The Buckeyes wiped the floor from start to finish with an Illinois team that at times looked like an FCS team on Saturday night. The Illini came out moving the ball very efficiently in their up tempo offense until Darron Lee intercepted quarterback Reilly O’Toole off a deflection. J.T. Barrett looked extremely hesitant to put weight on his sprained MCL in the first couple of drives leading to him over throwing several passes. Luckily for Barrett, freshman Curtis Samuel was more than happy to pick up the yardage and scores on the ground for the Buckeyes.

Once Barrett found Devin Smith on a 32 yard touchdown pass to close out the first he looked much more comfortable from then on. His comfort level was key for the Buckeyes success in this game since it was very evident that Coach Herman and Meyer wanted to put a heavy emphasis on the passing game. This would be due to the visit next week to East Lansing. Last year the Buckeye receivers were man handled and looked pedestrian in the loss to the Spartans.

Also last week, the offensive line looked shaky in pass protection. Both areas of concern seemed to be worked out for the most part against the Illini. Barrett finished the first half going 15 of 24 for 167 yards and two touchdowns. The Buckeyes took their 31-0 lead in to half time and Cardale Jones took over at QB in the second half.

Jones looked as competent as he usually does for Ohio State. Meaning, in my opinion, if Barrett goes down next week versus Sparty Ohio State will most likely lose. Jones is competent versus Illinois but envisioning him versus Michigan State or any real defense made me lose an extreme amount of confidence in this team. Rant and rave about his arm and size all you want but his decision making is average, he does not process information nearly as fast as Barrett, and he relies more on his legs than Miller did.

As for the defense, they look to be coming in to their own. Ash seems to be finding a really good rhythm with his blitz calls, coverages, and substitutions. They have a legitimate star in Joey Bosa who could go down as one of the top 5 defensive players in Buckeye history if he maintains this excellent play.

Personally, as good of a game Joey Bosa had, I thought Darron Lee and Steve Miller played even better. Maybe that has more to do with expectation levels from them, but Lee should be a first team all Big Ten linebacker in my opinion. He is a jack of all trades and Ash is really beginning to use this kid to terrorize defenses in every shape and form.

Speaking of terrorizing, Steve Miller is beginning to do just that regardless of who the Buckeyes are playing. Replacing Noah Spence was never going to be easy and frankly Miller hasn’t done that at all. But what Miller has done is found his role in this defensive line and he has embraced it. He seems to be the relentless worker on this defense and is dedicated to do anything his coaches need him to do. Whether it is run defense, pass rush, or chase down screens, Miller has been doing it all lately. Hats off to him and Coach Johnson for putting in the hard work to round off this dangerous defensive line.

The secondary deserves their fair share of love as well. The success of Ash’s secondaries starts with strong safety play and the Buckeyes got just that from Powell and Bell Saturday night. Both players have been asked to do the large majority of their learning on the job and they have done very well. Saturday night both players excelled in coverage and are beginning to round out in to a very nice safety duo.

As for the corners, Grant, Apple, and Reeves, they have their moments when they can give you a scare with how aggressive they are, but the more experience they get the wiser they seem to be with when and where to use that aggressiveness. Reeves fits perfectly in that nickel corner spot, Apples length bothers any receiver he faces, and Grant is a very athletic and aggressive corner who has a big upside if he keeps improving. I really think these corners had a pretty good night on Saturday and have had pretty good games in recent weeks.

It was also key to see Meyer’s special teams take care of business Saturday night. Kicker Sean Nuernberger was able to go 2/2 which could be key if the game next Saturday comes down to the wire. The kick coverage team was also able to swallow up one of the best returners in the country Saturday night which should be even more of a confidence builder after an O.K. performance versus Penn State.

Saturday seemed to be the perfect dose of medicine for this young team heading in to the dog fight in East Lansing. The Buckeyes were able to shore up offensive line issues, get players back from injury some confidence and keep them healthy, get depth players play time, and come out with a lot of confidence. The Buckeyes had a character building win at Penn State last week, this week was a confidence building week, next week is the biggest game of this team’s young career. They look ready and so are we here at MOTSAG. Keep an eye out for all of our previews and build up to the game this Saturday in East Lansing.

Go Bucks! Beat Sparty!

The verdict: The Buckeyes killed a team they should have on a day when many of the top teams in the nation struggled against weaker opponents.

Man of the match: Ohio State Defensive line– Cop out time! The group caused complete chaos in the Illini backfield the whole game.

Offensive player of the game: Devin Smith- Two touchdowns and an amount of swagger that can never be achieved by the average human.

Defensive player of the game: Joey Bosa– How many big plays can one man make as a defensive lineman?

Surprise player of the game: Steve Miller– Not to be overshadowed by the legend Bosa, the senior had numerous disruptions in the backfield.

