Well, that game was much closer than expected. But, the Buckeyes improve to 3-0 after defeating Cal 35-28.

1. After a non-existent pass rush the first two games, the silver bullets sacked Zach Maynard 6 times and had constant pressure on him throughout the game.
2. Although the secondary has made a couple of big plays this season, they are still very sloppy with their tackling. The best example was Brendan Bigelow’s 59 yard touchdown run to tie the game at 28 where he broke two poor tackling attempts en route to the end zone.
3. The offense started strong, but fell asleep after halftime. They went 7 straight drives without scoring until the Buckeyes put together a nice drive to take back the lead with 8:31 to go.
4. This game got very chippy in the second quarter, Meyer talked about limiting dumb penalties at half time and there weren’t any in the second half.
5. Nice to see Jordan Hall return to action, he rushed the ball 17 times for 87 yards. He did not look as explosive as he was before the injury, but after a couple of games he will most likely return to form.
6. Nice wrinkle to the goal line package, where Miller fakes the draw or sweep and finds Jake Stoneburner wide open in the end zone. Don’t want to say it, but it was a little Tebow-esque if you remember his similar jump passes at Florida.

Full review to come later.

Hey there Buckeye faithful.  I’m back with another installment of winning performances.  For those who missed it last week, a “winning performance” is a measurable that I believe will lead to a Buckeyes win this week and toward future wins.

1.     Return of Hall, Williams

Jordan Hall is set to return to action this week and his return could not have come at a better time for the Buckeyes as they will be without Carlos Hyde.  How much of a load Hall can handle is yet to be determined, but his return should give the Buckeyes a change of pace to the other bigger backs on the roster.  Having your top playmaker back is never a bad thing.  With his workload in question, it is hard to put a number to a measurable winning performance, so I’m going to set a winning performance from Hall as 12 touches.

Also, expected to return to action this week is Nate Williams.  Williams played more in the opener than was expected and his resulting soreness delayed his return to action.  In his only game, Williams just missed on a sack against Miami, so a winning performance by Williams would be at least one sack and two TFLs this week.

2.     1st Down Conversion on Short Yardage

In the first two weeks, the Buckeyes offense has had difficulty converting short yardage situations into first downs.  Against Miami, Carlos Hyde was stuffed on a touchdown run from the one yard line and last week the Buckeyes missed on two other short yardage tries against UCF.  However, Urban said the gameplan adapted and, on the third short yardage try last week, the power off tackle to the right side was changed to an inside zone, which was successful.

The Buckeyes offensive line needs to improve as Cal and UAB are the only opponents left before the Buckeyes head up to East Lansing to face what some consider the best defensive line in the Big Ten.  Quite simply, when the Buckeyes need one yard, there cannot be any question in their ability to impose their will and pick it up.  While I am optimistic when I hope that a fourth and short situation does not present itself, I am looking for the Buckeyes to convert any and all of those opportunities that occur this week.  Winning football teams get the needed yard and it is demoralizing to the other team – that is what the Buckeyes need to become.

3.     100 Yards Receiving, 80 Yards Rushing by RB

Last week I set my winning performances for any player who finished the game with 100 yards receiving or any running back who ran for 100 yards.  And Braxton added another Buckeye leaf or two as he made UCF look “very foolish.”  Miller aside, none of the Buckeyes came close to meeting either of my winning performance marks as Devin Smith led all receivers with 57 receiving yards and Philly Brown totaled 33 rushing yards, which was the most behind Braxton.  Following Philly, Dunn led the running backs with 29 yards.

Despite the lack of production aside from Braxton, there is reason to be optimistic that a Buckeyes receiver will gain 100 yards receiving this week as, through two games, including the likes of Nevada Wolf Pack and Southern Utah Thunderbirds, the Bears passing defense has allowed a 72.73% passing completion average, 522 total passing yards, and four total passing TDs.  So again, a winning performance is any player who is able to gain 100 yards receiving.

This week, the running game is likely to feature a multifaceted attack with carries spread between Hall, Dunn, Smith, Boren, Miller, and Philly, so gaining 100 yards by any one running back may be difficult.  With my expectation that the number of opportunities will be numbered, any Buckeyes running back to gain over 80 yards on the ground will be a winning performance.

