As the rain doused the Ohio Stadium turf and the scoreboard read 41-3, Urban Meyer wasn't quite finished dismissing Tulsa by way of Curtis Samuel and Dontre Wilson.
First, Samuel caught a touch pass from J.T. Barrett and scurried left for two yards. Ohio State then skipped to the line of scrimmage and Barrett rifled a strike to Samuel's chest that moved the chains. Three plays later, Wilson took a fourth-down handoff and raced 21 yards around left end to the Tulsa 5-yard line. Wilson put his foot in the ground on the following snap, made one cut and punched it into the end zone to put a bow on Ohio State's 48-3 victory over the Golden Hurricane.
Samuel's line when Meyer called off the dogs: Five catches for 62 yards, eight carries for 78 yards; Wilson finished with three carries for 30 yards and that touchdown in addition to three grabs for another 38 yards. He also returned three punts and one kickoff for a combined 70 yards.
Meyer's famed H-back position is alive and well in Columbus, and it's the best we've ever seen it.
"That's kind of my baby. I try to spend a lot of time on that and be creative in how to get him involved," Meyer said after the game, referring to Samuel. "We threw a couple of wheel routes to him, he made a play. We gave him a push sweep."
Samuel failed to score on Saturday but led the Buckeyes in receiving for the second time in as many games. The change of pace and explosiveness he brings to the lineup next to starting running back Mike Weber gave both Tulsa and Bowling Green's defense fits.
"He's the first true hybrid I've had in a while where he's big enough," Meyer said after Ohio State thrashed the Falcons 77-10 on Sept. 3. "Dontre is close, too, he's up to 197, 198 pounds. Both those guys give us a little bit of a 1-2 punch back there."
“That's a magical position. A little bit like one of those tight ends that can also run like the wind but also block. Those are those hybrid positions that defenses have a hard time matching up with.”– Urban Meyer on the H-back
Wilson caught three passes against Bowling Green. Two of them went for touchdowns. He averaged more than seven yards per carry in that game and his 239 all-purpose yards through two games trails only Samuel's 401 for the team lead. Both averaged more than 11 yards per touch in those two outings, terrific consistency as the Buckeyes turn their focus to the marquee non-conference matchup on their schedule this coming Saturday at No. 14 Oklahoma.
"Curtis and Dontre, they both did really well this game," Barrett said Saturday. "That’s just part of who they are as far as dynamic playmakers getting able to get the ball out of the backfield and being able to make plays. And also on the edge at the receiver position."
Percy Harvin made the H-back spot famous at the University of Florida under Meyer, providing the lightning for Tim Tebow's thunder that led to BCS National Championships in 2006 and 2008. Samuel's explosiveness and solid 5-foot-11 and 197-pound frame mirror Harvin most, while Wilson's speed and shiftiness do not lag far behind. After missing a huge chunk of his junior season with a nagging foot injury, Wilson is at last showing what kind of impact he can bring to Ohio State's offense as a featured player.
"I feel like I'm finally contributing like I should be," Wilson said on Saturday. "I've been through a lot of stuff. This past offseason I worked hard and did a lot of things different than in the past. So yeah I felt like this year was the year."
Many pegged Wilson as Meyer's "next Percy Harvin" when he arrived at Ohio State in 2013 with track speed and a slipperiness in the open field. Too light to contribute much more than on just a jet sweep here or there, however, his production dwindled near the end of that season. The broken foot during Ohio State's win at Michigan State in 2014 put a detour on his career, just like how Braxton Miller's presence in the wide receiver room did to Samuel a year ago.
Both guys took a back seat to the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year at H-back, as Meyer, Ed Warinner and Tim Beck tried desperately to get Miller involved in the offense and showcase him for the NFL. Direct snaps and set plays for Miller worked at times but not consistently. Barrett admitted after Ohio State beat Bowling Green the Buckeyes did that for more than just Miller, too.
"I think last year we had plays that were directed to only one person. So that was, I guess new plays were created to get certain players the ball," Barrett said then. "This year it was basically like whatever the play is, the defense dictates where the ball is supposed to go. It's not 'hey so-and-so is supposed to get the ball here.'"
Now that both are healthy — Samuel battled some bumps that wouldn't go away last year too — and as two of the most experienced players in Ohio State's offense, they are thriving.
"Curtis is a crazy talent," Wilson said. "Finally getting his shot to go out there and showcase what he was brought here to do."
Barrett is also playing better as the unquestioned starter at quarterback and getting the ball to his playmakers where they can do something with it. Through two games, Samuel and Wilson lead the charge.
Samuel averaged 10.8 yards per touch against Tulsa on Saturday.
Catches on back-to-back plays by Samuel set up Weber's first career touchdown run late in the third quarter and Meyer said Wilson "had a helluva day" against the Golden Hurricane.
The duo gives Ohio State options in the form of two highly skilled runners and receivers at H-back that can be a nightmare for defenses. And though the Buckeyes' offense started slowly on Saturday it got rolling in the second half with Barrett, Samuel and Wilson acting as catalysts.
They'll need to do that again this weekend at Oklahoma.
"I think that's exactly what I've been looking for, really since we got here. We did it with Philly, but Philly Brown wasn't the inside threat that (Samuel) was. Dontre Wilson certainly wasn't," Meyer said. "With Dontre, he actually is a threat as well inside. That's a magical position. A little bit like one of those tight ends that can also run like the wind but also block. Those are those hybrid positions that defenses have a hard time matching up with."
