Western Michigan Twitter Reax: Serious Business

By Johnny Ginter on September 27, 2015 at 8:30 am
A rich tapestry indeed
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September is over. Done. Finito. Gone.

And that's a good thing. The inevitable month-long hangover that we earned from a 30-ish odd week natty banger is done with, and now we are starting to see Ohio State evolve into something resembling the team that ran roughshod over the best football teams in the country last winter.

I'm not 100% sold on Dolo being the starter (I mean, who really is at this point?), turnovers are still a problem, Zeke and Braxton probably aren't being used to the best of their abilities, and giving up 169 yards of rushing to Western Michigan is... less than ideal. But things are starting to come together, again. 38-12 looks decent on a box score, but relatively steady quarterback play combined with some individual defensive excellence.

Maybe that's the ticket these days. Maybe incremental improvement is just what it takes to be at the top at the end of the season in college football in the 2010's. Maybe the era of teams that were able to steamroll all comers from day one is dead and gone. Maybe I'm trying to make myself feel better about a team that was supposed to be dominant from day one, which seems about four or five weeks behind schedule.

What I do know is this: Ohio State has a starting quarterback. His name is Cardale Jones. Ohio State also has a good, opportunistic defense, and playmakers all over the field. Ohio State also also has a running back named Ezekiel Elliott who is racking up some serious yards. And Ohio State also has a serious opponent coming up in the form of the... am I reading this right? ...undefeated Indiana Hoosiers.

So before we walk into the living hell that is Bloomington, Indiana, let's reminisce about the game where Cardale got his groove back.

Not gonna lie; I really just like the image of Brutus on a horse. It just fits, man. Also, thank God that before the game the players and coaches were able to shut out all of the chatter and noise going on around the information superhighway, or "internet." Thank you sir, you've saved another youth from the glowing claws of the monster known as social media.

Actually, let's talk about Ezekiel Elliott for a little bit. Zeke, to me, is the key for Ohio State reaching the same level of success that they had last season. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the stature of players like Cardale or Braxton or Bosa or whoever, but I strongly feel that Elliott needs to continue his 100 yard rushing streak not just because it's impressive, but because making Ohio State one-dimensional on offense right now is the way to defeat it.

You could reasonably make the claim at the end of last year that making Ohio State one-dimensional actually made them harder to deal with, as long as that one dimension was the running game. Because that's no longer the case, figuring out a way to make Zeke a consistent threat is incredibly important, if only to complement what Cardale brings through the air and open up routes for guys like Mike Thomas.

Anyway, let's relive Zeke's awesome-yet-probably-not-a-great-idea leap just a few more times:

Elliott wasn't the only guy playing on Saturday, though. Jalin was getting things done:

As was Adolphus:

And Darron Lee ended up being okay despite being carted off early in the game:

So again, another win, another way to revel in an undefeated record stretching back over a calendar year. There will continue to be a certain level of hand-wringing, as always, but don't forget that your Buckeyes are undefeated and improving. And that Daddy Tyvis still loves you.

Now let's all have a nice glass of milk and a Taylor Decker photobomb, and get ready for Indiana.

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Prognosticating: Indiana

Dry Goods Contest

Across The Field: Indiana Beat Writer Zach Osterman Says This Might Be the Hoosiers’ Most Important Regular Season Game Ever and QB Kurtis Rourke Has Played Well Under Pressure

Kurtis Rourke
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