With the first game of the season, you have to assume there will be jitters, mistakes and things are going to go sideways. This game was never in doubt but as with any first game of the season, it made manifest some of the issues that Buckeyes will have to work on as the season progresses.
At first, it looked looked like the Buckeyes might score an hundred points. After a couple runs by Jordan Hall, Miller’s pass out of the no-huddle offense struck for 47 yards from Braxton to Devin Smith.
The next series, Dontre Wilson made an appearance and was one ankle tackle away from breaking off a huge gain. His speed and ability to read blocks is very unfreshman-like. He is going to be special.
The Buckeyes would score two more times on a pass to Chris Fields and a 49 yard scamper up the middle by Jordan Hall. Things looked well in hand.
Going for two after the first two scores was, to me at least, a sign that Urban Meyer wasn’t fooling around. The QB sneak with Guiton and the pass to Hall were straight out of Urban’s High School playbook.
After going up easily 23-0, you have to give Buffalo credit for taking advantage of some Buckeye mistakes. The would make things interesting for a few minutes but The Buckeyes would prove to be too much to handle.
Ohio State 40
Buffalo 20
A few thoughts from the game:
ESPN was is mid-season form with their awful production, missing entire plays and horrible tight shots right before plays started. I thought I was watching BTN.
What a luxury it is that Kenny Guiton is on the sideline. After the inevitable cramps (you knew they were coming) beset Braxton, Kenny came in and calmly drove the Buckeyes down for a score at a point it looked like the Buffalo Bulls were going to make things a little too close for comfort.
Seeing Shazier being carted off was not a fun sight.
The fact that Warren Ball only saw the field a few times and Bri’onte Dunn was a non-factor is very telling. Wilson clearly is ready to contribute and even though Ezekiel Elliot wasn’t given as many chances, it looks like he’ll contribute as well. Dunn looks to be the odd man out.
The defense has work to do, but not having Roby to lock down Buffalo’s Nuetz did force the Buckeyes to play Reeves off him and the Bulls took advantage. The D line looked fine and Grant looks like he has improved his aggressiveness and should also be fine. With Shazier limited, Roby out and Barnett hurt, it’s really hard to get a true read on the defense. We’ll see how they look next week.
Finally, there was an Aussie punter sighting! He doesn’t leave his feet and he’s still booming punts. Too bad he isn’t going to be used too much this year. It’s a shame to see that leg go under utilized.
What did you think?
I’m not writing Dunn off yet; way too early for that talent.
JT, I hope he’s not written off — he certainly does have talent. But I’m just looking at this from the point of view that four other backs saw the field and he didn’t. If Hyde and Smith were able to play, that would have been six backs ahead of him.
Unless it was a discipline issue, which is entirely possible. But if nothing else, hopefully this lights a fire under his rear end.
The Buckeye’s certainly are a completely different team with Carlos Hyde but does anyone really think they wouldn’t get rolled easily by either Clemson or Georgia?
Jay, I’m not ready to say they’d be “easily rolled” by those teams. This team can still score points in bunches and I don’t think we were able to get a true read on the defense. Missing Roby, Barnett and Shazier was very obvious that there are drop offs at those positions.