Presented by The 1870 Society
It was a bit rough on the eyes at times but Ohio State kicked off the 2023 slate with a 23-3 win over Indiana yesterday in Bloomington, giving us all a chance to overreact to the ups and downs on offense combined with a dominant effort from Jim Knowles' defense.
Fact is, opening up on the road with a conference opponent while breaking in a new quarterback, two offensive tackles and a center is probably a lot harder than some of us want to believe and it was certainly a turbulent ride as Kyle McCord and company got their feet wet.
The game was never in doubt as however as Ohio State's defense suffocated an Indiana offense that seemed fully content to run clock and keep its quarterbacks from making a big mistake through the air.
So yeah, the game was a butterface in many ways but even as a pessimist by nature, I'm grounding myself in the realities of it being game one, breaking in a lot of new faces at key spots and expecting significant strides to be made in coming weeks by way of game reps and film study.
Let's get to Five Things from yesterday's win before we flip the focus to next week's banger versus Youngstown State.
KYLE'S WILD RIDE
Making his second career start but first with major pressure to perform, Kyle McCord turned in an uneven performance that saw him complete 20-of-33 passes for 239 yards with an interception.
He wasn't helped at times by an offensive line that allowed some pressure up the gut but when that happened he showed pretty good footwork in the pocket to either buy time or decisively head upfield.
After one game, it's easy to overreact and critique the hell out of a guy but if I had to list the main concerns they are the fact some of his incompletions were not even close to the target, his confidence or his eyes (both?) didn't look downfield enough and therefore he missed what I felt were some chances at deeper shots in favor of more conservative check downs, and on one drive alone he could've scored two different times but didn't, forcing OSU to settle for a field goal.
His interception didn't make the list above since it was fourth down and the intended receiver fell down. It was a terrible decision to throw back across his body to the middle of the field but it was a do or die situation and the play design and execution before the throw did him zero favors.
The drive in which he tossed an awful throw toward Marvin Harrison Jr. to prevent an easy touchdown and then ran the wrong way two plays later when he had a wide open lane to the end zone on 3rd-and-4 was probably the most frustrating sequence of his day.
But he also made some nice throws to tight end Cade Stover and maybe my favorite throw was a laser to Julian Fleming for 27 yards after he bought some time with his feet.
I do want to see some more Devin Brown next week because it's hard to be 100% sold on McCord after yesterday's performance.
BULLETS BACK?
I know, I know. It's too early and Indiana's offensive is too mediocre for anyone to proclaim the Silver Bullets have returned but I liked what I saw from a defense that played fast from start to finish, suffocating an overmatched Hoosier offense.
The Buckeyes forced 3-and-outs on four of Indiana's first seven possessions on the way to a 20-3 lead. For the game, Indiana averaged 15 yards per possession on 2.8 yards per play and 2.4 yards per carry.
The defensive front, anchored by Mike Hall Jr. and JT Tuimoloau, disrupted timing, created pressure, showed depth, made plays and funneled ball carriers back to the middle of the field.
The secondary dominated an admittedly anemic Indiana passing attack holding the combo of Tayven Jackson and Brendan Sorsby to 9-of-21 passing for 82 yards. Cornerback Denzel Burke was stellar all day and recorded a couple pass breakups. His counterpart Davison Igbinosun didn't fare as well but at the safety spots, Josh Proctor had himself a solid afternoon and Sonny Styles finished with four stops and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Indiana piled up 153 yards on the day and didn't record its 10th first down until late in the fourth quarter.
Again, it's Indiana but Ohio State's defense did what it should do against a team like that - dominate.
CADE CONUNDRUM
Tight end Cade Stover had a hell of a day as a receiver against the Hoosiers, snagging five balls on six targets for a team-high, and career-high, 98 yards.
All five of his catches resulted in first downs for Ohio State with a 24-yarder and 49-yarder as the highlights.
The 49-yard strike came on a snag down the seam as Stover got behind a linebacker and in front of a safety to pull in one of McCord's best targets of the afternoon. Ohio State scored four plays later to take a 20-3 lead with 1:51 left in the third quarter.
After recording 36 catches for 406 yards last season, Stover is clearly a solid receiving target and that's a really valuable asset to have especially with a green quarterback who doesn't yet seem all that comfortable pushing the ball down the field.
For all his skills as a receiver, the elephant in the room is his inconsistency as a blocker. He struggles at times in both run blocking and pass blocking and if/when Ohio State gets back to the wide receiver screens / quick hits, he's not been great at blocking on those in the past either.
He was flagged for holding yesterday after a missing an assignment and had a few other instances that he'd likely want to have back.
My point here is not to take away from his big day through the air. He's a weapon and a leader on the offense. Instead it's to suggest OSU might be wise to lean on that tight end depth just a little bit more from a situational standpoint, setting guys up for the best chance at success.
HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
Ohio State's running back room is obviously bursting at the seems with TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams, Chip Trayanum, Dallan Hayden and Evan Pryor all capable of doing damage.
Yesterday, it was a three-headed monster with Day deploying Henderson for 12 carries, Trayanum for eight and Williams for seven.
Trayanum was the most impressive yesterday as he averaged 7.1 a pop while wearing down Indiana defenders with his physicality. Henderson only averaged 3.9 per try and Williams 3.6. Henderson had a 19-yard burst but otherwise it seemed the middle of the offensive line did little to help him out.
Make no mistake, Ohio State is fortunate to have such a deep stable but I can't help but wonder if this by committee approach might hamper Henderson - the team's most talented and explosive back in my opinion.
I'm a believer that running backs need to establish a rhythm and when you're splitting carries among three guys, that's hard to achieve.
I get it, it's tough to balance trying to manage everyone's health as you think about getting through the slog of a long season so I'm not being critical of the distribution of carries. I'm just wondering if that's truly the best way to get the best out of your most explosive back.
YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME
I know it's tough to be Tom Allen and have to play Ohio State in your season opener while trying to land on a starting quarterback and define roles for the 30 or whatever transfers that arrived in Bloomington this year.
That said, it was hard to watch yesterday's game and not see a guy that was simply trying to make the final score look more palatable on paper versus actually trying to win the game.
With Ohio State swarming the line and shutting down Indiana's rushing attack, Allen kept dialing up run plays to drain the clock despite the Hoosiers averaging 2.8 yards per carry on 22 first half attempts. Offsetting those 22 runs, Indiana attempted five first half passes.
The second half was a bit more aggressive as Allen's squad attempted 16 passes against 11 running plays.
Again, I know Indiana had zero shot to win the game and those quarterbacks aren't ready for primetime but if I'm a player and I'm watching us hand the ball off 61% of the time while trailing and going against a defense sitting on the run, I'm asking myself some questions.
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