Kind of a roller coaster tonight but ultimately Ohio State did what it needed to do in the second half and got what I think will be looked on as a pretty impressive road win, though I do wonder how VT does the rest of the way without Brewer who is going to be out for a while.
- Second quarter was really sloppy. Really, really, really sloppy. Penalties, mental mistakes, the whole nine yards. Credit VT for some good adjustments defensively after getting gashed early but I think there was a little bit of a "too much, too soon" factor at play there for OSU as well. It was never going to be as easy as it looked the first 10 minutes.
- One troubling thing here is that I can't remember the last time Ohio State had a guy on punt return that didn't scare its own fan base to death with drops and just shaky play in general. No excuse to go several years now with this problem, someone on that team has to be able to catch a punt. It's not an easy thing to do but these guys are great athletes, someone should be able to handle those duties without giving Buckeye Nation a heart attack every time. Maybe some first game jitters out of Zeke, maybe Marshall will retake those duties and improve upon last year but this can't continue. I thought special teams in general was pretty bad tonight, that needs to get better.
- Amused, but not surprised, by the outcry over the offense/play calling. If you expected better than 42 points and 550+ yards against this defense, on the road, in the opening game of the season (no preseason games, no scrimmages), I don't know what to tell you other than VT's players are on scholarship too and their coaches are well compensated. Almost delusional to expect more than that.
- Really don't understand why people can't wait until the second half even starts to go nuts on the play calling. The first half is mostly prodding at the defense. You guys might see a boring one-yard gain or an incompletion but the coaches are looking at how things are defended and what they can run off of that later in the game. If I had one thing to nitpick on the play calling, I thought they hung on to the speed option a bit too long. VT was selling out on Zeke and Cardale just isn't quick enough to consistently make you pay there but they ultimately scrapped that in the second half.
- He wasn't THE guy offensively tonight but we saw in flashes what makes Zeke Elliott such a complete back. He was good in the passing game when called upon and he was phenomenal as a blocker, particularly on Miller's TD run.
- Apple's ugly tackle attempt on the touchdown aside, the corners played really well tonight. Receivers weren't getting a lot of separation and when guys did come free it was usually because Brewer moved around to buy some time and you can't cover forever. Leaving the game tonight feeling pretty good about Conley opposite of Apple.
- Not bad from Holmes and Hubbard tonight. Some missed plays but they also made a few big ones, particularly Hubbard's early sack and then really Holmes' strip in the second half. These guys will be better in November than they are now, but not a bad start.
- Was a little quiet in the second half but I thought Raekwon McMillan was outstanding in the first half. All over the field. Very good first start for Kwon, the future is bright there.
- Just a C+ for Cardale tonight. Made some impressive throws that guys with lesser arms wouldn't be able to pull off but also put the ball in jeopardy a few times. The offensive line wasn't particularly great tonight and I think that contributed. Despite the calls of some to go to Barrett in the second or third quarter, it was really smart of Meyer to stick with Jones. You don't want to start the season by yanking a guy after a bad quarter and now he's looking over his shoulder the rest of the year. Needed to go into halftime, make some adjustments and let Jones play out the second half until the game was in doubt.
- Great to see Braxton out there making plays, he's been through a lot. The TD run is the type of excitement I expected him to bring to the offense, the TD catch was a bonus. The safe play there was the check down but Jones went for the home run and threw probably his best ball of the night.
- From a coaching standpoint, these are the best wins a team like this can have. You got a good 18-point road victory in a hostile environment so you're feeling good about that but there is a lot of stuff the coaches can go back and harp on the next two weeks in practice.
Overall I give the performance a B. I picked a 16-point win so it was right in the ballpark. The offense did a little more damage than I expected and the defense didn't play as well in the first half (really the second quarter) as I would have expected but did have patches of really good play.
- Second quarter was really sloppy. Really, really, really sloppy. Penalties, mental mistakes, the whole nine yards. Credit VT for some good adjustments defensively after getting gashed early but I think there was a little bit of a "too much, too soon" factor at play there for OSU as well. It was never going to be as easy as it looked the first 10 minutes.
- One troubling thing here is that I can't remember the last time Ohio State had a guy on punt return that didn't scare its own fan base to death with drops and just shaky play in general. No excuse to go several years now with this problem, someone on that team has to be able to catch a punt. It's not an easy thing to do but these guys are great athletes, someone should be able to handle those duties without giving Buckeye Nation a heart attack every time. Maybe some first game jitters out of Zeke, maybe Marshall will retake those duties and improve upon last year but this can't continue. I thought special teams in general was pretty bad tonight, that needs to get better.
- Amused, but not surprised, by the outcry over the offense/play calling. If you expected better than 42 points and 550+ yards against this defense, on the road, in the opening game of the season (no preseason games, no scrimmages), I don't know what to tell you other than VT's players are on scholarship too and their coaches are well compensated. Almost delusional to expect more than that.
- Really don't understand why people can't wait until the second half even starts to go nuts on the play calling. The first half is mostly prodding at the defense. You guys might see a boring one-yard gain or an incompletion but the coaches are looking at how things are defended and what they can run off of that later in the game. If I had one thing to nitpick on the play calling, I thought they hung on to the speed option a bit too long. VT was selling out on Zeke and Cardale just isn't quick enough to consistently make you pay there but they ultimately scrapped that in the second half.
- He wasn't THE guy offensively tonight but we saw in flashes what makes Zeke Elliott such a complete back. He was good in the passing game when called upon and he was phenomenal as a blocker, particularly on Miller's TD run.
- Apple's ugly tackle attempt on the touchdown aside, the corners played really well tonight. Receivers weren't getting a lot of separation and when guys did come free it was usually because Brewer moved around to buy some time and you can't cover forever. Leaving the game tonight feeling pretty good about Conley opposite of Apple.
- Not bad from Holmes and Hubbard tonight. Some missed plays but they also made a few big ones, particularly Hubbard's early sack and then really Holmes' strip in the second half. These guys will be better in November than they are now, but not a bad start.
- Was a little quiet in the second half but I thought Raekwon McMillan was outstanding in the first half. All over the field. Very good first start for Kwon, the future is bright there.
- Just a C+ for Cardale tonight. Made some impressive throws that guys with lesser arms wouldn't be able to pull off but also put the ball in jeopardy a few times. The offensive line wasn't particularly great tonight and I think that contributed. Despite the calls of some to go to Barrett in the second or third quarter, it was really smart of Meyer to stick with Jones. You don't want to start the season by yanking a guy after a bad quarter and now he's looking over his shoulder the rest of the year. Needed to go into halftime, make some adjustments and let Jones play out the second half until the game was in doubt.
- Great to see Braxton out there making plays, he's been through a lot. The TD run is the type of excitement I expected him to bring to the offense, the TD catch was a bonus. The safe play there was the check down but Jones went for the home run and threw probably his best ball of the night.
- From a coaching standpoint, these are the best wins a team like this can have. You got a good 18-point road victory in a hostile environment so you're feeling good about that but there is a lot of stuff the coaches can go back and harp on the next two weeks in practice.
Overall I give the performance a B. I picked a 16-point win so it was right in the ballpark. The offense did a little more damage than I expected and the defense didn't play as well in the first half (really the second quarter) as I would have expected but did have patches of really good play.
