Welcome to the weekly installment where we look at the game from a statistical perspective. Feel free to add your thoughts. What stats impressed you? Any stats concern you? Here are 5 stats that stood out to me in week 1.

261 – The amount of total rushing yards led by Jordan Hall’s 159. Jordan ran for 2 touchdowns of 49 and 37 yards. Huge game for Jordan.

7 of 12 – Ohio State’s conversion rate on third down, very efficient. Braxton was poised in the pocket. The development of Braxton as a passer is noticeable. He is waiting the extra second and getting through a couple more progressions before he takes off.

12.5 – the average kick-off return yards for Buffalo. The special teams was solid. Buffalo consistently was backed up inside the 20 after Buckeye kickoffs.

1 – the number of sacks by the Ohio State defense. As I wrote in the linebacker preview, one thing that concerned me this year is the ability of the front four to get pressure on the opposing QB. This number will have to improve as the season progresses.

45/23 – the ratio of rushing to passing attempts. I realize this number is dependent on the ebb and flow of the game, but I would have liked to see this ratio less than 2 to 1. The total number of plays is lower than I expected as well. I will be interested to see how this ratio fluctuates as the season continues.

What is on your mind? Any other key stats?

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?

[Read more…]

Good morning Buckeye Nation. Bet you don’t know what today is!! That’s right its opening season for the Buckeye men and women’s cross country teams and women’s field hockey. So sit back and relax and enjoy our wall to wall coverage and break down of these sports.

Seriously I know these other sports don’t get the attention like football and basketball but they are important to a lot of folks especially to the ones out there working so hard on something they have such passion for and few recognize their sports. I do Three Yards to bring this information to you and to recognize all of Buckeye Nation sports because everyone who wears Scarlet and Gray is awesome.

Opener Falls Short: Buckeyes men’s soccer team opened their season last night and fell to UNC Wilmington 2-1 in double overtime. Senior Sage Gardner had the lone Buckeye goal.

“I am really proud of the way the team played tonight,” John Bluem, Ohio State head coach, said. “I thought they put in a great effort and the turning point really did not come until the red card late in regulation. Credit has to be given to UNCW though and their forward Colin Bonner; he had two good chances and finished both of them.”

The Buckeye soccer team gets back on the field Sunday taking on a Northern Illinois team that beat Cincinnati 3-0 yesterday.

“I know our guys will regroup and come out strong Sunday,” Bluem said. “Northern Illinois played very well against Cincinnati and the players know they need to move on from tonight and be prepared for the next match.”

Sweep: Ohio States women’ volleyball team took out Liberty last night in their season opener. The 23rd ranked Buckeyes won the three sets 25-22,25-22,26-24.
Senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Leary tied a career high 21 kills and had 8 digs while junior outside hitter Erin Sekinger had career high 15 kills and junior Taylor Sherwin had 40 assists.
Ohio State returns to action Saturday with a 1pm match vs. Green Bay in DeKalb, Ill. The Buckeyes close out the NIU Invitational Saturday night, facing host Northern Illinois at 8pm

Opening Day: As I said earlier the Buckeye field hockey team opens its season today, its 43rd. They will be taking part in the Conference Cup hosted by Temple in Philadelphia, PA. The Buckeyes take on Temple today at 2:30 and then finish the tournament tomorrow vs #2 Maryland or #20 UNH.

Get Your Tickets: Ohio State ice hockey single season tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10am. The Buckeyes will have 22 home games during this inaugural Big Ten hockey season.

To get you in the mood: OK not like you really need to get in the mood for the football opener versus Buffalo today but I will leave you with some videos to enjoy.

Buckeyes Tradition video.

Bringing the “Juice”

All we do is win!!

This you can NEVER get tired of

Buckeye Radio Network: Seen some folks on twitter and talked to some people who want to know where to here the game today. Here is the link for the Buckeye Radio Network

Good luck to all wearing the Scarlet and Gray today and everday. Until next time Buckeye Nation…

It’s almost here: we are less than twenty-four hours from kick-off in the beloved ‘Shoe. Yours and my 2013 Ohio State Buckeyes will begin their pursuit of a National Championship begins NOW.

On Fridays during the season, we will be holding these “Open Threads” where we’d love to hear your thoughts. We want to hear your prediction for the final outcome, which players you’ll be watching, what kind of things you’d like to see. We want to foster a community discussion about the up coming game and hear from you, our readers, and what you’re thinking about

We had a chance to chat with another fellow college football blogger at UB Bull Run, Ronnie looked at which players would be the most interesting to watch, Chip listed some things he’ll be interested in seeing during the game and lastly, we previewed the game. Jeremiah thinks we win 52-6. What do you think?

So hit the jump, watch that excellent Leadership video Ohio State Football put out, tell us your thoughts on the game, AND GO BUCKS!

[Read more…]

(H/T to @davidtrichel)