Oklahoma Debriefing: Ohio State's Secondary Decidedly Not Lit Up & Noah Brown is Unguardable

Urban Meyer used basically every cliche available to describe Ohio State's trip to Norman, Oklahoma. But his point was clear – this was a very big, and very important matchup between two heavyweight programs.

Well, somebody forgot to tell that to Oklahoma.

The storyline of the week, of course, was Sooners' backup quarterback Austin Kendall's prediction that starter Baker Mayfield would "light up" the Ohio State defense – he didn't.

In fact, no Sooner had much success, Saturday. There wasn't a single Oklahoma position unit decidedly better than its Ohio State counterpart. The Buckeyes dominated from the start and cruised to a 45-24 win in their biggest non-conference matchup of the year.

The Short Story

Inclement weather pushed kickoff back nearly two hours, but the Buckeyes didn't mind one bit. Ohio State beat Oklahoma in nearly every aspect of the game from early in the first quarter till the final whistle. The Buckeye secondary picked up right where it left off last week, intercepting two passes and taking one back for six. Meanwhile, Noah Brown caught almost everything thrown to him and turned it into four touchdowns. This heavyweight contest was lopsided from the start. Ohio State pillaged Norman and left with a 45-24 victory.

Who Earned a Buckeye Leaf?

Offense: Noah Brown

This wasn't even close. Noah Brown finished the game with five catches for 72 yards and four touchdowns. He single handedly outscored Oklahoma and set an Ohio State record for touchdown 

His highlight reel included mossing a man on a fade route, burning that same man deep the next drive, hauling in a pass with one hand behind the back of a face-guarding corner (we'll get back to this one, I promise) and head faking a corner into oblivion.

Quite simply, he was unguardable and it really wasn't fair. There was no corner on the team who could hang with him, and Oklahoma insisted on trying to do it with one defensive back. It was a bold strategy; it did not pay off.

Defense: Marshon Lattimore

After Gareon Conley left the game with an injury, Marshon Lattimore became the top corner on the field, and he filled that void with no issues.

Lattimore had one interception officially, but two in our hearts. He played this ball perfectly and appeared to make a great diving catch. Upon review, however, it was ruled incomplete.

Lattimore also had five tackles on the game.

Plays of the Game

Offense

Again, this is not close. Noah Brown's third touchdown catch was probably the best catch I've ever seen at any level of football.

This man blindly caught a pass in the back corner of the end zone with one hand by pinning it against the back of a face-guarding defensive back while somehow getting both feet in bounds.

This play might have convinced me to stop watching football forever. There's nothing left to see. I will never witness anything that incredible ever again. This is the climax and it will never be topped.

Defense

Austin Kendall's pregame comments got more and more hilarious as the game went on, especially when Baker Mayfield was doing the literal opposite opposite of lighting up the Buckeye secondary.

Early in the first quarter, Jalyn Holmes tipped a pass in the air and Jerome Baker snagged it, then took it 68-yards to the house.

The Silver Bullets now have nine interceptions on the year and have returned four of those for touchdowns – tying a school record for pick-sixes in a season through just three games.

That's good. Ohio State's secondary is good.

Biggest Surprise

The Ohio State defensive line owned this game.

Coming in, it seemed that everyone (myself included) was less than optimistic about Ohio State's chances in the trenches. Oklahoma had an enormous and talented offensive line, and Ohio State had a young, unproven defensive line with question marks all over the defensive tackle rotation.

You wouldn't know that from the game performance. Ohio State got penetration from the inside and the out, keeping the linebackers free, and limited Baker Mayfield's ability to create plays.

Our resident football-knower Kyle Jones will have an in-depth scheme breakdown Monday detailing how this happened. Read that.

Jim Tressel's Least Favorite Moment

After a long afternoon at the local farmers market – it's finally apple season! – Jim Tressel made it home just in time to see his beloved Buckeyes kick off against the Sooners of Oklahoma – or so he thought.

Much to his chagrin, he learned the kickoff had been delayed nearly two hours. Tressel tried his best to fight the fatigue, but it was simply too far past his 8:30 p.m. bedtime. He fell asleep, and missed the game in its entirety. What a shame.

Tressel surely would have enjoyed this win, which included a field goal, a special teams duel for field position, 291 rushing yards and victory formation inside the opponent's red zone.

Although he would not have been terribly keen on Ohio State's decision to go for it twice on fourth down... 

Biggest Blunder

Ohio State appeared to be running away with the game after Jerome Baker took a Baker Mayfield interception to the house, but minutes later Oklahoma returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown – or did they?

Yeah, maybe that wasn't a touchdown. pic.twitter.com/DcY85eAlo1

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 18, 2016

Joe Mixon clearly dropped the ball before crossing the goal line and it rolled out the side of the end zone. Not only was this not a touchdown, it was a touchback – it should have been Buckeye ball at the 20 yard line.

Obviously, this is an officiating blunder, but it's also an Ohio State blunder. How does the coaching staff – both on the sideline and in the booth – miss this? Somebody's entire job should be to watch replays and determine if they should be challenged – and they should make significantly more money than I do for doing it.

Thankfully, this did not cost the Buckeyes the game and it likely won't happen again under Urban Meyer's watch.

Underrated Moment of the GAme

This is a lesson not to overlook the importance of special teams or Australian punters.

Ohio State's red zone defense came up huge on the Sooners' first possession. The Buckeyes stalled Oklahoma's promising drive and forced a field goal which Sooners' kicker Austin Siebert clanked off the right upright.

The Buckeye offense went three and out and was forced to punt from its own 21 yard-line. Cameron Johnston booted a ball 68 yards to the Oklahoma 11 yard line. Shortly thereafter, the Sooners were forced to punt and after a return Ohio State started their next drive from the Oklahoma 45 yard-line – a 35 yard gain solely from punts.

Cameron Johnston essentially gave the Buckeyes 30 yards with his punt. Special teams are important.

— Kevin Harrish (@Kevinish) September 18, 2016

TL;DR – Ohio State's punter is better than Oklahoma's and it resulted in a 35 yard gain for the Buckeyes.

Bonus:

Corey Smith injured his hand in practice this week, but played meaningful snaps at wide receiver with a gigantic cast on his right hand.

J.T. Barrett even threw him a pass, though it was uncatchable (but judging by the looks of that thing, "uncatchable" may just be a technicality).

"I hope his cast is soaked in stickem," – Chris Lauderback

It Was Over When

Baker Mayfield threw the pick-six to Jerome Baker.

Sure, the Sooners responded immediately with the kickoff return, but it became very clear shortly after they could not stop the Buckeye offense and were going to have trouble even moving the ball, much less scoring. Once they gave away points with their offense instead of scoring themselves, it was over.

Biggest Question Going Forward

Everything looks pretty sweet, honestly, so we'll have a little fun.

My biggest question is, who is going to lead the team in interceptions? My preseason pick was Malik Hooker, and that seemed to be the easy choice just a week ago, but all of the sudden Marshon Lattimore has just as many interceptions as the ball-hawk and was an overturned review away from having one more.