HALFTIME THOUGHTS
Well, that was not the fast that those on Ohio State’s side expected. If you didn’t see the rankings and hadn’t watched college football this season, you’d think Miami was the defending national champion and the higher-ranked team.
The Buckeye offense hasn’t recovered from the Indiana loss. The change in play-caller has made no difference. The Scarlet and Gray can’t get into a rhythm at all, which means they can’t get into any tempo – if that was part of the game plan.
The offensive line has been just as poor as it was the last several weeks. This group has regressed significantly, and the time off hasn’t improved anything so far. Julian Sayin hasn’t looked like the quarterback he was for much of the year. Like against Indiana, the pressure has sped him up and he’s not seeing open receivers. He was better on that final drive when the Buckeyes had to go fast, but you can’t have your Heisman Trophy finalist playing like this.
Ohio State’s offensive staff hasn’t helped. Where are the change-ups? Where are the slants? Jeremiah Smith can be used as a mismatch, but they haven’t moved him around much. Hard to go tempo when you aren’t getting a drive going and don’t have the offensive line to block, but I’m curious what they did for the last month. They also need Smith to wake up. He’s been playing soft, which is not like him.
The Buckeye defense allowed only seven points and 165 yards, and they’ve forced a turnover. However, they’re not getting enough pressure on Carson Beck, who set a Cotton Bowl record for consecutive completions. They can only do so much, especially down 14-0.
There’s a long way to go in this game, and Ohio State gets the ball to start the second half. But this looks like a team that either couldn’t shake off rust from three and a half weeks or started to buy into its press clippings a bit too much.