Our “New” Basketball Coach

Ohio State made Jake Diebler its new head basketball coach over the weekend. Diebler was also the old head basketball coach, having served in that role in an interim capacity for the last few games of the regular season and then in the Big Ten tournament.

It’s been a disappointing few years for Buckeye basketball, which is why the former head coach, Chris Holtmann, was given his walking papers. This year in particular was difficult to watch, as the Buckeyes blew big leads in several games, endured an embarrassingly long road losing streak, and didn’t seem to play up to the capabilities of a roster with some talent. But when Jake Diebler took over, it was like a light switch was turned on. The team immediately started playing better on both offense and defense, upset highly ranked Purdue, went 6-2 with some other big wins, and looked like a totally different team.

Diebler is an Ohio guy who comes across as humble, knowledgeable, likeable, and genuine. He changed up the rotation, went deep into his bench and got some nice production from players who hadn’t seen much action, and clearly connected with the team during his stint as interim head coach. That personal connection may be an important consideration for the players, who will now be considering whether to enter the transfer portal. Ohio State’s roster often seemed like a bit of a revolving door under Holtmann; perhaps Diebler can stop that trend and establish some stability.

Will Diebler be a good head coach and get the program back to where it was under Thad Matta, when the Buckeyes were perennial NCAA Tournament contenders? Eight games is a slim record on which to base a forecast. We’ve got no insight into his ability to recruit top-notch players, which is a huge part of college basketball success. But if I’m right about the strong connections he seemingly established with his players, that would suggest he will have some success on the recruiting trail.

Ohio State was mentioned as a potential landing spot for one of this year’s crop of hot coaches who are looking to move up from mid-major schools to a big-time school like Ohio State. Only time will tell if Diebler will be seen as a good hire, or a bust–but I’m glad the Buckeyes didn’t go with the flavor of the month as their new head coach, because their track record after moving up to the major college level hasn’t exactly been stellar. Let’s see what this Ohio guy can do.

The Game, 2023

We’re only a few hours away from this year’s titanic clash of the Men of the Scarlet and Gray with That Team Up North. Number 2 versus Number 3. The winners take the Big Ten East crown, punch their ticket to the Big Ten championship game, and may end up in the College Football Playoff; the losers have to lick their wounds for another year. The stakes don’t get much higher than this, but that’s par for the course for The Game.

As is true every year, this year’s matchup has its own set of off-the-field storylines, with controversy swirling around TTUN and its program, and Ohio State and its coaching staff dealing with the pressure of trying to reverse a two-year losing streak. But I woke up early this morning, adrenalin surging, thinking about the football, not the surrounding distractions. Here’s my take.

I think the problem with predicting the outcome of The Game this year is simple: the Big Ten doesn’t have many multi-dimensional offensive teams. TTUN and Ohio State both fall into that category, but most of the other teams don’t. Ohio State has played a slightly tougher schedule, thanks to its win in South Bend, but that same one-dimensional issue was true for Notre Dame–at least, it was back when Ohio State played the Fighting Irish. There just aren’t that many Big Ten teams that can both run and pass effectively. Perhaps Maryland falls into that category, but that’s about it–and interestingly, the Terrapins gave both Ohio State and TTUN a game.

The novelty of facing a true multi-dimensional opponent means that, even though both teams have played 11 games already, today’s matchup will present a fundamentally different challenge for the defenses. I think we’ll get a sense early on as to whether the multi-dimensional aspect of the opponent poses problems for these two defenses, both of which have put up strong numbers. And don’t kid yourselves–this edition of The Game will boil down to which defense is stouter, and which defense can make the tough stops and avoid the breakdowns when The Game is in the balance. For the past two years, that is what TTUN has been able to do–perhaps aided by an unfair advantage–and what Ohio State has not been able to do. Today, the Buckeyes will try to change that result.

Can they do it? It’s the question every member of Buckeye Nation will be asking at noon today, when The Game kicks off in Ann Arbor.

Go Bucks!

