It was one amazing football game as the Buckeyes faced off today in the Horseshoe with the Hurricanes of Miami (FL) for the first time since their National Championship battle in January of 2003. The game had been massively anticipated since it’s announcement several years ago and it didn’t disappoint. Terrelle Pryor guided the Buckeyes to a huge 36-24 win over the ‘Canes on the strength of 12/27 passing for 233 yards and a touchdown plus 105 yards on the ground on 18 carries with a touchdown. The stat of the game were the four interceptions thrown by Jacory Harris during the game that killed potential Miami scoring drives and gave the Buckeyes a chance to overcome their continued failures in special teams.
The Buckeyes started out with the ball and got going with authority against the quick Miami Defense. Pryor moved the ball down the field with a series of runs and passes, including a fantastic ten yard scamper for a first down. However, the drive stalled right after the Bucks crossed mid-field which forced them to punt the ball. Miami’s defense found good success against the run, getting penetration against the line and dropping Brandon Saine in the backfield.
The Buckeye defense was fast and vicious against Miami, attacking deep into the backfield and preventing Miami from finding much success on the edges. Miami managed to get a first down on a fortunate spot. Unfortunately for Miami their worst nightmare occured when they tossed a pass on third down which got tipped into the hands of a waiting Nathan Williams, giving the Buckeyes great field position in Miami territory.
The Buckeyes switched it up in the running game on the subsequent drive by putting Boom Herron into the game to replace Brandon Saine. The switch also caused a switch in strategy – instead of attacking the edges with speed, they attacked the center with power. The change worked well against the Miami defensive line who seemed surprised by the push the OSU line got up the middle. The Buckeyes took advantage of the turnover and coverted it into a Field Goal.
It quickly became worrisome that the Buckeyes were having trouble punching the ball into the endzone. Though Herron had punched a Touchdown in it had been called back for holding by Posey which essentially killed the drive. The Bucks needed to get touchdowns to beat the Hurricanes. It became obvious when Miami’s kick returner Miller performed a fantastic play fake that threw off the entire OSU kick coverage unit and ran it in for a touchdown.
Things continued to deteriorate for the Buckeyes. Jaamal Berry broke the resulting kick return and looked like he was good to take it into the endzone before he got tripped up before the 50 by the evil “Turf Monster”. The OSU offense followed that great showing up with a quick 3 and out that could have ended in an interception forcing the Buckeyes to punt.
One bright spot for the game to that point was the kicking of Ben Buchanan who managed to pin the Hurricanes inside the 10 twice on as many punts. Buchanan, despite not having many chances to shine against Marshall, proved that he was the kind of kicker that Tressel loves best – a field position game sort of kicker. Unfortunately, when called upon to punt it long and try to regain some yardage, he kept it short giving Miami good field position.
Another bright spot was the Ohio State defensive line and linebackers. The units combined to completely discombobulate the Miami offensive line, forcing several plays for loss and generally disrupting the Miami offense the entire first quarter. Surprisingly, the Buckeye secondary also showed flashes of promise despite our worries about that unit the last couple of weeks. Even on receptions the Miami receivers had defenders pasted on them ready to make the tackle quickly. As for the offense, the line did a fantastic job all day opening holes for the running backs and keeping the defenders from getting too many opportunities to make plays against Pryor.
Miami managed to increase the lead to 10 on a fantastic 51 yard field goal after a solid drive against a tough OSU defense. The Buckeyes responded quickly on their next drive with a long pass play on first down from their own 20. Pryor hit Posey in stride beyond the coverage around the 50, and Posey ran it down to about the 25 before being caught and pushed out of bounds. On the very next play, Pryor hit Brandon Saine in tight coverage and Saine fell into the endzone for the touchdown and what became the tying score at 10.
With the touchdown the Buckeye defense came out of the gate with new energy. After a quick 10 yard first down run for Damian Berry the Silver Bullets stiffened, including a 10 yard sack for John Simon on second down where he blew up a double team from the Miami Center and Right guard to hit Jacory Harris head on. Miami was forced to punt after the drive and the momentum had clearly swung in favor of the Buckeyes.
