THE Notebook: Ohio State runs over Western Michigan as Buckeyes get comfortable in Ohio Stadium

Ohio State a winner 56 to nothing we are not in the media room we are behind it we're going in a secret hallway will Howard is right here it is BTS that's what the notebook is for and last week CJ Barnett boxed us out we're not letting that happen again so we're going down the stairs will Howard start number two win number two for the Ohio State Buckey I watched you will you were doing another postgame interview you missed Carmen Ohio I know dude last week I at I was sitting at Midfield and I did it with Mike our our social guy um and I was I was pissed I didn't get to be down there but this time I was actively doing an interview so I actually couldn't even sing and I just literally caught like the last H and O like that was it cuz you said last week and that's what I wanted to ask you that like you're only going to get so many opportunities to do these cool Traditions exactly and you're you're missing out on I love you know I love doing post game interviews and it's great you know it's an honor but I don't like missing out okay all right well what's been the best tradition you've got to experience so far I think the skull session SK it's pretty awesome this is the sanctuary we we can't go any further we're yeah we can't go any further congrats on the win thanks will all right all right we accomplished it the notebook week two is rolling along we are uh in the in the back channels here 56 to nothing for the Buckeyes will Howard starts 10 for 10 so Ryan Day challenged the Buckeyes hey start fast uh you saw Ryan Day get into that pregame Mosh Pit with the Buckey he was ready to go so were the Buckey will Howard goes out starts 10 for 10 Ohio State uh well they scored 56 unanswered points so we'll take we'll take this and we will head out of the media room now and we'll get into more on the notebook As We Roll Along so hard not to uh focus on what will how did here a little shaky in the opener we talked about that with the bucka trying to find some footing and even will Howard after the game in his original postgame press conference was talking about this offense leaving meat on the bone it's hard to see how much better they could have been with one notable exception the Miss throw to Jeremiah Smith will Howard came directly over to the bench after that drive I don't know what he said it looked like an apology but he was talking about that that it's it's going to hurt him for a little while that he missed on that throw it was an opportunity for Ohio State to finish off another drive maybe get him out of the game a little bit earlier than you wound up uh late in the third quarter Devon Brown came in Julian S came in Lincoln Keen holds came in this was an opportunity where Ohio State got aggressive and put a game away at this look at this Superstar right here look at this don't give me camera what do you think of these wide receivers cam bab they're better than me better than I Wasing hey I hey that's not for me to say you know what I mean we'll see you're the best looking wide receiver they've had here appreciate it man I appreciate it see good to all right so let's check check here uh on the food looks like some pizza this is the most important thing of every post game Smoothie King and pepperoni pizzas again another one there's The Bodyguard right there we out booxed we Outback CJ Barnett this week we won we all stuck up there we got you this time you got me boxed out last week I can't let that keep happening all right so that feels good that's a win for the program uh all right let's get into it let's actually open the notebook for the first time as we've it's a late game everybody's trying to get out of here I understand it uh but we had to we had to make up for last week we had to atone uh first and foremost you start with the injuries we talked about it throughout the week Cody Simon and Donovan Jackson both had uh clearance to play uh this Cody Simon I think it was a little bit of a hamstring thing don't know for sure soft tissue he wanted to play last week was pushing really hard to the strengths you know the medical medical staff thanks BM it is late said let's let's hold off for one more week but you could tell when he came out for pregame there was not going to be any way to keep him off the field for this week there was a look in his eye like he had to go out uh improve something right off the bat which he did on the opening drive third down Buckey's dial of a blitz for him Cody Simon gets home he gets the sack right away the way he celebrated the way that the rest of the Silver Bullets celebrated was uh pretty notable and remarkable it's good to see him out there and know he wanted to talk to him talk to the blco after the game there and I so what that had to be pent up energy aggression ah well you know everybody else did their assignment it allowed me to get home for free it was really nothing too special that I did of course that's what you expect your captain to say then on the next drive on a key third down Western Michigan really one of the only times all night that they got anything going he he drops and has to flash across the field in coverage breaks up a pass on third down so he gets the sack for One Stop breaks up a pass to get another third down stop Western Michigan misses the field goal they really don't threaten again in for the rest of the night and both Cody Simon like Jack Sawyer they're talking about they've been waiting four years to get a shut out like this they knew exactly how long it' been Jack soyer knew that it was Cincinnati 2019 the fact that five years of the day remarkable burn behind the camera there dropping the extra knowledge uh once that field goal was missed you could just tell like all right this isn't going to happen again jack were kind of exaggerated a little bit he said there's been about a hundred