From The Gridiron To The Courthouse

Yesterday the Big Ten conference announced that coach Jim Harbaugh would be suspended from coaching That Team Up North’s final three regular-season games. The sanction was the initial punishment for TTUN’s involvement in what certainly appears to have been a conscious, intentional, institutional effort to violate NCAA rules on advance scouting of opponents’ games in an effort to steal their play-calling signs. It’s unclear at this point whether additional sanctions might be forthcoming.

The Big Ten explained the rationale for its decision in a 13-page letter that stated that the school “violated the Sportsmanship Policy because a University football staff member engaged in an organized, extensive, years-long in-person advance scouting scheme that was impermissible.” (The presumed “staff member,” Connor Stalions, is shown standing next to Harbaugh in a photo taken during a game earlier this season.) The letter added: “The integrity of the competition is the backbone of any sports conference or league,. That is especially true for sports contests between student-athletes. Athletes compete to win. Competition that is only about winning while disregarding the rules of fair play diminishes all of us, including our institutions. The integrity of the competition must be preeminent. Its value is fundamental and far exceeds the value of winning; indeed, it is the very source of any value in winning.”

Those are ringing words, but they didn’t convince TTUN that it should accept the punishment. Instead, the controversy promptly moved to the courthouse, with TTUN filing a complaint and a motion for a temporary restraining order in a Michigan state court last night. The TRO, if granted by Judge Carol Kuhnke of Washtenaw County Trial Court, would allow Harbaugh to coach in today’s game against Penn State. The lawyers for TTUN and Harbaugh argue that the Big Ten breached its contract with Michigan, didn’t provide due process, and that the suspension causes “irreparable harm” by “threatening the loss of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for dozens of student athletes and irreversible harm to the University’s and Harbaugh’s reputation.” The filing also contends that “[t]he actions by Defendant Conference were fraudulent, unlawful, unethical, unjustified, and per se wrongful, and were done with malice for the improper purpose of causing the termination or disruption of Plaintiff Harbaugh’s relationship and expectancy,” 

So the lines have been drawn, and a state court judge will decide whether coach Harbaugh will be on the sidelines at noon today. As of this writing, there has been no word on a ruling, but we can expect to get word of one at any moment. Making the decision will be a big challenge for a local judge.

One point about the TTUN court filing caught my attention. To the extent TTUN and Harbaugh think their reputations are “threatened” by the Big Ten’s suspension decision, they should know that that ship has sailed. Those reputations have been unalterably soiled by what TTUN has done over the past few years, and enjoining the Big Ten’s action isn’t going to change that fact. The “leaders and best,” indeed!

The Big Boys And The Tough Yards

I saw only snippets of the Ohio State win over Maryland yesterday. Regrettably, I missed most of the offensive onslaught in the second half that allowed the Buckeyes to pull away from the Terrapins and notch a solid 20-point victory, 37-17.

From what I saw and my analysis of the box score, there was a lot to like in the triumph over a previously undefeated Maryland team. Ohio State remained unbeaten and stays in the thick of the race for the Big Ten East title and potential spots in the Big Ten championship game and the College Football Playoff. For me, the highlights from yesterday’s game included the play of an opportunistic defense that forced two crucial turnovers and one defensive score and held an explosive Maryland team in check during the key moments in the second half. I also liked the continuing development of quarterback Kyle McCord, who threw for more than 300 yards and hit some key chunk-play passes in the clutch.

But, I wouldn’t be a lifetime member of Buckeye Nation if I didn’t also look for areas of improvement, and there is a glaring one about this team: the running game and continued struggles in converting third-and-short and fourth-and-short situations. Yesterday Ohio State ran for a measly 62 yards on 33 carries, which comes out to an embarrassing average of 1.9 yards per carry. Legendary coach Woody Hayes must be rolling over in his grave at that statistic; he took pride in the “three yards and a cloud of dust” description that will be forever associated with his run-oriented offenses. Obviously, the run component of this Buckeye offense hasn’t jelled . . . at least not yet.

The running game starts with the big boys up front. This season, Ohio State’s linemen, may of whom are new starters, seem to be routinely stood up at the line of scrimmage, leaving few holes for running backs, and the problems are especially noticeable when the Buckeyes are looking to move the chains. This is very concerning because experienced Big Ten fans know that when the weather turns cold and foul, the run game is essential. A lot of tough games are coming up, and if Ohio State’s offensive line can’t win the battle at the line of scrimmage, open some holes, and establish a running game, it will seriously impair the team’s ability to realize its goals of a Big Ten championship and another trip to the CFP.