4.     Mistake free

Last week’s offense included a number of miscues by Buckeyes offensive lineman, wide receivers, and running backs, leaving Braxton with no other option than to pick up the slack and take off for whatever yards he could gain.  Although the plays were not nearly as bad as they could have been because of Braxton’s athleticism, the offense looked sloppy and the mistakes will yield worse results against better competition.

Adding to the broken plays, the Buckeyes had 10 penalties for 79 yards, two fumbles, and one interception at home in a stadium that was so quiet that when the Buckeyes offense was on the field, Braxton’s clapping for the snap count could be easily heard.  The environment won’t get friendlier and the mistakes need to be eliminated.

It goes without saying, but given the Buckeyes performance it must be said, that the goal is to not have any turnovers in the game, but I’m also hoping that the Buckeyes offense will look more polished eliminating penalties (although I think 3 penalties is more reasonable).

5.     Roby v. Allen

One of the biggest on the field matchups to watch this Saturday is shutdown corner Bradley Roby v. Cal receiver Keenan Allen.  Allen ranked 10^th in FBS last year in receiving yards per game and Roby will have his hands full as Cal will undoubtedly test Ohio State’s 96^th ranked pass defense which is currently allowing 281 yard per game.  A winning performance by Roby will be to hold Allen under 50 yards receiving.   For the Buckeyes secondary, a winning performance will be to hold Cal under 200 yards passing.

6.     Pressure and Disruption

For all of the hype for our defensive line coming into the season, it is among the least productive.  Currently we are 77^th in sacks with three through two games and 119^th out of 120 in tackles for loss with a measly five.

Plain and simple … if the sacks and tackles for loss are not doubled by the end of the game, then it is not a winning performance by the Buckeyes.

7.     Atonement for the Big Ten against the Pac 12

Last week was a rough one for the Big Ten, including losses by Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Illinois to Pac 12 squads.  As it often falls on the Buckeyes shoulders, we have an opportunity to save face for the league.  A loss would be catastrophic.

What would grade out as a winning performance for you?

Urban Meyer’s no-huddle, spread offense works best with a rhythm and tempo that keeps the opposing defense off-balance and does not allow them to line-up quickly or substitute. For example, when Braxton Miller runs the ball and gets tackled, he quickly gives the ball to a referee to spot the ball quickly so they can get back on the line and run another play.

The best example to counter the spread as a defense occurred on November 13, 2010 in Berkeley, California. The number one team in the country at the time, Oregon, whose offensive philosophy is similar to that of Urban Meyer’s, was completely shut down that night. The Golden Bears held Oregon to 15 points, their lowest total in the regular season by over three touchdowns.

Cal took the Ducks out of their fast-paced offense by getting up slowly after making tackles and faking injuries to use injury timeouts. Looking back on that game, Cal did make plays (limiting LaMichael James to 91 yards on 29 carries) but Oregon was very lucky to get out of Berkeley with a win to later advance to the BCS National Championship.

After, head coach Jeff Tedford vehemently denied that his players faked injury throughout the game even though it was clear on the broadcast that they did. But, defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi was suspended for their final game of the season due to telling his players to fake injuries during that game to slow down the Ducks high octane offense.

Now, with Cal coming into the ‘Shoe on Saturday  with a 1-1 record, followed by a game with in state rival USC the week after, do not be surprised to see their defense use similar tactics to slow down Braxton Miller and the Buckeyes no- huddle offense. As we have seen in the past two games, when the offense has little to no tempo, it goes nowhere. But, when the no-huddle gets rolling, it is very difficult to stop.

On offense, look for senior quarterback Zach Maynard to take a lot of time off the play clock and control time of possession. Maynard does have issues with the coaching staff though, as he was suspended for the first quarter of the Nevada game and got into it with his offensive coordinator against Southern Utah after missing his wide open fullback in the flat for what would have been a touchdown.

Although Maynard completes 64% of his passes, he is not very accurate when passing to running backs out of the backfield and makes easy throws seem very difficult for some reason.  Maynard looks for freshman wide receiver Chris Harper in the slot on bubble screens on first and second down and he is good after the catch. They use the screen game instead of running the ball and are about 60/40 pass to run.

