Are you not Entertained? Toledo Edition

Well, that game was more than a little interesting. It’ll be hard to gauge this team over the next week, and I’m certain many are going to be expecting bad things in Coral Gables. Let’s see what the staff wanted to see again, and how much of it actually came to be.

Malibuckeye

– More of the same. I certainly don’t think we can qualify the entire game as “more of the same” as Akron.  That first drive was a thing of beauty, but the rest of the game was a fight the whole way.

– New wrinkles. Nothing particularly new here, nope.

– Ebner Touchdown. Would it be too much to ask?  For this game, apparently so.

– No False Starts. Shugarts took care of this one, and not in the good way.

Joe L.

– Continued QB play like the we saw this past Saturday.  Miller never saw the field, and Bauserman didn’t have quite the same day he did against Akron.  Though 16/30 for 189 yards and a touchdown isn’t bad.

– More speed from our team.  We had our moments – such as Chris Fields’ punt return – but for the most part, I don’t think we saw a lot of speed anywhere.

– Big Plays.  Outside of Fields’ return, the longest play was of 36 yards – one of which was Hyde’s first touchdown run.

– A three to four touchdown win.  So much for that.

Joe Dexter

– New Packages and Formations. We didn’t see anything tremendously new on the field.  A lot of stuff we saw against Akron, perhaps operated with a little more skill and experience.

– Keep Burnin’ Em. (Keep going to Stoneburner) We hit Stoney for a Touchdown, and continued to look for him all day, though with intermittent success.  I’ll call that a success for sure.

– Big Fat HOLES. Boren and the line continued to blow massive holes through the D-Line, though neither back seemed to have much luck hitting them, except on Hyde’s 36 yarder.  On the plus side, Boren was blowing up his blocks like a monster all game long.

Eric

– Points from the defense (or special teams).  Field’s gave me my wish in a big way, but only because I qualified the statement.

– Three catches for the RBs or TEs.  4 Catches for Jake Stoneburner (including a touchdown), 4 for Carlos Hyde, and one each for Reid Fragel and Jamaal Berry.  I’d call that a success!  It’s interesting that Bauserman seems to hit the RB’s and TE’s far more than any QB in the Tressel era.

– Nathan Williams Sacks.  With Nathan Williams not even being able to play today, I promise I will never, ever, ask for this again.  I’m so, so sorry!  Though, I did say “or anyone else on the line”, and Jonathan Hankins went and picked up 2 (one was called back for a hold on Toledo).  Still doesn’t count.

– Continued excellence from Mr. Bauserman.  I wouldn’t call it excellence, but it was a good performance – despite what lots of people are apparently saying.  Look, Bauserman lead the team competently, didn’t make any critical mistakes, and put his team in a position to win.  What more can you ask for from a Quarterback playing his second start in a surprisingly tough game?

Jeff

– A fast start. The first drive was the right step, scoring a quick touchdown like we were carving soft butter.  Unfortunately the rest of the first quarter happened (15 Toledo points).

– Reverse the QB time.  Yeah, not even close.  Bauserman started the game, and Miller never saw a snap.

– A shutout.  Jeff said it was unlikely because Toledo’s a good team, so he at least picked up on that.  Turns out Toledo might be even better than we thought.

Jim

– Pressure the QB and force turnovers. We saw some pressure, and managed to force a turnover, though it took some time for the defense to work out what it needed to do.  I’d call that a success.

– Pressure from the defensive line. Two sacks from Jonathan Hankins, plus John Simon playing in the backfield the entire last quarter gives Jim a win here.

– Creative play calling on offense. Not only did we write this before we found out about Jordan Hall, but that’s a big “no” on the creative offense.  We’ll have to wait a while longer for that.

– Nate Ebner forcing a fumble on special teams. Nate Ebner did not have quite as big of a game as he did against Akron, not the least of which due to our squib kicking to keep the football out of Eric Page’s hands.  Maybe next week.