On a chilly night in the Shoe, Ohio State rode strong defense and another fast start by the offense to blitz Illinois, 55-14, and improve to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in league play.
The win sets up a showdown next Saturday night in East Lansing as the Buckeyes hope to exact revenge after falling to Michigan State in last season's B1G championship game.
As you'd expect, the team wasted no time in turning its focus to Sparty but before we do the same, we take a quick glance at Five Things from yesterday's rout of the Illini.
A LEG TO STAND ON
J.T. Barrett was just so-so last night as he completed 15/24 for 167 yards and a pair of touchdowns with another 38 yards on the ground but the real story is that he looked healthy and should be 100% for next weekend after suffering an MCL sprain on a meaningless carry at the end of the first half against Penn State.
The redshirt freshman failed to record at least three touchdowns for the first time since the Virginia Tech game and he missed a handful of wide open receivers but he looked completely fit in the process.
There was some talk his throws were off because he was anxious about planting and stepping into his throws but Barrett dismissed that notion after the game. He missed badly looking for Jeff Heuerman and Dontre Wilson early then nearly got both Heuerman and Nick Vannett killed with high throws into traffic but he soon settled down highlighted by a tear drop to Devin Smith for a 32-yard score.
Though the knee wasn't the issue it's still interesting to note that Barrett now has three straight games with a completion percentage hovering between 61-63% after the previous three games saw his accuracy range between 72-78%.
Smartly, Tom Herman and Urban Meyer limited Barrett to seven carries knowing he'll log at least twice that next weekend.
DOO DOO, DOO-DOO
Steve Miller isn't Noah Spence but he's been pretty solid this year. In fact, among defensive linemen, Miller (21) trails only Joey Bosa (30) in tackles and his 5.5 tackles for loss are tied for 2nd-most among the position group and 2.5 more than Michael Bennett.
Last night, Miller played probably his best game as a Buckeye registering four stops, a career-high 3.0 tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble that the offense quickly turned into a field goal and a 41-0 lead early in the 3rd quarter.
The senior from Canton McKinley had four tackles at Penn State and another four stops including two for loss the week prior against Rutgers giving him a strong three-game stretch.
With Miller giving opposing offenses something to at least be aware of, Joey Bosa continues to flourish on the other side. Obviously, Bosa doesn't need to be paired with another dominant defensive end to put up big numbers (3 TFL, 2 sacks last night) but it certainly doesn't hurt to have teams at least be cognizant of the opposite side of the line.
GUARD, TURN, DODGE, PERRY, SPIN
Probably a little too reachy on the header for Josh Perry but that phrase keeps popping in my head as I write this while trying to piece my life back together following night two of Phish in Vegas.
I don't know that Perry is a great linebacker yet but he continues to go about his business in a quiet and effective manner. Last night, Perry recorded seven stops to lead the team with a pass breakup taboot. The junior out of Olentangy has now led the Buckeyes in tackles in four straight games after finishing 2nd in tackles in the prior four games.
Last week, he had maybe the most overlooked 18-tackle performance in the history of football and through eight games, he leads the Buckeyes with 70 tackles which is 25 more than 2nd-place Tyvis Powell. For perspective, Powell's 45 stops as the 2nd-leading tackler are just 15 more than the team's 6th-leading tackler (Bosa, 30).
SAM I AM
I've been on the Curtis Samuel bandwagon since last winter so I was thrilled to see him get the start and take advantage of it with a nine-carry, 63-yard, two touchdown performance (7.0 ypc).
With starter Ezekiel Elliott healthy, this looked like a classic case of Meyer throwing a bone to a player who is working his ass off in practice while indirectly giving some extra motivation to Elliott.
Elliott still did his thing with 69 yards on 7.7 per carry and both should be well-rested in prep for probably the most physical game they'll play all season.
I would love to see Samuel get 10 touches a game to both take a little mileage off EZE (and Barrett) and bring a homerun element to the backfield that Elliott hasn't yet shown. On 126 carries, Elliott has a season long run of 28 yards. In 81 less carries, Samuel has a 34-yarder, 26-yarder and 23-yarder to his credit. That's not exactly blowing the doors of Elliott's numbers but Samuel clearly has the ability to gash a defense that deserves some touches.
TAKING THE TOP OFF
Devin Smith, after recording just four catches over the previous three games combined, hauled in three balls last night for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
The three catches were his most since four against Cincinnati and the 72 yards served as his best outing since the season opener when he had 94 against Navy.
On the season, Smith has just 16 grabs, good for 3rd-most on the team, but his seven receiving touchdowns lead the squad, as does his gaudy 27.2 yards per catch.
Last night, Smith got behind his man and cradled a perfectly thrown tear drop from Barrett for a 32-yard score that put OSU in front 17-0 late in the 1st quarter. The play itself wasn't anything we haven't seen before but the timing of it was great in that it hopefully gives Pat Narduzzi something to think about as he's scheming to stack the box and dare Barrett to complete passes down the field next weekend. A reprise of that connection would be huge in helping Ohio State pull the upset.
