5 Things We Learned From Ohio State's 56-0 Blowout Over Western Michigan

welcome to Buckey tomorrow morning for Sunday September 9th I'm your host Tom Mo the Marshall game in 13 days the game against Michigan in 83 days Ohio state did not take very long not a matter of days not even really a matter of hours to put away the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday night in Ohio stadium Buckeyes polish off the Broncos with a 56 to nothing win darn near had 700 yards a total offense held Western Michigan to 99 yard of total offense one of the more impressive just all-around performances that I can remember from Ohio State in the last few years Kevin n it's one of these games that 56 nothing doesn't serve the story well enough because Ohio State just really had Western Michigan on the ropes to begin with came out and and scored on its first couple of three drives really the only hiccup that was in the game was starting off the third quarter Ohio state was a little slow getting out of the gates in the third quarter but you know once again they kind of did it just about every possible way I mean maybe short of having multiple defensive scores or whatever but I mean it was a it was a complete team win I think they're going to be a good number of players that are going to be enjoying that that Champions Meal which we can only dream about I'm sure there's a delicious Carving Station there but uh Ohio State goes into open week number one 2 and0 giving up a grand total of six points over eight quarters and you said it I mean 56 nothing and it really probably could have and should have been much worse than that the number I always look at is average yards per play Ohio State gave up 2.1 yards per play multiply that times four it is not a first down Ohio State gained on offense 9.5 yards per play so that is not technically a first down every time they snap the ball but it's pretty darn close and so and that really kind of sums it up because I guess let's start with the offense feels like we always start with the offense we'll start with the offense will Howard 18 to 26 292 yards one touchdown but then also Ren for touchdown and then on the ground quinan Judkins nine carries 108 yards two touchdowns averaged 12 yards a carry and had a 70s something yarder called back on a penalty that I know some of the folks in our live chat after the game were not super in Amed with the penalty call yeah but this was a game where just about everything went just about the way you would think Ryan Day drew it up on offense yeah exactly and and you know you and and and let me edit you there Chip Kelly well yes Ryan day would have drawn it yes Chip Kelly and this game felt to be a little bit more had a better flow than the akan game in my opinion and we can sit there and and and and try to really parse things with the akan game it's like well why is this game so much better I just think this game was a lot more smooth I think that Ohio state was able to really impose its will a lot more and I think there was just a diversity of of things that Ohio state was able to accomplish and you sit there and you look I mean they had what like they had five six rushing touchdowns I mean it it just we've been so far removed of Ohio State coming out and having a real dominating rushing game they run for 273 in this game uh as as Tom had mentioned just shy of 700 total yards uh across the board it just was this is what the offense was supposed to feel like this was what was missing entirely in 2023 and I think why Ohio State fell a little bit short of of multiple goals I think that this was the big thing and and and doing this without Donovan Jackson once again and doing this really starts up front when Ohio State struggled last week everyone sort of looked at the offensive line and went haha there's the problem we did an hour of live Buckeye weekly postgame show and right at the end kind of thought oh we haven't talked about the offensive line yet it just it's like long Snappers if you're not noticing them a lot of times that's really good felt like this was an offensive line that held true to the altruism that you improveed the most between week one and week two that looked like a very different offensive line from week one to week two exactly I mean they were getting a better push I think that they were just they were able to do things that they didn't necessarily get accomplished in in in in week one and Ohio State I think did a did some inside Zone did some outside Zone they they really were able to kind of flex the muscle but I I really feel that the offensive line did a really good job I think you know I'm just I'm going to kind of circle the first 6 minutes 7 Minutes of the third quarter I think everything kind of yeah we're we're in pretty good shape I mean they were up 35 nothing going into the locker room uh I think that everybody kind of expected to see the backups a little sooner but you know Ryan day to his credit wanted to keep his starters out there so they could end on a positive note which they did and then Ohio state was able to cycle through two more quarterbacks and played Devin Brown five