With all of the excitement surrounding the Buckeyes home opener versus the Hokies, the Buckeyes quelled that very quickly with their abysmal play. Ohio State started the game strong intercepting Michael Brewer, and that was their lone bright spot in the first half on defense. The Hokies converted time and time again on third down. Whether it was long, short, or medium, Hokie quarterback Michael Brewer picked apart the Ohio State secondary that had been revamped in the off-season. While the yardage given up was not substantial, the damage was done where it mattered and that was on the scoreboard. The Buckeyes were unable to create a significant pass rush blitzing or not. The apparent strength of this team, the defensive line, was non-existent with the pass rush and sorely missed its all Big Ten play-maker Noah Spence.
Barrett and the offense had one bright spot in the first half which was their lone scoring drive. While it was largely on the feet of Barrett, the young quarterback did what he had to do to march the Buckeyes down the field. Aside from that drive the Buckeyes looked unimaginative. No targets to the tight ends, missed opportunities in the red zone including a huge drop by Corey Smith, play-makers were largely kept in check, nightmare play calling, the list goes on and on for the Ohio State offense, long story short, Braxton, Carlos Hyde, and the offensive line mainly from last year are greatly missed.
The second half provided a little bit of a brighter spot for Ohio State, but the frustrations remained. Ohio State fought and clawed its way back after trailing 21-7 to tie it up at the end of the third quarter. The Buckeye defense,Joey Bosa and Vonn Bell specifically, created two key turnovers that gave the Buckeyes life, but the offensive line was incredibly poor and unable to give freshman QB any time to throw. All in all it was a very poor performance from Ohio State.
I will have a full write up on the game on Monday, but I do not want to post this without giving full credit to Virginia Tech. Coach Beamer and his Hokies played with great heart, emotion, and executed extremely well on the road. They quieted the Shoe numerous times, and when they got punched in mouth by the home team they responded by landing their own huge blows. They are a gritty and quality football team that have a bright year ahead of them. The Buckeyes will have to regroup and prepare for a noon kick against Kent State next Saturday.
Let’s just face it. The Buckeye ‘ s will not win more than 7 games and they need to fire Fickle. They also need to get rid of the kicker and punter. Absolutely, one of the worst teams in football right now.
“One of the worst teams in football right now.”
I honestly can’t tell if that’s sarcasm or something you really thought with your brain and typed with your fingers on a computer that you were able to turn on and operate. It’s seriously the most absurd thing I’ve read all weekend.
But you are entitled to your opinion and I won’t attack you for that. I’m just wondering who else you see us losing to?
Nice quick-hit, Ron. I think your final paragraph summed up the evening.