Ohio State was able to put together a solid performance in their 42-0 win over Akron on Saturday- which was obviously a highly satisfying game for fans to watch.

For their part, Akron didn’t put up much of a fight.

For them to have a chance, they needed to play “outside of the box” and take some risks that they apparently just weren’t willing to try.

Run, run, pass may have cut it for Ohio State in this game, but not the other way around.

As perplexing as it was, that was basically Akron’s offensive game plan throughout the contest.

To their credit, Ohio State’s defense performed up to expectations, only giving up 5 first downs and 90 yards of total offense.

That is an outstanding performance regardless of the opponent and how vanilla their game plan may have been.

The defense will almost certainly be tested on the edge more by Toledo’s offense this weekend, but hey, Tyler Moeller was fairly quiet against the Zips.

I’m sure he would enjoy getting a little more involved this week.

Join me after the jump for more thoughts on the game and how it sets Ohio State up for the rest of the season.

Quick Thoughts: Offense

Joe Bauserman can lead the offense. The offensive game plan with Bauserman under center isn’t going to morph into the Rams circa 1999-2001 anytime soon, but Joe proved more than capable in the I-Formation, play-action passing sets that the Buckeyes showed for most of the game.

The offense was highly limited on Saturday, but that wasn’t entirely due to who was under center. With no “quick” backs able to play, it makes sense that the Buckeyes focused almost entirely on the power run game- it was the strength of the players who were available.

With Jordan Hall (and possibly Jaamal Berry) back in the fold against Toledo, the gameplan should open up a bit more.

With a game under his belt and a clear grasp of the most basic aspects of the power-I, play-action offense, it will be exciting to see how Bauserman performs with a more open play book and more weapons against Toledo.

Joe Bauserman is not Peyton Manning. As mentioned, Bauserman proved more than capable of effectively running the offense on Saturday. However, the gameplan will continue to be limited with him under center, regardless of the other players on the field.

The biggest problem will be stretching the field deep with long passes, which is Bauserman’s biggest weakness. Against a more athletic and aggressive defense, the ability to stretch the field will be extremely important, and I still don’t know if Bauserman can do that.

The return of Jordan Hall to the field and the wrinkles that he brings will help somewhat in spreading out defenses, but I believe that if the Buckeyes want to stretch the field deep, Braxton Miller will be the best bet.

I loved the play-action passing game. To build on the last thought, Joe Bauserman is not Peyton Manning. He will not (and most likely cannot) sit in the pocket and pick apart a defense.

However, Joe was extremely effective running play-action boots and hitting receivers in short to medium patterns across the middle.

If the passing game is going to be successful this season, Bauserman’s continued ability to utilize play action roll-outs will be huge.

And oh yeah, he also showed that he can gain yards with his feet, which will only make those play action roll outs more effective.

Jake Stoneburner is one of the top weapons at TE in the country. This one doesn’t require much of an explanation.

In the play-action passing game, Stoneburner’s ability to get behind linebackers is obviously a huge weapon for the offense.

Braxton Miller’s talent is undeniable. Arm strength, mechanics, scrambling, Braxton Miller has everything you could want in a great quarterback… except experience.

It was nice to see him leading some drives in the second half. I believe he will continue working into games and gaining experience as he goes this season.

Say what you want about a two quarterback systems- when you have a guy this good, you can’t keep him on the sidelines.

The power run game was nice, but- I’m really looking forward to Hall and Berry getting back on the field and adding a dimension (the speed to take it to the house, namely) that was definitely missing on Saturday.

Short yardage? yeah we’ve got that covered as Hyde and Smith proved repeatedly against Akron, but neither showed the burst that puts the fear of touchdown in a defense on every carry.

Hall and Berry will help out with that.

The “bigs” and the “quicks” are a one-two punch that will cause defenses a lot of problems this season.

Carlos Hyde needs to tighten up his chin strap.

Quick Thoughts: Defense

Nathan Williams is taking the LEO position to the next level. No one has shown as much versatility playing LEO as Williams did against Akron. As a four year contributor exclusively at the position, it’s really not surprising that he has mastered it.

Will Smith was a defensive end with the athletic ability to drop into coverage. Bobby Carpeneter was a linebacker with the size to put his hand in the dirt and rush the passer.

Nathan Williams is both. He’s not a linebacker rushing the passer, he’s not a defensive end dropping into coverage- he’s the LEO and he does both equally well.

His continued ability to provide such a large range of support against the spread and power rush will be huge this season.

The defensive line is good, but I’d like to see them take it up a notch. It could have been schemes (no stunts and few blitzes- why give other teams a chance to prepare for them?) or first game jitters, but the defensive linemen appeared to get locked onto their blocker far too often this game.

Obviously, given the overall numbers for the game, this is nitpicking in the extreme, but it would be nice to see the line beat their man in one-on-one situations a bit more in the future, particularly in passing situations.

Andrew Sweat is the real deal. Whether it was shooting gaps and making stops in the backfield or crazy athletic interceptions, Andrew Sweat showed that he was ready to step up and continue Ohio State’s tradition of excellence at linebacker.

The up side of the d-linemen occupying their blockers is it frees up the linebackers to make plays, which Sweat showed they are more than capable of doing.

Dominic Clarke is the best 3rd cornerback in the country. He has to be after his performance on Saturday, right?

He stepped up in the Sugar Bowl, he stepped up against Akron, he has proven that he is ready to play.

I said it last week, but only at a place like Ohio State do players as good as Dominic Clarke provide depth.

The secondary is deep and very good, but the biggest tests for them are yet to come.

The defense will keep the Buckeyes in games this season. They may not win them all, the offense will need to help out a little bit to do that.

But, I have been saying it all summer, the 2011 defense is good. Very good.