The subsequent drive showed Pryor making an odd mix of fantastic reads, including a great job holding on to the option and taking it himself for a first down, and questionable ones where the Miami defense had a good chance at making a big play but came up short every time. Finally, the Buckeyes retook the lead on a nice 41 yard field goal from Devin Barclay in the rain.
In the quarterback battle Jacory Harris was clearly the loser in the first half. Harris threw two picks to Chimdi Chekwa for a total of 3 in the first half. He also hadn’t managed to gain nearly the kind of yardage Pryor had getting only 76 yards to Pryor’s 178. Neither quarterback had a particularly good completion percentage with 10/24 for Pryor compared to 6/14 for Harris.
The Buckeyes converted the Chekwa interception into a touchdown after two plays including a nice pass to Dane Sanzenbacher who ran around the outside to get it down to the 5, and followed by a great play from Dan Herron to weave around the defenders and punch the ball into the endzone. After going down 10-3 to the Hurricanes the Buckeyes and responded by scoring 17 unanswered points to take the 10 point lead and put the ‘Canes in a very bad position going towards the end of the half.
Miami wasn’t about to go away so quickly, though. Jacory Harris came back out and stood tall in the face of the Buckeye pass rush to hit a couple receivers with well timed throws to move the Hurricanes down the field. The Buckeye defense found themselves on their heels quickly and almost gave up a touchdown pass when Miami receiver Hankerson beat Chimdi going to the endzone. Miami was forced to kick a field goal after they were unable to secure the first down but missed the kick wide to the right preserving the Buckeye lead.
Unfortunately, the Buckeye special teams continued to fail miserably. On their subsequent punt, the Miami returner found a seam up the middle and took it all the way to the house for a Touchdown. I’m beginning to suspect that Tressel has actually out recruited himself on Special Teams. In the past, we have had standout players who were low on the depth chart or walkons that never saw the field except for special teams. Those players would work insanely hard to get where they were and played hard to keep the spot they had. I think the current players don’t focus enough on the special teams work in the faulty belief that its beneath them.
Big praise has to go to the Miami secondary in this game. The ‘Cane defensive backs did a fantastic job of limiting Pryor’s options through the air and finding ways to put themselves in position to make big plays. Unfortunately for them, none of those plays came to fruition in the first half despite several great opportunities with plenty of passes hitting them in the hands.
The Buckeyes got several great chances at the end of the half to try to score points going into the half. The first drive ended with a field goal close in to the goal line that left Buckeye fans feeling like they had lost out on a chance for something better. After Harris’ third interception for the game, Pryor drove the Buckeyes down with a couple passes to DeVier Posey to get close to the goal line but ran out of time to try to punch it in.
Going into the half, the Buckeyes had found great success moving the ball with 260 yards including 178 through the air and 82 on the ground. Miami, however, was struggling greatly with their offense gaining only 103 yards on 76 passing and 27 running. In fact, the Miami ground game was only gaining 1.9 yards per carry to that point, being completely shut down by the Buckeye defensive line.
The player of the game for the half for the Buckeyes would be a close call between DeVier Posey’s 4 receptions for 105 yards, and Chimdi Chekwa’s 2 interceptions and a huge pass breakup. Chimdi Chekwa carried the vote in the live chat with his interceptions as the plays of the half. Also worth mentioning was Jordan Hall on kick returns, including his ridiculous 47 yarder where he broke through about 6 tackles before finding open field and putting the ball around the Miami 30 after being brought down by the ‘Cane punter. And don’t forget the fantastic sack on Jacory Harris by John Simon as he carried two blockers into the backfield before shedding the blocks.
Miami came out of the gate throwing. Harris found some holes in the Buckeye coverage and completed a couple good passes to move the ball quickly down the field. A couple of runs kept the defense honest, especially when Damian Berry broke a 40 yard run and almost outran the secondary before getting pushed out at the 5. After struggling for the first couple of plays, Harris threw a poor pass into the center of the field only to be intercepted by Cameron Heyward who returned it back all the way to the Miami 15 to end the scoring threat and start one for the Buckeyes. A couple of quick runs put the Buckeyes into the endzone, including a run from Pryor where he was forced from the pocket and reversed the field and punched it in from 12 yards out.
