This is probably not a study that can be performed in real life, but I would be curious to compare the lifespans of somebody who grew up watching sports, and somebody who did not.
I swear, these games are taking years off my life.
Ohio State survived a date with No. 18 Penn State in Happy Valley, knocking off the Nittany Lions 38-25 in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated. Buckeye mistakes and some dubious-at-best officiating kept this game from becoming a blowout.
Either way, Ohio State is 2-0. Let's debrief.
Quick Breakdowns
Offense
Justin Fields is pretty good at football and I'm starting to surmise he won't be in Columbus next fall unless he is a spectator. The Buckeyes signal-caller did have six incompletions (6x more than he had last week- if that trend continues Ohio State may be in trouble next week!), racking up 318 yards and four touchdowns (with zero turnovers) in the process.
Ohio State's run game was put back on track, as the Buckeyes rumbled for 208 yards on 45 totes, buoyed by Garrett Wilson's 62 yard scamper on the game's first play from scrimmage. Master Teague reverberated for 110 yards and a score, while Trey Sermon chipped in with 56 yards on 13 carries.
Chris Olave, as usual, paced the receiver room with 120 yards on seven catches, but Garrett Wilson was close behind, racking up 111 yards (on 11 receptions) of his own. It was Olave who hit paydirt though, with two scores. Jeremy Ruckert helped the tight end room come back from the dead with two scores of his own.
Player of the Game: Justin Fields
Defense
It was a really strong effort from the Ohio State defense, which essentially gave up just 19 points due to some suspect officiating.
Tommy Togiai, the Idahoan, led the defense with three sacks, while fifth-year-senior Jonathon Cooper played one of his best games as a Buckeye, generating pressure all evening and ending with five tackles and half a sack of his own.
The secondary was probably the weak link in this one, but it's hard to fault Shaun Wade for a few of the preposterous catches by Jahan Dotson. Marcus Hooker did end up with six tackles and an interception. Sources tell me his brother actually used to play for the Ohio State football team.
Penn State's offense was prophesied to feature a lot of quarterback runs and passes to tight end Pat Freiermuth, but the Buckeyes defended both quite well. Sean Clifford rushed for a whopping five yards on 18 carries (0.3 ypc), while Freiermuth had just three catches for 46 yards.
Player of the Game: Tommy Togiai
Spooky Season Under the Lights
There were a lot of moments in this game that legitimately made me wonder if I was watching a real football contest or if I was in some weird simulation.
- End of first half clock issue, where the Penn State clock operator must have fallen asleep.
- Phantom roughing the passer on Baron Browning, who did not rough the passer on that play.
- Phantom personal foul on Taron Vincent, who just was trying to stand up.
- Two whopper-jawed field goals inside 25 yards, by two different kickers.
- Jahan Dotson snaring two passes that probably had a 1% catch probability if MLB's Statcast tool could be applied to college football.
- Bradley Robinson attempting to down a punt inside the five yard line and instead somehow batting the ball into the end zone.
Related: one of my housemates is convinced he could make any field goal within 25 yards. I've seen him make them with no pressure, but I'm not sure he could do it with several very large men running very fast and jumping very high.
Jim Tressel's Least Favorite Moment
I can't imagine how many times "Gosh darn it!" was said at the Tressel homestead last night.
With the two missed chip-shot field goals and the blunder by Robinson attempting to down a punt, Jim probably needed a pacemaker relatively early in this one.
I'm really hoping that Ryan Day's phone rings at some point this week and it's Tress on the other line, with an exasperated voice pleading for the Buckeyes to fix these issues so he can go back to sleeping well at night. I'm sure all of the tossing and turning kept Ellen up all night, too.
Biggest Question Moving Forward
Well, last week's biggest questions were whether the running game or the pass rush would improve, and both did, so let's find something else to pick on.
I suppose we can discuss the secondary. Dotson's catches had jaws on the floor but Wade was beat a few times (although it was just his second game ever as an outside corner) and Sevyn Banks had an extremely rough drive or two as well.
It will be interesting to see how this unit gels throughout the course of the season, and luckily for them they don't exactly face anybody the level of the Generalissimo they face in practice every day.
Happy Halloween. Big win for #VARSITY. Rutgers next week.
