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Offense -
What a difference a year and half makes. It wasn't too long ago that Ohio State's offense was beating it's head against the wall trying to run an offense that featured only 2 WRs in patterns and I-Formation. While I love I-Formation football, it was apparent we were without the bruising FB and OL to make it work effectively. Towards the end of last year, the coaches finally decided to invest in the future by evolving the attack to a more wide open and diverse offense. We saw more of that yesterday in Ohio Stadium. In fact, we saw more 3 and 4 WR sets than anytime in recent memory. We saw more varied formations that at any point in the Jim Tressel era. It was refreshing and effective. Before the starters were pulled in the 3rd quarter, Ohio State had systematically driven up and down the field on Miami--a defense that returned 7 from a unit that ranked in the Top 30 for Total D.
Justin Zwick was particularly effective most of the day. He showed command of the offense and was named ABC's Player of the Game for Ohio State. While Ohio State opened the game by scoring on their first drive, it could have ended in a much different way. Many forget that Zwick nearly threw an INT on the first drive after a pass to a crossing Roy Hall bounced off the chest/head gear of a Miami linebacker. Fortunately, the ball fell incomplete and we moved in for the score. For the day, Zwick finished with 155 yards on 17-23 throwing, 1 TD and 1 INT. Todd Boeckman replaced Zwick after the score had grown to 27-0 and he simply threw a stike to Ted Ginn, after Ginn had ran the most impressive route of his career.
The rushing attack saw Pittman rip off some big gains early in the game. Antonio seems to have a gift for cutback lanes and or exploding through the hole. He definitely showed more strength once first contact was made and he even drug a few tacklers for additional yardage. Schnittker was solid but unspectacular as he recorded his first rushing TD of his career. Maurice Wells is cursed with thinking he can bounce everything outside like he could in high school. That doesn't work as much at this level. One thing that continues to be glaringly absent from the Ohio State rushing attack is the simple Toss play. For years it's been said the toss vanished because our OL wasn't athletic enough to carry out the assignments. Now, we have the most athletic OL in years (and perhaps one the most athletic in college football) and yet nary a toss play. This should be a staple of an attack especially with a back like Pittman who excels in the open field.
Santonio Holmes, Ted Ginn, Roy Hall and Tony Gonzalez all flourished in the semi-spread attack. There should be no question that Santonio Holmes is, by far, the most polished of the bunch. His YAC continues to be one of the least talked about attributes of his game. One must not also forget that he drew a pass interference call during the game, which most likely would have been a TD without the contact. It's my hope we see a bit more verticality as the season progresses. Throwing horizontially to the LOS gets a bit scary after a while and Miami started to jump it as well. With all of the new formations, many of which showcase players in the backfield or various other "odd" spots it will be important that we have enough men on the LOS.
The offensive line was not not dominating but did enough to get the QBs time to throw. Only 1 recorded sack by Miami if memory serves. I paid close attention to Rob Sims much of the game. I wanted to see how he adjusted to playing LG. I thought he was effective, but also noted he was a little 'new' to pulling around. He ran into blockers a couple of times trying to get to the point of attack. One case in particular, caused the play to breakdown completely. The LT spots seems to be one that is very much up for grabs. Datish and Rehring split time during the game. I saw Rehring make some impressive seals to spring runners. Datish is impressive for his versatility.
Overall, I mark this group with 3 Buckeye leaves. As far as first games go, it was a solid showing. The 1s could have racked up 500 yards and 40+ points which is encouraging against a pretty decent Miami D. I hope to see improved blocking especially on the swing passes and we must not settle on FGs as often as we do.
Defense -
For this game, I rank this unit with 4 Buckeye Leaves. Being that it was the first game under a new DC and under a new DB coach, I think they played as well as expected. After OSU drove to a score on their opening possession, Miami actually did move the ball fairly well themselves with their first drive. That was quickly shored up and a punt forced. One thing that was readily apparent is our aggresiveness. We were as attacking as we've been in the Tressel era. In the first 17 minutes of the game, Coach Heacock called for at least 3 corner blitzes. I'd be hard pressed to believe that's been done in the last 5 years. During the telecast, ABC showed a statistical comparison of the 2004 defensive production compared to 2002 & 2003. I think this was somewhat unfair and certainly didn't tell the whole story,
most namely the number of returning starters for each year. I have duplicated those numbers but added a 4th column that shows that the 2004 team had lost over 60% of their starting crew (see graphic to the left). I have highlighted the sacks and RushD numbers from 2004 as they are dramatically different that what 2002 and 2003 brought. But, I also circled one of the main culprits for the dropoff. It is also important to point out that the 2002 and 2003 defensives were some of the best we've seen in Ohio State history. This year we return 9 starters from last year and I expect to see the numbers improve dramatically as a result.In fact, we saw an immediate difference in this first game. With only 1:47 left in the 1st half, Ohio State had held Miami to 49 yards, while gaining 247. Similarly, our rush D had held Miami to -5 at that half. Impressive.