Next Saturday, the Buckeyes travel to West Lafayette to take on the Purdue Boilermakers–a venue where past Ohio State teams have endured some hard losses. I’ll be watching those big boys up front to see if they get a push whenever Ohio State tries to run the ball.

Some Monday-After Thoughts

I watched the Ohio State-Indiana game on Saturday. It wasn’t easy viewing. In fact, if you were not a fan of either team, or not scouting an upcoming opponent, you would have snapped off the TV and found something–anything–more interesting to do with your time. As Big Ten conference games go, this was a real snoozer.

Still, Ohio State won, which was a good thing. A team with a new quarterback, three new offensive linemen, and some new position players on defense got a victory against a Big Ten opponent on the road, which is an even better thing.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Buckeyes were a far cry from the powerhouse we’ve seen in the past four years. The team struggled on third down–repeatedly getting stoned behind the line of scrimmage by Indiana linebackers who seemed to easily get into the OSU backfield without being blocked–and didn’t connect on more than one or two of the “gash” plays we’ve come to expect from the OSU offense. New quarterback Kyle McCord looked like a new QB when he made a dumb throw for an interception, but otherwise played pretty well (and cautiously) in his first start. We really didn’t see enough of Devin Brown to make much of an assessment of him, but what I saw indicated that it made sense to name McCord as the starter. The offense will have a lot to work on in the next two games, and we will have to hope that the new-look offensive line gets its act together before the Notre Dame game, because I think we can all agree that the Irish defense is going to be better than what we saw from Indiana.

The defense looked better than the offense–but whether that is because the defense in fact is better, or because Indiana was playing so conservatively that even Woody Hayes would have urged them to put the ball in the air, is anyone’s guess. Indiana ran on almost every down, and the Buckeyes played the run capably and showed they can tackle–but that’s about it. The fact that the Silver Bullets shut down the Hoosier offense doesn’t allow you to draw any inferences about how the D would perform against a multi-faceted offense that actually was willing to throw the ball on first or second down.

Finally, the punter and field goal kicker both looked good, although the kick coverage was spotty. If you’ve got an offense that will sputter from time to time, having a reliable placekicker, and a punter who can flip the field, is very valuable. I expect we’re going to see a lot more of the punter and kicker this year.

The New Q(s)

Ohio State’s football season starts tomorrow, when the Men of the Scarlet and Gray travel to Bloomington to take on the Indiana Hoosiers. Every college football team starts the season with questions, as familiar faces have graduated and new faces must fill in–but for this Buckeye squad, perhaps, there are more questions than is usually the case.

The first question is at quarterback. After a long evaluation during spring practice and training camp, OSU head coach Ryan Day has chosen Kyle McCord as the starter–although he plans to play Devin Brown a lot as well. Neither quarterback played much last year, and they certainly didn’t have to make big plays when the chips were down. Ohio State’s offense in recent years has required a lot from its quarterbacks, and Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud both filled that role brilliantly. Will McCord and/or Brown be able to react well under pressure, make good decisions with the ball, and be able to spread the ball around to Ohio State’s deep and talented corps of receivers? Having great pass-catchers is wonderful, but someone has got to get the ball to them, on time and on target.

The second question is a related one: will Ohio State’s offensive line be able to provide the protection needed to make Ohio State’s passing offense work, and can it open holes for Buckeye running backs? Three starters on the Ohio State offensive line moved on to the NFL, leaving three holes to be filled by new players, including the crucial center position. The Buckeyes’ talent at the offensive skill positions will get a chance to shine only if the line holds up. It also typically takes time for a new collection of linemen to gel as a unit. We’ll be keeping an eye on the performance of the O-line tomorrow and in the coming weeks. And one of the key indicators will be whether Ohio State can convert on third-and-short with its running game.

