Happy Monday, everyone.
Grab a cup of coffee and some breakfast. Here's what I'm thinking about heading into this week.
Two days after the game, and I’m still thinking about what C.J. Stroud did against Rutgers.
The Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback didn’t only return to the field with a rejuvenated shoulder. We saw a different quarterback out there on Saturday afternoon: cool, calm, collected and confident. He was composed, not hesitating from finding tight end Jeremy Ruckert in the middle of the field on a 19-yard post when a Rutgers defensive end ran at him on his blind side. He was a leader. He was what Ohio State head coach Ryan Day wanted out of his starting quarterback.
And while yards-after-catch isn’t the end all, be all for stats, it did show something Saturday afternoon.
Ohio State receivers recorded 183 yards after catch compared to 333 total passing yards — 330 of which were C.J. Stroud’s. Let’s take a step further. Chris Olave had a field day against the Rutgers pass defense with 119 yards on five catches. Forty four of those yards came after the catch, showing that Stroud found Olave at the right place at the right time, in stride and in tight windows.
Look at these stats: 17-23, 330 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, no sacks. When blitzed, Stroud completed seven of nine attempts for 116 yards and three touchdowns.
These are the stats of a veteran quarterback.
After the game, one of Day’s main talking points was about how this team didn’t have the excuse of youth anymore. It was five games into the season. For players who had never played a snap of college football, for players who had never seen consistent playing time, the head coach feels five games is enough to see what he has.
Stroud is a veteran quarterback now. And with an experienced offense, that really could change everything for Ohio State.
What does this mean for TreVeyon Henderson?
If anything, Stroud’s potential only heightens the potential of the run game as a whole.
After the game, Day talked about how Big Ten teams now have “film” on Stroud and can put plans in place to stop him differently based on what worked against the Scarlet Knights pass defense.
Simply, opposing defenses will have to watch for the pass much like Rutgers looked to contain freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson and the rest of the Ohio State run game Saturday.
The Buckeyes offense didn’t need Henderson to be superhuman like he was against Tulsa and Akron, averaging more than 11 yards per touch. But the freshman did look human at times against the Scarlet Knights. Other than a 44-yard touchdown, helped by a beautiful, gaping hole by Ruckert and OT Nicholas Petit-Frere, Henderson was held in check for 27 yards on his final seven carries of the game: a “human” 3.9 yards per carry.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Ohio State run game didn’t have much room to work with in the run game, with the offensive line putting together its worst run-blocking performance of the season, grading out at 63.8 compared to the 80 average the unit game into the day with.
But Henderson saw a glimpse of what the passing game could be. He played his part early, setting the tone on the offense’s second play from scrimmage with his touchdown run. He also saw Marcus Crowley get involved in the pass game with a 21-yard swing pass, starting a streak of seven-straight completions for Stroud seeping into the second quarter.
The balance Day is seeking doesn’t expect for both the pass and run game to be superhuman every night. But if it continues to develop a passing game, Ohio State is creating a look where opposing defenses will have to watch for the home-run play on the ground and through the air.
But Ohio State’s offense still has the stats to prove it.
Through five games, the Buckeyes have the No. 2 offense in the country, averaging 553.4 yards per game, exactly one yard behind Pitt.
This is the highest average for Ohio State since 2018 when the offense set the Big Ten record with 535.6 yards per game.
Ohio State is one of two teams in the country that average more than eight yards per play, along with Coastal Carolina.
However, the Buckeyes are seventh in total touchdowns with 26, sitting behind Pitt (34), Coastal Carolina (31), SMU (29), Fresno State (29), Texas (28) and Alabama (27).
Let’s quickly take a deep dive on Ohio State’s defense.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Buckeyes had its best game of the year defensively, grading the unit out at 81.1, nearly four points higher than Week 4 against Akron. The site also rated the rush defense — allowing 3.6 yards per rush and only one carry above 12 yards — and the pass coverage as the best performances of the season.
But Ohio State struggled mightily tackling in open space.
