Michigan vs. Ohio State: Postgame Grades from the Buckeyes' Win vs. Wolverines

Final Score: Ohio State 26, Michigan 21

After taking down the Michigan Wolverines at home in the 2012 edition of "The Game," the Ohio State Buckeyes have the potential to be awarded the 2012 AP National Championship. This level of improvement in one season is astounding, even taking into account the loss of talent that the Big Ten suffered over the offseason.

While the game was a win, here are two things Ohio State fans should keep in mind:

1) Ohio State didn't play its best game against Michigan.

2) What can Ohio State do if it plays an entire 60 minutes like it did in the second half of "The Game"?

From the quarterback to the coaches, here are the postgame grades for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Quarterback

Overall Grade: B+

Braxton Miller may not have won the Heisman against the Wolverines, but he certainly may have played a key role in a potential AP National Championship for the Buckeyes in 2012. Miller finished “The Game” 14-of-18 for 189 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. Miller was also the team's second-leading rusher with 57 yards on 20 carries.

He had some serious trouble in the second half, but there was also a prolific use of the rushing attack. Most of his grade was not based on aerial prowess in the final 30 minutes.

Running Backs

Overall Grade: A

The slide title is a bit misleading, as there was only one true running back with more than one carry: Carlos Hyde. Hyde took 26 carries for 146 yards and one touchdown. Hyde had moments of mediocrity, but that's of no real concern.

He was the only ball-carrier aside from the quarterback. If you're the only tailback, you're allowed to have some no-gain runs. Hyde's average per-carry ended up at 5.6 yards with a long of only 17. (That means his stats weren't grossly inflated from a couple of big-time runs.)

Wide Receivers

Overall Grade: B+

Michigan holds one of the best secondaries in the nation, and it is paramount that we all keep that in mind while grading the wideouts. Ohio State may have only gained 189 yards through the air against the Wolverines, but Michigan's worst performance of the season was against Alabama. (The Tide “only” gained 199 aerial yards.)

Miller found six different targets throughout the game, but only two caught more than one pass:

Corey “Philly” Brown had eight receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown.

Devin Smith had two receptions for 63 yards and no touchdowns. (One reception was for 52 yards.)

While the receivers didn't exactly light up the scoreboard, the credit for that goes mostly to the Michigan defense. The wideouts performed well, but weren't open in time for Miller to hit them. There was a lot going on when Michigan's defense was on the field. Overall, they performed well, but not at a consistently great level.

Tight Ends

Overall Grade: B

Jake Stoneburner had one catch for nine yards, but the tight ends aren't usually direct factors in the passing game. The tight end position is known for being a key portion of the offense, but mostly as blockers for the skill positions. The 207-yard rushing performance certainly owed some credit to the tight ends today. The tight end is an unsung position, but if they weren't there, you'd certainly be able to tell. (You're offense would look like your quarterback without an offensive line.)

When things got hairy down in the red zone, though, there was a shocking absence of quarterback protection. The tight ends also played into that a bit. (The o-line played a part in that as well, and the linemen are coming next.)

Offensive Line

Overall Grade: C

Ohio State's offensive line may have some work to do, but they are a fairly solid unit. They have performed well this season for a unit that only has one senior and five juniors on the roster. Ohio State's offensive line did allow Miller to be sacked four times, but also paved the way for a 207-yard rushing performance.

It cannot be overstated that this is a 6-6 team from 2011's regular season that has fought to 12-0 without ever playing the best football they can for 60 whole minutes. If you're upset with the Buckeyes' success this season, you are in for a long experience against an Urban Meyer-led squad.

The major mark against the offensive line was the center's inability to snap the football correctly. During the game, we called him out for his high snaps and said he needed to quit it before it cost the Buckeyes. He didn't rein the snaps in, and caused a short-range field goal to be kicked from 39 yards away. That one was no-good, and the high snap possibly cost Ohio State a touchdown. Luckily, the Ohio State defense stayed focused and did not allow Michigan to score at all.

Defensive Line

Overall Grade: B

Overall, the defensive line's stats looked okay. Holding Michigan to 107 yards on the ground was great, especially if you take 67 of those yards away. (Denard Robinson's touchdown run that was more the fault of everyone but the defensive line.)

The defensive line also paved the way for four sacks against the Wolverines, a couple of which turned into fumbles recovered by the Buckeyes.

Linebackers

Overall Grade: B-

The linebackers for Ohio State again had some major issues tackling in the first half. Michigan got out to a 21-17 lead off of the Robinson run of 67 yards. That particular run was allowed by the linebackers as Robinson scooted out around them and into the secondary. (We will cover the secondary's responsibility in the next slide.)

The linebackers did a much better job in the second half, and Michigan was completely shut down as a result of the lock-down instituted by Ohio State's defense. Everywhere Michigan was in the second half, Ohio State was already there to stop anything dangerous from happening. Michigan didn't even cross the 50 in the second half. That moved the linebackers' grade right out of the cellar.

Defensive Backs

Overall Grade: B-

Ohio State's secondary gave up two plays of over 50 yards: the 67-yard touchdown by Denard Robinson and a 75-yard Roy Roundtree scamper that also scored. The reason the secondary gets dinged for these is two fold:

The secondary is the last line of defense.

On the Robinson run, a defensive back had the opportunity to stop the score from happening and missed the tackle.

The big-time bonus points came from the interception and the fact that Michigan found nothing in the second half. Not crossing the 50 is a stat that was most recently made famous by Alabama in the national championship game this past season. Ohio State has now done that to a ranked team for the second half of a game. That's got to make Ohio State fans ridiculously excited about what could possibly happen next season.

Special Teams

Overall Grade: B

Ohio State's punter, Ben Buchanan, only needed to kick the ball away three times. He averaged 44.3 yards per punt with a long of 50. Drew Basil nailed four of his five field goals to score 12 of the Buckeyes' 26 points. (The field goal he missed was mentioned earlier in the slideshow, and it was charged to the center, not the situational unit.

One kickoff return of 27 yards was a little glitch in the performance, but there were c couple of other issues:

1) An illegal block in the back.

2) A fumbled punt return that was recovered by Michigan and ended up giving Michigan its first lead of the game.

Coaching

Overall Grade: A

Urban Meyer and company were most definitely on their game against Brady Hoke and the Wolverines. While the first half looked a little sloppy, Ohio State did not quit. Ohio State pulled to within one before halftime, and the halftime adjustments were huge.

After a first half that saw Michigan find the end zone three times out of five drives, the coaches had their work cut out for them in the locker room. Miraculously, Ohio State came out and played ridiculously well on defense. (Of course, so did Michigan's defense.)

In a game decided by less than a touchdown, Ohio State's two field goals ended up looking like a brilliant display of offensive prowess against a Michigan team that couldn't cross the 50.

The coaches get an “A” for the game, but could have easily gotten an “A-plus” if the first half had gone as well as the second.