And the third big question is the defense. Last year Ohio State’s D was gouged in its last two games of the year–the biggest games of all, against The Team Up North and eventual national champion Georgia. The D suffered perplexing big-play breakdowns that left members of Buckeye Nation scratching their heads. This year, with another year of defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ scheme and coaching under their belts, the expectation is that the defense–which also features a lot of talent–will be a lot less porous and a lot more disruptive. The D’s performance will be another focus for me in tomorrow’s game.

Starting the year with a Big Ten game, away, is unusual from a scheduling perspective, but it will present a good challenge for the new-look Buckeyes. When the kickoff happens at 3:30 tomorrow, we’ll start to see how these questions are going to get answered. Go Bucks!

Big, Bigger, Biggest

ESPN is reporting that today the Big Ten university presidents and chancellors authorized the Big Ten Commissioner, Tony Petitti, to look into the possibility of adding two new schools–specifically, Oregon and Washington–to the conference. I couldn’t help but think that the move was kind of like the college football equivalent of President Thomas Jefferson commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition, fancifully envisioned above, to head west. In this case, rather than trying to find a navigable course to the west coast, the Big Ten Commissioner will explore whether there are still more schools that can, and should, be added to the old conference now.

How big can the Big Ten get . . . and how big should the Big Ten get? It’s not the same question, of course. As for how big the Big Ten can get, there’s probably no limit. The conference is awash in money from TV contracts, and with conferences like the poor old PAC-12 apparently falling apart, why wouldn’t schools like Oregon and Washington want to join a conference that will provide them with cash and TV exposure and a chance to regularly play teams like Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State in high-stakes matchups on national TV? What’s their alternative?

As for how big the Big Ten should get, we can expect the Big Ten Commish look into TV markets and potential ad revenue for the Big Ten network as part of his analysis. The fans and the athletes might have a say, too. Athletes who are interested in maximizing the NIL value might like that additional TV exposure in a new part of the country.

As for fans like me, the conference no longer bears much resemblance to what we remember from our youth–but we’re probably not the audience the conference cares about, anyway. Do you know off the top of your head how many teams are in the Big Ten right now, if you add UCLA and USC into the mix? Other than Ohio State-Michigan, what are the “rivalries” these days, since Rutgers, and Maryland, and Nebraska joined the group? Why shouldn’t Big Ten alums who’ve moved west have the chance to see their alma maters play teams that wear fluorescent uniforms in faraway venues?

College football as it existed in the ’60s and ’70s is as outdated as rotary telephones and Nehru jackets.

I’ll always watch the Buckeyes, whoever they play; it’s part of my DNA. But it’s strange to think that the Big Ten might some day have multiple member teams on the west coast, and grow to 20 or 24, or 30 teams–or even more. The Big Ten gets ever bigger.

My First Visit To “The Game”

In the spring of 1971, my family moved from Akron to Columbus, where Dad began working as the general manager of a car dealership. He quickly recognized that everyone in Columbus, regardless of their politics, religion, or general viewpoint, could agree on one thing–Ohio State football–and he assembled a mass of season tickets to Ohio State games so he could build relationships by handing out the prized ducats to the dealership’s business partners and other managers. Fortunately for the kids in the family, Dad had enough tickets to allow us to go to the games, and I went to my first Ohio State game in the fall of 1971.

Before then, I had only been to high school football games. In Ohio, high school football is a big deal, but going to Buckeye games at Ohio Stadium was different by orders of magnitude. The massive gray stadium, the huge crowd of more than 80,000 roaring fans, the band, and the cheerleaders all made home games at Ohio State an entirely different experience. I don’t remember who Ohio State played in the first game I attended, but I was hooked immediately. And even though the Buckeyes weren’t very good that year, Ohio State fans knew that the season could be salvaged if the Men of the Scarlet and Gray could just knock off Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in their end of the season match-up. Michigan came in as a heavy favorite, but Ohio State gave them a very tough game. The Buckeyes fell just short, losing 10-7, in a game most people remember because Ohio State coach Woody Hayes, incensed that the officials didn’t call pass interference at the end of the game, tore up a yard marker and had to be physically restrained by coaches and players.