The Buckeyes missed 21 tackles as a team against the Scarlet Knights. Let’s put that in perspective. According to PFF, here are Ohio State’s missed tackle totals in the past four games.
Akron: 10
Tulsa: 8
Oregon — a loss: 6
Minnesota: 9
So who was the main culprit? Linebacker Cade Kacherski struggled in his 21 snaps, missing three tackles in the middle of the field. Lathan Ransom, Lejond Cavazos and Teradja Mitchell each missed two and 12 other players recorded one.
Even as Ohio State continues to refine its scheme, seeing whether two safeties work better than one or what combination of linebackers work best in the middle, the game of football simply comes down to blocking and tackling. And against a better team, that could have hurt the Buckeyes tremendously.
But you know who didn’t struggle with tackling? Ronnie Hickman.
The safety was tremendous again for the Buckeyes Saturday, accumulating 12 tackles — seven solo. Ronnie Hickman was tied with Tommy Eichenberg with three stops against Rutgers, second-most on the day behind Cody Simon’s four.
With a team-leading 44 snaps, Hickman did not miss a single tackle against Rutgers. Neither did Denzel Burke, J.T. Tuimoloau, Zach Harrison, Sevyn Banks or Ty Hamilton, in terms of players who played more than 30 snaps for the Buckeye defense Saturday.
Hickman, who earned Ohio State’s defensive player of the week award, has missed four tackles all season, and has not missed one in the past two games.
The sophomore seems to only be getting better as the season goes on, representing a pass defense that’s young, but seems to be forming an identity in the back with Burke and Cameron Martinez.
Let’s take a look at Ohio State’s path moving forward.
We talked a little bit about this when the AP and the USA Today Coaches Poll was released Sunday afternoon, but here’s a look at Ohio State’s remaining schedule for the regular season:
Week 6: Maryland
Week 7: Open
Week 8: at Indiana
Week 9: Penn State
Week 10: at Nebraska
Week 11: Michigan State
Week 12: at Michigan
Right now, it seems like Ohio State has three weeks to get right before the first real test against Penn State. The Nittany Lions start the gauntlet of three top-11 teams — according to this week’s polls — in four weeks with a possible fourth in Iowa if things go well enough for a Big Ten title game berth.
Both polls seem to love the Big Ten right now. All five conference teams in the top-25 in each of the major polls are in the top 11 spots heading into Week 6, While the SEC has seven teams in the top 25 of the AP poll, its only two in the top 10 are in the top two spots: Alabama and Georgia.
So what does this say? Nothing new really. The Big Ten seems to be in a prime position to earn a College Football Playoff spot. Only one team within the conference has the possibility of going undefeated. However, if Ohio State ends 2021 with one loss and a conference championship against these four teams currently in the top 11, who says no?
Time to take a look at how that team up north did this week.
Michigan took home its first win against WIsconsin since 2001 with a 38-17 drubbing of the Badgers in Madison.
The Wolverines scored 12 points from Jake Moody field goals, adding three passing touchdowns from Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy — who threw a 56-yard touchdown to Daylen Baldwin on his only pass attempt in the fourth quarter.
The Michigan run game was contained, as Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum combined for 83 yards on 34 carries — a 2.4-yard average; nothing shocking facing the conference’s top rush defense.
It was the Michigan defense that secured the victory, recording six sacks, leading toward an average of 1.3 yards per carry. Linebacker David Ojabo was insane, recording seven tackles, including 2.5 sacks. No Badger back got above 20 yards on the ground.
Michigan now has the third-best defense in the Big Ten, allowing an average of 12.8 points per game and 284.4 yards per game, along with 4.5 yards per play.
So what’s next for Ohio State?
Oof.
Maryland struggled against Iowa. I mean riding the struggle bus all day long kind of struggle.
What went wrong? Simply, turnovers. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa threw five interceptions against a Hawkeye defense that came out of the week leading the country in interceptions (12), turnovers (16) and turnover margin (2.4).
Also, Maryland’s defense was feasted on by Iowa QB Spencer Petras, who recorded his third-straight 200-yard game, throwing three touchdowns and rushing for two more against the Terrapins.
