Getting It Done: How Did The Buckeyes Fare?

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Buckeyes continue to make their run through the College Football Playoffs and while Friday night’s Cotton Bowl win over Texas was not in the bag as much as the previous pair of wins, Ryan Day’s squad prevailed, 28-14.

Ohio State’s offense scored on the first drive and then stalled for large portions of the game while the defense did a great job of clamping down, despite a pair of Texas touchdowns. You must remember; Texas has scholarships too and made the 12-team field just like the Buckeyes did.

Prior to the game, I went over five items on offense and defense that Ohio State needed to attempt to accomplish in order to be successful in the game. Prior to the Tennessee game, I nailed all 100 items. It was nearly a perfect score again for the Oregon game.

As each round goes on, the margin for error gets smaller, did it get so small this time around that I missed? Read on and find out.

Offense | Defense

Rush for at least two touchdowns

I would consider this one as a success. Quinshon Judkins had a pair of rushing scores for the Buckeyes and Ohio State needed every point possible until the late moments of the 4^th quarter.

With that being said, the rushing game did not find the success that it had in previous games with just 81 net yards of rushing.

Judkins had 36 rushing yards, TreVeyon Henderson had 42 yards. I have long said that games are not measured in total yards, but total points, and the Buckeyes won that battle and will now move on to face Notre Dame for the top prize in college football.

Stay true to who you are in the passing game

I am not sure how I feel about this one, Ohio State did pass for close to 300 yards, but was it really the passing offense that we have grown accustomed to here in the CFP?

Will Howard went 24-33 for 289 yards with a touchdown and an interception. In Howard’s defense, penalties bogged the Ohio State offense down early in the game, and those empty drives were touchdowns in the previous two games.

There is also something very real about momentum, and when the Buckeyes started coming up empty on those drives, did the confidence start to suffer?

And we haven’t even talked about the giant knot on Howard’s non-throwing hand.

There were just a lot of things going on in the game that may have slowed things down. But with 33 passes to just 24 runs, Ohio State did not get away from the pass, we didn’t see a Michigan type of situation. So, the more I talk this through, I am going to give myself credit.

Score at least 30 points

Either they did, or they didn’t.

They didn’t.

But 28 points was enough not only to win the game, but to cover the spread (for those who follow that).

There will be many of people who will go through the game and count all the points left on the field by the Buckeyes, and there may be a time for that, but with such a quick turnaround until the Notre Dame game, now is not the time. At least for me.

Don’t forget about Carnell Tate

I feel that I hit this one in a big way.

Tate had become the forgotten man in the offense but that was a result of what Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka were doing.

Egbuka was still able to eat but Smith was covered by half the state of Texas.

Tate filled in the role with being targeted nine times for seven catches, 87 yards and picking up 32 yards after the catch.

Tate is still going to want the dropped touchdown in the end zone back and he will be the first to tell you that he can’t do that, ever again.

But it was a great game for Tate to help keep the chains moving for the Buckeyes.

Hold (but don’t hold) the line

Texas was able to generate a good amount of pressure and Ohio State gave up its first (and second) sack of the postseason.

There also were times where you saw Howard uncomfortable in the pocket, speeding up his throw or not getting through all his reads. That is going to happen when the level of competition continues to rise, and while it was easy to talk about how Texas hadn’t played anyone, it doesn’t diminish the fact that the Horns are a talented team.

I will be curious to hear how many of the linemen grade out as champions from this game because there was good mixed in with a little bit of not-so-good.

It was good enough to win the game, especially against a top five sack team in the nation, but will the Buckeyes be able to survive the final game with an incomplete outcome from the line?

Sack the quarterback(s)

I was surprised the Buckeyes didn’t get a couple more than the four sacks and five hurries that made it into the scorebook.

Yes, we are all going to talk about the Jack Sawyer strip-sack and touchdown.

Like forever.

Ohio State’s pass rush kept Quinn Ewers to just 56.4-percent passing on the evening and while that still resulted in 283 yards and two touchdowns, the Buckeyes were able to limit the number of positive drives to just two and keep the Horns well below their scoring average, a number that would be have been catastrophic for the Buckeyes if Texas reached it.

Hold Texas to 23 points or fewer

Another one that you are right or wrong on, there is no shade of gray.

14 points is fewer than 23.

This would be a success.

But it sure did feel like Texas was going in for a score to tie it at 21-all late in the game until Ohio State’s tremendous goal line stand.

There will be plays from that stand that will not be talked about enough and players like Kayden McDonald who came in and changed the geometry for Texas with their presence.

Jim Knowles really deserves a lot of credit for how he has gotten his defense set up. Yes, we won’t forget the 32 points allowed to Oregon, but is there really any other game where the defense really was the issue?

Don’t bite the cheese

It was only a couple of years ago where Steve Sarkisian out schemed the depleted Buckeyes while a member of Nick Saban’s Alabama staff, putting linebacker Tuf Borland into checkmate.

There was a concern that Sark, with a week-plus to scheme, would find a couple of wrinkles that the Buckeyes wouldn’t have an answer for.

Yes, Sark managed to get Jaydon Blue isolated with Sonny Styles, a match-up that is going to be tough for any linebacker to handle.

But was there really a lot of window dressing in the game that the Buckeyes fell for?

I would say Ohio State avoided the mousetrap and were able to defeat the cat.

No runs, no drips, no errors

The defense really didn’t make many mistakes. Sure, there was a missed tackle here or there, or a time where it appeared a tackle would drop a defender short of the line to gain, only for the Horns’ offensive player being able to twist and turn for two more yards.

But outside of that?

It was a clean game. Ohio State did not give up a run of longer than 13 yards.

Yes, there were some longer gains in the passing game, but I am not going to remember this game for anything that nearly broke the back of the Ohio State defense, and neither should you.

Respectively speaking, of course.

No PI for you

There was a concern that the Texas wideouts would be able to bait the Buckeyes into more grabbing and holding and with Davison Igbinosun’s reputation of being “handsy”, that there could be multiple Pass Interference calls.

There were two for Ohio State and they didn’t take place until the drive that netted Sawyer’s heroics.

In fact, they took place on back-to-back plays.

Texas fans will tell you that Ohio State committed PI and holding and larceny and other transgressions all night long. Ohio State fans will say the same about the Texas offense and defense.

The only opinion that mattered was the ACC crew that called the game, and while Ohio State did get flagged for nine accepted penalties, there were only the two PI calls, so that’s a win.

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