Football
By the Numbers
By Jeff Amey
The Ohio State Buckeyes dominated their game against
Michigan State this past weekend for exactly 15 minutes and 16 seconds,
but it was enough time for them to put up 32 points and turn what
looked as if it might be a close, comeback win for the Spartans into
a 13 point win for the Buckeyes.
Ted Ginn Jr. looked like one of the top recruits in the nation this
Saturday, accounting for three touchdowns in three different ways,
one on a 17 yard end-around, one on a 60 yard punt return, and a 58
yard catch and run when the Buckeyes needed it most down 19-17 at
the end of the game. He clearly plays the game at a different speed
than everyone else on the field and is deadly in the open field. I'm
willing to bet that the sale of #7 jerseys will be on the rise for
the next few seasons.
Let's take a look at the stats before getting into the details.
56 Total Plays--303 yards--5.4 ypp
21 pass (38%)--13/21 for 138 yards 1 TD
35 runs (62%) for 165 yards 2 TD--4.7 ypc
12 Total Drives
ave. of 4.7 plays--25.3 yards
ave. start--OSU 32
1st Down--21 plays (38%) for 63 yards
4 pass (19%)--1/4 for 5 yards
17 runs (81%) for 58 yards--3.4 ypc
ave. gain of 3.0 yards
2nd Down--21 plays (38%) for 149 yards
10 pass (48%)--8/10 for 100 yards 1 TD
11 runs (52%) for 49 yards 1 TD--4.5 ypc
ave. of 8.1 yards to go
ave. gain of 7.1 yards
3rd Down--14 plays (25%) for 91 yards
7 pass (50%)--4/7 for 33 yards
7 runs (50%) for 58 yards 1 TD--8.3 ypc
ave. of 6.9 yards to go
ave. gain of 6.5 yards
conversions--6/14 (42%)
Playaction Passing
2/4 for 13 yards
First Downs--9
6 by pass
3 by run
0 by penalty
FORMATION BREAKDOWN
Formations w/ FB--18 plays (32%)
4 pass (22%)--3/4 for 22 yards
14 runs (78%) for 82 yards 1 TD--5.9 ypc
Shotgun--23 plays (41%)
16 pass (70%)--9/16 for 111 yards 1 TD
7 runs (30%) for 22 yards--3.1 ypc
1 back/empty formations--15 plays (27%)
1 pass (7%)--1/1 for 5 yards
14 runs (93%) for 61 yards 1 TD--4.4 ypc
RUN TYPE BREAKDOWN--35 attempts
counter/trap--2 (6%) for 1 yard--0.5 ypc
draw--2 (6%) for 13 yards--6.5 ypc
sweep--1 (3%) for 2 yards--2.0 ypc
base/iso--12 (34%) for 87 yards 1 TD--7.3 ypc
reverse--2 (6%) for 21 yards 1 TD--10.5 ypc
power--1 (3%) for 6 yards--6.0 ypc
QB run/scramble--12 (34%) for 32 yards--2.7 ypc
stretch--2 (6%) for 3 yards--1.5 ypc
option--1 (3%) for 0 yards--0.0 ypc
Other Stats of Note
*Maurice Hall--11 carries for 84 yards 1 TD
*Lydell Ross--7 carries for 23 yards
*27 passes called out of 56 plays (21 passes, 5 scrambles, 1 sack)
*14 out of 56 plays went for no gain or negative yardage (25%)
*First 49 plays--171 yards (57 minutes)
*Last 7 plays--132 plays (3 minutes)
Three games with Troy Smith at quarterback and the Buckeyes have
three wins to show for it. The first two were largely dismissed because
the Buckeyes were playing at home against teams that were winless
in the Big Ten at the time they were played, but this Saturday the
Bucks left the (usually) friendly confines of Columbus to take on
a team that held a 17 point lead AT Michigan last week before falling
in overtime. This one wasn't expected to be a gimme.
Troy didn't exactly make the statistician work very hard, and really
didn't do anything spectacular during the game, but he didn't turn
the ball over and led the team to a late touchdown through the air
after the Spartans fought back to take the lead late in the game.
