Super Smith launches Buckeyes past Illinois

    Jeremiah Smith continued to stake his claim as the best player in the nation after a superhuman outing to pace the Ohio State Buckeyes to a 42-19 win over the Fighting Illini of Illinois in Columbus.

Smith finished with four touchdown receptions on 12 catches for 217 yards, while Julian Sayin threw those four touchdowns and ran for another score. 

Sayin finished with 367 passing yards for the game.

Ohio State improved to 3-1 on the year (1-0 Big Ten) and will travel to Iowa this Saturday.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Jeremiah Smith is beyond description.

Short of covering him with two or even three defenders, there isn't much a defense is going to be able to do to stop him.

2) Smith is big and strong to fight for the contested ball, but has the type of speed to run right back defenders.

Physically, he's the best WR prospect for the NFL in years and the best wideout in program history- which says it all.

3) Julian Sayin threw those four touchdowns to Smith and was impressive throwing the ball, but what really impressed me was his scramble for a touchdown.

Sayin is never going to be the runner that Ohio State has seen in the past, but he showed that he can use some movement out of the pocket when needed, which adds an extra dimension.

4) Still have some defensive concerns.

Illinois rushed for 199 yards and while Illinois is a run first club, allowing those numbers is conerning this week against another run first club in Iowa.

5) Ohio State finished with three sacks, but I still don't see a pass rush that will be a factor against better team.

While the Buckeyes have done well in developing defensive tackles in recent years, they have struggled with defensive ends since the times of the Bosa brothers and Chase Young.

6) If there is a player that could break the above narrative, it is freshman Khary Wilder, who does seem to have the potential to solve that problem.

I'd like to see more of Wilder as the season progresses.

7) My hot take- tight end Nate Roberts will be a first or second round draft pick when he moves onto the NFL.

Roberts blocks well enough but has soft hands and will be thought of highly by NFL scouts.

8) The last time Ohio State visited Iowa's Kinnick Stadium, Iowa hammered the Buckeyes 55-24 in a big upset.

I don't think the coaching staff has forgotten that night and between those memories and Iowa coming off a high with a final play win over Michigan, Ohio State will be ready.

My time just seems so limited now that I feel so far behind on my writing.

The Browns play tomorrow and I've yet to recap either of the Browns two wins.

I hope to get the Carolina game finished before tomorrow's game vs Pittsburgh

Late Thoughts: Ohio State pounds Penn State

    This is really late due to a fun trip on Sunday, personally, but I wanted to add a few thoughts on Ohio State's 38-14 win over Penn State last Saturday.

1) Julian Sayin threw for over three hundred yards and fired four touchdown passes.

Sayin has firmly placed himself in Heisman consideration, and the biggest hurdle that Sayin may have to face might be voters splitting votes between Sayin and his top two receivers, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate.

2) Ryan Day gives more and more challenges each week to Julian Sayin, and the final advance might have come against the Nittany Lions, where Sayin began looking downfield for big plays to his standout pass catchers.

Sayin completed fifty-seven-yard passes to both Smith and Tate and showed the ability to throw a beautiful deep ball.

3) Penn State was only down three points at the half after a C.J. Donaldson fumble late in the first half led to a Penn State short-field touchdown drive, but I never felt threatened with an upset.

Ohio State scored on every first-half possession other than the final drive when Donaldson fumbled, and I didn't think Penn State could keep pace in the second.

Ohio State Smacks Sparty 38-7

      Will Howard threw two touchdown passes and ran for another as the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Michigan State Spartans 38-7 in their first road game of the season in East Lansing, Michigan.

Jeremiah Smith ran for one score and caught another with the highlight all over social media with Emeka Egbuka with a touchdown catch and ninety-eight yards receiving to lead the offense.

Ohio State improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten with the win.

The Buckeyes will host Iowa next Saturday.

Olentangy Offerings

1) I am guessing here that few of you who read this are fans of the 2000s television show "Charmed".

While I wouldn't say I'm a fan, I'm not a hater either and there is one scene that while I don't remember the episode, context, or anything else, a scene where Holly Marie Combs's character literally sucks the life out of some poor schmuck popped into my mind during this game.

