Ohio State Football Report Card: Grading the Win Over Ohio
Ohio State did what it was supposed to Saturday against Ohio.
The offense was efficient and balanced, the defense was suffocating and caused turnovers, and special teams showed signs of improvement—not many negatives for coach Jim Tressel to correct this week in practice.
Thus, grades are high are for the Buckeyes this week. The high marks should continue the next three weeks for OSU.
After hosting Eastern Michigan next Saturday, the Buckeyes travel to Illinois and then host Indiana before trekking north to Madison to take on Wisconsin.
Offense: B+
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In the first half Terrelle Pryor was completely lights out throwing the football. He broke Jim Karsatos’ OSU record for most consecutive completions in a game. Pryor connected on 16 straight passes, which bested Karsatos’ record of 12 set in 1985.
Pryor finished 22-of-29 for 235 yards with a pair of touchdowns to go along with two interceptions. The interceptions came in the second half, when the first-teamers got stuck in the mud against the Bobcat defense.
The running game was unimpressive, netting only a four-yard average, and no running back was particularly impressive. Boom Herron did have two touchdown runs.
DeVier Posey, Dane Sanzenbacher, and Jake Stoneburner each had five catches, as Pryor spread the ball around judiciously throughout the game. Stoneburner caught his first career touchdown, which came on a five-yard pass from Pryor in the second quarter.
Defense: A
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Five forced turnovers. 158 yards of offense allowed. A 20 percent third-down conversion rate. Just another day at the office for the Ohio State defense.
On the game’s second play, Devon Torrence tipped a pass that was intercepted by Tyler Moeller. That set the tone for the rest of the day, as Cam Heyward and the rest of the Buckeye defense made life miserable for the Ohio offense.
“Cam's a great player. He's hard to block. He's not a sometimes guy. Cam cranks it up every play, in practice,” said Tressel. “In fact, [defensive coordinator] Jim Heacock has to take him out of practice at times so he doesn't disrupt the entire practice.”
OSU held OU scoreless until 6:14 left in the fourth quarter.
Special Teams: C-
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There were signs of progression from the coverage teams. Tressel mentioned that he elevated running back Jordan Hall to the first-team kickoff unit, which should help the unit in the long run.
However, OSU allowed OU’s Julian Posey, DeVier’s brother, to run a kickoff 99 yards to the house, only to have it called back on a block-in-the-back penalty, which incidentally was committed on Hall. The Buckeyes also had a punt blocked.
“We just flat-out missed a guy on the punt that was blocked, and you can't do that, not if you want to win,” said Tressel.
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Overall: A-
4 of 4The 2010 squad appears to be a pretty mature group. OSU came out from the start and rocked the Bobcats, as the score was 27-0 before five minutes had passed in the second quarter.
Sure, the special teams problems continue to linger, but it’s hard to imagine a Jim Tressel-coached team enduring a season-long special teams slump.
Two noteworthy stats to close: OSU committed zero penalties on Saturday and upped its turnover margin to plus-10, which is No. 1 in the country. Talented, disciplined teams that don’t beat themselves are hardly beaten.
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