That’s a bit more like it!
Minnesota arrived in Columbus and fought hard through the first half, allowing the Buckeyes to score only 7 points. However, Ohio State came out gunning in the second half to absolutely decimate Minnesota 38-7 in a game that seemed like the Buckeyes we’re simply trying to figure out what combination of players and plays would get the job done.
Ohio State’s offense looked a bit better during the first half this week, managing to set up several drives, but being unable to score for the most part. Ohio State’s second drive consumed more than 8 minutes and 18 plays, including a 4th and 1 conversion, but ended in another missed short field goal by Pettrey. Ohio State’s 7 points came on a long pass play to DeVier Posey after a massive breakdown by the Gopher’s secondary.
The second half was a completely different story. OSU kicked the ball short to Minnesota who promptly fumbled it setting up a short field. Three plays and 31 yards later, Terrelle Pryor ran it into the endzone from 11 yards out. The half also included another long TD pass to DeVier Posey, who had 8 catches for 161 yards and 2 TD’s in his coming out party. Two freshmen also scored their first touchdowns of their carrier as Jordan Hall and Jermil Martin showed excellent running abilities plunging the ball into the endzone.
The running game was especially impressive today. Jermil Martin was a beast, running 7 times for 75 yards and a TD for a 10.7 yards per carry average. As a team, OSU ran 49 times for 270 yards and 3 TD’s. The lead rusher of the team, though, was Terrelle Pryor who carried for 104 yards on the game. Unfortunatelly, the running game wasn’t all good news as Brandon Saine went out of the game near the end of the first half with an undisclosed head injury. He did not return to the game, and his status for next week remains in question.
Terrelle Pryor’s passing game was substantially better than it has been the last couple of weeks. He threw 13/25 for 239 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 Interception on the last drive of the first half. Pryor looked very confident throwing the ball, often stepping up into the pocket and stepping into his throws. Very rarely did he throw off his back foot and he definitely seemed to have taken a step forward. Pryor also showed great decision making in a play where he evaded the Minnesota d-line for 10 seconds before finally deciding to throw the ball away. He still tends to forget to lead his receivers with the pass, and occasionally throws into traffic trying to hit his primary receiver, but a clear step forward was taken today and hopefully he can continue to progress.
On the other hand, Minnesota’s offense looked mediocre on the day. Despite the fact that the commentators seemed to think that Minnesota was outplaying the Buckeyes, they committed 4 turnovers (2 fumbles, 2 picks) and largely struggled to catch the football all day. Adam Weber was a abysmal 10/23 for 112 and 2 Interceptions. Also playing quarterback in the Wildcat formation was Marquise Gray who threw much better than Weber, 5/6 for 51 yards and a trashtime Touchdown.
For the most part, Minnesota had trouble running the football against the Buckeyes. The traditional running backs ran 14 times for 50 yards (3.6 yards per carry). The only success Minnesota found was in the wildcat formation with Marquise Gray carrying the ball 11 times for 81 yards. The defense seemed a little slow to adjust to the wildcat formation and Gray’s running, but a number of the yards were picked up against the second team defense on Minnesota’s last drive of the game when they were able to take it all the way down the field for their only touchdown.
Ohio State’s defense was again opportunistic. They recorded 4 turnovers (though they could have had 2 more) and several sacks. Thaddeus Gibson was a monster in the backfield scoring 3 sacks and recovering a fumble off another sack. Nathan Williams also had his name called several times with a sack and generally terrorizing Adam Weber. The secondary took away the majority of Minnesota’s passing game while in man defense, but still had trouble while in the zone. However, helping the defense was the fact that Minnesota was missing Eric Decker, the top Wide Receiver in the conference, who left the game in the first half with an apparent ankle injury.
Kurt Coleman continues to deserve his own space in this column. He picked off a pass and ran it back 40 yards, close to scoring (though a clipping call would have negated that), and always seemed to be around to lay a hit or scoop the ball off the turf. Coleman is playing on another level right now, and it’s unfortunate that CBS felt that he didn’t deserve a mention.
I’m happy that the Buckeyes were able to look better after their last two weeks struggling to move the football. However, I would like to see this continue against stronger competition than Minnesota. Nothing against Minnesota, but they do not serve as a fantastic measuring stick for our offense’s progression, which we desperately need right now. This game does, however, serve as a measure of retribution against Purdue, who lost two weeks ago to Minnesota.
Also worthy of note was that the Bob Griese/Chris Spielman commentating crew was in the booth. Spielman continues to sound extremely competent and worthy to be discussing football. Griese, on the other hand, was his usually incompetent self. The worse gaffe, however, didn’t come while discussing football. While discussing NASCAR, Griese made an off-color comment about Columbian driver Juan Pablo Montoya, stating that he was not in the top 5 because “he was out having a taco”. Griese awkwardly apologized for this comment later in the game, stating that Montoya was a great driver and that he was sorry for the statement. Wikipedia, of course, has already updated itself to include this massively racist gaffe that, if ESPN has any self-respect at all, will likely lead to Bob Griese’s termination.
Also worthy of note was the playcalling in this game. The offensive coaching staff did a much better job of calling plays that had a chance to be successful. Several times they actively tried to confuse Minnesota by using an I formation, or by starting in a Shotgun and then having Pryor move forward to take the snap under center in an empty back formation. They also ran at least 1 screen play and made an attempt to get the ball into the hands of as many different playmakers as possible. It seemed like the coaching staff wasn’t actively sabotaging the team like they did last week. Here’s to hoping that this trend will also be carried forward into the future.
Ohio State (6-2) will face New Mexico State (3-4) from the WAC in Columbus next week, looking to continue their streak of improvement against their Big Ten bye week opponant. Minnesota (4-4) will travel to East Lansing to face an increasingly dangerous Michigan State (4-3) team.
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