Buckeye Blogger Network
What’s really important
Continued thoughts and prayers to our friends in Cowboy and Sooner land… soundtrack should be obvious for today.
Buckeye 411
Simon’s contract has a total value of $2.545 million, including a $385,652 signing bonus. The deal includes base salaries of $405,000, $495,000, $585,000 and $675,000.
Urban Meyer has led his Buckeyes out onto the field in Cincinnati and celebrated the return of spring. We’ll be watching the replay and discussing the event in nothing but glowing terms.
Join us and The Buckeye Blog, Buckeye Empire, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, and Buckeye Ninja as we get our brief taste of football in the midst of the dry season! The chat will kick off around 6:45 PM Eastern, with kick-off on the BTN at around 7:00 pm.
Special thanks to Fox Sports Ohio for graciously helping with these livechats all year long!
Wonder if it's a metaphor for something...
Well, here we are, at the second biggest shopping day of the holiday and fiscal season. It’s kind of sad, really- all those unwanted or mis- purchased gifts being dragged back to the mall, where “Good Will To Men” is certainly in short supply.
That being said… how hard is it to follow a list? And what part of “bullets” looks like “marbles”… grumble grumble grumble. Given what’s in the theaters beginning yesterday, you’ve got two choices for today’s soundtrack.
Buckeye 411
This week’s soundtrack takes you back to 1978, well before vampires were sparkly and werewolves were dreamy. Happy All Hallows Eve, folks…
Useful, that.
Buckeye 411
Nate Williams is out, and Zach Boren has been moved to linebacker. And that’s just what we knew about heading into the game; a matchup that Ohio State dominated until mental lapses and a “never say die” Hoosier team made the contest too close for comfort late.
Since Eric is at a wedding and Tim’s got work, you’re stuck with me for the recap. Buckle up.
First Quarter
Guapo Being Guapo
Braxton was able to get enough of the passing game going over the middle of the field to keep the Hoosiers honest, and found Jake Stoneburner for an early first down catch on a close call. A pass interference call kept the Ohio State drive alive, and Braxton made a good read on an option pitch to Corey Brown for the first Buckeye score. After a three and out by IU, the Buckeyes took over again and began to feed Carlos Hyde. After one first down, though, the Buckeyes were forced to punt, and IU began on their own seven yard line. The Hoosiers continued to have the dropsies, and IU punted back to Ohio State. Rod Smith reported for duty for Ohio State on their third drive. After a couple of nice runs, Devin Smith dropped a sure touchdown forcing Braxton to scramble on third down to pick up the long first. A couple of times during the first quarter, Ohio State showed a new wrinkle of a “touch pass”- they were unsuccessful in converting, though, and Drew Basil added his third field goal of the season.
Indiana got their first first down of the game, and began to move up tempo. Indiana ran an off-tackle play to Stephen Houston who ran 53 yards for the score, and the Hoosiers drew within three. Heuerman dropped the first down pass attempt, and Indiana was able to feather the option attempt and stop Braxton from any gain. A false start put OSU at third and 15; Braxton was only able to pick up five yards and the Buckeyes punted… and it was blocked by Indiana. The Hoosiers started at their own 17, and gained two yards prior to the end of the quarter. Read More
Technically, in Beech Grove Indiana...
Welcome to Hoosier Week… accompanied by a soundtrack from Bloomington’s greatest artist (no, not JCM- although I would have accepted Hoagy).
Buckeye 411
SammySilv At It Again
Coach Meyer’s comments following the win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, courtesy of Fox Sports Ohio: (transcription provided by the Ohio State Athletic Department)
COACH MEYER: I want to give a lot of thanks to our crowd, the Buckeye Walk, the skull session. That was one of the great evenings in Columbus, in Ohio State. But I really appreciate that. I never want to let that go without telling the fans that. That was tremendous. Also, our student body and the quick cals, it’s really cool to watch guys really buy in, not only your team, but the fans. That was ‑‑ from the bottom of my heart, I want to make sure everybody knows that. I know it’s not a great story, but it’s a great story. That was a good thing for Ohio State.
Give credit where credit is due. I thought the first quarter was a trainwreck for our offense, but it was because they’re playing very good defense. And they weren’t doing a lot different. They came out and hit us in the mouth. We had to get going, but our offensive line eventually took over that game. And we have two good runners right now. We have a quarterback obviously that’s kind of ridiculous running the ball, and then Carlos Hyde is a guy that is starting to earn a lot of respect, other than that darn fumble. But he’s running hard. And then Rod Smith came in and pounded it, too.
So you can see what we are. We’re kind of a pound‑ya offense right now. I don’t mind that. I’ve not had a lot of those. But that’s a pound‑ya offense. And we still need to do some other things, but we also ‑‑ opportunity on the couple ‑‑ I think we had two touchdown passes, right? Just one touchdown pass, but another one down to the end zone.
Defense can get better. Created some turnovers, but can get better. Pleased with their effort, but we all know we can’t give up those kind of yards and those kinds of points and win the game. They fed off each other. And this team is buying in, and they’re doing a good job. Read More
It wasn’t always pretty, but it was certainly fun and exciting.
The Buckeyes and Cornhuskers fought a Shootout in the ‘Shoe to the tune of 14 total touchdowns in the game for a final score of 63-38. Braxton Miller finished the game with 7-14 completions for 127 yards and a touchdown, and added 185 yards on 16 carries for a touchdown. Taylor Martinez couldn’t keep up on the ground with 17 carries for 46 yards, but made up for it through the air on 15-24 completions for 214 yards and a touchdown, but also three picks. Carlos Hyde was a force in this one scoring 4 touchdowns and picking up 138 yards. The 63 points were the most scored by the Buckeyes since a 72-0 victory over Pittsburgh on September 21st 1996.
I’m impressed with the play of the offense tonight. They put in touchdowns on five straight drives, and it could have even been six or seven if not for the unfortunate Carlos Hyde fumble late in the third quarter. That is a testament of what this team can really do on offense. They’re figuring it out slowly but surely. It would be really nice if they could do it starting in the first quarter too, but it’s certainly better late than never. Simply put, these guys are making progress in picking up the system, and they’re making it work.
Despite what many will say about the defense, I want to give props to the unit for doing a fairly solid job all game long. As I’ll mention below, the big plays are still a concern, but the defense on the whole did a good job against a talented offensive team. If not for the offense struggling in the first quarter, Nebraska may never have made it to 30 points in this game. There’s still a long way to go, but I see this defense making progress slowly but surely – and don’t forget, you don’t get to 6-0 without at least some kind of defense.
That’s right, the Buckeyes are now undefeated halfway through the season. I doubt that many of us honestly believed the Buckeyes could find themselves in this position at this point in the season. There’s still a long way to go, but the players on this team have the heart to go the distance. One way or another, it’s going to be a fun ride through the last six games of the season.
