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Hello and welcome back to another edition of Cus Words Sports!
Ohio State beat Purdue 34-10 Saturday to improve to 9-0.
The Buckeyes officially can have no worse than a typical Earle Bruce season, but of course their goals are greater than that.
Ryan Day’s team accomplished a few things in West Lafayette, not the least of which was avoiding the ghosts of whacky games past at Ross-Ade Stadium.
Not that whacky games are bad as long as you win — and nowadays you don’t even have to win as long as you don’t lose too many — but it’s better for the narrative if wackiness is kept to a minimum when facing teams that are 2-5.
Here are a few takeaways from Ohio State’s win:
Day confirmed after the game they showed up in West Lafayette intending to work on the running game. That yielded 170 yards on 43 attempts (including two sacks that cost them 19 yards).
That isn’t exactly the rushing machine of the Urban Meyer or Woody Hayes days, but it was Ohio State’s most rushing yards against a power conference team this season and the most attempts against anyone.
The 3.95-yard average per carry is not that impressive, but that jumps to 4.6 when you remove the sacks. That will work when you throw it the way the Buckeyes do.
This is the second week in a row Ohio State posted a season-high in rushing yards against a power conference team, so the arrow seems to be pointing up there.
Certainly the operation could have been better, but they were without right tackle Philip Daniels and used multiple lineups while the game was still in doubt.
Sixth man Josh Padilla also missed the game with an injury, and Tegra Tshabola seemed to regress at right guard without Padilla to share time with him there. That comes on the heels what what Day confirmed was a better performance against Penn State.
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Where’s the beef?
Some have speculated or suggested Ohio State eventually abandon the heavy use of 12 personnel (two tight ends, two receivers), but that was not the case Saturday.
The Buckeyes continued to commit to developing the attack with bigger guys on the field on early downs.
While the blocking was still wonky at times, I thought all the running backs looked better. Maybe they are never going to be a road-grading offensive line, but getting more broken tackles would go a long way toward improving the overall output of the run game.
Bo Jackson’s 70-yard run on the first play for the Ohio State offense did not count because of a clip on Jeremiah Smith, but Jackson still ran for 75 yards on 14 carries. He was making people miss and running with some authority. Fellow freshman Isaiah West ran for 60 yards on nine carries while sophomore James Peoples added 26 yards on eight tries. They all were able to get more than was blocked a few times, and Ohio State ended up with a season-high seven runs of more than 10 yards, three more than their previous high against a power conference team.
Aside from the young backs looking shifty and running tough, CJ Donaldson also had a couple of really nice short-yardage runs. Despite his being listed at 6-2, 232, he has not actually looked that good as a power rusher, but I liked the way he get behind his pads and went through a tackler on the first touchdown run of the day. Good leg drive.
Donaldson also had another nice short-yardage run out of the shotgun later in the game and got a good lead block on Lincoln Kienholz’s touchdown run…
Ohio State posted a rushing success rate of 49%, its best since finishing at an insane 57% against Minnesota four games ago. That is also a notable improvement over the season average of 44 percent, which ranks 62nd in the nation. If they hit the 49% mark every week, that would be good for top 20.
Of course Purdue’s defense stinks, but that’s still better than the alternative of struggling against it and being forced to rely on the pass.
Even better: The success on the ground did not come at the expense of the passing game. Julian Sayin had another huge day, going for 303 yards despite No. 2 receiver Carnell Tate not playing. That just let Smith do even more than usual, catching all 10 of his targets for 137 yards and a touchdown.
Brandon Inniss also stepped up along with Bryson Rodgers and Mylan Graham. Tight end Max Klare continued to be a weapon with five catches for 59 yards, and the way Sayin is delivering the ball, there is really not much opposing defenses can do.
Of course he also threw a bad interception in the end zone, so Day got to yell at him on the sideline after weeks of smooth sailing. They’ll finally have a teachable moment in the film room, too! Talk about a productive day…
What is there to say about the defense?
The book is out on how to attack them, but that doesn’t do opposing teams much good.
Purdue has a decent offense, so holding the Boilermakers to 186 total yards is very solid. Looking up and seeing them only finish with 94 yards passing is notable, too, since Ryan Browne looked good early moving them down the field for that field goal in the first quarter with quick passes to the outside and a couple up the seam.
Early success is fairly typical for opposing offenses because every defense has a weak point, so Matt Patricia needs some time to see what they are doing and how to adjust…
Finally, Day said what everyone else was probably thinking about Jayden Fielding hitting a 49-yard field goal at the end of the second quarter. That was good to see both for his confidence and probably the confidence of his coach, too.
Like most Saturdays this fall, the Buckeyes seemed to make some incremental progress at Purdue. The running game has to crawl before it can walk, right? And the passing game is still there when they need it.
Meanwhile, the defense remains dominant even with more and more film out there giving teams ideas how to attack them.