of five for 57 yards Julian saan makes his Ohio State debut two of two 61 yards a 5 what five yd touchdown to Bennett Christian on a fourth and one play and then actually did play Four quarterbacks Lincoln keth Hol did play a little bit in that final drive as well so just all around about as well as you could have drawn it up one thing that I did think was notable they rotated on both sides of the ball really rotated guys in you saw guys playing you saw younger guys playing in the first half you saw guys playing in the late first quarter early second quarter who are not starters and you know young there they'll rotate on the defensive line sometimes but it felt like that was very intentional where you were seeing Bryson Rogers out there with the wide receivers very early that that's one of these things that yeah it it didn't necessarily make a huge difference in the game on Saturday night but it feels like that might be something that sets them up for some more success down the road absolutely you want to be able to get these guys that opportunity especially players that already who have red shirted like a Bryson Rogers or somebody like that Bryson Rogers don't forget entered the portal exited the portal to stay at Ohio State I think that that was a great decision gives Ohio State some more depth there I think Bryson Rogers is somebody that that could play in the first quarter could play in the second quarter he certainly has that I know we haven't necessarily jumped to the defense yet but we ended up seeing a lot of Germaine Matthews and that was because Denzel Burke got the old heo on on a targeting call so so it's just that depth and being able to get them experience serves two purposes first of all it's going to be a long season if Ohio State's as good as we think it is 16 games that's just that's going to be a lot more games than they've ever played before it's better to have that out there but secondly and more importantly I think it gives you an advantage in 25 because how many times do we sit here at the beginning of the season and say well Ohio State's very inexperienced at a b c and d get them get these guys ABC and D experience now and then when Ohio state has a mass Exodus because it's a very senior Laden team you're not sitting there looking at each other and it's like well does anybody know the direction to the field and one of the spots where they have got a chance gotten a chance to play a younger guy is at left guard you mentioned earlier Donovan Jackson sat the game out he was available for the game I think that was a very precautionary thing and it makes a lot of sense now you got a week off and then then you get a week to get ready for Marshall so it makes a lot of sense if he's not 100 100 100% if this was Michigan he's probably playing absolutely it was sort of Michigan a little little west of there but it was a Michigan it was a Michigan it was not the Michigan so there was no real reason to push it you did however see The Return of Cody Simon he was another guy who was available and then immediately made his impact felt you know it's great to see him out there he's obviously well respected with the team being the block over recipient and the captain and it took I don't know what two three plays and boom you you found Cody Simon out there real quick yeah I mean I think that it was just great for Cody to get out there and be able to rock that block O jersey for the first time I think it was great for Ohio State to get him back I mean obviously we're we're looking at how all these rotations at linebacker are working out I mean what does that mean for what does that mean for CJ Hicks what does that mean for sunny Styles what does that mean for Gabe powers and so on and so on but you know you know Cody is somebody that uh has always been there uh you know kind of you know playing the playing a backup to the mic but also kind of the third backer when it was Tommy and when it was steel and now it's kind of I don't want to say it's his defense cuz this defense is so good it's not any one player it's like well this is the guy I'm focusing in on and during the uh the live Buckeye uh weekly recap that we had after the game there were a lot of people talking about I normally would focus on on Jack or JT but now there's just so much to watch out there defensively that uh you know I just don't focus on one player right where would you want to focus cuz Jack Sawyer has been immensely talented and immensely impactful earlier in the season you saw that from JT Tu moo you see that from Ty Williams in the middle of the line the linebackers you're seeing it from you're seeing it from the corners you see it last week was the laan ransom show tonight it was Caleb DS made multiple play multiple impactful plays yeah there there is not one spot there is there is not a spot where you can just kind of go yeah go after that guy Michigan uh I'm sure I will not be breaking news to anyone here but Michigan did not have a very good time on Saturday against Texas Texas just looked at when where will Johnson was and went okay well we're just not going to throw it there we're going to