Five Things: New Mexico State

Defense Rolls On

As expected, the Silver Bullets had little trouble holding down the nation's worst offense. In fact, OSU held the Aggies to 62 total yards en route to the 45-0 win. The shutout was OSU's third this year, the first time since '96 that an OSU defense has accomplished the feat.

New Mexico State ran only 45 plays the entire game leading to 9 punts, 3 turnovers and a whopping 2 first downs as they managed 1.3 yards per rush and 1.5 per pass. The defensive box score looks hilariously incomplete thanks to the lack of actual plays ran. Homan picked up 7 tackles then you get to a cluster of 13 players that had 2 or 3 tackles illustrating how many players Heacock was able to utilize and still neutralize the 120th ranked offense in the country.

The question now becomes can the defense kick the intensity up a notch on the road next week as they'll no doubt have to shoulder the load if OSU is to escape with a low scoring upset win in State College.

Pryor: Up, Down and Nicked?

Terrelle followed his recent blueprint making some strong throws, forcing some others into heavy traffic, showing some questionable body language (if you are a teammate) and finally, making some what looked like effortless runs for big gainers.

The good? His 43 yard strike to Posey on the first play from scrimmage was nicely placed, he had a couple excellent scramble runs to convert 3rd and long's on the 2nd and 4th OSU possessions, the latter culminating with an 8 yard scamper to paydirt and a 7-0 OSU lead early in the 2nd quarter. Following an onside kick, Pryor went 4/5 on a scoring drive hitting Posey twice, one on a well timed out route converting 3rd and 8, setting up a 19 yard laser to Dane in the endzone for a 14-0 lead. Three series later, TP again used his legs keeping the play alive before racing for 27 yards on 3rd and 2 setting up the reverse pass from Posey to Dane giving OSU a 21-0 cushion. Pryor would finish with 9 carries for 83 yards and a TD, good for 9.2 per carry, showing just how dangerous he can be once he breaks contain, especially against a squad like the Aggies.

The bad? Once again, he struggled with accuracy (save a couple drops by Posey) connecting on just 11 of 23 tosses for 135 yards and a score. Worse than the completion percentage (48%) is the fact he continued his love for staring down the primary read leading to what would have likely been 3 INTs against better competition including 2 on back to back throws late in the half. Next week, he won't be so lucky. Let's hope another week of film and practice will correct these season long themes.

Of course, even more important right now is his health status. It appeared he tweaked his left leg on his 27 yard run midway through the 2nd quarter and possibly again in the final drive of the 1st half as he ran toward the right sideline. Tressel would only say TP sat out the 2nd half because he took enough hits on the day but Pryor acknowledged the injury as a minor bump and said he'd be fine. He better be after what we've seen from him healthy coupled with what Bauserman showed us in a lackluster 2/9 performance in which he had the balls to say, “I was tight when I first got in the game. I had been sitting around for two quarters, but I loosened up and I thought we came together well. I was able to get some communication and chemistry with the wide receivers.” And we wondered why TP wasn't benched for a series to clear the cobwebs against Purdue? I remain 51% sure Siems is the best actual passer on the team. I kid. Sort of.

Putting the "Special" in Special Teams

We can panic about various units on this squad (QB, OL, RB, anyone?) but as the Buckeyes head for the final three games - two on the road - with a coach who loves to french the field goal and punt, it's possible no unit on the field presents more concern than special teams.

As of Sunday night, I have yet to hear a prognosis on kicker Aaron Pettrey but it's hard to believe he'll be back in time for Penn State, if at all this season, after suffering a knee injury thanks to a dirty chop block. To this point, Pettrey has been far from automatic, especially on chip shots, converting just 13 of 19 FG tries but he figures to be a better alternative than former walk on Devin Barclay. The junior missed two FG's in his debut (36, 47) while hitting one from 29 yards. As Tressel knows, you can't leave points on the field on the road. In Barclay's defense, he did do a nice job on kickoff's and with a week of preparation knowing he's the man, maybe he'll have better luck Saturday. It's worth noting Ben Buchanan is actually the second team kickoff guy but missed the game due to illlness.

Similarly, punter Jon Thoma struggled averaging only 31 yards on 3 punts. The battle of field position on the road against a team with a superior offense to OSU's will be of huge importance so Thoma needs to bounce back from a shaky performance.

RB Situation Far From Stable

So, what are we to make of the situation in the backfield? Due to his recent concussion, I give Saine a pass for a performance worthy of '06-'07 in which he looked slow and timid as he lost a fumble managing just 1.9 per carry (7/13) but even with that pass, can we expect him to be ready next week? His history of responding to injury isn't exactly confidence inspiring so hopefully he simply still had a few cobwebs and will be back to his Indiana-game-self this week.

Boom ran 6 times for 66 yards including a 53 yard TD in his first action since a 2 carry game against Wisconsin back on October 10th but how confident should we be that Boom will be ready for PSU considering his 8 carries in the last 5 games thanks to a high ankle sprain? Like Saine, he's proven to be injury prone leaving the faithful to ponder who exactly is the most game ready running back on this team as of right now? Is it possible that true freshman Jordan Hall is the best man for the job this week thanks to the maladies hindering Boom and Zoom?

Certainly, Saine is your clear cut starter next week but if he jogs to the hole with the same tentativeness as he showed this week, do you turn to Boom or Hall first? I personally have a hard time not thinking Hall deserves a shot to see if he can make anything happen behind a makeshift line that wasn't very good even with everyone healthy. His speed and elusiveness could prove better suited for the game next week when he spells Saine. Either way, I'm finding it difficult to absorb that there really isn't an all-conference tailback on the roster when you take into account what it really takes to be great. I guess we need to hope Saine is ready for another breakout performance because if Pryor begins to feel it's all up to him as the game unfolds in Happy Valley, the wheels could fall off early. Of course, none of this matters if the line, specifically the left side, isn't up to the challenge. Boren will be back meaning we won't have to suffer though Moses getting schooled but what to do about Cordle at left tackle? Ask the Big Man upstairs for help, I suppose.

Outlook

I'm sure many of the kool-aiders think I'm negative about everything but it's truly not my intent. The intent is to convey my perspective instead of what I think will be popular to read. That said, I did see many positives this week. First, once Posey eliminates the drops he's going to be a big time WR for Pryor and Ohio State. It seems he is always open and the fact he can show Pryor how to look off a defender when passing is an added bonus (sorry, couldn't resist). Once Carter makes the expected jump with increased reps, OSU figures to have a pair of stud receivers in the coming years.

Second, I liked Tressel's plan to get some things on tape for Penn State to digest. The numerous deep routes should give PSU something to think about if they plan to stack the line all night. The onside kick was a nice touch and the reverse pass will definitely give the 'Nits pause if a regular run reverse is called this week. I suppose this is what coach meant when he proclaimed OSU would go out all barrels blazing in the presser. Good stuff. I'm not a big fan of trickeration if it's something that is overly relied upon, but if used sparingly it can be of tremendous value.

In the end, I feel as if the Buckeyes are capable of going on the road and pulling the upset next week but I can't say I expect it. The bottom line is this team is banged up on the offensive line, the backfield and on special teams and while the defense could help steal a win if they hold PSU to under 14 points and create turnovers leading to short fields or actual scores, I simply don't have enough confidence in the ability of the offense to avoid mistakes and score enough points to win against a solid opponent. Trust me, I want to be wrong so you can all say, "I told you so."