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Ohio State football: Grading Buckeyes after win over Indiana

Jim Tomlin

By Jim Tomlin

Published:

Ohio State opened Big Ten play in just about a perfect way on Saturday, blasting the Indiana Hoosiers 51-10 in Bloomington.

The sixth-ranked Buckeyes have now beaten Indiana 24 straight times officially, tying the longest streak in school history against any opponent (it’s a record 25 in a row on the field but OSU vacated the 2010 victory).

It can be difficult to pick out anything to criticize from a 41-point victory on the road against a conference opponent. But the OSU coaching staff will find things for their players to work on before next week’s game at Ohio Stadium against the Miami RedHawks.

In the meantime, here are 5 things I liked and 3 I didn’t like from Ohio State’s third straight victory to start the 2019 season.

5 things I liked

J.K. Dobbins: When a running back is peaking, coaches and commentators like to say that he’s running angry. J.K. Dobbins looks like he is running not just hard, but angry.

The Buckeyes junior had 175 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries — in the first half. His longest run of the day was for 56 yards but Dobbins was at his best on a 26-yard touchdown run in the second quarter when it seemed the entire Hoosiers defense tried and failed to tackle him.

Dobbins wound up with 193 yards on 22 carries and his lone negative carry went for minus-1 yard. Indiana never came close to stopping him. He got some deserved rest early in the second half and Master Teague (pictured above) had 106 yards rushing including a 40-yard TD on just 10 carries. Teague seems to have settled for good the preseason question of who would be OSU’s No. 2 running back.

Arnette’s Pick Six: The final Buckeyes touchdown was their most spectacular one of the day.

Indiana drove deep into OSU territory in the waning seconds of the third quarter. A pass interference penalty on OSU on fourth down kept the drive alive and the Hoosiers had a third-and-goal play from the OSU 7. Quarterback Peyton Ramsey, who passed for 322 yards in 2018 against OSU, threw to tight end Matt Bjorson a couple of yards short of the end zone.

But Arnette jumped the route, leaped to make the interception and ran it back 96 yards for a touchdown. Arnette showed anticipation on the pass, athleticism to make the catch and savvy in dodging and weaving his way downfield. He probably ran about 130 yards for that 96-yard return.

OSU’s 12 tackles for loss: A Buckeyes defense that allowed big plays frequently last season has, at least through three games in 2019, buttoned up its collective tackling and positioning under new defensive co-coordinators Jeff Hafley and Greg Mattison. OSU has yet to allow 300 yards of total offense in a game this season.

Against Indiana the Buckeyes allowed just 257 yards, at 3.8 yards per play. One big reason was that the Buckeyes swarmed Indiana up front all day, piling up 12 tackles for loss, subtracting 43 yards from IU’s total. Even with the game out of hand OSU never relented, allowing just 13 total yards in the fourth quarter.

The effort on negative yardage plays came from every unit: From the edges (ends Chase Young and Tyler Friday combined for 4.5 TFLs) to the interior (Davon Hamilton) of the line, from linebacker (Pete Werner had two TFLs) to safety and cornerback, the Buckeyes flew to the ball and stopped the Hoosiers in their tracks.

Olave’s blocked punt: Last season Chris Olave, then a freshman, announced himself to Buckeye Nation with two touchdown catches and, perhaps more stirringly, a blocked punt in a 62-39 victory over Michigan.

On Saturday he repeated the feat on special teams just moments after his touchdown catch put OSU ahead 14-3. He raced around the right edge and stretched out to block a punt from Indiana’s Haydon Whitehead in the second quarter.

The ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety and a 16-3 OSU lead.

Perfect start to second half: OSU led big at halftime in each of their first two games. The second-half effort was just passable against Florida Atlantic in the opener, solid last week against Cincinnati. Against Indiana, though they scored fewer points in the second half (they didn’t need to), the Buckeyes arguably played every bit as well in the second half as the first.

After leading 30-10 at halftime, the Buckeyes received the kickoff to start the third quarter and drove 75 yards in seven plays for another touchdown. Justin Fields was a perfect 4-for-4 for 53 yards on the drive including his 4-yard scoring pass to Dobbins. After Indiana’s moderately successful first drive of the second half (eight plays, 31 yards), OSU took the ball back and drove 97 yards for another TD, capped by Teague’s 40-yard run.

OSU showed no letup all all in this game.

3 things I didn’t like

Overagression on Indiana TD: Indiana’s lone offensive highlight came on a trick play as the Buckeyes defense bit hard on a play fake.

Indiana QB Ramsey threw a backward pass to receiver Donavan Hale at about midfield. Hale, a former quarterback at Largo (Florida) High School, then hit tight end Peyton Hendershot for one of the slowest-developing touchdown passes you’ll see all season. The fact that Hendershot reached the end zone anyway for a 49-yard score tells you that at least a couple of OSU defenders were caught out of position.

Pressure on Justin Fields: Indiana only had two sacks for 12 yards but Fields faced pressure on quite a few dropbacks. He’s athletic enough to avoid a lot of danger but OSU’s offensive line, as excellent as it has been in establishing a running game this season, will want to sharpen its pass blocking when OSU faces better B1G opposition.

On the bright side, the line cut down on penalties, as did the whole team (5 flags for 45 yards).

Special teams: Apart from Olave’s blocked punt, the Buckeyes did nothing to distinguish themselves on special teams. Blake Haubeil missed a 32-yard field goal wide right in the first quarter, and the return teams were quiet. OSU averaged 9.5 yards on two punt returns and averaged 16 yards on two kick returns.

Jim Tomlin

Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a writer and editor for saturdaytradition.com and saturdaydownsouth.com.