That's how Jeremiah Smith took this game over in the latter stages of the first half.

2) Holly Marie Combs and Jeremiah Smith may not have much in common, but they both just rendered their opponent lifeless.

Smith is double-covered as he leaps through two Spartan defensive backs to grab a Will Howard pass with one hand for a chunk of yardage, that's amazing enough BEFORE you watch the replay and see a Michigan State DB faceguard Smith AND grabs his facemask yet STILL catches the ball!

3) Then and THEN (cue Ray Stevens from his gimmick hit "Along Came Jones"), Smith snares another pass with one hand and just drives into the end zone for the score that broke Sparty.

You so rarely see a football team walk into a locker room that is clearly lifeless and deflated as Michigan State was after that display.

4) Will Howard did throw an interception but overall looked sharp and I'm impressed with his poise.

For now, Howard is what teams hope to receive from veteran transfer quarterbacks,

5) As spectacular as Jeremiah Smith is, you forget Emeka Egbuka at your peril and Egbuka might be the first receiver taken in next year's NFL draft- Smith may be the next great receiver but there is no way that Egbuka should be looked at as Smith's version of Alvin Harper.

6) Howard took a huge hit on the final scoring drive of the first half, so it was Devin Brown who threw the touchdown to Jeremiah Smith.

I'm really torn on giving Devin Brown playing time over freshman Julian Sayin as Brown deserves snaps for what he has gone through at Ohio State but it's Sayin who is the future of the program.

7) Michigan State was in this game for most of the first half, three times driving down the field into the red zone before the defense forced turnovers.

The Spartans fumbled twice and were stopped on a fourth and one at the OSU twenty-yard line.

Bend but not break defenses can break but the Buckeyes didn't in this one.

8) The offensive line still causes me to worry a bit and the protection (especially on the hit on Will Howard) hasn't been perfect.

Even more than the protection is in the run game where I didn't see the line pushing off the ball and opening holes against the Spartans.

Granted some of that is better competition but I would like to see a little bit of power football next week against Iowa, a rough and physical team.

9) The run game wasn't as spectacular as in non-conference play but it wasn't chopped liver either as TreVeyon Henderson averaged 9.9 yards on his seven carries and Quinshon Judkins 4.9 yards on his eleven.

I'm not worried about the running backs.

10) The pass rush provided four sacks, something that last season's squad accomplished only once.

Things are about to pick up as the returnees start to play more snaps and roll up those numbers.

Ohio State dispatches Akron 52-6

    Will Howard threw three touchdowns in his Buckeye debut, two of those to freshman Jeremiah Smith as the Ohio State Buckeyes survived early season jitters to cruise past the Akron Zips 52-6 in Columbus.

The Buckeye defense scored two touchdowns and sacked Akron quarterbacks five times.

Ohio State (1-0) will host Western Michigan, who gave Wisconsin a tough tussle in week one next Saturday night.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has a chance to be the best receiver Ohio State has ever seen.

That's a lot from a program that recently had the likes of Marvin Harrison Jr and Chris Olave in their lineup.

2) Smith is starting as a freshman, which is nearly unheard of at a school with the talent that is consistently recruited to Columbus and the history of the program.

This guy will be here for three seasons and gone, enjoy him while you can.

3) And for the great performance, it could have been better on the second play, Will Howard hit Smith with a short pass that was open for a sixty-yard scoring play and Smith dropped the ball.

Bet that doesn't happen often over the next three years.

4) I know it's Akron but I see signs of a defense that could be dominant by the end of the season.

This team looks strong at every defensive position and it just might be the best in the nation as the season goes on.

5) Defensive player that I'm really going to like? Linebacker Arvell Reese.

Reese seems to be everywhere and I really was impressed with him in the win.

6) Will Howard started okay but picked up the pace in the second half.

I liked what I saw from the Kansas State transfer and I think OSU is going to be just fine.

These blowouts are harder to write when I didn't have the time to watch them in detail (watched at work), please remember that when they are shorter in brevity.