Ohio State Football: Grading the Buckeyes' Week 5 Loss to Michigan State

Saturday's loss to Michigan State may have been the lowest point the Buckeyes have been in almost a decade.

It would be one thing to say the offense was anemic, but that would be giving the unit a complement.

Ohio State wasted what was an incredible effort by their defense, holding a normally potent Michigan State offense to just 10 points and forcing multiple turnovers.

But in a nutshell, Ohio State is in serious trouble this season and this 10-7 loss showed it.

Here are the grades for Saturday's game. 

Quarterbacks: D-

Joe Bauserman's late touchdown pass to Evan Spencer saved this grade from being an F.

Braxton Miller just does not look ready to be a starting QB at this level, but part of that can be due to coaching (which will be explained much later).

Of course, it would be hard for either quarterback to get a pass off with the type of defense Michigan State had all game long.

Miller did have a couple of good throws, but looked indecisive and scared all day long. He really needs to find some confidence and fast.

Running Backs: C

The running backs in this game got a grade break only because they couldn't do more than they did with what was in front of him.

Jordan Hall and Carlos Hyde did OK, but there wasn't much they could do since Michigan State just owned Ohio State's offensive line all day.

They combined for 78 rushing yards on 23 attempts and were constantly blown up in the backfield. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about it.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: D

Ohio State's receivers were just abysmal because they weren't able to help their QBs out by getting open almost all game.

But it's hard to look good when your top two guys are out of the lineup.

Chris Fields and Verlon Reed each had over 40 yards receiving and Evan Spencer had a touchdown, but that was basically it.

At some point receivers need to help out inexperienced quarterbacks, which brings us to...

Offensive Line: F-

This may have been the worst offensive line performance in school history.

They were not able to block any of Michigan State's blitzes and allowed their QBs to get sacked nine times in the game.

That's just an embarrassing statistic, especially for a group that has a pair of seniors who have started almost every game in the last three seasons.

Plain and simple, the entire line played an awful, awful game.

Defensive Line: B

Now we get to the only portion of the slideshow with positive tones.

The defense of Ohio State played probably their best game of the season.

The line shut down the running game and made Michigan State one-dimensional for a good portion of the afternoon. They weren't able to get a ton of pressure on Kirk Cousins, but they did take advantage of a weak Michigan State offensive line and, for the most part, did their job.

Linebackers: B-

The Ohio State linebacking corps was vastly improved after last week's performance in coverage.

This is a unit that hopefully will get better the more they step on the field and figure things out. They were making some good tackles and helping out well in run support.

If this group becomes much better at being multi-dimensional instead of just being good at slowing down the run game, the OSU defense might have something working.

Defensive Backs: B-

This grade is really more of a mixed bag than anything because even though Bradley Roby and C.J. Barnett did get two interceptions, Travis Howard got beaten like a drum all day by Michigan State's B.J. Cunningham.

The defense gave up 250 yards passing to the Spartans and, for whatever reason, continued to give the Spartan receivers a huge cushion instead of trying some press coverage.

They did make plenty of plays, as mentioned before with the two interceptions, and were instrumental in helping the defense bend but not break.

Hopefully as with the linebackers, the defensive backs should continue to improve and grow as the season goes on.

Special Teams: C

Punter Ben Buchanan got a heck of a workout with 10 punts in the game for Ohio State.

The return game was solid and contained the explosive Keshawn Martin from breaking off a huge return for Michigan State.

And at the end, they came very, very close to recovering the onside kick with just a few seconds left in the game.

The OSU special teams certainly did not win them the football game, but they didn't lose the game either.

Coaching: 0%

Remember in school when you failed to do homework, didn't prepare enough and just didn't give any effort? Sometimes you get worse than F. You got a zero, as in no points. Zero percent.

That is exactly what Ohio State's coaches earned on Saturday.

The offensive coaching staff looks like it has lost its players, and Carlos Hyde admitted in a postgame presser that the coaches did not adjust at all based on player suggestions.

They kept sending receivers deep hoping for a miracle, instead of running short passes to try to stop the Spartans from blitzing. 

And it seems like Jim Bollman can't get out of Columbus soon enough.

Obviously Ohio State lacks experienced talent on offense, but that's no excuse for not trying to help them out by running simple plays or even trying to coach up Braxton Miller after he was looking out of his earhole from getting sacked almost every series.

It's clear that Jim Tressel meant a lot to this offense when he was here. And now that he is gone, the incompetent offensive coaching staff is being exposed to the world.

Intangibles: F

It seems as if the fans' worst fears have been realized: the offensive coaching is horrible, OSU doesn't have a quarterback, and the locker room seems to be slowly becoming divided.

Jordan Hall said after the game that Ohio State's coaches never called any short passes, screens or misdirections, even though they have practiced them quite often.

There are even other players, including safety Christian Bryant, who said in frustration to a Columbus television station that "the offensive players are on scholarship too."

He has a right to be upset because the defense did their job and kept the Buckeyes in the game somehow.

The only hope for Ohio State to salvage anything this season, even just getting to a bowl game this year, is the return of Dan Herron, DeVier Posey and Mike Adams on offense.

Adding three seniors should help with their leadership, because they clearly need someone back there who can lead and take control of chaos.

But all in all, they seem to lack hope in themselves. And going to Lincoln next week under the lights against Nebraska, hope will be hard to come by.

Follow me on Twitter @bielik_tim for more college football updates.