THE SITUATIONAL: Level Up

Six seasons ago the Buckeyes added to their grisly Purdue Harbor legacy. The bye week which followed meant we all got to think about that game for a couple of weeks. Good times. Let’s never do that again.

When the schedule resumed, Ohio State rolled with home blackout (at noon!) against a very bad Nebraska team which ended up going 4-8 in Scott Frost’s first season. The Huskers went into the locker room up 21-16 at the half.

Of course Ohio State won - West Lafayette was their only blemish that season - but there was something quite unnerving about spending two weeks gargling what the Boilermakers had deposited in their mouths, returning home to a very awkward Alternate Uniform Game against a mediocre opponent and then proceeding to look like that despite the improvement sabbatical.

This was Urban Meyer's last team. Here is how Ryan Day's have fared coming off the in-season breaks:

J.T. Barrett's OVI arrest four years earlier had taken place during the bye week. As a senior, he produced the greatest 4th quarter ever by an OSU quarterback - that Penn State game came off a bye week. The 1st quarter was an unmitigated disaster. Sluggish doesn't do it justice. Complicated relationship.

Day broke a 40-year OSU drought for B1G Coach of the Year honors in his first season at the big desk, which has an argument for the cleanest regular season slate in program history. Not even Chase Young's suspension slowed that team down during its second bye week, the last time Ohio State got two of these scheduled breaks.

Since then? During 2021 opponents accumulated enough film to figure out how to attack a unit which had Alex Grinch and Bill Davis coaching it (Michigan accumulated a little more than that). The 2022 Buckeyes looked 2019ish right up until their week off, after which they clenched way too hard in preparation for a Michigan game which, well, even without Connor Stalions it was a masterclass by Jim Harbaugh in getting into an opponent’s head and staying there rent-free.

Last season Ohio State returned to the Horseshoe after a week off and let Maryland push it around before using big plays to overwhelm the visitors. Which kind of also happened on Saturday. One bye week down, one to go. It’s complicated.

Do you know what all of these clunky post-bye week games all have in common? The Buckeyes have lost none of them, going a perfect 9-0 since Day took over. Aggregate score: Ohio State 433, Opponents 122. To recap:

Ohio State fans have a complicated relationship with bye weeks

We also have a complicated relationship with happiness - it’s one of our core values - but that’s an offseason column. We have games to discuss! Welcome back, let’s get Situational -

OPENER | BENDING TOWARD THE SUN

Sep 21, 2024: TreVeyon Henderson stiff-arms Marshall linebacker Landyn Watson at Ohio Stadium on Saturday. © Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

I got a text after the Marshall game that said:

please tell me everything didn't get worse coming off of Improvement Week

Sure, okay. Everything did not get worse coming off of Improvement Week. If not for three straight OOB kickoffs there isn't a single detail from Saturday you'll be able to remember next month off the top of your head.

From my vantage point, the Buckeyes used their first of two schedule breaks to fill in any remaining cohesion gaps created by a virus which ripped through and sidelined the offensive line for a significant chunk of training camp. That side of the ball ended up scoring two points a minute while averaging 10 yards per play.

That's insurmountable pace and production. Marshall Really Got Beat That Bad - click or squint and look to the right below (this Parker Fleming is not that Parker Fleming):

DID WE REALLY GET BEAT THAT BAD? (remix)
Net EPA/Play in Week 4 pic.twitter.com/78DMHJkyjP

— parker fleming (@statsowar) September 23, 2024

Special teams were tragic on Saturday even by the impossibly low standards that Parker Fleming left behind, but the takeaway from the performance should not be wrapped in despair - because we're in a new era where the head coach isn't doing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ at the podium anymore when questioned about obvious deficiencies.

We've got to get that fixed has been replaced with in-game corrections. *fans self*

Day no longer has his face buried in his play calling sheet in anticipation of the next drive while the defense is on the field. When Ohio State's Tyliek-less line failed to get home for three consecutive Marshall drives, he moved and stood next to that unit's coach (!) and got quite animated. I cannot read lips, but it appeared to be related to personnel packages. Ask Stalions, maybe he was at the game.

On Saturday, we again witnessed how this program which spent the past few seasons allowing itself to be ravaged on the margins through failing special teams and curious, unchallenged substitution patterns - especially along the defensive line - adjust in real time. This is the lens through which Ohio State deficiencies should be viewed now. The most defeatist expression in the English language is It Is What it Is. That smell should never come out of the Woody. It definitely seems to be clearing up.

