Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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A couple of weeks ago, after the loss in Miami, I resigned myself to watching Ohio State play December postseason football. After last Saturday’s 10-7 loss to Michigan State in the Horseshoe, the scariest offensive horror show this program has seen in a number of years, I’m honestly wondering if this team is capable of even that modest feat.

Saturday’s defeat was both a nightmare and a harbinger of bad tidings. Ohio State’s offense collapsed completely in the face of Michigan State’s rugged defense; the Buckeyes were hovering around the one hundred total-yard mark in the fourth quarter and needed a last-second touchdown heave to avoid their first home shutout in nearly three decades. Ohio State couldn’t run, couldn’t pass, couldn’t protect and couldn’t avoid the program’s first loss to the Spartans since 1999. And there seems to be no sign of improvement on the horizon.

With a brutal upcoming schedule, it could get a lot worse before it gets better. A winning season and a bowl bid are a long way from certain at this point- a very long way. What is certain is the dire future of Ohio State’s coaching staff, which again looked dazed, confused and incapable of adjustments. The brutal performance by the Buckeyes on Saturday won’t be the last in what is rapidly degenerating into the sorriest season in a long, long time.  

First, the Offense: And it was just as bad, if not worse, than the numbers indicate. Ohio State managed 178 total yards on the day, 85 of those in the last five minutes. The Buckeyes went 4-of-16 on third downs, ran for just 35 yards, went three-and-out six times and until their lone touchdown with ten seconds to play never got beyond the Michigan State 33-yard line. Ohio State quarterbacks were sacked nine times, which for all I know is a record worst for the program.

Play-calling and execution alike were lacking. With Michigan State bringing blitzes on practically every down, Ohio State called not one screen pass. Every pass play seemed to consist of downfield routes that took eons to develop, and by the time they did- if they did- time was running out for Buckeye quarterbacks. Ohio State’s offensive line was whistled for three false starts- at home, which is inexcusable. It was a bad game for the quarterbacks, which is to be expected, but the line play was atrocious as well- not for the first time in the last decade.

Series after series started and ended with the Buckeyes beyond the eight-ball. The average gain on first down was less than three yards. Sacks and penalties forced Ohio State into one long-yardage situation after another, a situation the offense was anything but equipped for. On back-to-back possessions in the second half the Buckeyes wound up with 4^th-and-22. Even with the Spartans dominating, it was still only a 7-0 game early in the fourth quarter. But the Ohio State offense was utterly incapable of making that one play that would have changed the momentum of the football game.

Have to Say, Though: So was the defense. Christian Bryant criticized the offense afterward (uh, oh) but he had a potential pick-six bounce off his hands in the third quarter- not for the first time this season. The defense is holding up fairly well in terms of points allowed, but the game-changing plays, the plays that score points, are nowhere to be found at a time they are needed most.      

Oh, And Another Thing: Why in the hell would you continually run play-action in third and double-digit yardage situations?

Enough is Enough: I understand the quarterback mess is out of his hands, but the play-calling, the performance of the offensive line, the rhythm and tempo of the attack- none of it is up to Big Ten standards. These defects have been around for a long time, covered up by great individual performers. With those performers nowhere to be found, the long-standing dysfunctions of the offense have been exposed for the world to see.

There’s no real scheme in Ohio State’s offense. If there is high-level talent it works fairly well despite its built-in inefficiencies; incoherent line play and little in the way of adjustments (I’m usually annoyed by “adjustments” talk, but when you get sacked nine times and never throw a screen pass, I’d have to call that a lack adjustments) or changes of tempo. If there isn’t high-level talent, or if it’s raw, Katie Bar the Door.  

They really need to bring in a staff that can plot and execute a coherent offensive game plan; one with rhythm, one that operates at a higher level than merely getting by from play to play. I have a feeling they will- or at least, they’ll try.  

Play of the Game: It came at the end of Michigan State’s opening possession of the afternoon. After the Spartans were stopped on three plays punter Mike Sadler muffed the long snap, the ball rolling away behind him. It looked as if Ohio State’s offense was about to set up shop deep in Spartan territory with a chance to get an early score, so important in what promised to be a low-scoring affair… until Sadler retrieved the ball and got the punt off right before he was wiped out by John Simon. When Jordan Hall- who had a forgettable game both on offense and on special teams- failed to make a fair catch, the ball rolled all the way to the Buckeye 21-yard line before being downed. And just like that, Ohio State’s first and only chance to take the initiative was gone.  

All They Needed: That’s because, after Ohio State ended its possession with a punt, the Spartans moved 65 yards in five plays to a touchdown, B.J. Cunningham reeling in the score on a 33-yard reception from Kirk Cousins. Cunningham would prove to be a thorn in the side of the Buckeyes all day. Taking advantage of soft coverage, the senior wide receiver from Westerville hauled in nine catches for 154 yards, nearly outgaining the Buckeye offense all by himself. Of course, it’s easy to get open when defensive backs (read: Travis Howard) are giving you a five-yard cushion on every play.

