EAST LANSING, Mich. – During last week’s home game against Nebraska, Ohio State played a video encouraging fans to donate to the William White Family Fund for ALS, in honor of the former Ohio State cornerback who is currently battling ALS.
Following its 26-6 win over Michigan State in East Lansing on Saturday, Ohio State honored White once again.
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer announced during his press conference after the game that the Buckeyes awarded the game ball for Saturday’s win to White. White’s son Brendon, who made his first career start for the Buckeyes on Saturday, accepted the game ball on his father’s behalf.
“On behalf of the Ohio State football team and Buckeye Nation, we presented William White the game ball for this game today,” Meyer said. “And it was really kind of cool to see Brendon come up there and take it on behalf on his father. I’ve known William since 1986. He’s a dear friend. One of the smartest guys I’ve ever met, one of the greatest football players I’ve ever met. So I know Buckeye Nation would approve of that.”
Brendon White said “everyone went crazy” and “yelled and cheered” in the locker room when the game ball announcement was made.
“It was pretty cool,” White said. “Not only do I have support for my family and my father’s disease, but having it come from Buckeye Nation, it’s very cool and that’s why this place is so special.”
As for Brendon White’s performance on the field, the Buckeyes’ new starting safety alongside Jordan Fuller recorded five total tackles and a pass breakup in Saturday’s game. In a play that didn’t count on the stat sheet, White also nearly blew up a double reverse play that ended up as a holding penalty against Michigan State.
BRENDON WHITE OUT OF NOWHERE pic.twitter.com/6q5ajwfetC
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 10, 2018
White made more individual plays when he entered the game in a relief effort last week against Nebraska, recording 13 tackles with two tackles for loss against the Cornhuskers, but Ohio State’s defense had a better performance against Michigan State, allowing just six points on 274 yards after giving up 31 points on 450 yards against Nebraska.
Having entered this week’s game with significant playing time under his belt for the first time in his career, White said he felt more confident on Saturday.
“Just trying to stay confident in myself. Being confident in the calls. Giving the linebackers the calls,” White said after Saturday’s game. “I was watching more film this week. And I think the biggest thing was just being more confident out there and giving the right calls and being confident in those calls.”
Brendon White recorded five tackles in Saturday's game.
Mixed results for Martell
Ten games into the season, Ohio State finally added a new element to its offense on Saturday that many Buckeyes fans had been clamoring to see all season: a package with the first-team offense for backup quarterback Tate Martell.
Ohio State first unleashed that package late in the second quarter of Saturday’s game, facing 1st-and-goal at the 6-yard line, and it worked. On his first play in the game, Martell ran for a 5-yard gain. He only stayed in the game for one play that time, but his run set up a 1-yard touchdown for Parris Campbell on a shovel pass from Dwayne Haskins two plays later.
Martell later entered the game in the fourth quarter on a 3rd-and-3 at the 27-yard line, and his ability to improve the run game was evident once again – even though he didn’t carry the ball – as the threat of an extra defender in the backfield helped open a hole for Mike Weber to run for a 6-yard gain up the middle. This time, Ohio State kept him in the game for more than one play, and on the next play, Weber ran for a 13-yard gain.
Martell’s time in the game ended with a fumble recovery by Michigan State, however, when Martell was unable to handle an off-target snap by center Michael Jordan, something that Haskins was able to do several times earlier in the game and on many other occasions earlier this season.
Nonetheless, Meyer was pleased with what Martell brought to the field on Saturday, and suggested that he will continue to have a role in the offense for the rest of the season.
“We had a turnover down there, but he’s a guy, I think we’re going to do more of that,” Meyer said. “When you start to get in that part of the field, it’s rugged, especially against a defense like that. So I hope to use him more.”
Haskins, understandably, was not enthused about being taken out of the game after playing nearly every meaningful snap on offense in the Buckeyes’ first nine games. But he also understood why the Buckeyes decided to work Martell into the offense, and praised Martell for his competitiveness and the development he has made to earn that role.
“It’s a little hard, but it’s for the betterment of the offense,” Haskins said. “I can’t complain about that. But it’s a little frustrating.
“He’s always been a competitor,” Haskins also said of Martell. “I know that when he gets in the game, he’s taking the things he learned from me, from J.T. and he’s eager to go compete out there. So proud of the progress he’s made.”
Unusual strategy
Having given up only seven points to Ohio State with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter of Saturday’s game, Michigan State had reason to have faith in its defense. But considering that the Spartans had only scored six points themselves at that point in the game, they perhaps had too much faith in their offense and not enough faith in their punter when they made an unusual decision to voluntarily give the Buckeyes two points.
After being pinned at their own 1-yard line on a punt by Drue Chrisman downed by Terry McLaurin, Michigan State threw three incomplete passes in a row, forcing them to punt from the end zone. But playing a punter in William Pryzstup who had never punted in a collegiate game before Saturday, the Spartans decided not to risk the possibility of having a punt blocked in the end zone and instead decided to intentionally snap the ball through the back of the end zone for a safety, giving the Buckeyes a 9-6 lead and the ball with 42 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
#BIG pic.twitter.com/az7HZ7eutz
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 10, 2018
“William's never punted before until this game, and it felt like coming off the goal line with only 10 yards between the snap and the punter, there's an opportunity for the punt to be blocked and it's still a one field goal game, and I felt like our defense was playing well enough,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio explained after the game. “I didn't want him to handle the ball nor did I want to take the timeout and tell our offense we're going to kneel on it so I just told them to snap the snap through the end zone.”
That decision could have at least enabled Michigan State to flip the field, which was necessary for the Spartans as Chrisman and the Buckeyes controlled the field-position battle throughout the second half, but it didn’t work. The Spartans’ ensuing free kick went out of bounds, giving Ohio State the ball at the 50-yard line, and even after the Spartans were able to force a 3-and-out from Ohio State’s offense, Chrisman was able to hit a 44-yard punt that Johnnie Dixon downed at the 2-yard line.
Michigan State fumbled in the end zone on its next offensive play, and Dre’Mont Jones recovered the fumble for a touchdown. Suddenly, Ohio State had a 10-point advantage for its first two-score lead of the game, and the Spartans never recovered.
“We get the kick down there, which we did, and they would have been on the 35-yard line I think by that time,” Dantonio said. “We're playing well enough to stop them and get the ball back and go from there. We did stop them, but after kicking the ball out of bounds, they got the ball for 15 yards and punted it back down to the 1.”
