Buckeyes Choke in Near-Upset of Nebraska

It seemed like the game was in the bag for the Buckeyes. They were leading by 21 with just 23 minutes left in the game. It almost seemed impossible for Ohio State to blow such a commanding lead, but with the way things have been going this season, you knew they'd find a way. And they did, losing what might be the most disappointing Buckeyes game I've watched for years.

Ohio State entered this game as a heavy underdog for the first time in a very, very long time. Going on the road to #14 ranked Nebraska is a challenge for any team, but for a Buckeyes team that's been struggling like they have, especially on the offensive side of the ball, it didn't seem like they stood any chance at all. Braxton Miller and the Buckeyes' offense apparently didn't hear any of this criticism because they went out there looking like a championship caliber offense. Braxton Miller was nearly unstoppable, throwing for 95 yards and rushing for 91 more. He was helped tremendously Carlos Hyde, who is emerging as Ohio State's top running back. He ran for 104 yards and two TD's, including a 63 yard touchdown run in the second quarter. It was all going great, with the Buckeyes leading 27-6 after their first possession of the second half. But everything changed after that.

It started with a Braxton Miller fumble. As he was falling to the ground, he had the ball stripped out of his hands by a Nebraska defender. This turned into the first touchdown for the Cornhuskers, but the better result for Nebraska was that it gave them some hope. Hope was the last thing the erratic Buckeyes offense needed the Huskers' defense to get. On the ensuing Ohio State possession, Braxton Miller went down with an ankle injury. Ohio State's hopes of pulling off this season-changing upset went down with him. His injury forced in the incredibly ineffective Joe Bauserman, and nothing sucks the life out of the Buckeyes' offense like Joe Bauserman. After Bauserman entered the game, the offense gained just three more first downs. They were led by Bauserman's 1 for 10 performance in which he racked up a total of 13 yards for a passer rating of 0.9. No, that's not a typo, his passer rating was actually 0.9. Meanwhile, the defense was getting tired and letting up big plays, which just added fuel to Nebraska's fire. After they tied the game up at 27 apiece, you could just feel that the Buckeyes would blow it. Of course, that feeling was right and they gave up the go-ahead touchdown drive on Nebraska's ensuing possession.

If Ohio State even wants to become bowl eligible, they're going to need to get a few signature wins in the upcoming games. This is the perfect week for that win against #16 Illinois. This game gives the Buckeyes a chance to do what Illinois did to us in 2007: go into their house and ruin their undefeated season. If the Buckeyes can get revenge against Illinois this week, it could end up being a game where we will look back and see where they turned their season around.

Spartans Smother Buckeyes' Offense

The Michigan State Spartans absolutely manhandled the Buckeyes' offense in yet another embarrassing loss for the Buckeyes. The fire in the Spartans' defense combined with the apparent listlessness in the Ohio State offense for another painful to watch performance by the declining Buckeyes.

Out of all of the Buckeyes games I've watched over the past few years, this was easily the most depressing. I could tell from the get-go that the offense was going to be flat, but what ended up unfolding on the field was even worse than I expected. The Bucks were limited to just 178 yards on offense, and even that low number is padded by a meaningless last-second drive that resulted in the only points for the Buckeyes. There were pretty much no positives to take out of this game from the offense point of view. The passing numbers were poor at best with 143 yards with an interception and a meaningless touchdown. The rushing numbers were even worse, amassing a dismal 35 total yards.

This game snapped the fifth-longest home winning streak in the nation at 16 games. The last-second touchdown saved the Buckeyes from their first shutout at home in the last 183 games and their last shutout at all in the last 17 years. The only good thing that could be taken out of this game was the defense and its ability to force critical turnovers. Their two turnovers saved the Buckeyes at least 10 points and were the only reason they still had a chance of winning at all.

The offense is going to need to pick it up soon if the Buckeyes even want to become bowl eligible this year. As of now they have yet to play ranked opponents Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan and they still have to play Penn State who is on the verge of being ranked. It's not going to be an easy road to a bowl game for the Buckeyes, but if it's going to happen, the charge needs to be led by Braxton Miller and this young Ohio State offense.

Offense Sputters in Rematch of 2002 National Championship

After the ugly performance at home against Toledo, it seemed as if the Buckeyes could only get better. Unfortunately this wasn't the case. The Buckeyes were absolutely manhandled by Miami's defense and the 'Canes racked up the most rushing yards given up by an Ohio State defense in recent memory in a 24-6 loss last Saturday.

 The Buckeyes' offense was clearly the main cause of the bad game. They just weren't able to move the ball at all, especially through the air. They gained an underwhelming total of 209 yards. The worst part about this is that only 35 of these yards were gained through the air. Joe Bauserman, the fifth-year senior, looked absolutely awful. Bauserman started off the game by leading the offense to back-to-back three and outs, which basically killed any momentum or motivation the team had. He was never able to pick it up either, finishing 2/14 for just 13 yards. There wasn't really anything positive to take out of his performance. Almost all of his passes were either off target or they were poorly thrown, and the only two passes he completed were swing passes to the running backs. Braxton Miller, the promising freshman, never got a true chance to shine. He was played briefly in the second quarter, but was promptly taken out after an interception off of a tipped pass that really wasn't his fault. Again, it made little sense for coach Luke Fickell to keep in a struggling Joe Bauserman instead of playing the more versatile and exciting Braxton Miller.

If there was anything positive to take out of this game, it was how well returning junior Jordan Hall ran the ball. Hall is playing his first game after serving a two game suspension for taking $200 from a booster at a charity event. Hall was seemingly the only Buckeye who was motivated to play in the game. He rushed for 87 yards on 14 carries for a 6.2 yard average.

