Ohio State-New Mexico State: Buckeye Monday: New Mexico State Review

I was at the Shoe for the game on Saturday afternoon. It’s always fun taking my two young boys to the games. The threat of rain never really left the Columbus area, but we managed to watch 55 minutes of football without getting wet. The sun even came out for a few series in the fourth quarter.

What Did I See?

Well, I saw more attempts to establish the vertical passing game.

In previous posts, I noted that Pryor never throws the ball downfield. For the last two weeks, the opposite has been the case. Not only has Terrelle thrown the ball down the field, we even got Devier Posey into the act, throwing a touchdown pass off a double reverse.

On that particular play, Posey looked off his primary receiver (Pryor running the wheel route) and threw it to a secondary option in the end zone.

Replays on the jumbo screen clearly showed Posey going through his progressions, prompting the guy sitting next to me to say “Why can our flanker check off options before throwing a pass, but Pryor still locks in on his intended receiver before throwing?” I told him that was a fair question.

Back to the passing game: Throwing the ball down the field should, in theory, make the running game a little more productive.

I saw Pryor throw at least four passes over 35 yards in the first half. He completed one and the other three weren’t close. He just throws it up and hopes his receivers can make a play.

I will say that each of his long throws was to the receiver with single coverage…so I guess he’s making progress on those types of reads.

I also saw another dominating performance by the silver bullet defense. At halftime, OSU led New Mexico State in total yards, 305-58. I think the final totals were 550-68. I like the way Heacock got his defense refocused after the Purdue game. They have looked great the last two weeks.

New Mexico State was bad, so the overall performance was expected.

I thought Jordan Hall and Dane Sanzanbacher looked good on offense.

I also give credit to the offensive line, who I think avoided a false start penalty for the first time all year.

Jermale Hines and John Simon looked good on defense.

What Worked?

Pretty much everything. Holding an opponent under 80 yards of total offense was fun to watch. The defense was flying all over the field. Even the third team got some meaningful minutes in the second half.

For the second week in a row, the running and passing games were fairly balanced. We also won the turnover battle again.

What Didn’t Work?

Much to everyone’s surprise on Saturday, Ohio State was 1-for-5 on field goal attempts.

To be fair, two of the attempts were from 50+ yards into a pretty stiff breeze. To make matters worse, Aaron Pettrey left the game in the first half after getting hurt covering a kick.

We got to see a replacement named Devin Barclay kick in the second half. He missed on two attempts, but made one and also converted all of his extra points.

I haven’t heard a report on Pettrey’s health. I hope he’s OK.

Additionally, Pryor came out of the locker room after halftime without pads on. He spent the entire second half on the sideline helping signal in plays, talking with coaches and players, and generally acting like one of the leaders on the team.

Tressel mentioned in his press conference that Pryor got dinged up in the first half. I heard “hamstring” on Sunday, but nothing since then. I'm not sure if there is a story here or not.

What’s Next?

The trip to Happy Valley is never fun and next Saturday starts a three-week stretch of games that will determine who’s going to the Rose Bowl.

At the beginning of the year, I predicted that Ohio State would lose this game.

The only time I’ve watched Penn State play this year was their terrible performance against Iowa a few weeks ago. They seemed to have bounced back, playing better on both sides of the ball.

The two teams played a close game last year in Columbus. The difference was a late fumble from Pryor that led to the winning score for Penn State.

This will be the most difficult environment Pryor will play in during his four years at Ohio State. He’s made some progress in some areas this year while regressing in other areas. I don’t see him making enough plays to win this game. I have it Penn State, 17, and Ohio State, 13.

Go Bucks!