Ohio State hits midseason at 5-1. After the opening game defensive struggles against Minnesota followed by the loss to Oregon, many pundits had the Buckeyes trending down. Not so fast.

As OSU’s young personnel gain more experience, they continue to improve … just as reality is catching up with much of the rest of the B1G. Here’s our midseason grade cards for the Buckeyes:

QB: A

CJ Stroud is on pace to have one of the best seasons in OSU history. Despite how cagey the coaching staff has been in assessing him publicly, he has been a standout. He’s third in Heisman odds from most betting sites, and his learning curve has been very sharp.

RBs: A-

The only real issue is only having 70 TreVeyon Henderson carries in 6 games. Considering his 612 yards and 8 scores, he’s fine. We’d like to see him get 15-20 carries a game, but it is hard to keep Master Teague and Miyan Williams out. OSU is averaging 6.2 yards per carry, so they’re fine.

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WRs: A

OSU is on pace to have a trio of 1,000-yard receivers with Jaxson Smith-Njigba joining Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. The back end of the schedule may be more telling, but the trio have played as well as any in college football.

OL: A-

The Buckeyes are averaging nearly 50 points per game and picking up 8.5 yards per snap. The team’s problems haven’t been on offense. OSU’s line has allowed only 8 sacks and has helped the Buckeyes convert on a ridiculous 57% of third down attempts.

DL: C+

This group was gashed pretty badly by the rushing attacks from Minnesota and Oregon, but they are showing improvement. Tyleik Williams has really stepped up, and few offenses have enough big bodies to block both Williams and Haskell Garrett. Zach Harrison has been disappointing, but with guys like Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau coming on, it shouldn’t matter. These guys are trending up.

LBs: C

Much like the defensive line, this group was getting blown off the ball early, and the long-term prognosis isn’t quite as optimistic. This figured to be OSU’s least experienced group, and it has been the weakness so far. The Buckeyes D will go as far as the linebackers will allow.

DBs: B

Since the Oregon game, these guys have been fairly sharp. They did give up a bunch of yards to Tulsa, but they also started a run of 4 consecutive games with pick-6s. Given the talent on the other side of the ball, OSU can afford to let the DBs gamble, and they’ve done a pretty good job in picking their spots.

Special teams: A

OSU is perfect on place kicks and Jesse Mirco has been fine on punts. Emeka Egbuka is a real weapon on kick returns, and frankly, the Buckeyes have always been engaged in the game’s third phase.

Coaching: B+

Given the consistent issues with Kevin Coombs’s defense, it’s been hard to understand why it took OSU a couple more bad games to figure out their issues and change defensive play-callers. Ryan Day is presenting a united front, but to the extent that OSU has a weakness, it’s defensive. That said, the Buckeyes had a couple bad weeks and now look like themselves. It may be a minor hiccup in the grand scheme of things.