That set the stage for 1972, when the game would come to Columbus. Both Ohio State and Michigan were good that year, and it was clear that The Game would decide which team would be the Big Ten champion. I was so excited about going to The Game that I had trouble sleeping the night before and got up even earlier than normal. At Ohio Stadium, the atmosphere was electric–far more charged than at a regular Ohio State game–and the roars of the crowd when the Buckeyes made a great play were deafening. I sat in the closed end of the Stadium, right next to the scoreboard, using a single ticket that Dad had picked up. The game was a rugged, hard-hitting defensive battle, as the Ohio State-Michigan games traditionally were in those days, but the Buckeyes pulled out the win, and the joyous celebration in the Stadium when the game ended and the victory bell rang was just short of a riot. I’m pretty sure the end of that game was the first time I was hugged by an absolute stranger.

Being a sports fan has its ups and downs–Cleveland sports fans, regrettably, have lots of bitter experience with the downs–but when your team wins a big game against its archrival, the surging feeling of absolute elation is impossible to describe. I still remember that feeling from that first Ohio State-Michigan game, on a crisp autumn day in 1972. It’s hard to believe that it was 50 years ago.

The Buckeyes March On

Yesterday I joined a group that headed to Ohio Stadium to watch the Ohio State-Indiana game. On a cold and snowy day, we watched the Buckeyes pulverize the outmatched Hoosiers, 56-14. The win keeps the Men of the Scarlet and Gray undefeated and on track to be in a position to achieve their goals: beating Michigan, winning a Big Ten championship, and competing for a national title.

For the true Buckeyes fan, however, every game, no matter how lopsided, involves good points and areas of lingering concern–because true Buckeye fans hold their gridiron team to impossibly high standards. Yesterday was no exception. The good points included 660 yards of total offense, achieving a nice balance with the ground game and the air attack each racking up more than 300 yards, and five touchdown passes for C.J. Stroud. Putting up these kinds of numbers in cold, snowy conditions is an added plus, because if you play football in the Midwest in November, when the really big games occur, you’ve got to be able to move the ball in cold, sloppy weather conditions. And the Buckeyes’ defense played well, harassing the Hoosier offense throughout the game and holding Indiana to two scores (one coming when the game was well out of reach) and well under 300 yards of offense.

So what are the areas of concern? I’m still worried about Ohio State’s ability to convert in short-yardage situations. Ohio State had some failures on third-and-short yesterday, against a team that doesn’t really match up against the Buckeyes in the trenches. Long runs are great and make the rushing game statistics look good, but as the season winds down, being able to pick up the tough yards, get first downs, and keep the ball in the hands of the offense will become increasingly crucial. The key question that we’ll get answered in the very near future is: can Ohio State and its offensive line do that against a team that has a great defensive line and will make the Buckeyes fight for every yard?

With yesterday’s win, the Buckeyes move to 10-0. Next up is Maryland on the road, and looming behind is That Team Up North, which also stands at 10-0, tied with Ohio State at the top of the Big Ten East. This season is feeling a lot like past seasons, where everything is leading up to The Game once again.

Surviving The Down Game

Every college football team, it seems, has a down game. At least once a season, good football squads seem to come out flatter than a partially deflated pigskin. When you combine the down game with weather conditions that work against the more skilled team, very good teams can lose games they are expected to win.

Today’s game between Ohio State and Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois was a down game for the Buckeyes. Ohio State seemed out of sync from the first whistle, and the conditions didn’t help matters. The weather was awful, with strong winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour and rain coming sideways, making it practically impossible for the Ohio State aerial game to get started. As a result, the game became a low-scoring, hard-hitting, one-dimensional contest with each team focused on running the ball. The conditions reminded me of another down game–one I had the misfortune of watching in person–when Michigan State upset the defending national champion Buckeyes 17-14 in brutal weather conditions to keep the Men of the Scarlet and Gray from making the playoffs and defending their title.

But, unlike that Buckeyes team, this Ohio State team found a way to surmount their down game, in ridiculous conditions, on the road, and notch a win to keep themselves undefeated. They won even though C.J. Stroud’s passing statistics were pedestrian in the buffeting wind, because the offense didn’t turn the ball over, C.J. Stroud made smart plays with his legs, the Buckeyes’ run game kept plugging, and the Buckeyes’ defense avoided any breakdowns that would have made it possible for the Wildcats to spring a huge upset.