He reminds me of Craig Krenzel more and more with every passing game
and, more importantly, seems to have gained the trust and respect
of his teammates with his ability to lead the team.
I'm sure the quarterback controversey isn't over in the long run,
but I feel that Troy has earned the starting spot even after Justin
Zwick regains his health. Troy seems to give this team the best chance
to win games right now, and I think it would be very tough and a mistake
to try to reinsert Zwick into the lineup at this point in the season
considering Smith's play the past 3 weeks.
Smith has been helped greatly by the emergence of Ted Ginn as a real
weapon in the past few weeks. He is simply incredible with the ball
in his hands. Ginn finished this game with 169 all-purpose yards and
3 touchdowns on 8 touches for the game. That's an average of over
21 yards every time the ball touched his hands. He has added an element
to the punt return game that is impossible for other teams to ignore
as him and Santonio Holmes have combined for 4 punt return touchdowns
in the past 6 games.
It was again nice to see Maurice Hall break a long run for a touchdown
in the last minute of this game. He has selflessly given so much during
his career, you have to feel good for him getting a chance to showcase
his talents a little bit at the twilight of it. On the other hand,
I couldn't help but feel bad for Lydell Ross at different times on
Saturday. He's taken a lot of flak the past two seasons, deserved
or not. He's another guy that (for the most part) put the team first
during his career at Ohio State, and I'm sure this isn't how he envisioned
his senior season ending. I have never seen an Ohio State player look
as devestated as Lydell did after his third quarter fumble.
When it comes down to it, though, this offense really didn't do much
for the bulk of this game. Without the big plays, they really didn't
do anything at all. The longest drive was 10 plays long, and that
came from the Ohio State 1 yard line. It was great to see the big
plays return to this offense, but it would be even greater to see
this offense start to put together some long drives to keep the defense
off of the field. The Buckeyes only managed to gain 9 first downs
for the entire game, and only 2 in the first h alf.
Defense and special teams have stepped up in the past 2 weeks to
the tune of 3 touchdowns and several set-ups for other scores, but
that can't be expected every week. Between the drives that made the
score 17-0 and the one that put them up 25-19, the offense ran 38
plays for a grand total of 126 yards (3.3 ypp). That covers 45 minutes
worth of game time. That kind of offensive production probably won't
get the job done against Michigan.
I thought the effort all around was good. The coaches called a nice
variety of plays, and seemed to try to get the ball into the playmaker's
hands (Ginn especially). The players seemed to put forth effort most
of the game, and although they still look like they lack fire at times,
I saw more emotion out of them this game than in the past several
weeks, especially on defense. More importantly, they kept their heads
in the game after the Spartans came back to take the lead. It would've
been easy for the Bucks to pack it in after struggling for so much
of the day on offense, but they answered with a long touchdown, an
interception on defense, and then a "nail in the coffin"
touchdown to salt the game away. A few weeks earlier, I wouldn't have
thought it possible out of this team, especially away from home.
You have to give the Spartans a lot of credit in this game as well.
After blowing that 17 point lead against Michigan, they also could've
packed it in at the end of the first quarter when the score was 17-0,
but they worked their way back into the game, and really dominated
the game from the end of the first quarter until three minutes left
in the fourth quarter. The team the Buckeyes beat this Saturday was
no slouch.
Now the Buckeyes will head to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on
a Purdue team that has been heading in the exact opposite direction
of the Buckeyes the past few weeks. While the Buckeyes were logging
3 wins in a row against conference foes, the Boilermakers have lost
their last 4 games, all in the Big Ten, dropping from #5 in the nation
with the early Heisman frontrunner to complete obscurity and Kyle
Orton on the bench.
Purdue is the early favorite at home, but momentum is clearly with
the Buckeyes heading into this game. It's a good bet that the Ohio
State pass defense will be sorely tested this week and recent games
against Purdue say that the Buckeye offense will struggle to move
the ball. It will probably take some more big plays out of the defense
and special teams to put the Buckeyes in a position to win this one.
A Florida bowl is still a possibility.
E-mail Jeff Amey at:
tallabuck@the-ozone.net
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