Did you see what you wanted to see? Miami

Without getting too much into the X’s and O’s, there were a lot of good things and a few not so good things to take away from the game on Saturday. The bottom line is that Ohio State got the W, and with four cupcakes in a row before the Buckeyes hit the road for Madison on October 16th, there should be ample opportunity to talk about and fix the not so good.

Ohio, Eastern Michigan, at Illinois, and Indiana are that opportunity. They will provide Ohio State plenty of time to work on their kick coverage issues, Pryor plenty of time to fine tune his progressions and decision making, and CJ Barnett (and whoever else) plenty of time to recover from whatever dings may be ailing them.

The staff here at tBBC had some things they wanted to see against Miami, so let’s take a look at how the team did.

After the special team troubles against Marshall, a lot of fans were looking for improvement in the kicking and coverage game.

Joe: Our kick-off coverage shutting down Miami’s return game.

Eric: Zero special teams mistakes.

Unfortunately, Ohio State’s special team woes continue after giving up a punt return and a kick-off return for TDs. These face palmers didn’t affect the outcome of this game, but it would be really nice if we stopped giving up easy points before going on the road in the Big Ten.

Eric: More touchdowns than field goals.

On the plus side, Ohio State was solid kicking field goals, connecting on five of six attempts. On the down side, Ohio State was unable to punch it in for touchdowns, even after being put in excellent field position by the defense on multiple occasions.

Another plus for special teams were Jordan Hall and Jaamal Berry returning kicks. They give Ohio State a game changing return game, something they haven’t had since the graduation of Ted Ginn.

Outside of some excitement from Hall and Berry, the kick coverage teams and the offenses inability to score touchdowns in the red zone turned an ass beating of epic proportions into a modest but comfortable 12 point victory.

Jeff: 200 yards rushing from the Buckeyes.

Sticking with the negative for a bit, a large part of Ohio State’s inability to punch it in from the red zone was, in my opinion, failing to establish the run game. Herron had a solid game (66 yards, 4.7 per carry, 1 TD), but Saine was held completely in check (7 yards, 0.6 per carry).

Without Pryor in the mix (107 yards, 5.7 per carry, 1 TD), the run game might have been a serious concern. Even with Pryor, totalling 181 yards and 3.7 per carry on the ground feels disappointing to me.

Jeff: Zero sacks allowed.

Mali: No sacks.

Joe: The offensive line controlling the line of scrimmage.

Jay: An offensive line in control.

What makes the situation perplexing is that for the most part, the offensive line held Miami’s pass rush in check all day, providing Pryor with plenty of time to pass the ball and only giving up 1 sack.

With the offensive line performing well and the stable of running backs that Ohio State can put on the field, it would have been nice to see the running backs establish themselves a little bit more.

Jay: Pryor rising to the occasion.

Nit picking the run game aside, one thing that you can’t question is that Terrelle Pryor is a winner.

It wasn’t always pretty (12 of 27 passing), and some of his throws were questionable, but at the end of the day, Terrelle Pryor had 346 yards of offense, 2 TDs, and no turnovers.

He established a balanced attack on the ground and through the air almost on his own, and most importantly, he led the team to victory.

He will have some bunnies in the upcoming weeks to buff out the blemishes, but Pryor has established himself on the national stage twice now and doesn’t look to slow down. Baring any regression in Pryor’s game, it looks like the Buckeye passing attack can keep even the best defenses honest, and that will lead to lots of Ws and lots of happy Buckeyes.

Mali: Resiliency.

Jeff: Jacory Harris with zero rush yards.

Eric: A fast, aggressive, attacking defense.

On the defensive side of the ball, the silver bullets forced four turnovers while playing a bend-but-don’t-break style for most of the game.

The defensive front did sack Harris twice (did Simon’s bull rush have anyone else flashing back to 2002?), and they kept just enough pressure on Harris to prevent him from getting comfortable in the pocket.

Two interceptions from defensive lineman show that Ohio State chose to mix and disguise their coverage and pressure schemes rather than going all out with blitzes. It may have been frustrating to watch for some, but you can’t argue with the results.

Eric: A solid day from the secondary.

Jay: Punishing hits.

Thanks to a solid day from the secondary, Ohio State’s defense kept Miami in check for the most part despite giving up 352 total yards. The corners stepped up (14 tackles between them, including a tackle for loss and two interceptions from Chekwa), Hines was solid in run support like always, and CJ Barnett in particular impressed many with his outstanding performance at SS.

Barnett will be out for at least a week with a knee injury, but he established on the biggest stage that he is a play maker, and that will be big for the Buckeyes in the future.

Joe: A big win, protect our house!

Mali: Big T1e1n Speed

The bottom line is that Ohio State went toe to toe with an extremely athletic and talented Miami squad and came out victorious, and in a convincing fashion. Like always, there are things that need to be improved or downright fixed moving forward, but this Ohio State team is for real.

All of the usual suspects have checked in with their thoughts on the game, so check them if you get the chance.