Staying (Barely) Alive: The score would remain unchanged for nearly three full quarters as Michigan State repeatedly botched chances to blow the game wide open. The Spartans spent much of the afternoon in Ohio State territory but couldn’t add on to their lead. Three times they committed turnovers on Buckeye real estate, including a J.C. Barnett interception in the end zone early in the fourth quarter after Michigan State had driven to a first-and-goal at the five. (Ohio State’s ensuing offensive possession consisted of two dead-ball penalties, a sack and a punt on 4^th-and-22.) A failed fourth-down attempt, a missed field goal and a fumble at the 25 waylaid earlier forays.

Sad But True: Like Miami, Michigan State isn’t all that good of a football team. The Spartans turned the ball over three times, committed six penalties and left the Buckeyes in the game when they really shouldn’t have been. A truly good team would have blown Ohio State out. The hard fact is, though, that you don’t have to be that good to beat the Buckeyes this season.   

Freshman Frazzle: Braxton Miller is a long way from respectability right now. Looking overwhelmed and under attack, Miller completed 5-of-10 for 56 yards, was sacked a bunch of times, threw an interception to short-circuit one of the few decent Ohio State drives and couldn’t use his legs to make plays- his longest gain of the day was just three yards. He was benched late in the fourth quarter and replaced with Joe Bauserman, who didn’t do much better but at least got the Buckeyes into the end zone on a 33-yard toss to Evan Spencer with ten seconds to play. They didn’t get much help- the line was awful and the young receivers couldn’t get separation- but even a good supporting cast would struggle with these quarterbacks.

Talent and Technique: It’s readily apparent that, in terms of pure talent, this team isn’t at the level of recent Ohio State teams. It just doesn’t pass the eye test. What’s more distressing is the sloppiness, the lack of attention to detail- the penalties (nine on Saturday), the missed blocking assignments, bad snaps (we’ve seen a season’s worth of those from Mike Brewster already); the poor tackling on defense. The talent is what it is. The sloppy play, to me, is coaching.   

Where From Here: Nowhere good- that’s where. Ohio State’s upcoming schedule is, in a word, murderous- back-to-back roadies at Nebraska and at Illinois, a bye week and a visit from Wisconsin, which currently looks about six touchdowns better than the Buckeyes. There’s a real possibility we could be looking at a 3-5 football team by the time November rolls around. The last month sees games against Indiana, Purdue and Penn State on the schedule, and the Buckeyes might have to win all three just to get bowl-eligible leading up to the Michigan game. Ohio State’s last losing season came in 1988, when the Buckeyes went 4-6-1 in John Cooper’s first season. A losing season in 2011 is not even close to being outside the realm of possibility.

 

Around the Nation

It’s a truncated version this week, because I’m going to be in Disneyworld on my honeymoon, and will

be doing Disneyworld things instead of sitting at thiscomputer.  Instead of going into detail, I’ll run through a quick list of the bigger stories of this past week in college football. I’ll call them, cleverly, my “Six Points.”

-          My Game of the Week is Illinois’s come-from-behind 38-35 conquest of Northwestern in Evanston. Trailing 28-10 late in the third quarter, victimized by four touchdown passes by Dan Persa in his return, the Illini offense suddenly exploded. In their last five possessions the Illini gained a total of 297 yards and scored four touchdowns, including Nate Scheelhause’s game-winning one-yard plunge with thirteen seconds left.

-          My Player of the Week is quarterback Tyler Wilson of Arkansas. Wilson shattered Ryan Mallett’s year-old program single-game passing-yardage record, racking up 510 with three touchdown passes and no interceptions and running for a two-point conversion in his team’s 42-38 victory over Texas A&M. Maybe I should just reserve this distinction for whichever quarterback is facing the Aggie defense in a given week.

-          Clemson is officially for real. The Tigers are now 5-0, their best start since 2000, after throttling favored Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, 23-3. That makes three consecutive wins over ranked opponents, the first two over Auburn and Florida State. Taj Boyd wasn’t at his best, completing just 13-of-32, but he didn’t have to be- Clemson’s defense muffled Virginia Tech, holding the Hokies to 258 total yards and a field goal.

-          Welcome to the Big Ten, Nebraska. Wisconsin gave the Cornhuskers an initiation they’ll long remember, hammering the conference’s newest member 48-17 behind four Montee Ball touchdowns and another sparkling performance by Russell Wilson, who has to be one of the Heisman frontrunners at this point. As for the Big Ten race, there’s no debate about who the frontrunner is.

-          The last half of the last decade wasn’t kind to either Washington or Washington State, both going through historically bad stretches in their respective history. But things are finally looking ripe in the Apple State. The Huskies are 4-1, 2-0 in the Pac-12 after soundly defeating Utah in Salt Lake City, while the Cougars, in a real surprise, are 3-1 after defeating Colorado in Boulder. The three wins are already the most Washington State has won in a season since 2007. It’s been nine years since both schools played in a bowl in the same season. Washington is a near-certainty to go bowling; its rival from the Palouse still has some work to do.

