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Offense -
Well, we rolled up over 300 yards on the ground, 420+ in all and so we've officially found Buckeye Nirvana? Not quite. It still must be pointed out that Northwestern is last in the country in total D (at least they were heading into Ohio State. If we helped them move up, well, that's not so good is it?). I'm normally not the kind of person who likes to discount performances by pointing out weakness in the opposition, but NW's D cannot be overlooked. They are horrible. Still, it takes someone and something to create yards and that was Antonio Pittman and the Buckeye offense. After all, over 300 rushing yards isn't something to sneeze at. Pittman was again effective, although nicked in the first quarter with back and hip problems. True frosh Maurice Wells looked above average as well.
Troy Smith was hot and cold. Of his last 5 games or so, probably his weakest of the bunch. Still, he did start 5/6 for 50 yards but finished 7/12 for 77. What cannot be overlooked his his fumble recovery on our first possession. That was a crucial play and, had he not recovered, could have easily positioned NW to go on top 14-0.
I award 3 Buckeye Leaves based mostly on run production. Passing game was off and we worked too often from the shotgun IMO.
Defense -
Plain and simple, a dominating performance with an ugly start. NW went 80 yards in 2:26 to open the game with a TD. Perhaps most disappointing was the 3rd and 19 they converted to keep their drive alive. However, this was just about the only bad thing that happened to the D. Following the NW TD, the Silver Bullets shut down Basanez and the NW offense. AJ Hawk wrapped up the Butkus with his 8 tackle, 1 sack, 1 FF and 1 TD performance. The seniors, most especially, the LB corp will be sadly missed next year.
This performance by the D was also a welcome sight considering their poor performance v. Minnesota. NW came into Ohio Stadium with a Top 10 offense and could only muster a little over 200 yards. The Buckeyes missed their 6th sub-200 yard game by a fraction. It was the lowest output all year by NW. In the secondary, of particular note was Tyler Everett. Everett returned from a neck strain suffered 3 weeks ago and he played very well. We did not see Malcolm Jenkins because of a nagging injury but mostly because IMO, it was senior day and JT was going to let Tyler play all he wanted.
The only thing that docked this effort by the D was the opening TD drive. It just happened too quickly and too easily.
Special Teams -
I mentioned in on the front page: Josh Huston has been stellar. He will not win the Groza Award for two reason: we won it last year and he hasn't made any of his attempts beyond 50. Still, he's been borderline amazing when factoring in his KOs.
Without question, the highlight of the day was Quinn Pitcock's blocked punt and AJ's subsequent return for a TD. That play essentially put the game out of reach and it's why I selected it for the Play of the Week. However, this group only gets docked because of two missed KOs (unplanned squibs by Huston) and because we did allow a return to our 45 yardline on the last kickoff.
::Other Thoughts & Observations::
* Donte Whitner went out of the game late with an injury. The Dispatch referenced it but it shouldn't be an issue. We do seem to have a lot of key players nursing injuries of some sort: Marcus Green (ankle), Tyler Everett (neck), AJ Hawk (ankle and calf), Bobby Carpenter (right knee and shoulder), Whitner (shoulder), Barton (knee), Jenkins (knee?), etc...
* After complaining about the lack of toss sweeps in our arsenal, we have been blessed with an abundance of them in recent weeks. V. NW, I cannot recall that many toss sweeps in one game since BGSU in 2003. Good to see and they were effective almost every time.
* Get Ready for The Game!