Buckeye vs TCU recap
www.elevenwarriors.com
By Chris Lauderback
DWAYNE TRAIN ROLLS ON
Yes, Dwayne Haskins faced some crowded pockets in Ann Arbor in relief of J.T. Barrett last November but there were still some unknowns – at least for me – on how Haskins would respond to continuous pressure as The Man in a big game.
With TCU bringing the house early and often, Haskins stood up to the challenge completing 24 of 38 throws for 344 yards and two touchdowns, adding a 5-yard jaunt to paydirt sealing the deal in Arlington.
The 344 passing yards were the seventh-most in a single-game in school history.
Haskins also made it three straight games with at least 20 completions (Barrett had 4 in 2017 and 3 in 2014 just for perspective) and his completion percentage stands at 72.5% on the young season.
With his two touchdown tosses he now has 11 through three games against just one interception.
While the numbers are certainly eye-popping, it's his physical gifts and decision-making that stand out. Haskins was smooth in a amoeba-like pocket last night as he dealt with continuous low snaps and pressure but never threw a pick and only took one sack while smartly throwing away a handful of footballs.
Hell of a night from a confident kid who just gives off an aura of invincibility.
Dre'Mont Jones hands out a stiff-arm of justice on the way to the end zone.
DRE DAY
Nick Bosa rightfully gets the bulk of the hype among Ohio State's elite defensive linemen but there's no question Dre'Mont Jones is a beast is his own right.
The sometimes-overlooked defensive tackle was dominant all night, and specifically after Bosa went down with injury on the first series of the second half.
Jones finished with six stops, two TFL, a sack, a pick six and a PBU and that doesn't even tell the full story as he just missed another pick six on Ohio State's third defensive series of the game.
Jones set up camp in TCU's backfield as not only did two of his tackles go for lost yardage but two more resulted in a 1-yard rush and no gain.
His pick six via a quick burst into the backfield before hijacking of a shovel pass gave Ohio State's the lead for good at 26-21 with 5:54 left in the third quarter.
Jones' sack also came at a critical time, pushing the Horned Frogs from the OSU 28 to the 40-yard line three possessions later as the Buckeyes nursed the 40-28 margin.
Just a tremendously clutch effort.
OHIO STATE USES J.K., HAS A GOOD DAY
J.K. Dobbins, back home in Texas after a meh showing against USC in the Cotton Bowl, enjoyed a season-high 18 carries and responded with season-highs in yards (121) and yards per carry (6.7) in a determined performance.
The LaGrange, Texas product had only two yards on his first four carries but finished with eight carries of 10+ yards and was a key factor in Ohio State's game-sealing scoring drive.
After TCU had cut OSU's lead to 33-28 with just over a minute left in the third quarter, Dobbins keyed an 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive with five carries for 43 yards including an 11-yarder to the Horned Frogs 5-yard line setting up Haskins' touchdown run.
On the drive, Dobbins had runs of 18, 9, 11 and 5 yards, flashing the footwork and balance that led him to 1,403 yards on 7.2 per carry a season ago.
Through three games, Dobbins is quietly averaging 89.3 yards per outing on almost six yards a pop. Yes, those numbers are below last year's totals (100.2 ypg, 7.2 ypc) but it feels like Dobbins is just getting warmed up.
K.J. Hill is averaging a notable 2.1 more yards per catch in 2018 compared to 2017.
TURN ON YOUR HARTLINE
Brian Hartline's receiving corps is doing work after years of production issues under his predecessor.
For the third straight contest, the Buckeyes had a different leading wide receiver as K.J. Hill took his turn at the top following a six-catch, 95-yard effort highlighted by a 24-yard touchdown grab putting Ohio State in front, 33-21, with 2:57 left in the third quarter. Through three games, Hill leads the Buckeyes with 17 grabs for 202 yards, good for an 11.9 yard average which is notably 2.1 yards higher than last season.
Last week it was Johnnie Dixon pacing Zone Six with four catches for 89 yards and a pair of scores. In the season-opener, it was Terry McLaurin leading the way with four grabs for 121 yards and two trips the end zone.
At various points over the last few years, it felt like the fact Ohio State rotated at least six guys meant it didn't have anyone capable of separating from the rest of the pack. Now it feels like the wide receiving corps indeed has a plethora of weapons as Hartline continues to improve their technical skills.
Austin Mack, while he did drop ~25 balls on the night, still managed four receptions for 84 yards and stands as Ohio State's second-leading pass catcher on the season (12) and third-leading receiver in yards (173).
Dixon (4-for-39) and McLaurin (3-for-29) were also factors against the Horned Frogs and McLaurin currently leads the squad with three touchdowns and 25.1 yards per catch.
Oh, and H-back Parris Campbell did what he does best taking a short toss and turning it into a 63-yard touchdown which cut TCU's lead to 21-19 midway through the third quarter.
Overall, it's hard to believe just how rightfully maligned this exact same group of receivers was last season when you look at how effective they've been through the first segment of 2018.
THE THIN RED LINE
While Jordan Fuller continues to do his job at an elite level (8 tackles, 0.5 TFL, PBU) at one safety spot, Greg Schiano and Alex Grinch have yet to find even a serviceable companion to place alongside him in the back line of Ohio State's defense.
Already off to rough starts, the tandem of Isaiah Pryor and Jahsen Wint were again liabilities last night.
Yes, it takes more than one man to turn a particular play into a dumpster fire but Pryor certainly played a key role in turning a Darius Anderson carry into a 93-yard touchdown as his lack of elite speed was highlighted by taking a bad angle. Hey, sometimes stuff happens but Pryor's struggles to help contain big rushing plays aren't new after a few similar examples against Oregon State.