-          After a terrible start the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are back in form, winners of three straight behind a defense that has been resurrected since the Week Two disaster at Michigan. Notre Dame’s defense has given up 35 points and an average of 72 rushing yards in the last three games. Suddenly the Irish, who looked hopeless a few weeks ago, are in pretty good shape; with a very forgiving schedule coming up they could very well be 9-2 and in BCS-bowl contention going into the finale at Stanford.   

 

Winners of the Week

Alabama: The Tide did what it had to do, rolling to a convincing 38-10 victory over Florida in the Swamp Saturday night. Alabama swarmed over Florida’s offense, knocking out John Brantley, scoring a defensive touchdown and holding Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey to a combined 42 yards from scrimmage. With Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Tennessee (in Tuscaloosa) in the next three weeks, the Tide should be 8-0 going into their November 5 showdown with undefeated LSU, which routed Kentucky.

Illinois: The Illini spent most of the afternoon as foils for Dan Persa’s return to the Northwestern lineup but ended it with a 38-35 victory and a 5-0 start, the best for the program since 1951. Illinois must be considered a major player in the Big Ten Leaders race- and they’ve got Wisconsin at home, which may or may not matter considering how overpowering the Badgers have looked thus far.

Southern Methodist: June Jones’s Mustangs stayed hot with a 40-33 overtime win over archrival Texas Christian, their first road win over the Horned Frogs since 1993. As they did in the opening-night loss to Baylor, TCU fell way behind- 33-17 early in the fourth quarter- rallied late, but fell short in the end. J.J. McDermott fired for 349 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winner to Jeremy Johnson in the extra session. At 4-1, the Mustangs are set up for a run in the Conference USA West that may be decided at Houston on November 19.

Cincinnati: Very quietly the Bearcats are 4-1 against, admittedly, an awful schedule- three of the victims being Austin Peay, Akron and now the O.G. Miami, which fell 27-0 in Oxford Saturday. Still, they did roast ACC member N.C. State a couple of weeks ago and the Big East doesn’t look terribly strong, so Cincinnati could make things interesting in the conference race, even with a road-heavy schedule.

Toledo: The Rockets took out three weeks of frustration on Temple, teeing off on the Owls right from the start in a 36-13 thrashing in Philadelphia. A pair of first-quarter turnovers led to a 15-3 Toledo lead and the Rockets were on their way, finishing the rout with 21 unanswered points after the Owls had drawn to within two in the third period. The talented Rockets are now 2-3 and in good position to salvage things with a strong run in the MAC West.

Losers of the Week

Texas A&M: The Aggies still can’t get this sixty minute-game stuff figured out, and it cost them dearly again in a 42-38 loss to Arkansas in Cowboys Stadium. One week after being outscored 27-9 in the second half by Oklahoma State, A&M was outscored 25-3 in the final thirty minutes by Arkansas, which scored the game-winning touchdown on Broderick Green’s three-yard run with 1:41 to play. Once again the Aggies were torched through the air, with Tyler Wilson setting a school record with 510 passing yards and Jarius Wright setting a school record with 281 receiving yards.   

South Florida: The Bulls have been “next year’s champions” in the Big East for a number of years, mainly because of performances like the one they put on Thursday night at Pittsburgh. Undefeated going in and with a chance to make a major statement, USF instead dropped a stink bomb, giving up 226 rushing yards to Ray Graham in a 44-17 Panther rout.

Minnesota: The humiliation never seems to end for the Golden Gophers, who were annihilated in Ann Arbor by Michigan, 58-0. It was the worst loss ever for Minnesota against its Little Brown Jug rival and the worst shutout loss since a 58-0 setback to Colorado in 1991. The Gophers yielded 363 rushing yards and went 0-for-11 on third downs in falling to 1-4 on the season.  

Baylor: Robert Griffin finally made a mistake and it helped cost the Bears their first defeat of the season, a 36-35 heartbreaker to Kansas State in Manhattan. Griffin’s first interception of the season set the Wildcats up at the Baylor 15-yard line and led to a field goal with 3:10 left that proved the game-winner. Baylor had gone out to a 35-26 fourth-quarter lead mainly on the arm of RGIII, who threw for 346 yards and five touchdowns.

Utah State: No one has proven better at finding ways to lose than the Utah State Aggies, who dropped to 1-3 with another agonizing defeat, this a 27-24 squeaker at BYU. The Cougars scored the winning touchdown with eleven seconds left when Marcus Matthews pulled in a deflected pass from Riley Nelson, who had relieved a struggling Jake Heaps. Utah State has now lost three games in which it was leading with less than a minute to play.

 

Next: Ohio State makes its’ first-ever trip to Nebraska Saturday night at 8:00. The storm warning is out: Bo Pelini’s team will come in pissed off after a lopsided loss at Wisconsin this past weekend. At night, on the road, the Buckeyes had better find some answers to their offensive problems, or this one could get very, very ugly.