Howard Wilder had a night to forget on Saturday.
The senior cornerback for the University of Cincinnati had his hands full all night, often tasked with covering Michael Thomas and Devin Smith, Ohio State's two most productive receivers thus far in 2014.
Though they had shown multiple coverages in their first two games, wins over Toledo and Miami University, the Cincinnati defense remained fairly vanilla in their play-calling Saturday night against OSU, staying in their base Cover 4 scheme for the majority of the evening.
For Wilder, that meant he was responsible for covering the outside Buckeye receiver in the instance that they ran deep downfield. With speedsters like Smith often lining up across from him, Wilder often played very deep, giving the Buckeye wideouts a cushion to make up for his disadvantage.
After a full quarter of seeing such a look, the Buckeyes looked to take advantage by calling for a wide receiver screen to Wilder's side. This time, Evan Spencer was the lucky recipient of the soft coverage, which allowed him to go untouched for 19 yards into the end zone.
Being responsible for any deep routes to the outside, Wilder waited for the play to develop, knowing that linebacker Nick Temple (#43) was to cover any short routes underneath, exactly where Spencer was headed.
But the play was a designed screen that called not just for tight end Nick Vannett to block for Spencer, but for the OSU offensive line to chip in as well.
Center Pat Elflein (#65) and both guards release downfield to block, with right guard Chase Farris getting just enough of Temple to allow Spencer to run right by.
Wilder sits back enough that Vannett is able to easily size him up, unable to get off the tight end's block in time to make a play.
Spencer's touchdown put the Buckeyes up 30-7, looking like they'd cruise to an easy victory. But the Bearcats would stay alive, eventually battling back with some big passing plays of their own and bringing the score to 36-28 late in the third quarter.
The Bearcats had begun to slow down the Buckeyes deep passing game at this point, and the offensive focus for OSU shifted to running back Ezekiel Elliott. With a mix of inside runs and short swing passes to the outside, the Buckeyes began methodically working their way into UC territory.
On the seventh play of the drive and lining up at the 24-yard line, the Buckeyes looked to attack the Bearcat defense that continued to line up in their Cover 4 shell by overloading one half of the field.
With three receivers bunched to Wilder's side on the right, once again he is responsible for any receiver that releases to the outside, with the linebacker, Temple, once again taking on anything short underneath.
Much like on the touchdown play in the first half, the outside receiver (in this case #3 Michael Thomas) takes one step upfield before cutting back towards the QB, appearing to be setting up for another screen pass.
Perhaps due to what he saw in the first half, or perhaps simply trying to make a play when his team needed a stop, Wilder immediately reads the route from Thomas and races forward.
But unfortunately for Wilder, the Buckeyes are not, in fact, running a screen pass.
While Wilder and Temple converge on Thomas, Dontre Wilson runs straight downfield, completely uncovered even though he is the deep, outside receiver for which Wilder was responsible.
Thanks to a critical block from Elliott in the backfield, quarterback J.T. Barrett has just enough time to pump fake to Thomas on the screen, then hit Wilson as he streaks uncovered toward the end zone.
Mistakes like this were plentiful for the Bearcats, and Wilder was not alone in allowing the Ohio State offense to create big plays. The Buckeyes were one bad snap away from setting the school record for most total yards of offense in one game, the result of superior talent, scheme, and execution. By no means should Wilder be blamed for the Bearcats' inability to stop the freight train that was the OSU offense Saturday night, but the timing of his mistake was crucial.
The Buckeyes had yet to find the end zone in the second half, while the Bearcats had finally just been stopped after three straight drives that ended in touchdowns. Had the Bearcats been able to keep Barrett and company from scoring on that drive, the game would've very much still been in question heading into the final quarter, as much of the momentum still remained on the Cincinnati sideline.
But Wilson's touchdown appeared to be a back-breaker. With the Ohio Stadium crowd back in the game, the Bearcats never got back in sync on either side of the ball, and the Buckeyes were able to enjoy a fairly easy fourth quarter.
Wilder's night was a microcosm of the entire evening for Cincinnati, as they had no real answers for stopping the Buckeyes. Their only hope for victory was to create a shootout and hope they had the talent in the passing game to defeat a porous Buckeye secondary.
But the Buckeyes were more than up to the task, beating Cincinnati at their own game. Both teams were able to throw the ball freely, amassing well over 300 yards and four touchdowns through the air, something many would not have expected after the struggles Barrett experienced earlier in the year.
The OSU offense seems to have found their stride, and opponents should watch out. There is little room for error, as Barrett, Spencer, Wilson, and the rest of the Buckeyes showed their fellow Ohoians Saturday night.
