Musings from the Coast

Brian Robiskie had 9 catches for 153 yards
Brian Robiskie has a big day against YSU hauling in 9 catches for 153 yards.

Photo Credit: Bucknuts

No one really expected that YSU would give the Buckeyes much of a challenge. Then again, no one expected Appalachian State to beat the Skunkbears…..but I digress. In the preview of this game last week, I predicted at 37-16 win for Ohio State. It would appear the defense over achived relative to my expectations.

The Good

Todd Boeckman’s debut – 17/23 for 222 yards and 2 TDs, 2 sacks for -17 yards, 1 fumble lost (on the Offensive Line from a blindside shot.)
Only one sustained drive for YSU leading to 3 points, one short field off a turnover, again YSU held to 3 points.
Special teams were sharp, all phases of the kicking and return games looked good.
The team looked sharper than I expected, YSU never gave up and played a good game.
For all of the complaints about recruiting last year, the Freshman showed up! Dane Sanzenbacher, Taurian Washington, and Brandon Saine all scored touchdowns in their first game for the Bucks.
It’s said that the biggest improvement is made between weeks 1 and 2 for college football – there are certainly some lessons to be learned from this game.
The Big 10 Network is a hit on the West coast, I can now see the games I couldn’t see before (like OSU/YSU!)
Ohio State won the game!

The Bad

Red zone running. With all due respect to YSU who played their hearts out, their D Line isn’t anything like what OSU will see later in the year. If the Bucks are having difficulty picking up a couple of yards against YSU, they’ll get stopped stone cold against competition later in the year.
The Offensive Line was offensive in the first half in particular on run blocking. Though for the most part, pass protection was good excepting the blindside hit on Boeckman leading to 3 YSU points.
Penalties. Nine of them for 48 yards. The yardage wasn’t so bad, but nine penalties signals to me that the team is not yet in sync. Shame on you Dionte Johnson for two false starts – you’re a captain!
Beanie Wells did not show well in this game, aside from one 20 yard scramble in the second half, he’s not looking like the same back we saw last year. Now is this offensive line play? Is it the time missed in the Spring Game and Fall Scimmage due to injury? Who knows, but Beanie is going to need to regain form for OSU to have a winning year.
It’s hard to call a defensive performance “bad” when the opponent scores on 6 points and is held below 100 yards in the passing and 100 yards in the running game. But the defense looked a little flat – particularly on the 81 yard drive YSU put together mid-second quarter resulting in 3 points.

The Ugly

Defensive end Lawrence Wilson broke his right leg in the first half. Given that the D line is inexperienced and not as deep as perhaps many would like, this is extremely bad news.
The Big 10 network didn’t get deals done with the big cable operators in the midwest, thus many did not see the Buckeyes play and win.
Michigan’s loss to I-AA Appalachian State. Congrats Mountaineers, but this isn’t good for the B10, Michigan, or Ohio State. For general purposes I want all Buckeye opponents to win when not playing OSU to create a good strength of schedule. Losing to ASU is not going to help. Now, no matter what, Michigan must be prevented from winning a B10 championship. Given their fragile mental state and performance of their defense, I’ll call for PSU, MSU, Wisconsin, and OSU to beat them this year. I think they fold their tents and go home.

Well, that’s it for this post-game report. I’ll post another entry tomorrow on how all the Buckeyes opponents faired tomorrow. GO BUCKS!