Did Ohio State look pretty, or dominant? Nope. But they won a down game, and that’s the important thing. Now it’s time to enjoy that colossal Georgia-Tennessee matchup, with the pressure off.

77

Ohio State played the Toledo Rockets, one of the best teams in the Mid-American Conference, last night. The Buckeyes were a heavy favorite, but this season many college football favorites have gone down to ignominious defeat at the hands of an underdog–and for a time, shifty and speedy Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn gave the Buckeyes’ defense fits. In a normal game, his playmaking ability would have been a cause of concern.

But this was no normal game. Finn’s heroics didn’t really matter, because the Ohio State offense played about as close to perfection as human beings can get. They scored 77 points against a pretty good team, and their offensive metrics were unbelievably gaudy. The team racked up more than 760 yards in total offense, including 482 yards passing and 281 yards rushing. The Buckeyes scored at least two touchdowns in every quarter–including four touchdowns in the first quarter and 42 points in the first half–and responded to every great play by the Rockets quarterback with another score.

If I recall correctly, the Men of the Scarlet and Gray scored on 10 of 12 possessions, with the 12th possession focused on running out the clock at the end of the game. None of the touchdowns were on fluke plays or short fields; the team repeatedly put together long drives and chunk plays that shredded the Toledo defenders. The offensive line opened big holes for Ohio State running backs, protected their quarterbacks, and had only a few modest penalties. The Buckeye starters looked great, the back-ups looked great, and the back-ups to the back-ups–including freshman running back TC Caffey, pictured above, who kept his legs moving, escaped the pile, and took a 49-yard carry to the house–looked great. Coaches always find some flaw, less-than-stellar blocking technique, or missed assignment to coach up, and I’m sure the Ohio State offensive coaches will, too–but they are going to have to truly scour the game film to find much to discuss.

The Wisconsin Badgers come to town next Saturday, and with that game the Big Ten season will begin. Playing sound defense will be a lot more important, touchdowns will no doubt be much harder to come by, and last night’s performance against Toledo will fade into the background. But while the memory is fresh, I hope Buckeye Nation pauses for a moment and appreciates just how amazing last night’s offensive performance was. It truly was a game for the record books.

An Even Bigger Big Ten

There was some pretty shocking news yesterday in the world of college sports: USC and UCLA, two of the anchor schools in the PAC-12, will be leaving that conference and joining the Big Ten. The Big Ten conference presidents and chancellors voted unanimously on Thursday to accept the applications of the two California schools, who will begin play in the Big Ten in 2024.

Why did USC and UCLA decide to leave a conference that has been their home for decades? ESPN quotes USC’s athletic director as explaining that USC “will benefit from the stability and strength of the conference; the athletic caliber of Big Ten institutions; the increased visibility, exposure, and resources the conference will bring our student-athletes and programs; and the ability to expand engagement with our passionate alumni nationwide.”

It’s pretty clear that money, branding, media exposure, and recruiting considerations also played a significant role in the decision. The Big Ten is a much stronger, wealthier conference than the PAC-12, with its own very successful TV network. The additional money provided by membership in the Big Ten will help USC and UCLA support all of its men’s and women’s programs–including those that aren’t big revenue programs–and the TV network will help with recruiting athletes in all programs and allowing them to pursue the most lucrative name, image, and likeness deals.

The announcement is jarriing for those of us who are a certain age, because USC and UCLA are the schools that the Big Ten is supposed to play in the Rose Bowl at the end of the year, not conference foes. But college athletics is rapidly changing, and you can’t blame schools like USC and UCLA for wanting to be part of the stronger and more successful team. From the Big Ten perspective, accepting USC and UCLA as members means adding two schools with significant brands, but more importantly it means opening up the California TV market for Big Ten schools and the Big Ten network. The Big Ten has been pretty judicious in its expansion decisions, so I am sure that this move was carefully studied. And I expect that the USC and UCLA people had candid conversations with representatives of Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers, to see how those schools have reacted to (and profited from) their decision to join the conference.