times that they could have done this that's not entirely true although there were a lot of opportunities where it was just a field goal or two that the Buckey gave up but once they got past that one uh with that that early stop there was really no looking back Ohio state was about as dominant as you could ever want on defense um but Cody Simon there with those first two drives had to give him certainly the defensive player of the quarter maybe I can do offense and defense for the first half because the second half notes uh they're pretty sparse because this game was over um pretty quickly not no player of the game honor for the officiating I'm going to have to get a better explanation that did not for Denzel Burke's ejection that did not look like a defenseless player to me I thought maybe he was leading with the shoulder and even if he made contact with the helmet uh did not seem like something that should end somebody's night if if I'm wrong about that so be it I'd like to get a better explanation about what exactly they saw on that so Denzel Burke wound up with the short night and it put another you know starter on the sideline for Ohio State to build depth Germaine Matthews got a fair amount of playing time there uh but Western Michigan was not putting um putting much strain on the secondary for Ohio State they finished with 99 total yards so I don't know which is more impressive the shutout or the fact that AA abuka almost matched Western Michigan's entire offensive production by himself in the first half um Jeremiah Smith that guy's special I think I wasn't going to give him the first quarter player honor there because will Howard started 10 for 10 for 177 yards as we said at the start of the notebook uh but he caught just like a simple Stop Route he's standing as still as I am right now and then goes from zero to 23 miles an hour 24 miles an hour I don't know in about half of a second look at Mike bassard first shut out since 2019 2019 I you knew that FM said 5 years to the day so he's trying to top you a little bit just just yeah actually just about yeah seriously not just no you're right it actually is exactly five years to the day so once again bm's right great S ID night good job by him yeah yeah a lot of yards a lot of stats to compute right now what's what's going to be the first set beyond that cuz we already T we took the shut out from you Improvement week is upon us Improvement week is upon I'm going to have to do that too before uh the Buckeyes get back here in two weeks which we think that's going to be a noon game against Marshall anyway uh Jeremiah Smith scores again he goes over 100 yards receiving uh he is going to break every freshman receiving record that exists for Ohio State there's no question about that how about an unsung impact here I thought Tai Hamilton made a couple plays that were pretty key on that opening drive of the game he he knifed into the backfield for I don't know if they technically gave him the tackle for loss have to double check the box score on that but it was either right at the line of scrimmage or for a loss of one before Cody Simon sack and then he came up and he showed up again on the first drive of the second quarter uh you know he and Ty Williams teamed up for the TNT tackle for loss uh couple big plays for him so like you look at the depth for Ohio State and the amount of people that they have on defense Tai Hamilton amount of people that can make a difference on defense Tai Hamilton is not someone who comes up a lot this is a really important uh Cog for Ohio State they played Kaden McDonald a greater amount that tonight you saw Taiwan Malone get involved hero canoe was in early so there were he's certainly not alone and that's the remarkable part about Ohio state is they're able to play all that depth without much drop off on the defensive line or any drop off that's what they've been trying to rebuild at for quite some time they're getting there now so uh impressive stuff uh from the rushman up front and for Tai Hamilton just somebody that we don't uh talk about a lot uh so let's go back the other thing I have a lot in here from that second quarter it was the first time that the Buckeyes didn't score was they took the the Deep shot they dialed it up Jeremiah Smith is wide open he was like right here BM couldn't have had a better play call the throw gets hung up just a little bit um maybe Jeremiah Smith is too fast will Howard still adjusting in that I don't know uh but he he missed that Jeremiah a little bit underthrown J my Smith had to come back and get it uh incomplete Drive killer Drive stalls first time the Buckeyes don't score and then they've taken these down the benches over here have like new I don't know Huts over the top they look like Cabanas they're counter stallions they're uh counter stallions as BM said you need to be miked up during the show you are too good right now uh they come over right here they're looking at the iPad the receivers are sitting down on this bench right here and will Howard puts on the headset he's talking to to Chip Kelly and you could just tell he was and I think you know the Buckey themselves are like it's fine you're going to come back the rest of the quarterbacks came over and Deon Browns patting him on the back Lincoln Keen Holt is saying you got it I mean they bounced back they took a a play action shot right away with AA abuka on the next drive and the Buckey pick it picked right back up where they were leaving off before they wind up leading uh 35 to nothing at halftime uh and Howard capped it Capp that off with a rushing touchdown keep goes into the Right End Zone he throws up the O uh and you can tell as we talk to him coming down those stairs that he he is enjoying the moment the opportunity there's only been two of them so far 10 more guaranteed this team's trying to play 16 games uh 17 if it comes to that so there's still a long way to go