The last thing that bothered me was the poor coaching of Luke Fickell. Other than the quarterback situation, Fickell completely mishandled stopping Miami's rushing attack and managing the time at the end of the game. Miami ran all over the Buckeyes for an astounding 240 yards, and Fickell just couldn't find an answer to stop them. The time management at the end of the game was the thing that irked me most. It was still a two possession game when Miami was running out the clock on one of the final drives of the game, but you couldn't tell from how Luke Fickell was reacting. Fickell failed to take even a single timeout as Miami drained over nine minutes from the clock. It was almost as if Fickell had just given up.

Although the Miami game was very disappointing, the Buckeyes need to bounce back this week. They'll be playing this week as an unranked team for the first time since November of 2004. It's important for Ohio State to get a convincing win against Colorado so that they can build some confidence before heading into the difficult conference schedule.

Close Call in Columbus

After a nearly flawless performance in week one, Luke Fickell and the Buckeyes faltered in a near-loss to their in state opponents, the Toledo Rockets. The Buckeyes underwhelmed against the Rockets in the 27-22 win on Saturday. The day showed some troublesome offensive struggles that will need to be taken care of before this week's prime time showdown against the University of Miami.

The biggest problem the Bucks had was their offensive line, and every football fan knows that it's tough to get any offense going with a struggling O-line. This was proved by the measly 189 passing yards gained by the offense. Although the running game was not terrible, it was not spectacular either. The Buckeyes averaged about 3.3 yards per carry for 112 yards, but without any help from the line who simply could not get a push for their running backs.

The offensive line was not all to blame for the poor passing. Joe Bauserman looked rattled all game, and his completion percentage went down 21.7% from last week to this week. This was partially due to the lack of time to throw the ball, but that was not the only reason he didn't look nearly as impressive as last week. Bauserman consistently overthrew wide open receivers and two of the overthrows were potential touchdowns. Despite an all-around poor performance from Bauserman, the true freshman Braxton Miller didn't take a single snap. Miller looked sharp in the opener against Akron, but it seemed as if Coach Fickell's decision to play Bauserman was set in stone. This move made no sense to me. There wasn't much to lose by putting Miller in for a series to two to see if he could get something started with the offense. He certainly has the explosiveness that Bauserman lacks, but Fickell played it just as conservatively as his predecessor Jim Tressel would have.

It was a night and day difference from the Buckeye team that showed up against Akron. A lack of concentration and sloppy play nearly led Ohio State to its first loss to an in-state opponent in 90 years. Fickell and his team will need to show big improvements, especially on offense, if they plan on stealing a victory from the Hurricanes on the road this week.

Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Akron Zips

Amid countless suspensions, allegations, and a difficult quarterback controversy, Luke Fickell proved in his head coaching debut that the Buckeyes are going to be as strong as ever in 2011. The rookie head coach delivered a 42-0 beating to the Zips to start off the season. There were a lot of positive things to take out of week one, with the most important being the fantastic play of both quarterbacks.

After the disgraceful departure of the former quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, Fickell faced an interesting challenge as a first-year head coach: who would start at quarterback? Ultimately, the choice came down to the senior Joe Bauserman and the freshman Braxton Miller. All preseason he has been noncommital to who would take the first snap of the season. It seemed as if Fickell was in a catch-22. If this opener means anything, it looks like that catch-22 has turned into a win-win situation. Both quarterbacks were phenomenal against the Zips. Joe Bauserman, who was chosen to start, shattered all expectations. He showed no remnants of the shaky backup from a year ago when he went 12/16 for 163 yards and 3 TD's. Not only was he impressive throwing the ball, but he showed that he has worked on his mobility with his 32 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD. However, Miller made sure that he did not lock up the starting job by going 8/12 for 130 yards and 1 TD. He was also hindered by his receivers who dropped 3 of his passes. He showed his scrambling prowess by rushing for 30 yards on 6 attempts. This quarterback controversy is by no means settled. We will definitely be seeing both quarterbacks throughout the first few games to see who will emerge as the clear cut starter.

The other main areas of concern were the receiving corps and the running backs, and again, they performed much better than any Buckeyes fan could've hoped for. With the leading receiver from a year ago suspended for the first five games of the season, the receivers stepped up big time for Ohio State. Eight different Buckeye receivers caught a pass, with two of them getting one or more touchdowns. The most impressive of the receivers was the tight end Jake Stoneburner. His three touchdowns on Saturday surpassed his season total of two from last year. He showed that he will be a reliable target for whoever ends up running the show at quarterback. The new receiver that really broke out was Verlon Reed, who caught three passes for 66 yards. However, all the achievements were topped by this absolutely incredible catch by freshman Evan Spencer. This one handed grab was one of the best I've ever seen! The running backs also had a big day. Carlos Hyde, who started because of suspensions to the two other backs ahead of him in the depth chart, had a great first start. He mowed over Akron's defense for 93 yards on 19 carries. Hyde is the big, strong kind of back that the Buckeyes have been lacking since Chris "Beanie" Wells went to the NFL. Hopefully he has done enough to secure him the starting job even when the two backs ahead of him return from their suspensions.

Both the football team and the Ohio State fan base needed a dominating win like this to start off the season. Luke Fickell showed that he will be able to put the distractions from a hectic offseason aside and coach this team to another year of Big Ten title contention. The quarterback situation has yet to be settled, but it seems as if both players are capable of succeeding under center. We'll see if they can keep it up next week when Toledo comes to town.