10 Things we Learned
by Tony Gerdeman
1. Dwayne Haskins isn’t ready yet…
Haskins completed 15-of-23 passes (65.2%) for 228 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in about one half of play. The good was very good when he was in there, but the bad also stuck out. Haskins trusts his arm more than he does his eyes right now, which caused him to be a little late on some throws. He double clutched on his first couple of passes — including his touchdown pass to C.J. Saunders, but he has the arm to get away with it. His pick six was a poor read and throw, but it was also a play that he checked into after being fooled by the defense. One of the reasons that J.T. Barrett is the starter is because he checks into good situations. Getting these opportunities to make mistakes, however, will help Haskins the next time he’s on the field.
2. …But he could be pretty soon.
When Dwayne Haskins throws the ball, it’s just different than anybody else on the roster. He has a Cardale Jones-like arm, but he doesn’t have Cardale’s windup. He has a very quick release. On his 50-yard completion to C.J. Saunders, he stepped into an easy throw and sent it 44 yards through the air, hitting Saunders perfectly in stride. When he’s rolling right, he puts the ball in a position for his receivers to continue running without breaking stride. When Ohio State won a national title, they did it with a guy who could fit the ball into a window and through double-paned glass. Haskins has that ability, as well as the confidence. All that is missing now is the experience.
3. Rashod Berry earned more playing time.
Are you kidding me? Rashod Berry’s 38-yard touchdown catch-and-run looked like a Madden cheat code. He broke four tackles, and would have broken a fifth if he hadn’t pulled away from a linebacker with his speed. His athleticism has never been in question, but as Urban Meyer said, his fumble at the 1-yard line is an example of needing to build consistency. I say let him build that consistency with the ball in his hands. At least in the first three quarters.
4. Demario McCall isn’t right yet.
Urban Meyer wasn’t sure if Demario McCall would play this weekend, but we saw him late in the game both on offense and in the return game. Based on what I saw from him in this game, he isn’t yet ready to be the Demario McCall we saw last year. He looked hesitant and careful. He also didn’t look nearly as agile and explosive as he did last year. Part of me thinks that after seeing J.K. Dobbins, everyone is going to look a little more human, but I just don’t think McCall is right yet. He is clearly still working his way back from sports hernia surgery in the spring and still feeling out his body. But at least we know now that there are no plans to redshirt him this year. At least not yet.
5. Receivers are finally helping out on the scramble play.
For the first time this season, the Buckeye receivers actually turned and ran on scramble plays. Unfortunately for J.T. Barrett, they only did it for Dwayne Haskins. This has been one missing piece to a very large puzzle, but if they can keep it up, you’ll be seeing fewer throws out of bounds on scrambles and more big plays down the field.
6. The pass defense is still a work in progress.
I think we have learned this in three of Ohio State’s four games now. In game one, the Hoosiers went after Kendall Sheffield repeatedly. Against Oklahoma, it was Damon Arnette getting targeted. This week against UNLV, it was Sheffield once again getting picked on. He gave up three receptions, was called for pass interference twice and holding once. Denzel Ward was also called for interference. Half of OSU’s eight penalties were on Sheffield and Ward. All three corners should continue to improve, but you do have to wonder if Jeff Okudah or Marcus Williamson can start to work their way into the rotation.
7. The linebackers are far from settled.
In the second half of this game, it seemed as if Malik Harrison is now ahead of Dante Booker. Harrison was out of the game late, while Booker was still in. I have no idea if Harrison has actually passed Booker, or if Bill Davis just wanted to get the fourth-year junior some more time at the end of the game since he missed the season last year. Harrison was quite productive while he was in, however, leading the Buckeyes with five tackles. The starters didn’t play much in this one — Tuf Borland finished with three tackles and Jerome Baker just two. It will be interesting to see how Borland graded out with new assignments this week. Currently, the Buckeyes have five linebackers who could be starting, but most of those five have been far from perfect this season.
8. Parris Campbell cannot touch the ball enough.
Get this man the ball in as many different ways as you can because it’s fun to watch him run. I don’t know if the Buckeyes have had a stride like Parris Campbell’s since Ted Ginn. People can say the bubble screens won’t work against good teams, but athletes like Campbell work against all teams if you try hard enough.
9. Austin Mack is starting to flash.
Two weeks ago, Urban Meyer said the Ohio State receivers had no Mike Thomas, but added that somebody would emerge. While Austin Mack doesn’t have big numbers — just eight receptions this season — he has done something in each of the last three games that looked very Michael Thomas-like. Against Oklahoma, it was the amazing 31-yard reception. Against Army, it was the comeback in the end zone for his first career touchdown. On Saturday, it was a simple catch, turn, and run down the sideline for 15 yards. All three of these plays have been done previously by Thomas — and usually in the same game, but we’re finally starting to get glimpses of it from Austin Mack.
10. C.J. Saunders is no hood ornament.
In 2013, Urban Meyer signed Dontre Wilson to play H-back, but couldn’t play him as much as he wanted because he wasn’t able to block. He said back then that players can’t just be hood ornaments and stand around, they have to do be able to block when the play isn’t designed for them. Wilson wasn’t strong enough to block like Meyer wanted, but he still saw quite a bit of time. On Saturday, redshirt sophomore H-back C.J. Saunders caught six passes for 102 yards and impressed everyone in the stadium. After the game, Meyer said the same thing — Saunders has to be able to block, or else he can’t play him as much as he’d like. He still needs to get stronger, and is working hard to get that done. I don’t know how much time Saunders will see in regular games. I suspect it may be a play here or there, but I don’t expect him to become the seventh guy in the rotation. Having a third H-back that the Buckeyes can count on is huge, however, because it would allow them to play Parris Campbell and K.J. Hill at the same time and not be short-handed when one of them — or both of them — get tired.