he he talked about the throw there's going to be opportunities where the Buckey can play better but the way that he has grown even from week one to week two uh you take note of that it's significant I think the Buckeyes are getting exactly what they want uh from will Howard from the quarterback position which as I mentioned included Julian San coming in in the fourth quarter um somebody came up and tapped me on the shoulder in the tunnel and they said did you have a benett Christian touchdown on your bingo card and I'd have to say no I did not and I definitely didn't have it coming from Julian say and I didn't think that the Buckeyes or Ryan Day specifically would want to go into to this offe where we're going to be looking for other things to talk about and what it means going forward that Ryan day would want to talk about third string quarterback or what he you know Reps for Devin Brown or what things are going to look like for the backup quarterbacks but he went beyond that in fact he put in a fifth quarterback because Mason mags came in as a running back on the final drive as the bucke guys were running out the clock so that's one of a handful of things that to me stood out as a different approach for Ryan Day where will Howard's last Drive they go for a fourth and eight uh this two weeks in a row that they've gone for a fourth down that maybe in the last couple years Ohio state would not have done he was asked about sportsmanship and running up the score and those things and I think he's taken some criticism I've I've understood it I've not been a proponent of like you have to throw like CJ St when you're the backup quarterback you need to get those reps I understand that there are other people that have different perspectives on that but i' I've sort of understood that that Ohio State doesn't need to force the issue or post a margin of Victory to to win by 56 but what that drive did and that decision it it showed that he's back Rye is backing up the kind of aggression and fight and leave no doubt mentality that he's preaching so he's done that with the coaching and the fact that Ohio State converted on that fourth and eight which I believe y it was a throw to Brandon inis followed up by a trayon Henderson touchdown well that that made it 42 to nothing with about four and a half minutes to go in the third quarter and it let Ryan day then take the starters out why have they wound up playing more snaps in some of these games the last couple years than maybe people want well it's because they they would get to that situation maybe they'd kick a field goal or maybe they would punt in that situation instead they went for the touchdown they did knock out the opponent and that let them take the starters out they would score once again there in the fourth quarter with some of the backups in uh nope was that in the third quarter twice more uh and James peoples uh again that that guy is pretty fun to watch I think he's going to be a fixture down the road running game as a whole pretty exciting to watch with trayon Henderson quinan Judkins James peoples all getting in there will Howard kept one to get into that right corner of the endend Zone over there it all adds up to 56 to nothing it's hard to find a lot to to stress about for Ohio State they they corrected a lot of the things that we talked about they could from week one to week two wasn't a guarantee that they would do that but they did now they have an off week to get a little bit healthier Donovan Jackson is expected to play when they get back to Marshall Cody Simon already did Denzel Burke will be back out there because that was a first half ejection so really uh as far as we know knock on the notebook Buckeyes are going to be healthy they've built the momentum that they were looking to uh from these first couple games and the way they've broken up the preseason schedule now they can take a deep breath and they can continue to add on because the things that they did on offense were different from week one to week two you're adding to the Arsenal the way that they played on defense was lights out you cannot ask for more than a shut out in 100 yards given up to a Mac opponent that again worth a reminder Western Michigan pushed Wisconsin at Camp Randle to the brink that that didn't even come close to happening on Saturday night in the Horseshoe this game was over in a hurry and that uh checks a lot of boxes for the Buckeyes who are now two and0 so that's uh that's going to wrap that up for the notebook week two we're going to start adding a few other things uh to different parts of the Horseshoe if this feels like you've seen an episode like this before we understand I'm going to try and do some stuff up in the Press Box as we go along maybe we'll incorporate some The Notebook goes to pregame things like skull session that will Howard mentioned or other things like just burm and I do some pregame stuff uh walking around the stadium maybe we'll incorporate that in here as the season goes along I don't want you you to get bored by what we're doing on the notebook because I really enjoy it and I've heard from a fair amount of you that enjoy it too so we're going to keep doing that and keep trying to find new ways to present this coverage uh and I don't know that's all about about all I have to say from aame that's 56 to nothing Ohio State's going to go into that off week we're going to still have full coverage on the podcast podcast daily every day roosters will be on Tuesday this week uh Kings of Columbus Kings of the north Buck IQ borne Blitz that's all coming uh we're going to get through these next couple weeks uh and talk about what we saw in the first two games for Ohio State as much as we possibly can thanks for joining us on a a night game night Banger as Ohio State moved to 2 and0 with a 56 to nothing win over Western Michigan this has been the notebook on Austin Ward we'll talk to you later