Photo of Boom Herron by Marvin FongThe Good
Offense
This begins with the offensive line and Zach Boren. In the second half those guys did a great job giving Boom Herron room to run. You need look no further than the Buckeyes' first touchdown of the game to see the evidence of that. Oh and how about that touchdown drive: 96 yards in 11 plays. I wouldn't mind seeing more of those. On the topic of Boom, he did a pretty good job creating his own space to run on his longest runs. Just look at those runs. Both of them are all Boom. Dane Sanzenbacher had a very quiet game, but his one catch was a good one. He was definitely in the right place at the right time on that touchdown.
Defense
It's a good thing Devon Torrence had that interception return for a touchdown. Before that, he was not having a good game at all. Travis Howard's interception was great. Hopefully, the defense can come up with more plays like that against Iowa. Before halftime, it looked like the only guys on the defense that were interested in playing were Ross Homan and Brian Rolle.
Special Teams
OK, so maybe there wasn't really anything spectacular about special teams, but the kicks have been deeper and the coverage has been way better.
The Bad
I could make this real easy and say that everything from the first half belongs here. And that's true, but I will break it down a little more than that. The offense looked like it was using the road playbook. The offensive line was great at giving just enough blocking for a 2-yard gain. The defense looked like the same group that lined up against Wisconsin. At halftime, I thought for sure I would be writing a scathing indictment of the Buckeyes lack of heart. While this isn't a scathing indictment, I will say this. It would be nice to see someone get in the face of other guys when the offense is stagnant and the defense gets punched in the mouth.
The Ugly
It would be easy to put most of the first half here too. I mean, sorting that first half into bad or ugly is splitting hairs. However, there is one thing that belongs here for sure. Did you see Chimdi Chekwa on Penn State's second touchdown? He looked like he didn't even know a play was happening. I have never seen any defensive back concede the end zone as easily as Chekwa did on that play.
Oh, and the penalties were pretty ugly too. Eight penalties. The team will need to shore that up against Iowa.
Schwinderjection
Lousy Buckeyes! Another nationally televised game and these guys show up the same as they did in the stinking Wisconsin game! Unbelievable! Won't someone tell these guys that a game is 60 minutes long? Oh, they got that message? Never mind.
Under the Radar player of the game
It's been a while since I've had this opportunity, so I am going to take full advantage. Your UtR player of the game is Zach Boren. He had some good blocks, clearing the way for Boom to get more than 190 yards.
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1 comment:
Good write up Gary. From what I read, Tressel fired them up at half time with a rare speech.
Also read that Pryor never threw a pass to Sanzenbacher the entire game.
Below is a link to my website followed by my game stat write up:
http://www.slagshouseofstats.com/OhioStateClarett/osu2010.html
PENN STATE 7 7 0 0 14
OHIO STATE #8 3 0 14 21 38
The 38-14 win was really two games. In the first half, Penn State dominated and led 14-3. In the 2nd half OSU completely dominated Penn State winning by a 35-0 score. In the first half, walk-on Matt McGloin completed 13 of 18 passes including 9 in a row for 141 yards and two TD's. In the 2nd half two QB's combined for 2 for 15 for 18 yards and two interceptions that were returned for 64 yards and two TD's. Penn State gained 212 yards in the first half and 60 yards in the 2nd half. OSU 64 yards on two interceptions was 4 yards more than Penn State gained in the 2nd half!
Going into the game Penn State had 0 TD passes and threw 14 interceptions in their last 8 games in Columbus! Penn State won in 2008 13-6, but in the other 7 games scored 6-10 points. In the first half today, Penn State had two TD passes and 14 points! OSU now has 6 interception returns for TD's in last 7 games vs Penn State.
In the 2nd half, after holding Penn State on their initial possession, OSU had their longest drive of the year of 98 yards to make the score 14-10. Then came 3 huge plays to turn the game into a route. First a nice interception and 34 yard TD run by Devon Torrance. 2nd a 58 yard pass to Posey who went up with two defenders and the ball bounced to Sanzenbacher for a TD. 3rd a nice interception and 30 yard return for a TD by Travis Howard. Most of the 2nd half saw OSU running the ball at will, mostly by Herron who finished with 190 yards on 21 carries with 121 yards coming in the 2nd half. Pryor and Saine finished with a combined 95 yards as OSU rushed for 314 yards, the second most of the season and one 40 yard run by Pryor was negated by penalty.
Pryor only threw 13 passes, completing 8 for 139 yards, two TD's and one interception.
The comeback from an 11-point deficit was the biggest in coach Jim Tressel's 10 years in Columbus. The Buckeyes improved to 9-1, 5-1 in the Big Ten, and ran their November record to 27-4 under Tressel.
Pryor remained 5th in the nation but his passing efficiency improved to 166.4, just behind 3rd place Stanzi of Iowa at 167.2 Big Ten now has 3 of top 9 and 5 of top 20 QB's in the nation.
Herron moved up to 44th in nation with 824 yards. James, Oregon is 1st at 1422 followed by Robinson, Mich at 1417.
OSU is 5th in scoring defense at 13.6 points a game, 4th in rushing defense at 86.5 yards a game (Iowa is 5th at 86.8), 6th in pass defense at 151.1 yards per game (Miami now 3rd), 2nd in total yards allowed per game at 237.7 (Iowa is highest ranked opponent at 16th for 307 yards a game), and 6th in take aways per game at 2.6.
On offense OSU is 19th at 455.5 yards per game (Michigan highest ranked opponent at 7th at 521 yards per game), 6th in scoring at 41.6 a game (Wisconsin 8th at 40.2), 13th rushing at 222 yards a game, and 42nd passing at 257 yards a game. OSU is tied for 1st with 17 interceptions and 5th in interception return yards with 247.
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