Donte Whitner, in my opinion, set the tone in the first half with a solo sack, he was "in" on a 2nd sack and of course, The Play of the Week, when he took a Josh Betts pass back for a TD. The defensive ends were active and Mike Kudla probably had his best overall game as a Buckeye. Interior D Line play improved as the game went on which is notable because they were surprisingly quiet in the first 30 minutes.
Although the play was extremely good, it wasn't without areas of improvement. While the game, generated 5 sacks for Ohio State, the first 4 sacks were from LBs and DBs. The fifth sack was a monster hit by Kudla. Jay Richardson also got in a few good shots just as the QB threw the ball and it's clear to me, Jay is our other starting defensive end. Patterson is DT.
Special Teams -
Josh Huston did not surprise me in his peformance. Most kickoffs were deep and unreturnable and his FG kicking was perfect. AJ Trapasso only got off 2 punts and both were adequate. Punt and kick returning was just average however and they did lose a Malcolm Jenkins fumble which led the Miami's 2nd TD.
Speaking of returns, we again saw the "Ginn Effect" on Miami's first punt. It was clear that Miami's punter was directed to kick away from Ted but in doing so shanked the punt altogether. This has now happened in the last 2 games dating back to the Alamo Bowl v. Okie State.
::Other Notes & Observations::
* Did anyone else notice an equipment difference in the Ohio State uniforms? I have included a side-by-side comparison of the type of pants Ohio State used v. Miami. Typically, Ohio State has sported a Nike pant that has a "sheen" or "shine" to it. Yesterday, that was absent. Take a look for yourselves below. I made certain to get both pics while the player was in the sun and facing the camera. Anyone have the story?
*As mentioned above, Miami should not be so easily discounted. I know many fans haven't discounted them but some have. Miami returned 15 starters from a team that ranked in the Top 30 in the NCAA both offensively and defensively. That's impressive.
*AJ Hawk, Anthony Schlegel and Bobby Carpenter each recorded a sack yesterday.
*Antonio Pittman's numbers were excellent (7.1 carry/ave) but the most impressive play was when he drove back all everything LB Terna Nande. Nande will be playing on Sunday's and Pittman drove him backwards for 4 yards to get a first down.
*An All-Points-Bulletin has been issued for Marcel Frost and Eric Haw. Haw is not all that unsual. When you get caught smoking a fatty in broad daylight don't expect to play without missing time. But, Frost? Where was he? Or is he just a practice legend like Bam Childress?
*There has been lots of talk about Justin Zwick's INT. First, Antonio Pittman was not in the game. Brandon Schnittker was the backfield. Coach Tressel said the play was a miscommunication from the beginning; Brandon thought it was a swing pass. Zwick did not have pressure in his face before he cut off his "option" look. The throw should have been to AA deck, rather than to Miami's corner. A bad decision and play all around.
*I believe our blocking on some of the swing passes to Ginn and on punt returns was horrid. It was almost like there was no blocking at all.
*Another OSU defensive statistic: Only 13 first downs given up by the 4th quarter when the starters were pulled for the 2nd & 3rd teamers andwalk-ons.
*Although we should spread often yesterday, I-Formation will still be key for us as we move forward. We must be able to line up in the I to get small yardage situations. Additionally, it is a powerful tool for play action and we saw evidence for this when, from I-Formation, Zwick went deep for Santonio. Holmes drew the pass interference call because he had beaten the DB.
*Donte Whitner had a stat filled day but so did Mike Kudla. Kudla was effective from both sides of the defensive line. He appears to be our best defensive end at this point and the sack on Betts in the 3rd quarter? That was a monster hit. Don't forget he also forced a fumble on that play too.