Football
10 Things We Learned From a Rebound Victory Over Minnesota
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes needed a victory, the offense needed some confidence and quarterback Terrelle Pryor needed some redemption after last week’s 26-18 loss to Purdue.
Enter Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers took care of the Boilermakers soundly 35-20 three weeks ago, but they walked into the wrong stadium on the wrong week Saturday. They coughed up the ball four times, committed eight penalties for 72 yards and went just 1-of-10 on 3rd down conversions in a 38-7 loss.
We take a look at what can be learned from OSU’s rebound victory.
10. How much Eric Decker means to the Gopher offense. Decker played only one quarter Saturday but he was on his way to another 100-yard game before a foot injury knocked him out of the game. He finished with three catches for 27 yards (all in the first quarter) and the impact his absence had on the rest of the offense was painfully obvious for Minnesota Head Coach Tim Brewster.
“Decker is our best player, so when he sprained his foot in the first half it was tough for the whole team,” Brewster said.
“I'm disappointed that we didn't make more plays at the receiver position because we certainly had the opportunities. We dropped a number of balls today that could have really helped our offense. That part of it is really disappointing.”
Without those drops, this might have been a different football game.
9. Jim Tressel might be on to something. Certainly the Buckeyes made mistakes in just about every facet of the game last week in their loss to Purdue, but afterward, coach Jim Tressel pointed to the turnover battle as the primary offender. OSU committed five turnovers in West Lafayette, two inside their own 20, and lost the turnover battle by two. Saturday it was Minnesota, a team that beat the Boilermakers by 15 points, who found themselves on the wrong end of a -3 turnover margin.
“Ohio State turned the ball over four or five times last weekend at Purdue and lost on the road. It's a recipe for disaster to be on the road in the Big Ten and turn the ball over,” Brewster said.
8. Something has to be done about the short kicking game. Aaron Pettrey’s struggles in the short kicking game have been a running joke this season, primarily because he is still perfect on kicks over 40 yards. Tressel even teased that he would take four delay-of game penalties to get Pettrey into his range, but this is becoming a serious issue. He missed a 30-yarder in the first half against the Gophers and is now just 7-of-11 from inside the 40 (compared to 6-of-6 from 40+). If he misses a game-winner from inside the 40 you can bet your bottom dollar Tressel will stop joking about it, but they need to get this thing figured out before it comes down to that. Playing New Mexico State next week is a good time to try some new things, and one of those things might include Ben Buchanan or Devin Barclay kicking field goals in the red zone.
7. The Buckeyes have another freshman tailback. After watching Jermil Martin run the football today, the only question is ‘What took so long?’ All season we’ve been hearing about Martin a possible short-yardage back, but what we saw in the fourth quarter against Minnesota looked a lot more like a complete tailback than a bruising short-yardage back. Watching him bust off a 39-yard touchdown run on his third carry brought back shades of Keith Byars in that No. 41, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. This is a player that has carried the ball a grand total of seven times in his OSU career, but he certainly looked like a player who could help the Buckeyes this season when he was bouncing off would-be tacklers and carrying bodies into the end zone.
6. They will have some great depth in the backfield if and when they get guys healthy. Already without Boom Herron, the Buckeyes have to be hoping for good news on Brandon Saine’s potential concussion. Running backs take a beating, especially in the Big Ten, and being without both of those guys next week would leave this team paper-thin at tailback against New Mexico State. Fortunately, with Saine out, the Buckeyes got a look at both Jordan Hall and Jermil Martin Saturday as both scored rushing touchdowns in the second half. If the Buckeyes can get Herron and Saine back for the last three games, they would appear to be pretty loaded at tailback even if Jaamal Berry ends up redshirting.
5. The OSU corners are still a major question mark. Earlier this year I mentioned that we still didn’t know enough about the Ohio State cornerbacks because of the defensive line’s ability to pressure the quarterback. Well, we have learned a little bit more about them the last two weeks with Purdue and Minnesota going to the quick passing game to help negate the pass rush. Both the Boilermakers and Gophers went right after the OSU corners with the short passing game, and it’s hard to argue with their success. While Chimdi Chekwa seems to have stood up to the test, both Devon Torrence and Andre Amos looked far too soft in coverage as the Gophers were able to complete 15 passes of 19 yards or less.
4. Thad Gibson is a bad man when he gets rolling. It was only a matter of time. While much was made of Gibson’s lack of production in the sack department this year, anyone watching him play week-in and week-out knew it was just a matter of time before he had a breakout performance. It came at the expense of Adam Weber and MarQueis Gray Saturday, as the junior defensive end sacked the two Minnesota quarterbacks three times, including one where he beat three guys to get there. Gibson also recovered a fumble and nearly had another one before a review determined the runner’s knee was down. Nathan Williams also had a sack and the two of them on the field together is just unfair for opposing offensive lines.
3. The offensive line took a step in the right direction. Speaking of offensive lines, Ohio State’s didn’t exactly look like a collection of turnstiles against Minnesota. With Mike Adams sidelined (possibly for a while) by a knee injury, Jim Cordle and Andrew Miller were asked to step in and handle the left tackle position this week. It wasn’t the kind of performance legends are made of, but the OSU offensive line looked better in both pass protection and run blocking Saturday than they have in a few weeks. Surprise, surprise, the entire offense looked better as a result. The Buckeyes ran for 270 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 5.5 yards per carry and although Pryor was sacked four times, he didn’t spend the entire game running for his life. It’s a good start, now the Bucks have to see if they can build on it next week before they take on some solid defensives in Penn State and Iowa.
2. DeVier Posey is a future star. I stress the word future because in no way am I ready to call DeVier Posey a star just yet, but he has “future” star written all over him. His numbers against Minnesota (8 catches, 161 yards, 2 TDs) certainly look star quality, but there were a handful of other plays in the game Posey didn’t make that stars do. He is becoming a better route runner by the day, and I was really impressed with his second touchdown when he broke off his route and tracked the ball down near the goal line after Pryor scrambled to make something happen. It was a veteran play made by a young wideout who now has 38 catches for 516 yards and six touchdowns this season. It’s obvious he has developed a comfort level with Pryor, and that should only grow as the two players develop together.
1. When given time, Pryor can make things happen. We have to be careful not to make wholesale observations about Pryor after any one game (good or bad), but he definitely looked like a different player Saturday than what we saw a week ago. He made smarter decision, showed better mechanics and ran with determination this week, three things he did not do against Wisconsin or Purdue. Let’s not mistake the Gophers for the Hawkeyes or Nittany Lions. Pryor will need to continue getting better if he is going to beat those teams in November, but 363 yards of offense is not bad for a quarterback who supposedly needs to move to wide receiver to make an impact. He talked about being more relaxed during the week, and with a little time he was able to show that on the field.
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