Keenan Allen is the man that needs to be accounted for on offense for the Golden Bears. He is one of the best receivers in the country and he is the best receiver that Ohio State will play all season. Allen is big and can run any route; he is also a great punt returner. Maynard looks for him on 3^rd and long situations when a big play is needed.

The Buckeyes need a big game out of Bradley Roby and Travis Howard to slow down the Golden Bears receivers. There has been communications issues in the secondary through the first two games but have not had to pay for it; Allen and Harper will take advantage of that if the Buckeyes do not clean up the communication issues in the secondary.

With Jordan Hall on his way back, but not at %100 percent, it will be important to run a balanced offense to take some pressure off of Miller. If the offense can keep up the tempo and run the no huddle to perfection without any Cal defensive players faking injuries and slowing down their pace, the Bucks will make them pay.

Look for Ohio State to make a statement on Saturday, as this is their last real test before they visit East Lansing in two weeks. Some players on Cal have maturity issues and if the Buckeyes can start strong, Cal will fold.

Make them get up. If Urban feels it’s necessary, he will run the score up.

THE B?G TEN

As I predicted last week right here in front of all six of you, the Big Ten laid a serious egg this weekend and convinced me that it’s just as well that OSU can’t play in the postseason because there’s no way this conference is putting a team in the title game anyway. Let’s take a look at just how horrible our league is right now and what’s in store for us this weekend, if we can stand to watch:

Wisconsin: The Badgers were probably most people’s pre-season favorite to repeat as conference champs with both of the other good teams in the Leaders division ineligible for the title. Then they went and barely beat something called Northern Iowa, which I imagine is similar to North Korea but with corn and soybeans instead of thinly-veiled nuclear proliferation. That red flag manifested itself on Saturday against Oregon State, a team that probably isn’t even going to have a winning record this year. Wisconsin failed to score for the first 58:19 of the game and then had what appeared to be a successful onside kick called back after finally getting one those “touched downs” of their very own. So, yeah, go ahead and say the Badgers got screwed, but we both know they weren’t going to score anyway.

This week, Wisconsin hosts Utah State, fresh off of an upset of in-state rival Utah, a Pac-12 team that’s better than Oregon State. Since the transitive property is never wrong in college football, this means Wisconsin will lose to the Aggies by two touchdowns, so 14-0 probably.

Michigan State: The Spartans are going to win the Big Ten and it’s probably even going to be close. But first they have to lose to Notre Dame. They will do this with a late pick-six on what should have been a drive to set up the game-winning field goal.

Michigan: Michigan is back, or so I’ve been told, but it seems that wherever they went, they learned a few things there. A week after being treated like a MAC team by Alabama, the Wolverines almost fell victim to Air Force’s version of that nasty service academy option attack. This means that Michigan is a laughably bad team and there is nothing anyone can say to disprove that. I know this from my own experience with Michigan fans following the Ohio State/Navy game in 2009.

This week Michigan plays UMass, which is a school with a football team and not a Catholic social networking site like I thought. Thanks, Google!

Nebraska: I was so fooled by the Cornhuskers beatdown of Southern Miss in week one that I didn’t even include their game against UCLA in my doomsday prediciton. Oops. This week they play Arkansas State and should probably win by 30. They won’t though. They’ll probably lose.

Iowa: Iowa lost 9-6 to Iowa State in THE GAME OF THE CENTURY!!!!!! RE-MATCH! RE-MATCH! RE-MATCH!

This week they play Northern Iowa, that team from earlier who almost beat Wisconsin. Poor, poor Iowa.

Penn State: Despite all their sanctions, I honestly believed that PSU would still be a decent team this year. Well, forget it. They’re terrible and they deserve it. Make no mistake about it, they lost to Virginia because of Jerry Sandusky. When Texas took advantage of the open-season on PSU players and snagged their kicker, they also snagged a W. His replacement missed on 13 points’ worth of kicks in the 17-16 loss. Is it all his fault? No, not technically, but it is like 95% his fault.

Penn State loses to Navy this week.

Purdue & Illinois: With the situation in the Leaders division, you could have made an argument for one of these teams getting to the B1GCG this year, and I guess you still could. Purdue only lost to Notre Dame by 3 so maybe they’re still in it. Illinois on the other hand got totally Michiganed by Arizona State’s Alabamacity. It’s pretty embarrassing.

