Few wins could be more maddening than the Buckeyes escape at home against the Huskers.
Ohio State’s 21-17 win over Nebraska was…well, a victory, but it was not the response Buckeye fans wanted to see and that Head Coach Ryan Day promised two weeks after a one-point road loss to a good (and maybe great) Oregon team on the road. While Ohio State made some adjustments, such as more blitzing and pressure on the quarterback, the offense took some giant steps backward without Josh Simmons at left tackle. Here are the things that had me chewin’ fire on Saturday while watching the game.
Throw the Dang Ball (Away)
The Buckeyes didn’t take long to antagonize me. It started on the team’s first possession, which came in excellent field position after the defense produced a quick three-and-out and Nebraska’s punter shanked a 31-yarder. After a nice throw on first down to Carnell Tate for eight yards, Will Howard took a sack on second-and-short. Howard appeared to see the defender coming, but he swallowed the ball rather than dumping it into the ground near his check-down receiver.
That led to…
Emeka Egbackwards
On second-and-10 Emeka Egbuka caught a 9-yard pass just shy of the line to make. Rather than immediately turning up the field and lowering his shoulder to ensure the first down, Egbuka cut backward to try to clear a defender and make a bigger play. It didn’t work, and he was tackled immediately, setting up a fourth-and-short. Chip Kelly opted not to use the highly effective quarterback sneak and opted instead for a handoff to TreVeyon Henderson, which Nebraska stuffed. Points on that first drive, in gifted field position, might have made for a less nervy fourth quarter.
Moments of Zen
In the context of Saturday’s game, the term “moment of Zen” is not a good thing. Zen Michalski started at left tackle for the injured Simmons and things went poorly. I suppose some nerves are to be expected, but it was troubling to see a player who had two weeks to prepare to get things so dreadfully wrong. There was one play when he was so off-balance that he tried to hold his opponent and whiffed because he fell down while backpedaling in pass protection. Michalski was poor on both running and passing plays and while he seemed to be a little better as the game went on, he was clearly struggling to open holes in the run game or protect Howard’s blind side.
That is the way it can look sometimes when a backup comes in, but I’ve seen a lot of college football in the last five decades, and there are also many instances when a starter must be replaced in the middle of the game and it looks like there is no change whatsoever. Whether that speaks to the quality of Ohio State’s offensive line depth, player development under Justin Frye, recruiting, or some combination of the three, it’s not at the level expected at a program like Ohio State. Unfortunately, it’s uncertain whether Michalski will have an opportunity to improve, as he left the game with an injury.
Unspecial Teams
The snap was good. The hold was good. The kick was most assuredly, not good. Jayden Fielding banged a 42-yard field goal attempt that would have put the Buckeyes up 17-3 in the second quarter. Fielding has been a decent college kicker, but not an elite one by any means. He is now 19-of-24 in his career, which doesn’t sound too bad (and it isn’t). He’s been automatic inside of 40 yards, hitting all seven of his attempts. However, he is a pedestrian 7-of-12 from 40 yards or longer, and that includes 0-for-1 from 50+. It probably doesn’t help him that he only has four attempts this season, with Day generally opting to go for it on fourth downs in less favorable field goal range. Even though Ohio State has been quite successful on fourth down, that makes it more difficult for a kicker to gain confidence and get game reps. At some point, Day is going to need Fielding to hit a long one just before halftime or at the end of the game from a long distance. He has yet to show he can do that reliably.
Davison Igbi-no, son
While I have to give Davison Igbinosun a lot of credit for his part in Ohio State’s goal-line stand against the Cornhuskers, the veteran cornerback made things more difficult on his team throughout the game on Saturday. Right after Fielding’s missed field goal, Igbinosun committed pass interference on Nebraska’s first offensive snap to move the Huskers to their own 39. That helped start a drive that ended in a field goal that cut Ohio State’s lead to 14-6. Igbinosun wasn’t finished. He again interfered with his receiver on a completed pass on Nebraska’s first possession of the second half. He committed pass interference again on the same drive on a third-and-7 play. Nebraska pulled within 14-9 at the end of the drive. Jim Knowles asked his defense to cover one-on-one all day, but at times, Igbinosun simply wasn’t up to it.
Will You Please?!?!
The second half of the game was arguably Will Howard’s worst since he came to Ohio State. He threw all of his incompletions in the second half and made multiple curious reads on option plays that ended up going nowhere but had a chance for success with a different choice. The worst moment Howard had was throwing an interception on the first play of the second OSU drive of the third quarter. He also threw too high on a pass to Egbuka that would have extended the next drive. He was able to put together a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, but other than that, it was a forgettable 30 minutes for Howard. And that might be because…
Play Calling
Saturday’s game was the worst game Chip Kelly has called thus far. The team attempted just 16 passes with Howard completing all nine attempts in the first half but going just 1-for-7 with an interception in the second half. The Buckeyes ran 31 times and averaged only 2.1 yards per carry. The lack of a running game made those third-down passes more difficult, as Howard lacked time to allow routes to develop downfield and often had to check down or try to force something beyond the sticks. There weren’t many designed quarterback runs and no jet sweeps for variety’s sake. The pass was the better option on Saturday and Kelly did it only 16 times. Perhaps he was concerned — rightfully — about protecting Howard, but it might have given Ohio State an opportunity to pull away in the second half had he not kept calling plays that hadn’t really worked all day.
Targeting… What Even Is It? Also… What?!
After Ohio State regained the lead and the teams exchanged punts — largely due to ultra-conservative play calling by Kelly — the Cornhuskers took over at their 24-yard line with 3:36 to play and quickly got behind the chains due to an offensive pass interference penalty on Jahmal Banks. One play later, a deep pass across the middle to Banks appeared to have been caught and dislodged by Arvell Reese. Ohio State recovered and the Buckeyes thought they were about to put the game away. But the play was reviewed, and Reese was ejected for targeting, giving Nebraska a fresh set of downs.
Reese was already committed to his tackle when Banks started to go down under Jaylen McClain’s tackle attempt. That changed Reese’s ultimate landing point relative to the receiver, but he didn’t launch himself or lead with his helmet. The primary contact appeared to be with Banks’ arm and chest, although there was some follow-through facemask contact as well. This may be letter-of-the-law officiating, but it also means the rule is written in a way to prevent defensive players from trying to tackle offensive players, just to be sure they don’t get tossed when that player suddenly changes trajectory.
To make matters worse, the officials gave Nebraska another break on the play, ruling that Banks caught the ball and was somehow down by contact prior to the hit because they stepped off the penalty from the spot of the “catch.” Receivers are (usually) required to control the ball all the way through the ground and contact when doing to ground during a catch, as Banks clearly was. That was not a reception, but Nebraska gained 34 yards on an incomplete pass.
A few plays later, Jordan Hancock’s interception ended the threat, because ball — as the kids say — don’t lie.
These are only some of the things that had me big mad on Saturday, but the internet isn’t big enough to contain them all. It was a poor, and often flat, performance by a Buckeye team that said all the right things about responding to the Oregon loss but failed to deliver on the promise. I’ll give Nebraska credit, as the Cornhuskers came to play. They responded to a beatdown against Indiana in a good way.
This performance isn’t necessarily a harbinger of what the future might bring, but it could be. I’m going to look on the bright side. Ohio State typically plays poorly coming off a bye week, and this was no exception. This was also a hidden trap game. The bye week kind of obscured the fact that the Huskers fell between the trips to Oregon and Penn State.
One thing is certain — the Buckeyes will need a lot of help to get a win in Happy Valley if the level of performance from both the players and coaches doesn’t improve.