A giant smile flashed across Ed Warinner's face.
Ohio State's co-offensive coordinator finally had an opportunity to discuss a successful opening drive. The Buckeyes went 94 yards on nine plays in just 2 minutes, 56 seconds to open up Saturday's game against Northwestern. They scored a touchdown on their opening drive of the game for the first time this season.
"It was clear that that was pointed out earlier in the week," Warinner joked.
Prior to Saturday's game, Ohio State mustered a grand total of three points on opening drives this season. It was a big reason why the Buckeyes started slow in a number of games.
But in the 24-20 victory against the Wildcats, Ohio State moved it quickly and efficiently. Pinned at their own 6-yard line to start things off, the Buckeyes completed five passes and ran it three times to march those 94 yards. Running back Mike Weber capped things off with a 1-yard touchdown run to give Ohio State an early 7-0 lead.
Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett said most of the plays were scripted and it's certainly something Ohio State is going to try and replicate going forward.
"I think it was just understanding what we were trying to do offensively," Barrett said. "The game plan we had was set up very nicely for us to execute well."
Offensive Line Shows Signs of Growth
Ohio State's offensive line had its worst game of the season last weekend in the loss to Penn State. Nobody would really dispute that.
Northwestern is not as stout up front as the Nittany Lions, but there was significant progress up front for the Buckeyes in Saturday's win. Ohio State allowed only one sack against the Wildcats and they only allowed four tackles for loss.
"The offensive line, they bounced back," Warinner said. "They played much better."
Starting right tackle Isaiah Prince was under a lot of fire for his performance against Penn State. Prince struggled, and Ohio State struggled as a unit as it surrendered six sacks and gave up 11 tackles for loss.
One of the Buckeyes' two returning starters, redshirt junior guard Billy Price, said Prince was much improved and Ohio State's offensive line was much better as a whole.
"Our program is driven off the offensive line," Price said. "Isaiah did a lot better. Mike [Jordan] did a lot better. Jamarco, Pat and myself did a lot better. You have to execute as a whole and the offensive line did well today."
Moving On Back
Northwestern was driving late in Saturday's game and had it 3rd-and-goal from the 5-yard line with a chance to tie the game at 24-all with just under four minutes to play.
The Wildcats were called for holding on that play, and rather than decline the penalty to make it fourth down, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer opted to accept the penalty to tack on the 10 yards even though it would give Northwestern another shot.
Meyer discussed the decision after the game, saying he figured the Wildcats would go for it on fourth down had they declined the penalty, so he accepted because he had plenty of confidence in Ohio State's defense to get a stop with the extra room.
"That's why we took it," he said. "I think they would have went for it on 4th-and-5. I was talking to coach [Greg] Schiano upstairs and if you decline it and they go for it, you kick yourself in the teeth and then you take 10 yards.
"I had enough confidence in our defense that we forced them to kick that field goal."
It was kind of a no-brainer for Meyer, and a no-brainer for Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, as well. The Wildcats certainly hurt their chances to pull even with a costly penalty.