The lack of urgency and implicit acceptance of mediocre coaching and outcomes was a major part of what drove so many OSU football stalkers crazy post-pandemic. Some things can be corrected in practices or during the off-season, but others can only be rehabilitated in a game and during the season.

Saturday would not be the first time Larry Johnson’s personnel philosophy has found itself isolated from Jim Knowles defensive strategy. It is the first time the head coach wasn’t too busy multi-tasking his former job to get involved and advance changes.

This new lens should also relish the difference between the past few seasons of cringeworthy running game concepts and execution with what we've seen through the first 25% of this schedule. If you're not versed on technical football nomenclature, you can simply refer to what Chip Kelly has been cooking up as A Demoralizing Ballet on Fake Grass.

Chip Kelly's rushing concepts: Choreographed dances on the B1G's worst playing surface.

It's breathtaking. I think this play is Pin & Pull Super Counter but a practicing football doctor like Kyle Jones would confirm the diagnosis and terminology. Getting warped about the defensive front seven taking a step back when the offense is scoring at will is a choice, especially if you're willing to accept the new lens.

Scoring too quickly is not a problem until late in the 4th quarter of a game where neither defense is making stops. That seems very unlikely against this team. Ohio State has played a football game in its history where Kelly was on the opposite sideline, and the Buckeyes pulled off a Tresselball masterclass on New Year's Day.

Forty-one minutes and thirty-seven damn seconds.

That's how long Ohio State played keep-away from Kelly's Oregon offense. The Ducks were only allowed 19 minutes to score their points, which was Tressel's recipe for strangulation that afternoon. That's really hard to do, especially with receivers and running backs his current offense is featuring. Also, this offense is already better than anything he had in Eugene. It had the ball just four minutes longer than Kelly’s Rose Bowl offense did and scored 32 more points.

They can probably score points in plodding, clock-killing drives. But track meets are fun too.

Jeremiah Smith running away from the entire 330 area code.

Outside of its cryptic player availability updates, this team has been unmysterious early and often the past few seasons. We pretty much knew what the Buckeyes were by the end of September, and in hindsight we can admit Maybe it Will Just Fix Itself was a large part of the strategy on the margins and in the obvious areas of improvement. A big part of that was remedied before Easter.

We still haven't reached October and the operation appears different and evolving. I have no idea what Ohio State's offensive identity is outside of the return of Run-Pass Options which have been missing since Justin Fields left campus - but I'm not betting against it. Kelly playing mad scientist is the best innovation we've seen since Day first fixed the offense in 2017.

I'm also not betting against this OL continuing to gel. I'm not sure what's happening with TEs but being able to play the whole room instead of just one injured guy who was never able to hold a block is a holistic improvement. I'm not betting against special teams figuring out how to get the right kind of attention as the season progresses.

And I'm not betting on Maybe it Will Just Fix Itself being applied to the front seven.

I dont feel good about anything. Nobody should feel good about anything. - Ryan Day

— Dave Holmes (@DaveHolmesTV) September 24, 2024

Ohio State 157, Opponents 20 through three games. Beatings will continue until morale improves.

INTERMISSION

The Solo

The last time we had to tolerate the unforgivable phrase Defending National Champion Michigan Wolverines it was following the 1997 season. This year, intermissions will pay homage to that cursed year's Billboard Hot 100.

The best time signature in music is 4/4 because of how easy it is to lay down an mmm-tss mmm-tss mmm-tss over it with your mouth and immediately convert any 4/4 song into house music regardless of genre or meter.

If you don't believe that, try it with 4/4 legendary bangers like Katy Perry's Firework, Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love, John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane, Avicii's Hey Brother or The Beatles' Let it Be. It works every time. This is basically how Where Do You Go was conceived, according to a theory I just made up while typing this.

They started with the beat from Everything But The Girl's Missing (this part is true) released two years earlier and simply laid down an mmm-tss mmm-tss mmm-tss along with new lyrics. Bang, brand new song - in 1997 you could hear this in the club on a Saturday night and then again as hold music with your insurance carrier on Sunday morning. Versatile!

Where Do You Go contains a flamenco guitar solo. Let's answer our two questions.

Is the musician in the video actually playing flamenco guitar?

