Ohio State opened Big Ten play with a strong 38-7 win over Michigan State.
There was some good, such as the three forced turnovers and Ohio State’s starting offense scoring on six of its eight drives. But there was some bad, such as Michigan State rolling up 190 yards (on an 8.6-yard average) on its first four drives. After that, Ohio State gave up just 57 yards, 37 of which came on the final drive with the backups in.
Here are a few good and a few not-so-good things I saw on film.
Four things I loved
Using Jeremiah Smith as more than just a receiver
Smith is already making the case as Ohio State’s best offensive player and the best wide receiver in the country.
The thing that makes Smith stand out over some other elite receivers in the country is his versatility. He’s 6 feet 3 and 215 pounds, and his physicality was on display with his one-handed catch on the sideline over two Michigan State defensive backs. He also has a large catch radius and great body control, which he showed with his one-handed touchdown grab right before halftime.
But he’s also faster than somebody his size should be.
The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, on his Freak List, reported that Smith ran 23.39 mph in the offseason, and Ohio State is finding ways to utilize that.
Here, the Buckeyes use him on a reverse. The play design is fantastic. They sell the handoff to Quinshon Judkins down to the smallest detail. Tight end Gee Scott does a nice job faking the pull and turns around to block for Smith, who cruises into the end zone untouched.
I said it last week, but Ohio State’s misdirection is going to be hard to slow down this year if the outside blocking is good. This was even more evidence of that.
Caleb Downs is one of the best open-field tacklers in the country
One of the things that makes Downs so good is his football IQ. After the game, corner Jordan Hancock pointed out that Downs is like a coach on the field. He sees plays before they develop. He especially excels in the run game and was a big part of why Ohio State allowed only 1.9 yards per rush on Saturday.
He’s 10 yards off the line of scrimmage here and makes a play in the backfield. Michigan State thinks it has free yards after Kenyatta Jackson forces the run outside, but Downs is there right away.
Downs does a really nice job of not overcommitting on plays like this. Sometimes it can be easy to shoot the wrong gap in an effort to make a play in the backfield, but I can’t remember the last time I saw Downs do that.
This is another really good play, this time on a screen. It is just a simple numbers game. Ohio State has two defenders for one blocker on the outside, and Downs makes a secure tackle in the backfield. He had a team-high six tackles on Saturday and continues to show off the tackling ability that made him a Freshman All-American last season while at Alabama.
TreVeyon Henderson’s pass protection has improved
Henderson led Ohio State in rushing on Saturday with 69 yards on seven carries.
What was most impressive, though, was his pass protection. He’s much improved in that area and was really good against Michigan State.
Here he does a nice job of coming across the line of scrimmage to pick up the edge blitzer so that quarterback Will Howard has time to deliver a strike to Emeka Egbuka on the sideline.
It’s not flashy, but these are small things that make running backs stand out.
He made another strong block on Devin Brown’s touchdown pass.
Henderson comes across the line to pick up a free edge blitzer. He makes it look easy — it isn’t. isn’t easy. To be fair, it looked like he missed an assignment on the play before this, which got Howard hit and forced him out of the game for a play. But that also could’ve been a miscommunication from left guard Donovan Jackson. Regardless, more often than not, Henderson has done a great job this season in pass protection, and coach Ryan Day has taken notice.
“There were a few of them when he came across and picked up some corner fires. He’s done a nice job,” Day said. “He’s becoming that all-purpose back that we all know he can be.”
Offensive line plays well, again
At some point, we’re all going to have to admit that Ohio State’s offensive line isn’t the weakness it was a year ago. That group played another good game, this time against a Big Ten foe.
We’re four games in and it’s obvious that the left side of the line is the strongest part. But that doesn’t mean Ohio State needs to run wide and inside zone to the left every play. This is a good counter that gets right guard Tegra Tshabola moving in space, and he latches onto his opponent quickly. He had an up-and-down game, but this was a good play.
This is simply blocking at its best. Henderson’s hole up the middle couldn’t have been bigger or set up better. Center Seth McLaughlin sets the play by picking up the defensive tackle one-on-one while right guard Austin Siereveld comes over and pairs with Jackson and Josh Simmons to open the left side up.
The offensive linemen weren’t perfect, but more often than not, they moved well and created space for the running backs. Their biggest test is coming on Saturday against Iowa.
Two things that concerned me
Will Howard’s lack of vision
Howard’s struggles were surprising and, I think, a byproduct of playing a Power 4 opponent for the first time this season. He was staring down receivers too often.
On this play, he focused on Smith the entire time and never saw the Michigan State defender reading his eyes.
The smallest mistakes get amplified in the red zone because of the lack of space, and Howard almost made a big one here.
Michigan State didn’t miss the next time it had an opportunity to intercept a pass.
This time, against a Cover 2 look, Howard made the worst read of the season.
Howard said he rushed this decision, which is pretty obvious. He focused on Egbuka from the start, despite the linebacker and defensive back being right on the route.
He improved as the game went on, which is a good sign for Ohio State. Interceptions are going to happen, but you’d like for them to occur on great plays by the defense as opposed to being a result of the quarterback staring down his receivers.
I’m not overly concerned about this going forward.
Ohio State’s pass defense struggled
Last season, Ohio State ran man coverage 30.4 percent of the time and zone 63.9 percent of the time.
On Saturday, Ohio State was forced to play zone on 74 percent of its defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, the second-highest mark of the season. The reason? Aidan Chiles’ mobility. It’s easier for quarterbacks to scramble for yards against man. That’s exactly what Chiles did here, even though the play was called back because of offsetting holding penalties.
This is what Ohio State was trying to avoid for much of the game. And it did a good job, limiting Chiles to just three carries for 8 yards (not including three sacks). The Buckeyes, however, gave up more passing yards because of that.
There was a lot of open space in the secondary throughout the early part of the game, and Michigan State did a good job of scheming guys open in the soft spot of the zone. There are a few things that were far too common — a clean pocket and soft coverage.
It seemed like Ohio State was daring Chiles to beat it, and he did at times. Michigan State had 142 passing yards in the first half.
After the fourth drive, Ohio State’s starters gave up just 24 passing yards, and it was because everyone was working together.
Cody Simon nearly had an interception because the coverage and pass rush worked together. Denzel Burke did get one because Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau were pressuring Chiles on the run and Burke read the play correctly.
Even this play worked well.
I know it was a catch, but the blitz put pressure on Chiles, and Burke was in tight coverage and looked like he was going to make a play on the ball. Sometimes the other team makes plays, too. This was still a good defensive rep.
The Buckeyes have one more test, Iowa, before playing a dynamic passing attack at Oregon. They will need to clean some things up before then, but there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this defense, especially if coordinator Jim Knowles keeps building on some looks he has shown in the first four games.
(Photo of Will Howard: Nick King / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