Wint has also struggled to contain big plays and last night he got spun around in coverage and failed to locate the football as a 51-yard Shawn Robinson throw found the arms of TreVontae Hights, who had gotten behind Wint on a post route trimming Ohio State's lead to 33-28 late in the third quarter.
A few weeks ago Schiano noted redshirt freshman Shaun Wade would see more time in the secondary and he has, but most of it has come as the nickel or dime. Is it time to give Wade a serious look alongside Fuller? Sure feels like it can't hurt.
Buckeye TCU Recap
www.theozone.net
by Tony Gerdeman
1. It’s time to get the Dwayne Haskins Heisman talk going.
This was a measuring stick game for Dwayne Haskins. We saw what he could do against the Adequately-Sized Non-Gender-Specific Siblings of the Economically Unfortunate, but TCU was a different test altogether. After the game, former acting head coach Ryan Day said Haskins passed the test. Since he did pass — and pass quite well — it’s time to really begin the Heisman talk. Unless you want to wait until after the Penn State game, of course.
2. The back seven is still not fixed.
Some of the same problems seen against Oregon State showed up against TCU. There weren’t as many, but they were still there. TCU has the speed to take advantage of split-second delays, which the Buckeye back seven allows to happen too often this season. The linebackers were quiet in the first half, but got louder in the second half. Isaiah Pryor and Jahsen Wint split the snaps at strong safety and split the errors. There is still plenty of work to do at both levels of the defense.
3. Shaun Wade needs to move to safety this week.
Isaiah Pryor and Jahsen Wint both had struggles this week. Pryor took a bad angle on the 93-yard touchdown run and Wint got lost in centerfield and nearly injured Kendall Sheffield during a touchdown pass. I mentioned this on Twitter Saturday night and Tom Orr and I talked about this immediately after the game on our postgame edition of Accost the Field, but it’s time to expedite the move of Shaun Wade to safety. Greg Schiano said last week that Wade would eventually get a look there, but that look needs to happen this week so he can take his bumps and bruises against Tulane. With that experience, he will be much more ready for Penn State in two weeks. While Schiano said Wade would get that look at strong safety, I wonder if they move Jordan Fuller back to the strong safety position he played so well last year and put Wade at free safety in order to utilize his man-coverage skills. Of course, with the way Fuller is playing right now, they may not want to move him.
4. Haskins has confidence in his receivers.
Despite a few drops by Austin Mack, Dwayne Haskins told him that he was going to keep throwing him the ball. Haskins never lost confidence in Mack and appears to have nothing but the utmost confidence in all of his other receivers as well. He makes some incredibly tight-window throws, and he can only do that because he trusts both himself and his receivers. His pinpoint accuracy helps, but also seeing what his guys have done every day in practice will continue to give him the confidence to rely on his receivers no matter how things go early in the game.
5. Running the ball isn’t as easy as it has been in the past.
It is somewhat silly to say this with two Buckeye running backs in the Top 6 in the Big Ten in rushing, but Ohio State isn’t as dominating running the ball as we expected. They have had to fight for nearly every yard, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because we saw the cumulative effect last night against TCU. Right now, both Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins are on pace for 1,000 yards rushing in the regular season, but they have just one carry of 30 yards or more between them. Once they start hitting home runs, this offense may be pretty good.
6. But it looks like J.K. Dobbins is starting to get started.
The above being said, J.K. Dobbins closed out the game very well and put together his first 100-yard rushing day of the season. I don’t know how many carries he’ll have next week against Tulane, but the Buckeyes could use another tough-running game at Penn State like they received in Arlington.
7. Nick Bosa is the best player in the country.
I don’t know how long he will be out, and it’s great the way the defensive line stepped up in his absence, but the Buckeyes cannot afford to be without Nick Bosa for too long. They may be one of two or three teams in the nation that can deal with a situation like this, but Bosa is the best player in the country and the Ohio State defense is much better with him than without him. There is something to be said for players stepping up when a teammate goes down, but when that teammate is Nick Bosa, the better option is always going to be having him on the field.
8. Michael Jordan needs to free his mind.
A former center told me Saturday night that the only way you keep snapping low like Michael Jordan did last night is because he’s constantly thinking about not snapping low. Another person in the know told me that this wasn’t all that unexpected and Jordan had shown some of this in camp. Perhaps with the increase in defensive line talent — as he sees in practice with Ohio State — comes an increase in inaccurate snaps. The low snaps hurt the Buckeyes’ timing and this is a problem that needs to be fixed. Not thinking about low snaps will help Jordan, but what’s the first thing you think about when somebody says don’t think about a particular something?
9. Ohio State’s versatility at H-back is impressive.
The Buckeyes played three H-backs last night with K.J. Hill, Parris Campbell, and C.J. Saunders. Hill was outstanding, making clutch catch after clutch catch. He moved the chains on five of his six receptions — and the sixth was a 9-yard pickup on first-and-10. When you combine him with Campbell, who caught two passes for 66 yards, including the key 63-yard touchdown screen that was pure speed on his part, you get two very different, but very complementary players who continue to make Dwayne Haskins look quite good.
10. The cornerbacks are fine.
Kendall Sheffield gave up three catches for 28 yards, which is a pretty good night against some talented wide receivers. Damon Arnette had a bit of a rougher night, giving up a 42-yard reception while looking back for the football. He also had a pass interference called against him which was laughable. Jeff Okudah wasn’t nearly as busy as the other two. I know there are people who are down on one player or another, but I think at this point the cornerbacks are playing fine and they certainly aren’t the weak spot of the defense. If they weren’t playing well, there’s no way Shaun Wade would be spending his time in nickel and possibly safety instead of cornerback.
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