Instant Observations: Buckeyes pull away from Rutgers

For the second straight week, Ohio State took care of business on the road, this time as the newly minted No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff rankings. Also for the second straight week, it wasn’t very pretty. The offense struggled *again* in the first half before once again finding its footing in the second half and pulling out the win.

1. Another week and another game where the defense is the driving factor in a win. This team is winning games in a totally opposite manner from the past three seasons. While it’s generally easier for an offense to improve as the season goes on as skill players build chemistry with the quarterback, offensive line builds chemistry, and the offensive staff finds out what works best and what doesn’t, we are now through nine games and it might be time to accept that this offense isn’t going to be close to what it has been in previous years under Day.

2. For whatever reason, the offense just isn’t clicking. Multiple first half drives ended in drops and who knows how that would have changed the scoreboard for the Buckeyes. Then McCord forces one to Harrison and throws a bad INT in a spot on the field where you can’t make that mistake. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

3. On the bright side, I thought this was one of the better games by the offensive line, especially in the run game where they were able to get a consistent push upfront against a solid Rutgers defense.

4. I’ll be curious to see who ordered the code red on the failed fake punt attempt. It doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, but more of a point of curiosity. Day should address that in post game and clear the air. With that being said, when you have a full-time special teams coach taking up one of your 10 on-field positions, the special teams cannot continue to be a net negative week in and week out.

5. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the opponent. The fake QB sneak, where Wimsatt put the ball between his legs for the running back to run off tackle, was certainly one of those times. I talked about it in the preview, how Schiano always pulls out all the stops in this one and that was just a really slick play.

6. With two starters out in the secondary, you needed a veteran to step up and make plays and Josh Proctor sure did that. Proctor was all over the field today blowing up running plays, disrupting the passing game as a blitzer, and doing his job in coverage. Not many people would have put him in consideration for All-Big Ten honors before the season started and now I’m not sure how he could possibly be left off.

Between the two big stops inside the 10 to make Rutgers settle for a field goal, and the deflection that led to Jordan Hancock’s pick six, Proctor was worth at least 11-points for the Buckeyes today.

7. Don’t look now, but the defense is starting to get legitimate production out of BOTH defensive ends. It was a slow start to the season for both J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer. Then Tuimoloau started to pick up his game a few weeks into the season. Now we’ve seen Saywer be much more active the last three or four games. That trend line has to continue moving upward heading into the game in Ann Arbor in a few weeks.

8. I know you’ve been waiting for it. What a beautiful quarterback sneak that was in the third quarter! If you’re keeping score at home, the Buckeyes are now 4-for-4 on QB sneaks this season.

9. TreVeyon Henderson is playing at the highest level he has ever played at Ohio State. This isn’t just freshman Henderson returning, this is an improved version of what we saw his freshman season. His vision has improved, his toughness has improved and he still has that homerun hitting speed and quickness. He absolutely has to stay healthy if this team wants to compete for a championship.

10. You really have to applaud Tim Walton and Perry Eliano for what they’ve done with this secondary. There have been years recently where the Buckeyes had one defensive back, at best, that you could really trust in key situations. The competitive depth these two have built through recruiting and development is impressive. Nobody is going to confuse Rutgers for 2020 Alabama offensively, but the Buckeyes were playing this game down the stretch without three starters in the secondary and with two true freshmen out there and those guys didn’t even blink.