With the addition of USC and UCLA, the Big Ten will now have 16 teams. The two divisions will need to be reconfigured–let’s hope they don’t resurrect the lame “Legends” and “Leaders” divisional approach, by the way–and we’ll have to get used to hearing the Trojan fight song and seeing those UCLA powder blue uniforms. And Big Ten fans will have to wonder: now that the conference literally spans the country coast to coast, from New Jersey to southern California, who might be the next expansion target? Stanford? Cal? With geographic considerations clearly out the window, it could be any institution, anywhere. That’s the reality of college sports these days.

Assessing The Rutgers Discount Factor

Ohio State crushed Rutgers yesterday, 52-13. The blowout final score doesn’t really tell the story of how one-sided the game actually was. The Buckeyes scored at will in the first half, completely shut down the Rutgers offense except for one breakdown play, and went into halftime ahead 45-6. After halftime the Buckeyes scored another TD, then put in the back-ups and got pretty much everyone on the roster into the game, which prevented a really ugly score but has the positive effect of allowing the team to build depth, give your athletes game experience on the road, and protecting your first-string players from injury.

The Buckeyes offense definitely looked sharp–especially quarterback C.J. Stroud–and the defense handed the Scarlet Knights a lot of three and outs in the first half that allowed the offense to get back on the field and rack up another score. Still, the opponent was Rutgers, a team the Buckeyes have routinely pulverized. Buckeye Nation always feels good about the team after the Rutgers game, because Ohio State is 8-0 all-time against the Scarlet Knights and the closest win was last year, when Ohio State won by 22 points. Yesterday’s 52-13 score not even the most lopsided result in the series; that happened in 2016 when the Buckeyes laid a 58-0 whipping on the Knights.

So, how do you assess a big win against Rutgers? Do you focus on the statistics, or discount them because they were achieved against Rutgers, and the Buckeyes always seem to play well against that New Jersey squad? That’s the big question for head coach Ryan Day and his staff. As for me, I think there are some definite positives to take away from yesterday’s game, and I’m not going to discount them entirely due to the Rutgers factor. Here are some of key points, in my view:

• It’s a road win in the Big Ten against a team that just gave Michigan a tough game in the Big House. I don’t think the Scarlet Knights are chopped liver, and I suspect they will surprise some other teams this year. But the Buckeyes absolutely overwhelmed them. I think that’s a good sign.
• The Buckeyes defense seemed to be well prepared and in position–something that didn’t seem to be the case in the games earlier this year. Ohio State has a new defensive signal-caller, and yesterday’s game was an indication that he’s doing a good job with the scheme and the pregame preparation.
• Ohio State’s defense is going to be the big concern this year, and in my view the key is getting the players in position to make plays and avoiding the breakdowns that allowed Oregon and Tulsa players to be running free without a Buckeye in the vicinity. Those egregious breakdowns didn’t happen yesterday. You could argue that we’re talking about Rutgers, but the breakdowns happened a lot against Tulsa, too. If the right scheme is used, I trust the Ohio State players to make tackles, break up passes, and harass the quarterback, as they did yesterday.
• C.J. Stroud was terrific, going 17 for 23 for 330 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran the ball, and looked a lot more confident in his decision-making. He was accurate and decisive, which are key attributes for the quarterback in an Ohio State offense that is loaded with talent. The modern college game, like the modern pro game, is focused on the quarterback, and I think the Buckeyes have another good one in C.J.
• A college football season is a process, because personnel are always shifting and new players go through growing pains. The whole Ohio State team looked more settled and comfortable yesterday; the reps and game experience are having an impact. We’ll know more about how that process is going after next week when the Buckeyes take on Maryland–a team that has given Ohio State fits in recent years.

On To The CFP

It was nail-biting time for members of Buckeye Nation at about 9:30 ET last night.  A talented and gritty team from Wisconsin came out swinging in the Big Ten championship game, and when the Badgers scored an improbable touchdown to go up 21-7 at the end of the first half Ohio State fans had visions of past disasters against Iowa and Purdue dancing in their heads.  But the Buckeyes made adjustments at halftime and righted the ship, scoring 27 points and shutting Wisconsin out in the second half to win, 34-21, and take home their third straight Big Ten crown.  Although the Buckeyes ultimately won by double digits, the Badgers fought until the final minute, and held the high-powered Ohio State offense to two field goals when touchdowns would have put the game out of reach.

