Ohio State Football: Grading the Buckeyes' Week 7 Win at Illinois

It may not have been the prettiest of victories with only one pass completion, but with the state of Ohio State football, the Buckeyes will happily take their 17-7 win at Illinois.

The return of Dan Herron helped spark Ohio State to a much-needed win that almost certainly assures they will have enough wins to be bowl-eligible.

The fact that the previous sentence needed to be said is evidence enough of the tough times surrounding the OSU football program.

Now with a bye week coming, they still have a chance to salvage some good out of a disastrous 10 months.

Here are the grades for this week's performance.

Quarterbacks: B-

It's really tough to judge Braxton Miller's day with only four pass attempts, but Miller played every snap, which was very critical for his development.

Miller did have a tough time running the football outside of a 35-yard draw play and a few other runs.

But he was able to protect the football well, which is an underrated step in his development.

The week off will certainly help his ankle heal a little more going into their toughest game of the season at home against Wisconsin.

Running Backs: A-

Welcome back, Dan Herron.

Just as Mike Adams gave Ohio State a spark offensively last week at Nebraska, Herron's return to the lineup was great to see.

Herron had 23 carries in his return for 114 yards and a touchdown and showed the experience this offense needs with a lot of youth at most of the skill positions.

Jordan Hall added 56 yards on 12 carries and showed he is a very capable No. 2 back this season.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: C

This would be the only pass reception of the day for Ohio State, but it was a good one.

Jake Stoneburner caught his sixth touchdown pass of the season and it would be the dagger for the Buckeyes in the win.

The receivers only saw three other passes thrown their way due to heavy winds, so that makes this group much, much harder to judge.

Offensive Line: B+

Ohio State's offensive line did a very good job of opening holes for Hall, Herron and at times, Miller.

They did have trouble with breakout lineman Whitney Mercilus, who did record some good tackles for the Illini.

And at the end of the game, they did struggle to run the football. But it's not easy to break big runs when defenses load up the box like Illinois did at points in the game.

But to be able to run right at a defense that knows it's coming and can't do too much about it is a good mental edge for the offense.

Defensive Line: B

When your top two tacklers are defensive tackles, that means either your linebackers were poor or the line was that good.

While the OSU LB corps has not been very good, the duo of Johnathan Hankins and John Simon were spectacular.

Simon had two sacks, and Hankins led the team with nine tackles.

They combined to have six tackles for loss and helped to dominate the line of scrimmage which benefited Ohio State all day long.

Linebackers: B-

The Ohio State linebackers have had their share of terrible games all season long, but played much better as a unit on Saturday.

Etienne Sabino had a few good tackles including doing a good job of not letting Nathan Scheelhaase break free from his grasp.

Storm Klein was also big as he forced and recovered a fumble which led to the second Buckeye touchdown of the day.

We did not see much of freshman Ryan Shazier in the win, but he will be someone to watch in November as Ohio State's schedule gets significantly easier.

Defensive Backs: A

Ohio State may have a budding star in Bradley Roby.

After talking a good game against Illinois' top receiver A.J. Jenkins, Roby did a good job of keeping him from making the big play despite giving up 80 yards receiving. It did, however, take Jenkins eight catches to reach that mark.

Roby also had an interception which set up Ohio State's first touchdown early in the third quarter.

Travis Howard had the other interception on an underthrown ball from Scheelhaase.

Christian Bryant continues to show the aggressive flair that makes him an intriguing player to watch in the years to come.

Special Teams: B

Ohio State's special teams again wasn't the ultimate decider in the game, but it certainly helped their cause.

Drew Basil has officially shaken off a terrible start to the season and made a fantastic 42-yard field goal in the first quarter manipulating the wind to sneak the ball in between the uprights.

Ben Buchanan also added a solid day averaging just under 40 yards a punt, including a 55-yarder, and two punts inside the Illini 20-yard line.

With the low scoring, Ohio State only had two kickoff returns in the game, which limited Ohio State's capable kick return game. 

Coaching: C+

C is for conservative, as the gameplan was on Saturday, but the coaching staff gets a plus as well for pushing the right buttons at the right time.

Sound familiar?

This was as close to Tressel coaching as Ohio State had all season, and they called timely running plays.

They were obviously limited in playcalling due to the weather, and having a lead really helped them do what they did best under Tressel: play with a lead.

And they worked that plan to perfection to get a much-needed win for morale.

Intangibles: A-

While the win may not have been the most impressive one, it was a much-needed win.

After the Nebraska loss, the team could easily have packed it in and folded under the pressure.

But give credit to the coaches and the kids for fighting and staying tough on Saturday, getting a win that gets some morale and a few smiles around the practice facilities going into a bye week.

The Buckeyes haven't had a lot to cheer about in a very long time, and the vibe around Columbus is that most fans are just counting the days until Ohio State hires Urban Meyer to replace Luke Fickell as head coach.

But for who they are this season and getting a much-needed win against a team that has historically given Ohio State some problems, this is a huge confidence boost.

The fans should have something to be pretty happy about. It may not have been the best win, but anyone associated with Ohio State should be happy to get the win after the past month.

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