With an unknown but weaker opponent heading to Ohio Stadium for Ohio State's season opener, many thought a wealth of younger talent would get an opportunity to play in a game the Buckeyes were favored in by 40-plus points.
Hawai'i had to travel across five time zones and more than 4,500 miles before paying a visit to Ohio State Saturday, but had an extra four days rest on the Buckeyes before kickoff — the Rainbow Warriors hosted Colorado Sept. 3 for their first game, while their counterparts played Monday at Virginia Tech.
"I think that's a very solid excuse, one that's not allowed," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said following his team's 38-0 victory. "I made that clear down there. I mean, that's good, that's good to bring that up and say that's the reason we didn't play necessarily well on the offensive line."
Ohio State surrendered two sacks and averaged a paltry 3.7 yards per rush against Hawai'i, a far cry from what Ezekiel Elliott and company did in the team's final three games of 2014 as well as the opener at Virginia Tech.
"They do a lot of things up front, slanting their D-line and a lot of things that we didn't react well," Elliott said. "Altogether as a team we gotta get better, we gotta execute and just all around, everyone, we gotta do better."
“Someone said back to basics: Our basics are not just north/south, we're east/west as well. But we weren't hitting it like we should. So we'll get better.”– Urban Meyer
The Buckeye offense did hum down the field on one particular drive in the fourth quarter, running 17 plays and covering 91 yards while chewing up 8:05. It helped Elliott finish with 101 rushing yards and culminated in his third touchdown of the day, but things were less than impressive for a team expected to be an offensive juggernaut.
Quarterback Cardale Jones started his first collegiate game at Ohio Stadium, but was pulled with his team leading 7-0 midway through the second quarter. Things had stalled, so Meyer elected to turn to J.T. Barrett for a spark.
"I can't recall in major college football history when I remember witnessing something like that, where you have two good guys," Meyer said. "I have to self-evaluate too and make sure we're doing the right thing by those guys."
Barrett promptly led Ohio State to another touchdown, playing out the first half. He didn't play again until the fourth quarter when the Buckeyes wore down Hawai'i and twice scored when the game was decided. He finished 8-of-15 for 70 yards.
"I'm kinda glad we hit this pothole earlier," said Jones, who tallied just 111 yards while going 12-of-18 passing. "It gives us something to look forward to. It's a reality check we're not as good as we thought we were."
With offensive talent in the form of Jalin Marshall, Corey Smith and Dontre Wilson stepping back into the fold Saturday after each serving a one-game suspension, the thought was the Buckeyes would be at full bore on offense.
That wasn't the case, though, as the offensive line missed assignments, Jones dropped three snaps, and the team racked up 115 penalty yards.
"Thank God for the defense," Jones exhaled.
An even more anemic offense led by USC transfer and senior Max Wittek struggled all day, turning it over three times and only notching 165 total yards. It was just the second time in Norm Chow's head coaching career his team failed to score.
Ohio State tallied 363 yards, eons from what we've been accustomed to seeing from Meyer's power spread attack.
"We did not execute well," Meyer said. "And we didn't play extremely well. But we'll get better."
As the first-ever unanimous No. 1 in the sport's illustrious history, the towering expectations aren't going to stop heading down the pipe at Ohio State regardless who it plays. But in the end, the Buckeyes won the game, and that's all that matters according to Meyer.
"Someone said back to basics: Our basics are not just north/south, we're east/west as well," Meyer said. "But we weren't hitting it like we should. So we'll get better."
