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Ohio State beat Illinois 34-16 on Saturday.
Overall, this was a solid win for the Buckeyes.
“Of course,” you say. The Fighting Illini are ranked 17th!
I’m not so sure they’re that good, but we’ll see how the rest of the season goes.
I’d rather be Washington than Illinois, but that’s neither here nor there because Ohio State already beat them both, and the Buckeyes control their own destiny in the Big Ten and College Football Playoff races.
It’s a beautiful fall afternoon in Ohio, and I’ve got a peewee football game to get to, but here are a few postgame thoughts before I head out.
Feel free to share yours in the comments, or you can even email me directly by replying to this message. (What a world, right? But first, an advertisement…)
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One thing Illinois can definitely do is throw the ball.
Luke Altmyer is a legit passer, and he’s got some weapons. Sometimes Ohio State is so good seeing them give up anything is almost alarming, but in this case there is no shame in the opponent having some success. All defenses have weak points, and teams are going to figure out how to attack them. The key is being able to adjust, which seems to be Matt Patricia’s strongest attribute.
The Illinois run defense isn’t good, but you wouldn’t have known that from the way it looked Saturday.
The linebackers and safeties looked really good in run support, so maybe they played better than usual, but hope is not a plan.
The Buckeyes were particularly bad on first down, averaging 1.7 yards an 15 attempts. That’s not going to get it done. The running game also seemed to get worse as the game went on, perhaps because they were a little predictable with the first down runs.
Day said after the game he wanted to take a look at everything to see where the issues were. To me, it seems more like execution than ability. The process just isn’t crisp. The worst example was the reverse to Jeremiah Smith that ended with him landing on his head after neither the tight end or tackle blocked one guy and he made.
On the positive side, the short-yardage offense was great.
The Buckeyes converted five of six opportunities, and CJ Donaldson slammed the ball into the end zone twice behind freshman Nate Roberts, who seems to be improving as the fullback in their favorite short-yardage package.
Roberts also got a carry out of a Wing-T look and picked up a first down. That checked off a box Day had mentioned before to make sure the defense can’t just assume he is in the game to block.
The Ohio State red zone defense also remains awesome.
Illinois finally figured out how to get the ball in the end zone, but it took a nice trick play with a receiver taking a handoff then executing an option pitch.
Then they tacked on another red zone touchdown with a receiver getting away with blatant offensive pass interference, so we’ll see if either of those prove to be replicable for anyone else.
Julian Sayin was very good again.
He’s pretty much already reached the point we can take it for granted, hasn’t he?
Illinois followed Washington’s example and came out playing off coverage to avoid getting cooked the way Minnesota’s secondary did.
He completed passes to seven different teammates (and no opponents), continually showing the willingness to check down and take what the defense gives him.
Ohio State had a 14-play, 63-yard touchdown drive to answer Illinois’ 10-0 run, showing the Buckeyes can control the ball and the clock even if with a so-so running game. Sayin managed it well, then they ran on the last four plays to get into the end zone. Maybe there’s an obvious one I’m forgetting about, but I’m not sure the last time they lined up intent to finish a drive that way and actually did it, at least against a Big Ten opponent.