BOSA LEADS DOMINANT D-LINE
Ohio State's defense held UNLV to 114 yards in the opening half and Nick Bosa was front and center posting a career-high 3.0 TFL with a sack.
Beyond a dominant pass rush, Bosa also had a hand in a turnover as he tipped an Armani Rogers pass, deflecting it to teammate Damon Arnette who picked it off and raced 35 yards to the UNLV 7 yard line. Four plays later, Barrett dropped a dime to Terry McLaurin in the left corner of the endzone for a 30-0 lead.
Bosa's teammates across the front enjoyed great success highlighted by a safety from Dre'Mont Jones who lived in the Rebel backfield along with Tyquan Lewis who posted a hurry and half a sack before joining the rest of the rushmen on the sidelines as Greg Schiano emptied the bench.
With the defensive line setting the tone, the Silver Bullets tallied 8.0 TFL and 3.0 sacks in the first half 13.0/4.0 for the game as Rogers managed only 88 yards passing with a pair of interceptions.
SWEET SIXTEEN
Facing a poor defense and enduring constant criticism from the Dwayne Haskins fan club, Barrett did just about all he could against the Rebels completing 12 of 17 throws for 209 and five touchdowns – to five different receivers – before coming out late in the second quarter.
Barrett only had one shot on a route over 25 yards and promptly threw it over K.J. Hill's head as he ran a corner toward the right sideline.
As usual, Barrett was solid on the shorter stuff. A few highlights for me included a 9-yard seed through a pretty tight window to Terry McLaurin on a slant followed by another solid slant to Parris Campbell for 16 yards before Campbell coughed it up just short of the goal line on Ohio State's third offensive possession.
Two possessions later he showed excellent touch finding McLaurin in the back left of the end zone on 4th down giving OSU that 30-0 lead.
Again, he was facing a bad defense and didn't have much of a chance to silence any critics with a deep ball but Barrett engineered five touchdowns on six possessions and completed 71% of this passes which included at least one intentional throwaway.
MY COMPLAINTS TO THE SHEFF
Like most, I thought there was a decent shot of Kendall Sheffield emerging as Ohio State's second-best corner behind Denzel Ward and ahead of Damon Arnette.
Instead, Sheffield has struggled against a range of talent and today might've been his least impressive showing yet.
Against an anemic passing attack, Sheffield surrendered three receptions for 46 yards and committed a hold and two pass interference penalties.
The PI calls were both fairly soft flags but made easier due to Sheffield seemingly never having an idea where the ball was as he jockeyed with the receiver.
I'm pulling for Sheffield because this team needs three capable corners but it looks like it could be an uphill climb to get him to serviceable status.
Thankfully, Ward is largely living up to the hype (including a TFL and 2 PBU today) and Arnette has been significantly better than I expected.
ZONE SIX TOUCHDOWNS
The much-maligned Zach Smith and his receiving corps aren't always easy to root for thanks to Smith's exploits on social media and the group's overall lack of growth over the last few years.
To its credit, the unit is making the most of competing against inferior opponents highlighted by the results seen from the top six in the rotation during a decisive first half.
With the line providing protection and Barrett looking solid on the shorter stuff, Smith's top six receivers combined to tally 12 receptions for 214 yards and five touchdowns in the game's first 30 minutes as Ohio State built a 37-0 lead before J.T. took a seat.
Parris Campbell led the way with 105 yards on three grabs as he got loose for another snatch and dash for 69 yards and a score. He now has 322 receiving yards through four games on 17.9 per catch.
K.J. Hill posted another three receptions for 53 yards and a score capping the 37-point blitz via an 11-yard grab of the noted teardrop from Barrett for six. Hill is now tied for the team lead with 18 receptions and second in yards (177) as his yards per catch still lags at 9.8.
McLaurin (3/22), Johnnie Dixon (1/16), Austin Mack (1/15) and Ben Victor (1/3) also posted touchdown grabs in the first half putting the game out of reach.
Again, still a long way to go before we can say this is a legit receiving corps outside of Campbell and maybe Hill but we gotta take the small wins where we can and five touchdown receptions over Ohio State's first six possessions is a definite win.
As for the guys fighting to make Zone Six a seven or eight man rotation, hats off the C.J. Saunders who posted a team high six grabs on six targets for 102 yards including a 28-yard touchdown.
THE MAIN DWAYNE
The Dwayne Haskins truthers were treated to their first extended look at the stud backup quarterback and after a hot start, he gave some glimpses into why he's the backup amidst other glimpses confirming why he's the future.
A drop from Mack kept Haskins from going 3-for-3 on his opening possession but he looked sturdy as he found McLaurin for nine yards before unleashing a perfect 28-yard strike to Saunders to make it 44-7 good guys.
Haskins started the third quarter and went 2-for-3 on the opening drive (A. Williams drop) before taking a sack to force a punt. Following a UNLV touchdown, Haskins went back out and opened a drive with two straight completions on the run but later threw too hot and too high for Williams in the flat before a 3rd-and-10 throw that was again way too high to be handled leading to a 30-yard field goal pushing the OSU lead to 47-14.
Haskins found tight end Rashod Berry for a 38-yard touchdown on the ensuing possession making it 54-14 but he gave it right back as he stared down tight end Luke Farrell in the flat before throwing a pick six to Javin White cutting the lead to 54-21.
Overall, Haskins flashed the arm talent all fans would love to have in a quarterback but also had some troubles with overthrows and general inexperience which is to be expected as part of a 15 of 23 passing day with a pair scores against the one interception.
Bottom line, probably everyone who thinks Barrett should start still feels that way and everyone who thinks Haskins should start probably felt today reaffirmed that notion.
No comments:
Post a Comment