This is a prime set up for another bloodbath, opening with Ohio State as a 21-point favorite according to Vegas Insider.
Unless…
Why does Tagovailoa have me worried?
OK, hear me out. Ohio State does have ball-hawking ability. It had three interceptions against Rutgers — nearly a fourth by Cameron Martinez on a Rutgers fake punt in the first drive of the game. It had five pass breakups as well.
But the Iowa game was seemingly an outlier for a junior that has been clicking all season, coming into Week 6 with a 90 passer grade by Pro Football Focus.
Through the first four games of the season, Tagovailoa threw nine touchdowns and one interception with 1,340 passing yards. Yes, opponents have something to do with that — West Virginia, Howard, Kent State and Illinois.
But he knows the stats he can put up. Facing a pass defense that has allowed 251.4 passing yards per game — third-worst in the Big Ten — with 6.7 yards per try and eight touchdowns, this is a prime set up for a bounce-back game.
I might be crazy, though. But I know one thing for sure: Ohio State’s not getting five interceptions from Tagovailoa next Saturday.
“OK, stop rambling. Give us your song of the week.”
I’ve waited two weeks. I couldn’t wait any longer.
I love Phish.
Yes, it was the car trip to Rutgers. Eight hours is a long time to spend in a car even though I have plenty of experience being from Houston and having to drive nine hours to see my brother in Amarillo.
But time flies with concert soundboards. This time, it was Nov. 28, 1997: a show from Worcester, MA.
It’s a band I saw for the first time this year, traveling to Indianapolis and Denver to catch four shows in its 2021 summer tour. The four-piece from Burlington, Vermont did not disappoint, but I won’t bore you with the details.
Here’s the song that for this week: Slave to the Traffic Light from A Live One. With 17 words forming the lyrics, this is a song that lives and breathes by its build. It’s breathtaking, taking the listener every which way and growing into this bombastic climax that leaves me floored every time.
Let this set the tone for your week.
Grab a cup of coffee and some breakfast. Here's what I'm thinking about heading into this week.
Two days after the game, and I’m still thinking about what C.J. Stroud did against Rutgers.
The Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback didn’t only return to the field with a rejuvenated shoulder. We saw a different quarterback out there on Saturday afternoon: cool, calm, collected and confident. He was composed, not hesitating from finding tight end Jeremy Ruckert in the middle of the field on a 19-yard post when a Rutgers defensive end ran at him on his blind side. He was a leader. He was what Ohio State head coach Ryan Day wanted out of his starting quarterback.
And while yards-after-catch isn’t the end all, be all for stats, it did show something Saturday afternoon.
Ohio State receivers recorded 183 yards after catch compared to 333 total passing yards — 330 of which were C.J. Stroud’s. Let’s take a step further. Chris Olave had a field day against the Rutgers pass defense with 119 yards on five catches. Forty four of those yards came after the catch, showing that Stroud found Olave at the right place at the right time, in stride and in tight windows.
Look at these stats: 17-23, 330 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, no sacks. When blitzed, Stroud completed seven of nine attempts for 116 yards and three touchdowns.
These are the stats of a veteran quarterback.
After the game, one of Day’s main talking points was about how this team didn’t have the excuse of youth anymore. It was five games into the season. For players who had never played a snap of college football, for players who had never seen consistent playing time, the head coach feels five games is enough to see what he has.
Stroud is a veteran quarterback now. And with an experienced offense, that really could change everything for Ohio State.
What does this mean for TreVeyon Henderson?
If anything, Stroud’s potential only heightens the potential of the run game as a whole.
After the game, Day talked about how Big Ten teams now have “film” on Stroud and can put plans in place to stop him differently based on what worked against the Scarlet Knights pass defense.
Simply, opposing defenses will have to watch for the pass much like Rutgers looked to contain freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson and the rest of the Ohio State run game Saturday.
