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Hello and welcome to another edition of Cus Words Sports!
I know The Game was five days ago, but I wasn’t expecting to be awash in breaking news yesterday on top of the usual National Signing Day shenanigans. Plus I know you wanted to relive Ohio State’s win at Michigan as many times as you can anyway…
So here are my thoughts and observations after finally completing my rewatch:
Ohio State succeeded in creating a more physical offense without compromising the big-play ability
It only took like 3.5 years, but better late than never, right?
Well, statistically they do lack explosiveness, but Saturday those big plays in the passing game were there when they needed them.
Bo Jackson’s big run early was also critical, but the biggest takeaway was Ohio State just kicked Michigan’s butts up and down the field.
I thought going into it the Buckeyes would win (barring rivalry weirdness), but it was easier to see them going up and over rather than straight through the way they did in the second half.
One big thing I wanted to see up on rewatching the game was how much Michigan was giving them light boxes and the Buckeyes took advantage.
I didn’t chart every play, but it seemed to be a mix. Ohio State did attack Michigan inside at times and eat up five or six yards before safety help arrived, but they also ground out some yards against heavier looks.
It wasn’t perfect, but it never is. The big thing is those gap plays — power, counter and their various cousins — worked probably as well as they have all season. That was expected to be a weakness of the Michigan defense, but there was a question about whether or not Ohio State could take advantage. They did with the offensive linemen executing and backs hitting the holes and making guys miss.
Michigan got caught schematically on both long touchdown passes
Hard to think Ohio State was going to try to run for it on fourth-and-5 at midfield with their best pass protector (C.J. Donaldson) in at running back, but that is what Michigan expected apparently as they left Jeremiah Smith in single coverage with a guy who had no chance to win against him and the free safety in the middle of the field.
On the flip side, the TD to Carnell Tate was designed to beat the split-field coverages Michigan likes to run. Ohio State blocked it up, Tate ran a good route right through the middle of the defense, and Julian Sayin put it on him. The protection was good enough Luke Montgomery didn’t have anyone to block because Will Kacmarek locked up a defensive end by himself on the edge.
Flawless execution of a great play call.
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Michigan seemed pretty helpless schematically on both sides of the ball
Overall this was an extremely unimpressive game plan from Michigan.
They hit a few explosive runs early, and those were based primarily on getting lined up so that they had a man advantage to the boundary.
Ohio State adjusted its run fits and Michigan wasn’t able to do much after that.
Of course, being down their top two running backs for most of the game didn’t help, but Bryson Kuzdal the third stringer is a solid back. He made yards when they were there. The holes just dried up in the second half.
At breakfast at my hotel, I overheard a Michigan fan telling another he hoped they had been holding back some of their offense for Ohio State. I had considered that myself, but it didn’t make a lot of sense since they struggled to score against Purdue and Northwester.
Turns out there was nothing else in the tank.
Maybe the Wolverines really are more limited physically than they looked against the weaker teams on their schedule
I know Michigan had missing a few guys, but it’s November so that is to be expected.
Ohio State just looked stronger at almost every position on the field as long as they were lined up right.
On the first play Ohio State lined up with its strength to the field and was out-numbered to the boundary (weak side). Michigan pulled two guys to the boundary to increase the huge numbers advantage, everyone made their block, and Jordan Marshall ran through the grasp of two Ohio State defensive linemen for 36 yards. (It has been pointed out if this was Justice Haynes he goes the distance. True story, but it wasn’t. Ohio State had a linebacker playing running back in the ‘22 edition of this game.)
Michigan followed that with a smart dump to the running back underneath OSU’s zone they figured they would get, and that was another easy 10 yards, but they stalled out from there and settled for a field goal.
Then they came out and ripped off another long run on their second series, but that was about it.
SIDE NOTE: Obviously anyone who lived through the last four years but even more so the 1990s had to gulp deep at this point. I still vividly remember getting home from a seventh-grade basketball scrimmage just in time to watch Tim Biakbutuka rip off two or three long runs immediately to start The Game in 1995. The Buckeyes never fixed that problem that day, but they did Saturday.
Freshman QB Bryce Underwood hit a few outside throws and that one explosive ball in the seam between three defenders.
We already knew he could do those things, but he also missed a deep out that would have been a first down in the third quarter when the game wasn’t quite over yet.
I figured Michigan would go in thinking there were a few of those they could get away with and they would have to live with the potential downsides, but apparently the Michigan coaching staff felt one or two shots would be enough? Even as the game was getting away from them?
No way were they going to win this game 13-10 again, but was that the plan?
I’ve been saying all year Michigan’s five-star freshman QB sort of reminds me of Terrelle Pryor in stature and skillset. Big, strong and fast but not necessarily quick or agile.
He is physically gifted, but can he play football? Pryor had strong coaching, but the jury is out on the people working with Underwood.
I get not asking him to do too much in the passing game… but I would think he could have done a little more than that, especially as things got more dire in the second half.
Underwood may be limited in his ability to read defenses, but where were the constraint plays?
If you’re going to run a “spread offense” you have to throw some screens and use quick game to keep the defense from ganging up on the running game. The QB run is also a big part of this package, but they rarely went to that well. Why? Is Underwood not a willing runner? Did they not want him to get hurt? Is he just not good at it? The mind wanders…
A lot of Ohio State’s success on defense was personnel driven
I had to watch the game again just to see who was winning their battles, and it was really something watching Kenyatta Jackson Jr., Caden Curry, Kayden McDonald and Tywone Malone just whip their guys over and over again.
I thought of Jackson as mostly just a pass rusher entering the season, but he was great at setting the edge Saturday. He just destroyed Michigan’s tight end repeatedly. (Maybe the Michigan coaches thought the same thing I did?)
He has been overshadowed a bit by McDonald and Curry, but Jackson was great against the Wolverines.
Then of course linebackers Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles had their moments shutting down potential big plays, and Caleb Downs did his usual thing.
Most notable was a play on Michigan’s second drive when Downs came up and popped Marshall, knocking him sideways like he was about 180 lbs. It turned out to be that kind of day for the Wolverines.
Matt Patricia put these guys in position to succeed, and they did the rest.
That 20-play drive was just a thing of beauty
You already knew that, but it bears repeating.
The Buckeyes had to convert multiple third downs and overcome a pair of second-and-longs after getting stuffed on first down. That raised the level of difficulty and made it even more impressive.
I think the point you could really see the spirit just lift up out of Michigan’s body was when Isaiah West broke a tackle and went for about 12 yards on second-and-11 behind great blocks from Tegra Tshabola and Kacmarek on a counter play that failed more often than it succeeded earlier in the season.
The Wolverines eventually forced a field goal to win the battle, but by then they had already lost the war.
OK, I could go on, but I don’t want to take up your entire day.
I will have the usual Friday newsletter — “This Week in Ohio State Football” — to preview the Big Ten Championship Game, so you’ll want to look for that and maybe keep it in mind to recommend to others to sign up for it!
If you can’t wait for some Indiana info, I’ve posted videos from Ryan Day and a few players previewing the Hoosiers on my YouTube channel.
Finally, I’ve got one more ad at the bottom of this newsletter (feel free to click that one, too!) and a link to share with anyone who might be interested in subscribing themselves.
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