As the seconds ticked down to zero, I thought that Ohio State had been truly tested by a very good football team, and that the Big Ten championship game had taught us something about this Ohio State team — they don’t wilt in the face of real adversity on a big stage, the coaches and players are adept at making adjustments and game plan modifications under pressure, and the whole team can draw upon an ample reserve of inner toughness and guttiness.  And we also learned, again, that head coach Ryan Day has a bit of riverboat gambler in him, as his fake punt call showed.  Ohio State should be grateful to Wisconsin for making the Buckeyes draw deep and for providing a very stern test that will foreshadow what lies ahead.  Last night’s game showed why fans of the Big Ten like the conference and its particular, hard-hitting brand of football — which continued up until the final play, when the Ohio State defense gave the Wisconsin quarterback a tooth-rattling hit as the clock ran out.

Although things looked dicey at halftime, by winning Ohio State undoubtedly punched its ticket for the College Football Playoffs.  The big question to be answered by the CFP Selection Committee in a few hours is whether the Buckeyes will go in at number one or number two — or even number three, and that’s what the talking heads on ESPN and Fox Sports will be debating this morning.  I may be alone in this, but I really don’t care where the Buckeyes end up.  Ohio State clearly is an excellent unbeaten team, but so are LSU and Clemson — and I think all of this talk about “resumes” and “performances against Top 25 teams” and various weird computer metrics is kind of silly when the questions about who is more deserving will be resolved with actual games in about three weeks.  I also think such argument just puffs teams up — and that might not be good in the long run.  If I were Oklahoma, the likely number four seed and a great team in its own right, all of the talk about how important it is for other teams to make it to number one so they can play the Sooners rather than somebody else would be doing nothing except providing motivation and some prime locker room bulletin board material.

The reality is that there are many very good, well-coached teams in college football — Wisconsin is one of them, by the way — and if you’re going to win the national championship you’re going to need to beat a bunch of them.  Regardless of exactly who the top four teams are or where they are ranked, they’re going to need to beat two more great teams to get to the ultimate goal.  If Ohio State ends up playing Clemson in the first playoff game — and thereby lines up with a team that is the defending national champion and has never lost to the Buckeyes and pulverized them in the playoffs a few years ago — there is no chance that Ohio State will not go into that game emotionally pumped and ready to play.  That’s what I want to see.

So the selection show and final seedings announced today will be interesting, but I’m more focused on the fact that the Buckeyes won a very challenging game, are Big Ten champions, maintain their perfect record, and are moving on with a chance to get to their goal.  The members of Buckeye Nation are grateful that we get to watch the Men of the Scarlet and Gray continue their quest to be the best.

Enjoying The Day After

There’s something magical about the day after the Ohio State-Michigan game — when your team wins, that is.

This year, the Buckeyes crushed the Wolverines, 56-27.  And, they did it at the Big House, in a game where Michigan came in playing their best football, with a chance to ruin Ohio State’s season and atone for years of losses.  For a time, Michigan looked like it could play with the Buckeyes . . . but eventually the Michigan mistakes piled up, the Wolverine defense had no answer for the multi-dimensional Ohio State offense, and before you knew it Ohio State had sprinted to a 20-point lead and the game was effectively out of hand.  By the end of the game, the camera was showing sad Michigan fan faces, and the “OH – IO” chant was reverberating around Michigan Stadium thanks to the hardy members of Buckeye Nation who went to support their team in enemy territory.

For Michigan, it’s the kind of brutal loss that sticks with a team and a program and a fan base, and leaves them searching for a way forward and wondering when — if ever — the pain will end.  For Ohio State fans who spent their own time in the desert during the ’90s, those shots of sad Michigan faces, and the message board and YouTube rants of disappointed Michigan fans, will always be sweet.

As I watched The Game with Russell, I mentioned how different the rivalry is now from when I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s.  In those days, the Ohio State-Michigan game was typically a tough defensive struggle between two evenly matched teams.  In the last two years, in contrast, Ohio State has scored 118 points and beaten Michigan by more than three touchdowns each year.  Ohio State has now triumphed over the Wolverines eight years in a row and 15 out of 16.  It’s amazing.

I’ll take it.