Ohio State's new offense is just getting started
-- Headed into the 2017 college football season, the Ohio State Buckeyes promised us that they were going to expand their offensive menu. For the first few hours of the new season, they gave us the familiar taste of melba toast.
Then, just as social media, the national media and even the fans whod followed them into the grandstands of enemy territory all began to turn on the team, they turned up the heat.
A much-needed douse of hot sauce that quickly brought the nation back around to the second-ranked Buckeyes as a national title contender.
We havent thrown it deep around here in a minute, head coach Urban Meyer said at nights end, staring at a stat sheet from the 49-21 win over Indiana. And we looked like we hadnt in a while, didnt we?.
Meyer, he of the once-cutting-edge spread option, spent spring and August practice grinning and smiling and talking about reviving the deep ball and swearing that his bland Big Ten meatloaf would this season come with a side -- not a full serving, a side, lets not go crazy here -- of some Big 12-ish willingness to throw the football downfield.
After all, hed hired a new offensive coordinator, discarded former Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson, a man whod made his name in the world of Big 12 scoreboard-tilting madness, working as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in the 50-points-per-game Sam Bradford era.
During his time at the wheel in Bloomington, his offenses had posted the second most points per game of any Big Ten team versus Meyers Ohio State juggernaut.
And it just so happened that Wilson would be making his Ohio State debut calling plays against the team that fired him, packed with defensive coaches hed hired and defensive players hed recruited.
So, naturally, the Buckeyes came out slinging and dinging and blasting off chunks of yardage like a slick new scarlet-and-gray air force, right?. no.
For nearly three full quarters, Ohio State manufactured more of the same frustratingly slow offense that has become the norm out of Columbus over the past two seasons, a downshift in speed and scoring that took place immediately following the teams 2014 national championship, won in the inaugural edition of the College Football Playoff.
That team was powered by Ezekiel Elliott and a trio of quarterbacks. But with Elliott gone and the last of those quarterbacks -- J.T. Barrett -- in charge, the lack of points became the unwitting focal point of the proud program.
The final breaking point for Meyer was also the moment that perfectly exemplifies the typical recent Ohio State football experience.
They were good enough to grind their way into the playoff, but were run out of the building once they got there, via a season-ending 31-0 loss to Clemson.
Those who went to bed before the end of Thursday nights official 2017 college football season opener (and at a chilled-molasses pace of 3 hours, 55 minutes, there were likely many), will click on the box score and it will look very much like what everyone expected to see.
After all, the spread was 21 points. After all, Barrett, on most preseason Heisman Trophy watch lists, penned a very nice final stat line: 20-35, 304 yards, with three TDs and added another 61 yards and a TD with his feet.
After all, the second-ranked team in the land was supposed to win its 22nd straight against Indiana and Urban Meyer was supposed to add to his undefeated 16-0 record in season openers and.
well, there was literally an entire page of such Why are we even playing this? streak statistics included in the pregame media handouts.
But for those who watched the game in its entirety, they know it wasnt that easy. They know that for nearly three quarters it was a tugboat race.
With 4:38 remaining in the third quarter, the Buckeyes were deep in their own territory, trailing 21-20 and listening to O-ver-ray-ted! chants from the home crowd. Those in the stands whod traveled in from Ohio said nothing in response.
On the next play, Barrett fired a downfield strike to Parris Campbell for a 74-yard touchdown. Barely three minutes later, he and Johnnie Dixon hooked up for a 59-yard score.
Suddenly, it was 35-21 and the game felt over. This is what most expected in the first half, not later into the second. Among those was Meyer.
Obviously, we made such an emphasis on deep balls, and I am somewhat disappointed because they bobbled it a bit, referring to a slew of dropped balls, most notably a would-be long score that went through the hands of Campbell early in the second half.
Campbell ended up with 136 yards receiving. Dixon hauled in 65 yards on only two catches.
Dobbins, making his first collegiate start, added 181 yards rushing and caught two balls for another 24 yards receiving. In all, 10 players caught at least one pass, spreading the three TDs among three players.
The effort is there. Our receivers played their tails off. We just have to execute. we will get better on the deep ball. Everything else was outstanding, Meyer said.
Outstanding was a long walk from whatever that offense looked like in the first half.
The same can be said for the defense, which gave up nearly 300 yards passing to Indiana QB Richard Lagow in the first half, but held him to less than half of that in the second half.
There is no doubt that 800 miles west in Norman, Oklahoma, Ohio States next opponent was watching that first half and licking its chops. The Oklahoma Sooners will travel to Columbus for Week 2 after a presumed victory over UTEP on Saturday.
What they saw from the Buckeyes during that first half looked precisely like what theyve already seen on film from 2015 and 16, including their matchup one year ago.
But what they saw -- what everyone saw -- in the final 19 minutes of Thursday nights performance was a glimpse of something much, much different. Perhaps even a little scary.
The fact that it was merely a glimpse might be the scariest part of all.
We know what we have seen and done in practice, Barrett said before disappearing into the Memorial Stadium exit tunnel. We were only able to do a little bit of that tonight.
If we can get a little more of that onto the field each Saturday, then weve got a chance to really get it going..
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