For two and a half quarters on Saturday night in Lincoln, Ohio State appeared headed to a blowout win vs #14 Nebraska, as they had finally found an offensive identity behind the dazzling dual threat skills of Freshman Quarterback Braxton Miller and the downhill pounding of 240-pound Running Back Carlos Hyde. The offense was further buoyed by the return from suspension of future first rounder, Left Tackle Mike Adams.
Then, Miller fumbled picking up a first down on the Ohio State 23 yard line with 7:54 to go in the 3rd quarter and the Buckeyes leading 27-6. Nebraska quickly scored in two plays to draw within two scores at 27-13. Miller injured his ankle in the ensuing drive and was replaced by Senior Joe Bauserman, and the collapse was on, as Nebraska ended up scoring 28 unanswered points in a stunning 34-27 comeback victory that featured several questionable moves by the Ohio State coaching staff, including:
* The offensive coaches seemed to panic without Miller at quarterback, over relying on the passing skills of Bauserman and going away from Hyde, who was not consistently stopped all night - 13 carries for 104 yards and two scores. The offense needed a steady dose of Hyde behind the left side of TE Reid Fragel, LT Mike Adams and LG Andrew Norwell.
Instead, undersized RB Jordan Hall continued to run the ball without success between the tackles, and Bauserman went 1-10 for 13 yards and an interception.
* Senior RT J.B. Shugarts has been consistently beaten for three years by the inside move and by quick pass rushers off the edge -- evidenced by Arkansas in the 2011 Sugar Bowl and MSU last week, to name just two opponents -- and the Ohio State coaches still have not figured out that he doesn't have the feet to play tackle and is better suited at RG. Throw in a one-per-game false start, and it should have been more than obvious to move Shugarts to RG and the aforementioned Norwell back to his natural RT position after this week's return of LT Mike Adams.
* The Ohio State defensive backs continue to get caught peeking into the backfield, with Travis Howard the victim several times last week as well as last night when he and Christian Bryant were beat for a long 3rd quarter touchdown. Unfortunately, no improvement in technique has been shown so far this season.
* Ohio State is the only team in CFB or the NFL that plays a 340-pound run stuffing future NFL 4-3 defensive tackle at defensive end, in Jonathan Hankins. This same staff struggled for four seasons to realize that Cameron Heyward was a future NFL 3 or 5-technique and played him on the edge in the 4-3 in over 70% of his snaps at OSU.
With Nebraska essentially manufacturing their second half comeback through the two-man game of QB Taylor Martinez and overachieving RB Rex Burkhead, the Buckeyes made very few defensive adjustments. One would have thought a natural move would have been to move the powerful Hankins inside for the remainder of the contest and shift talented Junior John Simon outside to Hankins LDE spot, or even add size by putting Hankins inside and replacing him with 290-pound Adam Bellamy or Freshman Michael Bennett. While Hankins did finally rotate inside in the 2nd half, he still split snaps at DE, especially in the 3rd quarter.
However, much like last year's Wisconsin game, the defensive staff failed to adjust to the running attack of Nebraska.
* It was also curious why the Ohio State defense stayed in their standard 4-2-5 star package instead of adding size with an extra LB -- Ryan Shazier -- in their 4-3. Martinez is a QB in name only, as he possesses pedestrian passing skills and is essentially an extra tailback for the Huskers. Ohio State should have put eight or nine in the box in the second half against Martinez and forced him to beat them through the air. Many of Nebraska's big 2nd half running plays came with only 7 Buckeyes in the box.
* Ohio State is the only team in CFB or the NFL that plays a 340-pound run stuffing future NFL 4-3 defensive tackle at defensive end, in Jonathan Hankins. This same staff struggled for four seasons to realize that Cameron Heyward was a future NFL 3 or 5-technique and played him on the edge in the 4-3 in over 70% of his snaps at OSU.
With Nebraska essentially manufacturing their second half comeback through the two-man game of QB Taylor Martinez and overachieving RB Rex Burkhead, the Buckeyes made very few defensive adjustments. One would have thought a natural move would have been to move the powerful Hankins inside for the remainder of the contest and shift talented Junior John Simon outside to Hankins LDE spot, or even add size by putting Hankins inside and replacing him with 290-pound Adam Bellamy or Freshman Michael Bennett. While Hankins did finally rotate inside in the 2nd half, he still split snaps at DE, especially in the 3rd quarter.
However, much like last year's Wisconsin game, the defensive staff failed to adjust to the running attack of Nebraska.
* It was also curious why the Ohio State defense stayed in their standard 4-2-5 star package instead of adding size with an extra LB -- Ryan Shazier -- in their 4-3. Martinez is a QB in name only, as he possesses pedestrian passing skills and is essentially an extra tailback for the Huskers. Ohio State should have put eight or nine in the box in the second half against Martinez and forced him to beat them through the air. Many of Nebraska's big 2nd half running plays came with only 7 Buckeyes in the box.
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