Miami’s offensive line began to find some success against the Buckeye pass rush and gave Harris time to find open receivers across the middle of the field. The sudden change in the battle at the line of scrimmage was what was giving Miami the ability to have success in their passing and running games. Again Miami managed to move the ball down into scoring range, and in fact almost punched it into the endzone if it wasn’t for Jermale Hines and a great last second hit to knock the ball out. Unfortunately for Miami, the Buckeyes finally had a bright spot on special teams as they successfully blocked the field goal and tackled the kicker who had scooped up the ball.
The Buckeyes offense started slow with a 2 yard loss, but the very next play put Miami in bad position again. A nice fake option pitch to Dan Herron up the middle gave the Buckeyes a huge gain on the ground all the way up to the 27 yard line of Miami. Miami then followed up with a facemask penalty when tackling Herron giving the Buckeyes even better position to score. They did that with another Barclay field goal to go up 3 scores and leave Miami scratching their heads with only a quarter left to play.
After their failed attempts in third quarter, Jacory Harris found a receiver in the endzone over the outstretched hands of Brian Rolle to start the fourth quarter and bring Miami right back into the game. The play marked the first touchdown given up by the Ohio State Defense in the 2010 season (the three other touchdowns were all special team scores). The play came after yet another long drive from the Hurricanes, proving that they had made the adjustments necessary to find success moving the football.
The Buckeyes responded. Jaamal Berry hit a big crease on the kick return to bring the ball out near the 50. After that, the Buckeyes kept the ball on the ground and slowed down the offense in order to chew some clock. Miami eventually stopped the Buckeyes near the 10 and forced a field goal that Barclay missed, missing a chance at taking the title as record holder for the most field goals in a single game.
Another thing that worked in Miami’s favor was a strategy switch by the Buckeye defense. Instead of continuing to attack, the Buckeyes did the smart thing and began to sit back in softer coverage so as to keep Miami in front of them. Unfortunately, that allowed Miami to have the ability to dink and dunk all the way down the field, especially when Harris would escape the pocket and find some running room. The Buckeyes finally managed to get some pressure on Harris when Nathan Williams got into the backfield and knocked the ball loose to aid in picking up a huge sack that ultimately resulted in a killed drive and a turnover on downs from Miami’s offense.
With just over 7 minutes left in the game, the Buckeyes were looking to walk away with the W. The Buckeyes ran the ball up the middle three straight plays in a row, and eventually on third down found success on a 15 yard scamper from Pryor allowing the Buckeyes to eat a bunch of clock and narrow Miami’s chances of a comeback. By time the game was over, Ohio State could have scored again, but the Buckeyes did the classy thing and took the knee to close out the game.
Pryor finished with 12 completions on 27 attempts for 233 yards passing and 1 touchdown to go with 113 yards running on 20 carries and a touchdown. Dan Herron also had a solid day on the ground with 14 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown. DeVier Posey ended the game with his 4 receptions for 105 yards, while Brandon Saine punched in Pryor’s only TD pass with 3 receptions for 36 yards.
Jacory Harris ended 22 of 39 for 232 yards and a touchdown, but threw those 4 fatal interceptions that were basically the story of the game. Damien Barry just missed a 100 yard rushing game with 16 carries for 93 yards, though he never punched it into the endzone. The Miami player of the game had to be Leonard Hankerson who had 7 catches for 90 yards with some very impressive plays.
All in all, the Buckeyes showed that they have everything it takes to be great this season as long as they can solve their special teams issues. The offensive line impressed with their protection and the defense was generally solid all game, giving up only 10 points by themselves.
The Buckeyes next face the Ohio University Bobcats in Columbus. That game will be at Noon on September 18th.
*As usual, special thanks goes to Josh Winslow’s fantastic pictures. You can find the rest of his Miami game pictures here.
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