The Buckeyes offense didn’t need Henderson to be superhuman like he was against Tulsa and Akron, averaging more than 11 yards per touch. But the freshman did look human at times against the Scarlet Knights. Other than a 44-yard touchdown, helped by a beautiful, gaping hole by Ruckert and OT Nicholas Petit-Frere, Henderson was held in check for 27 yards on his final seven carries of the game: a “human” 3.9 yards per carry.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Ohio State run game didn’t have much room to work with in the run game, with the offensive line putting together its worst run-blocking performance of the season, grading out at 63.8 compared to the 80 average the unit game into the day with.
But Henderson saw a glimpse of what the passing game could be. He played his part early, setting the tone on the offense’s second play from scrimmage with his touchdown run. He also saw Marcus Crowley get involved in the pass game with a 21-yard swing pass, starting a streak of seven-straight completions for Stroud seeping into the second quarter.
The balance Day is seeking doesn’t expect for both the pass and run game to be superhuman every night. But if it continues to develop a passing game, Ohio State is creating a look where opposing defenses will have to watch for the home-run play on the ground and through the air.
But Ohio State’s offense still has the stats to prove it.
Through five games, the Buckeyes have the No. 2 offense in the country, averaging 553.4 yards per game, exactly one yard behind Pitt.
This is the highest average for Ohio State since 2018 when the offense set the Big Ten record with 535.6 yards per game.
Ohio State is one of two teams in the country that average more than eight yards per play, along with Coastal Carolina.
However, the Buckeyes are seventh in total touchdowns with 26, sitting behind Pitt (34), Coastal Carolina (31), SMU (29), Fresno State (29), Texas (28) and Alabama (27).
Let’s quickly take a deep dive on Ohio State’s defense.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Buckeyes had its best game of the year defensively, grading the unit out at 81.1, nearly four points higher than Week 4 against Akron. The site also rated the rush defense — allowing 3.6 yards per rush and only one carry above 12 yards — and the pass coverage as the best performances of the season.
But Ohio State struggled mightily tackling in open space.
The Buckeyes missed 21 tackles as a team against the Scarlet Knights. Let’s put that in perspective. According to PFF, here are Ohio State’s missed tackle totals in the past four games.
Akron: 10
Tulsa: 8
Oregon — a loss: 6
Minnesota: 9
So who was the main culprit? Linebacker Cade Kacherski struggled in his 21 snaps, missing three tackles in the middle of the field. Lathan Ransom, Lejond Cavazos and Teradja Mitchell each missed two and 12 other players recorded one.
Even as Ohio State continues to refine its scheme, seeing whether two safeties work better than one or what combination of linebackers work best in the middle, the game of football simply comes down to blocking and tackling. And against a better team, that could have hurt the Buckeyes tremendously.
But you know who didn’t struggle with tackling? Ronnie Hickman.
The safety was tremendous again for the Buckeyes Saturday, accumulating 12 tackles — seven solo. Ronnie Hickman was tied with Tommy Eichenberg with three stops against Rutgers, second-most on the day behind Cody Simon’s four.
With a team-leading 44 snaps, Hickman did not miss a single tackle against Rutgers. Neither did Denzel Burke, J.T. Tuimoloau, Zach Harrison, Sevyn Banks or Ty Hamilton, in terms of players who played more than 30 snaps for the Buckeye defense Saturday.
Hickman, who earned Ohio State’s defensive player of the week award, has missed four tackles all season, and has not missed one in the past two games.
The sophomore seems to only be getting better as the season goes on, representing a pass defense that’s young, but seems to be forming an identity in the back with Burke and Cameron Martinez.
Let’s take a look at Ohio State’s path moving forward.
We talked a little bit about this when the AP and the USA Today Coaches Poll was released Sunday afternoon, but here’s a look at Ohio State’s remaining schedule for the regular season:
Week 6: Maryland
Week 7: Open
Week 8: at Indiana
Week 9: Penn State
Week 10: at Nebraska
Week 11: Michigan State
Week 12: at Michigan
Right now, it seems like Ohio State has three weeks to get right before the first real test against Penn State. The Nittany Lions start the gauntlet of three top-11 teams — according to this week’s polls — in four weeks with a possible fourth in Iowa if things go well enough for a Big Ten title game berth.