These two will be playing Charleston Southern and Eastern Michigan this week and it doesn’t really matter which one is which.

Northwestern, Minnesota & Indiana: These teams are a combined 6-0. Besides Ohio State and Michigan State, they are the only unbeaten teams remaining in the conference.

I know.

Indiana plays Ball State and Minnesota plays Western Michigan. I wouldn’t even know what to predict for those games at this point. Northwestern will take on Boston College, who hired Jim Bollman to coach the offensive line because nobody in Boston has ever seen football played by humans I guess.

ALSO HAPPENING

Florida @ Tennessee, if you like pretending it’s the ’90s and can’t find a 90210 marathon.

Arizona State @ Missouri sounds like something I should care about, like politics or children.

USC @ Stanford probably won’t live up to the hype.

BYU @ Utah, because the loser has to try to sell people on Mormonism for two years.

I promise you I will get better at the timing of this post especially if El Kaiser has anything to do about it. Week 3 was full of injuries and postponed games due to weather. Here goes nothing.

Jalin Marshall– His team Middletown Middies Winton Woods 51-13. Jalin had a tough day rushing 24 times for 70 yards. He also completed 4 of 7 passes for 70 yards and 1 TDs.
Eli Woodard– His team Eastern defeated Sewell 9-6. Woodard was part of a dominating defensive effort.
Cam Burrows– His team Trotwood-Madison lost to Wayne 21-14. Cam helped 1 tackle against a team that avoided him all day.
Joey Bosa– His team St. Thomas Aquinas defeated Cypress Bay 43-17. Joey did not play due to injury.
Marcus Baugh– His team John W North lost to Alemany 54-14. Marcus didnt play due to a concussion.
Evan Lisle– His team Centerville beat Withrow 27-21. As an O-lineman he didnt have any stats but he helped his team with impressive blocking all night.
Ezekiel Elliott– His team John Burroughs HS beat Priory 59-28. He scored 4 TDs in the game. Runs of 47 and 41 and 2 and 1 yard.
Billy Price– His team Austintown Fitch beat Brunswick 35-7. Billy helped to hold Brunswick to 128 yards and he had 14 total tackles.
Jayme Thompson– His team Toledo Central Catholic won 35-7 over Perrysburg. He helped hold Perrysburg to 117 yards through the air and 13 yards on the ground.
J T Barrett- His team Rider beat Ryan 21-15. JT scored a late, game-winning touchdown to snap Ryan’s 25-game win streak. He was 4-of-7 for 84 yards and a touchdown and rushed 17 times for 97 yards and a score.
Michael Hill– His team Pendleton lost to Belton-Honea Path 41-7. Their defense had a horrible game.
Taivon Jacobs– His team Suitland beat Oxon Hill 56-0. Taivon had a 50 yard catch for a TD and a 55 yard punt return for another score.
Darron Lee– His team New Albany beat DeSales 56-2. He was 3-of-5 passing for 42 yards and carried the ball five times for 23 yards and a score. He also returned a punt for a touchdown. Also starred as a Safety on defense.
Tracy Sprinkle– His team Elyria lost to Midview 37-27. Tracy had a decent game with 7 tackles and 2 TFL and 4 QB hurries and a forced fumble for a TD.
Tim Gardner– His team Lawrence Central defeated 32-23. Tim helped keep his team undefeated.
Johnny Townsend– His team Boone and their game with Timber Creek was postponed.

The player who sticks out most to me over the first 3 weeks is probably one of the least heralded member of the class. Tracy Sprinkle is putting up huge stats week after week. He has starred even when his team lost. I expect him rankings to rise significantly over the long season.

Ohio State beat UCF by 2 touchdowns, but there was some real causes for concern Saturday.

All week prior to the UCF game, Urban Meyer cautioned his players, coaches, the media and fans that UCF was a highly talented team littered with NFL talent. UCF was a decent opponent but the Buckeyes were beaten all day by a foe other than The Knights…themselves. Ohio State had 10 penalties totaling 79 yards, at least 3 broken plays (2 of which were turned into first downs thanks to Miller) and 3 turnovers. With all that, they still won by 15 points vs. a team that Urban Meyer compared to an SEC type squad.

