than his running because he was one beautiful runner to watch,
Thomas could run over people but had a way of gliding that made it seem like he was about to be tackled and suddenly turned a hip and moved away.
The closest thing I've seen to Thomas in style was Gale Sayers.
Barry Sanders had some similarities, but Thomas was so much bigger than Sanders.
Watching Thomas run made me think of watching the water roll over a waterfall and then flow around the rocks on the river floor.
Just an awesome runner to watch.
Check the YouTube at 12 minutes for some Thomas highlights.

Comets tend to burn brightly and then flame out quickly and the career of Duane Thomas was exactly that, but for those who watched him run (and still can through YouTube), he was a tough back to forget...

Welcome, Duane Thomas to the forgotten superstars' universe...