Both polls seem to love the Big Ten right now. All five conference teams in the top-25 in each of the major polls are in the top 11 spots heading into Week 6, While the SEC has seven teams in the top 25 of the AP poll, its only two in the top 10 are in the top two spots: Alabama and Georgia.
So what does this say? Nothing new really. The Big Ten seems to be in a prime position to earn a College Football Playoff spot. Only one team within the conference has the possibility of going undefeated. However, if Ohio State ends 2021 with one loss and a conference championship against these four teams currently in the top 11, who says no?
Time to take a look at how that team up north did this week.
Michigan took home its first win against WIsconsin since 2001 with a 38-17 drubbing of the Badgers in Madison.
The Wolverines scored 12 points from Jake Moody field goals, adding three passing touchdowns from Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy — who threw a 56-yard touchdown to Daylen Baldwin on his only pass attempt in the fourth quarter.
The Michigan run game was contained, as Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum combined for 83 yards on 34 carries — a 2.4-yard average; nothing shocking facing the conference’s top rush defense.
It was the Michigan defense that secured the victory, recording six sacks, leading toward an average of 1.3 yards per carry. Linebacker David Ojabo was insane, recording seven tackles, including 2.5 sacks. No Badger back got above 20 yards on the ground.
Michigan now has the third-best defense in the Big Ten, allowing an average of 12.8 points per game and 284.4 yards per game, along with 4.5 yards per play.
So what’s next for Ohio State?
Oof.
Maryland struggled against Iowa. I mean riding the struggle bus all day long kind of struggle.
What went wrong? Simply, turnovers. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa threw five interceptions against a Hawkeye defense that came out of the week leading the country in interceptions (12), turnovers (16) and turnover margin (2.4).
Also, Maryland’s defense was feasted on by Iowa QB Spencer Petras, who recorded his third-straight 200-yard game, throwing three touchdowns and rushing for two more against the Terrapins.
This is a prime set up for another bloodbath, opening with Ohio State as a 21-point favorite according to Vegas Insider.
Unless…
Why does Tagovailoa have me worried?
OK, hear me out. Ohio State does have ball-hawking ability. It had three interceptions against Rutgers — nearly a fourth by Cameron Martinez on a Rutgers fake punt in the first drive of the game. It had five pass breakups as well.
But the Iowa game was seemingly an outlier for a junior that has been clicking all season, coming into Week 6 with a 90 passer grade by Pro Football Focus.
Through the first four games of the season, Tagovailoa threw nine touchdowns and one interception with 1,340 passing yards. Yes, opponents have something to do with that — West Virginia, Howard, Kent State and Illinois.
But he knows the stats he can put up. Facing a pass defense that has allowed 251.4 passing yards per game — third-worst in the Big Ten — with 6.7 yards per try and eight touchdowns, this is a prime set up for a bounce-back game.
I might be crazy, though. But I know one thing for sure: Ohio State’s not getting five interceptions from Tagovailoa next Saturday.
“OK, stop rambling. Give us your song of the week.”
I’ve waited two weeks. I couldn’t wait any longer.
I love Phish.
Yes, it was the car trip to Rutgers. Eight hours is a long time to spend in a car even though I have plenty of experience being from Houston and having to drive nine hours to see my brother in Amarillo.
But time flies with concert soundboards. This time, it was Nov. 28, 1997: a show from Worcester, MA.
It’s a band I saw for the first time this year, traveling to Indianapolis and Denver to catch four shows in its 2021 summer tour. The four-piece from Burlington, Vermont did not disappoint, but I won’t bore you with the details.
Here’s the song that for this week: Slave to the Traffic Light from A Live One. With 17 words forming the lyrics, this is a song that lives and breathes by its build. It’s breathtaking, taking the listener every which way and growing into this bombastic climax that leaves me floored every time.
Let this set the tone for your week.
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