Entering the game as nearly four touchdown favorites Ohio State struggled once again but after losing a tight one last week, this time the Buckeyes held on posting a 24-20 win over Northwestern.
Visible warts remain – more on those later – but the victory improved Ohio State to 7-1 on the season and at least for now kept alive every major goal the team set for itself including earning a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Of course the questions going forward include assessing the reality Ohio State might finally be feeling the effects of all the early departures to the NFL last spring thus potentially compromising a playoff bid.
For now though, Meyer must keep his team focused on improving weekly especially as they begin preparation for what could be another tight game with Nebraska coming to the Shoe for a prime time clash six days from now.
Before we turn our focus to the Huskers however, here are Five Things from Ohio State's defeat of Pat Fitzgerald's Wildcats.
THE PINATA COMES THROUGH
As fans effort to pinpoint what ails a Buckeye offense struggling to find a groove, J.T. Barrett has found himself in the crosshairs of a fanatical fringe with some going as far to suggest he should be benched.
I'm not going to sit here and say Barrett has been outstanding this season – he hasn't – but the bigger problems with the passing game have been a spotty offensive line and a largely non-existent group of wideouts outside of some moments from Noah Brown.
Yesterday the mob was out again on Twitter and elsewhere during a game in which Barrett ended up connecting on 21 of 32 passes (65%) for 223 yards with another 71 yards on the ground. Yeah, I guess 294 yards of total offense and no turnovers does suck.
Maybe the knock on Barrett today will be that he failed to be responsible for a touchdown against Northwestern – the first time that's happened in a game he's started – but the reality is he was at his most valuable on a drive when Ohio State didn't score.
Leading 24-20 and taking possession with 3:31 left in the game Barrett engineered a 10 play, 60-yard drive exhausting the clock to preserve the win. Highlights of the possession included his laser to Brown for 16 yards on a crucial 3rd and 8 and a 35-yard run on 3rd and 10 in which he smartly went down inbounds, driving the final nail in Northwestern's coffin.
Yes, Barrett has a penchant for holding on to the ball too long, stares down a receiver from time to time and he's maybe not running with the same authority as we saw earlier in the season and no, he doesn't have a great deep ball nor does he have the confidence in his receivers to throw them open but he has connected on 65% of his throws over the last two weeks (49/75) with 468 yards and a touchdown against no interceptions and repeatedly steps up when Ohio State needs it most.
If you're hellbent on pinning the passing game and/or offensive inconsistency squarely on Barrett, by all means do you, but from my seat the overwhelming opportunities for improvement fall on the offensive line and wideouts not named Noah Brown.
BABY STEPS FOR THE OFFENSIVE LINE.. mAYBE
After surrendering the most TFL in a game (11) during the Urban Meyer era last week along with six sacks, the offensive line allowed just four TFL and one sack against the Wildcats.
Northwestern came into the game ranked 4th in the B1G in sacks at 2.6 per game so to give up just one feels good on paper. That said, it seemed like the Wildcats rarely blitzed and therefore put little pressure on the line to adjust and communicate whereas Penn State was much more aggressive.
On the ground, Ohio State rushed for 208 yards against a Wildcat defense giving up 132 per game so while the Buckeyes racked up 76 more yards than Northwestern's average yield, they still fell short of their own average of nearly 282 yards per game.
Isaiah Prince looked a lot less like a turnstyle than we saw against Penn State but again it didn't seem Northwestern was all that aggressive in challenging him on the edge though they did boast the league's sack leader in Ifeadi Odenigbo.
Meanwhile, Michael Jordan plugged up his own sieve a little but there is still much work to be done which started with Meyer installing a different blocking scheme including Brandon Bowen lining up as an extra tight end to help out Prince and Jamarco Jones.
How the schematic and personnel modifications evolve over the coming weeks will be interesting to watch because there's not yet enough evidence to remotely suggest the offensive line has solved its woes.
A 'C' FOR THE D
With the offense struggling to find a groove much has been asked of Ohio State's defense and the collective unit has largely stepped up to the challenge.
Yesterday offered a mixed bag as Malik Hooker went off for 14 stops and Raekwon McMillan had his first truly strong outing in a while with nine stops and a nice play in which he stepped into a passing lane to tip a Clayton Thorson throw leading to a gifted interception for Damon Arnette.
Other positives included Marshon Lattimore continuing to be the cover guy on the team and Dre'Mont Jones having another solid outing with six stops along with a TFL.
On the not-so-great side however, teams continue to find ways to scorch the secondary's lesser cover guys, Arnette and Damon Webb in particular.
Arnette was repeatedly picked on by Thorson and Austin Carr making it a few weeks in a row where Arnette has ended up in the burn unit especially on 3rd down as opposing coordinators work to expose him in key situations.
Up front the Buckeyes failed to get much pressure on Thorson with Tyquan Lewis registering the lone sack. The defense was so-so against the run as the Wildcats rushed it for 148 yards, or 27 more than OSU typically gives up and 11 more than Northwestern averaged coming in.
The real issue was the combination of Thorson and Carr (8 rec, 158 yds) as part of a 258 yards passing day for the Wildcats against a Buckeye defense yielding just 158 passing yards entering the game.
Yes, Ohio State has three studs in the secondary in Lattimore, Conley and Hooker but there's a legit drop off after that and teams are taking notice.
IF THE SHOE FITZ
It is so easy for all of us, myself definitely included, to focus solely on what we perceive Ohio State to be doing or not doing well that we can overlook what the opponent brought to the table.
To that point, Pat Fitzgerald and his staff deserve credit for coming in as nearly four touchdown underdogs and giving Ohio State all it could handle.
Fitzgerald and offensive coordinator Mick McCall did a great job getting Carr in favorable coverage matchups through moving him around and bunching him up. The result, as noted, saw several plays in which Arnette, who is a young and inexperienced player, forced to try and stick with Carr and the result was a clinic.
I find it interesting that Meyer often talks in postgame pressers about how teams are taking Curtis Samuel away with some of the adjustments they make yet Fitzgerald and McCall somehow found a way for Thorson to target Carr 15 times despite everyone knowing he was far and away the best wide receiver on the field.
Yes, Carr only had three catches in the 2nd half after tallying five for 66 yards in the 1st half but those three 2nd half grabs still went for 92 yards.
Northwestern also did a great job controlling the clock in the 1st half and in employing some quicker passing plays in an effort to negate Ohio State's pass rush.
Hat tip to Fitz and his staff for their efforts.
SURVIVING IS THE NEW BLACK
Speaking of Meyer and postgame comments, he's grown increasingly frustrated with answering questions the last few weeks both with the media and apparently on his um, call-in show.
This is surely a clunky way to describe it but he's been coming off as passive-aggressive defensive the last few weeks which I assume is out of frustration with his team and with what he probably thinks are unrealistic expectations shaping media queries.
The bottom line may be that while Meyer himself has created sky-high expectations through his success, his program may be finally feeling the loss of all those studs to the NFL.
It's simply not as easy as we all want it to be to rebuild an offensive line with two new starting tackles and a true freshman new starter at left guard. The same can be said for a wide receiving corps that is certainly feeling the effects of Michael Thomas being gone along with a potential reality that guys such as Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin and James Clark will never be what Meyer hoped they would be coming out of high school even if the group did step up a little bit yesterday in comparison to what they provided in State College.
Hate it, refuse to accept it, or be patient to see if improvement takes place down the stretch but no matter which option each of us chooses, there are multiple reasons why this team has been in three straight one-possession games despite entering each as a double-digit favorite and Ohio State won't likely stomp each opponent the rest of the way by three touchdowns just be because that's our preference.