Goof of the week: Jacoby Boren– On the day after Halloween, the center completely whiffed on a block against a ghost… The young man fell down trying to takeout an invisible man on the Buckeye’s first touchdown run by Curtis Samuel.

What it means: Not quite sure to be honest. Ohio State dominated an inferior team on both sides of the ball but J.T. Barrett’s accuracy and knee issues are a big question mark headed into next week. The freshmen cannot afford to miss the 4 or 5 wide open receivers he missed tonight against the Spartans. Ohio State has the talent to pull off a victory but the best effort of the season will be necessary.

On Deck: The MSU Spartans– The Big Ten East will almost certainly come down to one game and College Gameday will be headed to East Lansing. Doesn’t get any bigger than this…

Let’s get excited

All games Saturday, November 1, unless otherwise noted.

BUCKEYES

Illinois @ Ohio State. 8:00p, ABC.

I don’t know. This game is probably exactly what it looks like it is–a bounce back after a surprisingly close shave against Penn State and an officiating crew rehearsing for some new hilarious Will Ferrell movie I guess. You could probably argue that this is a potential “trap game” if you want to be the kind of person who says stuff like that.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Indiana @ Michigan. 3:30p, Big Ten Network.

Minnesota, Michigan State: no games

OTHER BIG TEN TEAMS

Wisconsin @ Rutgers. Noon, ESPN.

Maryland @ Penn State. Noon, ESPN2.

Northwestern @ Iowa. Noon, Big Ten Network.

Purdue @ Nebraska. 3:30p, ABC.

OTHER OHIO TEAMS
All games on ESPN3 (online) unless otherwise noted.

(Friday, 10/31) Cincinnati @ Tulane. 8:00p, ESPN2.

Western Michigan @ Miami (OH), 2:30p.

OTHER BIG NATIONAL GAMES

(Thursday, 10/30) Florida State @ Louisville. 7:30p, ESPN.

Florida vs. Georgia in Jacksonville. 3:30p, CBS.

TCU @ West Virginia. 3:30p, ABC/ESPN2.

Auburn @ Mississippi. 7:00p, ESPN.

Stanford @ Oregon. 7:30p, Fox.

The first-ever College Football Playoff rankings have been released, and you probably know someone who’s mad about where their team has been slotted. That’s not me, and that’s not what this is about. I don’t really care how many SEC teams are in the top whatever or how this team isn’t being measured by the same standard as that team. To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t even really care where Ohio State is ranked.

Now, that’s partially because this week’s rankings are completely meaningless. I’m not even sure I understand why the committee is doing a weekly update when one of their announced important factors is conference championships, something we won’t know until all the games have been played. I guess they just want us to know they exist. And ESPN needs to fill time and fuel their shouting shows for another seven days.

What I’m concerned about is the absence of a specific team, a team who–admittedly–hasn’t beaten anyone noteworthy and won’t really have a chance to. I’m talking about undefeated Marshall, one of only three teams with a perfect record remaining and the only one of those three to not show up in the first official top 25.

And yes, I know all the arguments against the Thundering Herd (and I don’t disagree with them) but the simple fact is that any post-season structure that doesn’t allow an undefeated team a shot at the title is broken. It’s what I was most afraid of with the paltry four-team format and it’s clearly going to come to fruition should Marshall win out.

Some may argue that a team like East Carolina, with its three non-conference games against “Power Five” schools, could crack the top four had it won every game. (ECU does check in at #23 in this week’s rankings, the lone non-power team on the list.) But let’s face it, by the end of the season having beaten South Carolina, Virginia Tech and North Carolina wouldn’t have been impressive enough to leap-frog a one-loss Oregon or Michigan State or Auburn or Notre Dame.

And it’s all by design.

The College Football Playoff replaces the BCS, a championship system developed in 1998 by the six major conferences. (This, kids, was a time when the Big East was populated by Miami, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.) For sixteen years, the BCS ensured that a team from one of those six conferences would be named the champion, even as it pretended to open it doors ever-so-slightly to the smaller conferences.

Eventually, people grew dissatisfied with the format, reaching the breaking point when two teams from the same division (guess which one!) played for the national title. Playoff talk–which has existed pretty much since the beginning of the sport–heated up again. So, the exact same group of teams, who had now rearranged themselves into just five conferences, came up with our new system and made sure to keep nearly all of the money (over 70% guaranteed) for themselves.

Of course, conferences receive an extra $6 million for each member team that makes the playoff, so it’s very important to make sure the committee understands exactly where those four teams should come from. By placing value on things like conference championships, strength of schedule, quality wins and (apparently) quality losses, the deck has been sufficiently stacked against the mid-major conferences.

Judging from the initial rankings, the committee has heard the message loud and clear. A mid-major team will never play in the College Football Playoff as long as it only has four teams.

Money wins again.