throw it to the other side of the field and there was no answer there Quinn yers had a big day and it and it was not you know will Johnson can be as great as he wants to be and you can have Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant and the interior defensive line but there's a bunch of other guys out there and and Texas is down two running backs yeah oh yeah yeah that the Texas and missing their two uh defensive tackles from the uh from last season who were you know really the stars of the defense and just thumped Michigan that that was a no doubter out of Texas and so for for uh Ohio State to have to not necessarily have that yeah you're good there but dot dot dot that that's a big reason why they were so effective under a 100 yards of total offense but I we did this on the Buckeye weekly show but I'm going to do it again here just because just here's the drives for Western Michigan okay there are going to be two that stand out and a whole lot that sound similar three plays minus one yard 11 plays 55 yards that ended up with a field goal attempt that DED uh three plays n yards three plays 12 yards three plays seven yards three plays 6 yards seven plays 20 yards one play one yard that was the half three plays negative 17 yards three plays n yards three plays 6 yards three plays 5 yards three plays two yards they just they never got I mean we've talked about teams not being able to get out of second gear or out of first gear they didn't get a they didn't get the parking break disengaged for most of the game they only had five drives in the second half I mean you know when you sit there and you look at that yeah they just really had no answer and I know they lost an offensive lineman along the way I think it was their Center but uh again that doesn't necessarily change the entire makeup of the team and this is the same team that gave Wisconsin fits that Gabe Wisconsin fits four quarter game all the way through you know Western still had a chance to win it at the end and Ohio State just kind of sat there and it's like just shoved them out of the way and it just like we're doing what we want to do yeah and there was just there was no answer at all from Western Michigan they had in the second half 15 plays for five total yards five five yards after the game Lance Taylor the Western Michigan coach talked about the fact that they did not play as well as they played the week before losing an offensive lineman is obviously hash oby yeah no kidding but but they they losing an offensive lineman obviously is a part of that but that was not that was not an offense that well if you just hadn't lost the offensive lineman you would have had 17 points that was well maybe you would have gotten a first down in the second half but I think maybe some of those threes would have been fives and sixes and sevens but you know we don't know we don't have a crystal ball for that so yeah so that was that was about as thorough a whooping as you're going to see laid on a pretty good pretty good team because it was a this was sometimes there's a 56 nothing where the score doesn't tell the true story because it's like well the game kind of got out of hand like the Alabama game was like that was very close with South Florida into the fourth quarter and then Alabama end up winning something like 40 to 16 and you look at it you're like oh they had it all the way it's like the and the laser voters will sit there just be like oh it was just business as usual yeah so that was uh this was a 56 nothing that was probably worse than the scoreboard would have indicated so now the Buckeyes head into their week off we will have plenty of coverage looking back at this game looking ahead at what's what is still to come looking at boy we might get a chance to do a show or two on the national college football picture and it is a a little bit of a disheveled picture right now there are some teams that look great in week one and look terrible in week two and vice versa and trying to make some sense of all of that for you we're going to be doing all of that at Buckey huddle.com that's where Tony Kevin and I cover the team Mark covers recruiting got our whole team of x's and nose gurus there to make you a smarter football fan that is all at Bucky huddle.com and of course also want you to check us out at youtube.com/ Bucky huddle we're going to have some fun off-week content this week coming for you some behind the scenes stuff did uh I posted a walk across the Ohio State campus so if you haven't been back to Ohio State in a while might want to check that out might be uh might be something that uh hits you in the just the right nostalgic spot in the fields in the yes right pow right in the fields if you thought I wonder what Mirror Lake looks like now or uh you know what just the the walk across an Ohio State campus the Ohio State campus on a fall footall Saturday if you've missed that you can find that there at youtube.com/ buuy huddle along with post game podcasts analysis and much much more so we hope to see you there that'll do it for today thank you guys all for joining us have a great day we'll talk to you tomorrow