Ohio State Football: Luke Fickell Report Card for Coaching Debut

Luke Fickell stood sternly on the sidelines as his Buckeyes defeated the Akron Zips 42-0 for his first win as an Ohio State head football coach.

No sweater vest included.

The Horseshoe drew over 100,000 fans to watch OSU get a victory in its season opener, where the Bucks took on Mid-American opponent Akron. Ohio State performed well in all aspects and did as expected—won in blowout fashion—which may or may not have been good enough for the expectations of Fickell.

“We played well in the fourth quarter," he said, directly after the final play of the game. "We'll have to evaluate everything on film."

A lot of uncertainty surrounded this refurbished Buckeyes squad coming into Week 1. Some questions were answered—one being their incredible depth with critical suspensions and injuries clouding the team—but most importantly we got a glimpse of the new coaching style with Fickell under the helm.

As we reminisce over the first win of 2011, let’s breakdown Fickell’s debut and grade him in each substantial category.

The Offense

An eight-play, 74-yard touchdown drive on the Buckeyes' first possession of the season gave Ohio State an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

That would prove to be all they needed for this one.

Fickell decided to start off the 2011 campaign with a conservative approach before testing the offensive waters—12 running plays were drawn up in the first quarter to just three through the air. Nonetheless, the ground game was potent, as it went for 74 yards throughout this span.

However, it was then made clear that the infamous “Tressel-ball” was put away with. Fickell elected to put his offense back on the field instead of kicking the field goal on a fourth-and-one situation in the redzone—something that Jim Tressel would have never considered as a coach—and it resulted in a touchdown.

Quarterback Joe Bauserman, who started his first career game, orchestrated multiple scoring drives and was extremely fluent with the passing game. He completed 12 of 16 attempts (75 percent) for 163 yards and three touchdowns, while breaching the endzone once on a run.

His counterpart, true freshman Braxton Miller, saw limited playing time in the first half. Fickell, who had formerly stated that the two would rotate snaps, allowed Miller to flourish with his uncanny dual-threat abilities. The young field general threw for 130 yards off of eight completions and a touchdown, while escaping the pocket and elusively compiling 30 yards on the ground.

Neither QB was given a lot of opportunities to throw the ball downfield, which was quite the surprise. It obviously wasn’t necessary, as the offense was clicking on all cylinders, but it would have been nice to see what both quarterbacks could do spreading the field.  

Sophomore tailback Carlos Hyde was chosen to start in the backfield after Jaamal Berry was ruled out with a hamstring injury and Jordan Hall was slammed with a one-game suspension. The 6’1”, 240-pound bruiser carried the ball 19 times for 94 yards (4.9 ypc).

Ohio State finished the game with 515 total offensive yards off of 27 first downs. It converted more than half of its third-down conversions (53.3 percent) and held onto the ball for more than 36 minutes.

And for a team that had to throw numerous true freshmen into the fire, while being without its top three running backs (Herron, Berry and Hall) and star wide receiver (DeVier Posey), I’d say the performance was pretty immaculate.


Grade: A-

The Defense

Sure, they might have been playing last year’s second-worst offense in the nation. But the Buckeyes’ defense looked impeccable on the gridiron against Akron.

There’s no exaggeration with that statement.

In the first half alone, Ohio State held the Zips to just 100 offensive yards off of four first downs. Five punts were forced and a missed field goal was all Akron could come up with through the first 30 minutes of play.

And if there were any needed, it seems as some halftime adjustments were made by OSU, because Rob Ianello’s offensive unit went anything but forward coming out of the break.

In fact, it went backwards.

The Zips compiled -10 yards in the second half (yes, that’s a negative sign!) while converting just one first down. They finished with 55 passing yards and 35 rushing (1.3 ypc), while punting a total of 10 times.

Five different Buckeyes thrashed their way for a sack and linebacker Andrew Sweat caught the third interception of his career. Ohio State forced six three-and-out possessions (out of 10 total).

Fickell didn’t hold back on defense, as blitzing continued to be an aggressive scheme used all through the matchup. His hostile style of play is something we can all get used to and look forward to for future competition.


Grade: A+

Special Teams

Special teams were an issue for Ohio State last year, so it was imminent that we paid attention to any improvements—or issues—made in Fickell's debut.

For starters, the kicking game looks scary. Devin Barclay was replaced with Drew Basil—a sophomore out of Chillicothe, Ohio—and will definitely be missed. Basil made his first career appearance when he hooked a 45-yard field goal to the left. However, he was awarded with a second chance when Akron provided an offsides penalty.

He then missed right, this time from 40 yards out.

This could potentially be a big problem for the Buckeyes, as the field goal kicker has been utilized in many important situations recently.

On a brighter note, kickoff coverage looked much better than last year. Speed to the ball was eye-popping and OSU allowed an average of 18.4 yards per return.

It also showed promise on its own returning end, as Corey Brown took the only kick return for 44 yards. We also must remember that Jaamal Berry and Jordan Hall—our starting kick and punt returners—did not play.

Special teams play a large part in the game of football, so we'll continue to look how things change throughout the season.


Grade: B

Poise

When asked what the biggest challenge of his coaching debut was, Luke Fickell responded with, "Controlling my emotions."

He did a pretty good job, if you ask me.

Fickell was put on national television multiple times, always maintaining the same serious facial expression. His laid-back, to-the-point answers to the media portrayed him as a poised and professional football coach—something the Buckeyes need at this time.

And after a 42-0 blowout victory in his coaching debut, he had something significant to leave us Buckeyes fans with...

"We will continue to get better."


Grade: A