Instant Observations: Buckeyes Avoid Letdown and Thrash Purdue

There was plenty of letdown talk around Columbus this week but Ohio State blocked out the noise and did what they were supposed to do to an overmatched Purdue team, handing the Boilermakers a 45-0 defeat.

A lot of positives from today’s game in this edition of Instant Observations.

1. The Buckeyes showed the maturity that a championship team needs to possess today by not taking this game lightly and coming out and playing with a high energy level from the jump. Will Howard said it best after the game, the Buckeyes can’t talk about being the hardest playing team in the nation and then only do that sometimes, it has to be a week-to-week mindset. Just one more of these left next week at Northwestern before the playoffs essentially start for the Buckeyes.

2. A solid performance again today from the offensive line even in the context of the competition the Buckeyes were facing. Will Howard had all day to throw and the sacks weren’t on the O-Line with Howard holding it too long on one and then slipping on the other. This clearly wasn’t the Penn State defensive front, but stacking weeks with this combination and having success is key moving forward without Josh Simmons.

3. It seems to alternate weeks at this point. Last week was more of a Quinshon Judkins week and this week was a Tre Henderson week. And how about that release on the deep route? Didn’t know he had that in his arsenal, it was a thing of beauty. Just another element now that teams have to worry about with these two dynamic running backs.

4. Speaking of Henderson, he now sits at No. 7 on the all-time rushing yards and rushing touchdowns list. He passed Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett today on the rushing yards list and will likely pass Beanie Wells to move into sixth next week.

What a career.

5. Of course, Henderson wasn’t the only player with significant record book achievements today as Jeremiah Smith officially moved into first place all by himself on the freshman receiving touchdowns list. He now tops the all-time Ohio State freshman lists in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns and there are several games left to play. These are 40-year old records and even with freshmen coming in more ready than ever to play, it might be longer than 40 years until we see some of these fall, he’s going to totally rewrite this part of Ohio State history.

6. It was good to get Carnell Tate going a bit today and there has been a pretty good emphasis on that recently. Tate is supremely talented in his own right and has been extremely unselfish in ceding the spotlight to Smith and Emeka Egbuka. He’s absolutely going to be an X-Factor for this team if it is to win a championship, Big Ten or otherwise.

7. A big thing to take from today is that Ohio State was able to get a lot of guys some needed rest. D-Line snap counts were cut almost in half, Jermaine Mathews in the game early, plenty of rotating at wide receiver and minimal hits on Henderson and Judkins. All the while some young guys were able to get meaningful snaps.

This is an NFL schedule now, “stealing” rest like this in a game in November is invaluable.

8. Holy Special Teams! It feels like it has been years since the special teams made a huge play for the Buckeyes, and maybe it has. No surprise that Caden Curry was involved, that guy just consistently makes plays.

9. My victory lap on under center QB sneaks continues. Another successful attempt today, keeping the Buckeyes at a one-hundred percent success rate over the past two seasons.

10. I didn’t buy the letdown narrative this week. Coming home, wanting to continue to build off of last week, a Purdue team that has all but packed it in during a disastrous season, the recipe just wasn’t there for me.

Next week might be a little different. Road game. You never know what you’re going to get this time of year in Chicago on the weather front, you’re now immediately up against the big Indiana and Michigan games and you’re playing in a pretty unusual environment with the game at Wrigley Field.

Not sure what my score prediction will be yet, but a few more letdown ingredients are in play next week, in my opinion.