Buckeyes 26, Bobcats 14

OK, big sigh of relief. And the fact that we need a big sigh of relief after a game against OU is a little horrifying.

The Good
Believe it or not, there are some things to put here. Lawrence Wilson had a good game. His tip and interception (not to mention the return) were outstanding. Jermale Hines had a great hit that put the starting QB out of the game. Of course, that meant the backup came in and was able to do what he did, but the hit against the starter was sweet. Ray Small's punt return was awesome. He looked a lot like Ted Ginn on that play with his breakaway speed. Dan Herron ran pretty well when he got the chance. Now, any Buckeye fan knows that the team is good for at least one of these stinker games every season. Let's hope they got it out of their system. Also, think about this. The Buckeyes were somnambulant for three quarters of the game and still won by 12. That pretty much concludes the good.

The Bad
Offense
How about the fact that the Buckeyes were losing by 8 in the 3rd quarter to the OU Bobcats? That in itself would be bad enough. Unfortunately, that wasn't all. The offense was sluggish at best. Receivers dropped balls that went right through their hands. The running backs did a tremendous job of running right into the pile created by the utter lack of blocking by the offensive line. Brian Robiskie thus far has done his best impression of the Invisible Man. By the 3rd quarter, the offense looked like it hadn't worn down the OU defense at all.

Defense
On some plays, it looked like we didn't have any linebackers in the game. The defensive line was hardly noticeable. I don't remember hearing Larimore's name until the 3rd quarter. Someone might want to check if Robert Rose was actually in the game. I sure didn't notice him. Overall, they made a backup QB look like Vince Young...or at least Juice Williams.

The Ugly
Third down was pathetic on both sides of the ball. The Bobcats were able to convert 9 of 17, while the Buckeyes were only able to convert 5 of 15. That is not going to work against USC. I will NEVER understand why, on 3rd down, you throw a pass that doesn't even reach the first down marker. Why do this? If it's 3rd and 5, don't throw a 2-yard pass. Throw a 5-yard pass. Revolutionary, I know. The Buckeyes won the turnover battle 4 to 1, but weren't able to convert those turnovers into any significant points. Pretorius's two missed kicks were about as ugly as I have ever seen. At least he was a team player and joined the funk with everyone else. Finally, the worst part of this game was that not one of the seniors tried to rally the troops. You would think that if the team is losing by 8 points to OU in the 3rd quarter, one of those guys might step up, raise his voice and say, "I don't know about you guys, but I am NOT going to lose to Ohio U!" The team showed no heart and looked like it was well on its way to losing to a MAC team.

Dumb comment of the day.
This belongs to Ray Bentley. After a particularly lousy throw to Hartline on the sideline sailed out of bounds by at least 4 yards, Bentley talked about how lucky Boeckman was because if the DB had intercepted it, he would have taken it for 6. Yeah, Ray. Maybe the DB would have intercepted it...if he were 9 feet tall.

Under the Radar Player of the Game
As mentioned, Lawrence Wilson had a really good game. He looked like he was on his way to capturing the UtR player of the game. That is, until Shaun Lane recovered that fumbled punt. That is the sort of play that makes someone the UtR player of the game.

Get ready for a long week of all the experts throwing dirt on the Buckeyes. That will be particularly unsavory for those of us living in soCal. And let's hope they got all of that lethargy and funk out of their system. if the Buckeyes play like that against the Trojans, they'll be done by halftime.