No Mercy consists of Marty Cintron along with twin brothers Ariel and Gabriel Hernandez. Marty plays the guitar on the song, still does so live currently and upon forensic inspection appears to be slapping flamenco strings himself in the official video. VERDICT: Yes, inconclusive.

does this flamenco guitar solo slap?

Two true relevant stories - first, one time I walked into the Tower Records on Clark Ave in Lincoln Park, Chicago and Everything But the Girl (it's a guy and a girl) were there live performing a slowed-down version of then-current hit Missing in front of what had to be tens of people. Free concert, my lucky day.

I laid down a quieter, polite mmm-tss mmm-tss mmm-tss but still annoyed some guy who was extremely into Everything But the Girl. Not sure what the etiquette should be for in-store performances but in the mid-90s he should have just been happy there was no mosh pit.

Second, same era, I was at lunch with some people from the office in my first job out of college at an Irish copycat of TGIFriday's called Bennigan's and Where Do You Go came on in the restaurant. Our receptionist sighed and said, "Ugh, I wish someone would call me 'My Lovely', That would make my day."

Our HR person Brenda didn't even look up from her Kilkenny's country chicken salad and muttered, "yeah, don’t let that happen on the clock please. I have enough on my plate." Classic HR. Anyway, she ended up marrying and later divorcing my boss.

Not Brenda, the receptionist. What did he say to woo her in his direction? Wasn't privy, but I bet we're all thinking the same thing and we're all probably right. VERDICT: Slaps.

The Bourbon

There is a bourbon for every situation. Sometimes the spirits and the events overlap, which means that where bourbon is concerned there can be more than one worthy choice.

Bib & Tucker. A good decision, actually.

We all know Mel Tucker is no longer Michigan State's head coach because of the unique way he found to nullify the terms of his $95M contract extension last season. I'd say he fumbled the bag but that's a little too literal here.

The point is I know Tuck's not comin' this Saturday but it took me like six months to finally remember who the new guy is. It's Jonathan Smith (not him) whom they got from Oregon State, his alma mater.

For the Bengals fans who have made it this far, he threw all those passes to TJ Houshmandzadeh and Ocho in college. That guy coaches Sparty now.

Bib & Tucker is a nice choice for Saturday night. It's sourced from Tennessee, which may cause the cynics among you to say so it's private label George Dickel and you know what, shame on you. Just because you can't name any Tennessee distilleries other than Jack Daniels and George Dickel doesn't mean B&T must be from Dickel.

Anyway, it's probably Dickel, which is a little too on-the-nose for a section devoted to Tucker. Toasted hickory on the nose, caramel apple and harissa on the palate and warm cinnamon oatmeal finish. Nothing disappointing about it, and now we've finally diverged from MSU's former head coach.

Available to buy online and in reputable liquor stores. Don't pay more than $55.

CLOSER | LEVEL UP

Sep 21, 2024: Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith runs for a touchdown against Marshall at Ohio Stadium on Saturday. © Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Buckeyes' bananas and nut butter on a rice cake non-conference schedule has mercifully concluded and the only sustainability initiative of concern has to do with Tyliek Williams' health coming off something that happened during the bye week.

I don't think our sample size is large enough to conclude there's a massive gap between what he brings to chaos at scrimmage and the next best guys - I also think scheme and substitution had a lot to do with Marshall's extremely limited but noticeable success in sustaining drives.

Caleb Downs had 64 snaps on Saturday. No one on offense had more than 45. This is what happens when your offense burps and the air immediately smells like touchdowns. Final tracker:

This sample size is large enough to conclude that depth utilization has significantly improved over the past two seasons. The Buckeyes played more guys on Saturday against Marshall than they did last season against Western Kentucky in a 63-10 laugher.

They enter the conference schedule without having overextended the top of the roster unnecessarily. Now it will be interesting to see if the defense can make a few tweaks, most of all - and largely lost in the angst over the front seven's performance - getting a takeaway.

The last turnover the Buckeyes forced was Gabe Powers' pick-six against Akron. Eight quarters without a forced turnover shouldn't happen at any point of the season with this defense, let alone in the weakest quadrant of the schedule.

SITUATIONAL ARCHIVE The Situational Whiskey Cellar

No opponent on Ohio State's schedule has turned it over more than Sparty thus far, so if that drought continues beyond Saturday it might be time to panic. Haha, just kidding - you're going to panic regardless. We have a complicated relationship with anxiety.

Thanks for getting Situational today. Go Bucks. Beat Michigan State.