OSU wasn’t hampered by the slow start they had vs. Miami as they scored on their first drive thanks to Braxton Millers quarterback draw right through the heart of the UCF defense. OSU put up nearly 250 yards of total offense in the first half and 17 points. Miller had 100 yards rushing by halftime and midway through the 3rd quarter the game was a 3 touchdown game. Rather than turning into another laugher, UCF stuck around and made things mildly interesting tacking on a late 3rd quarter TD before both teams were shut out in the 4th quarter.

What the Buckeyes need to work on:

• The broken plays need to stop. This offense gets Miller hit enough, they don’t need multiple plays with TB’s not knowing where to go, causing Miller to scramble for his life. This is all part of the newly installed offense and the growing pains that come with it.
• The penalties need to be cleaned up. Too many procedural penalties that constantly put OSU at 1st and 15 rather than 1st and 10.
• Braxton Miller has got to do a MUCH better job on reading the zone read option. Two plays in a row he read the defensive end badly and caused a 3rd and long. Both plays should have been positive plays if read properly.
• Ryan Shazier is a complete and total freak at LBer, however he needs to take better angles and read his keys much better. The long Storm Johnson run that set up the playaction TD pass in the 2nd quarter were both results of poor play by Shazier. A bad angle lead to the 48 yard run that set up a goal line play that saw a UCF tightened get behind an overly aggressive Shazier in the end zone.
• The OSU pass defense needs to be tightened up.  From the defensive line to the secondary…it’s broken. Currently OSU is 99th in pass defense and 74th in sacks in the country. Those two stats are very much related. Ohio State desperately needs to get more pressure on opposing QB’s. Noah Spence and Adolphus Washington got a ton of snaps vs. UCF and showed flashes but very little pressure was generated. 1 sack in 41 pass attempts isn’t going to get it done. Without Nathan Williams it seems like the Buckeye pass rush is very average. Perhaps Shazier needs to blitz more often. Missing Williams(injured), Bennett(injured), and Bellamy(quit football) has hurt OSU and without a pass rush, even the most pedestrian QB’s can thrive.
• The defense is lacking that imposing, dominating feel it’s had in the Tressel era. Fickell needs to figures some things out.
• Ohio State needs a playmaker at runningback. Hyde is injured, Dunn is a freshman, and Rod Smith is a fumbling machine. Perhaps the addition of Jordan Hall this week with unlock this offense.
• Why…WHY did Urban Meyer accept that penalty after Adolphus Washington crushed Bortles on 3rd down causing an incomplete pass? Instead of 4th down and forcing a FG attempt, UCF converted on 3rd and long after the penalty and ended up scoring a touchdown to make things interesting.

What looked good for the Buckeyes:

• Braxton Miller…DUH! Miller completed 75% of his passes, ran for 141 yards and accounted for 4 touchdowns. Many times he was electrifying and efficient as a passer. Braxton Miller is currently 4th in the Big Ten is passer efficiency and leading the Big Ten is rushing. Miller is also tied with Le’Veon Bell for total scoring. In other words, Miller is a total badass.
• Orhian Johnson was crowbarred into the starting “star” position at the urging of Urban Meyer and he rewarded his coach by being a beast all day. Johnson was 2nd on the team in tackles and had a key redone interception that thwarted a drive by UCF.
• Travis Howard had another interception giving him 3 for the season which leads the country.
• Philly Brown has emerged as a go to player for OSU on offense. Brown had 33 yards rushing on 2 carries and another 48 in receiving. Meyer said after the game that Brown would be more of a focal point moving forward.
• Brionte Dunn only had 29 yards rushing(averaged 5.8 yards per carry) but showed more potential and will be THE guy moving forward with OSU’s depth issues at running back.
• What is working on defense? It’s not all doom and gloom on defense. OSU is currently 25th in the nation in scoring defense, 8th in rushing defense, and 3rd in the country in interceptions. There is obviously talent there, they just need to figure some things out and put it all together.

It did look ugly at times vs. UCF Saturday but OSU still won by 15 and put up over 400 yards of total offense. The offense is still very fun to watch and the future looks bright. OSU is still undefeated, something only 4 other teams can say in the Big Ten. For everything that went wrong Saturday, remember this…it could be worse, OSU could be PSU.

PS.

Dear Opposing Defenses,

Braxton Miller laughs at you:

As always thanks to Josh Winslow for the great photos.

jwinslow.com