Back in The Hunt Again: Ohio State Game Review
Yeah, I'm thinking that we're back.
The Oregon Ducks lined up on Saturday to get themselves a victory, but they left Columbus with a lot more than that.
Win the turnover battle. Don’t let their offense beat you deep. And run the ball like it’s going out of style.
That was the plan.
And that plan was executed to perfection by the Oregon Ducks, who gave Ohio State the business in their own house, and then walked out of Columbus with a 35-28 victory.
In my Ohio State game preview, I gave you that three-point-plan for beating the Bucks, so it’s only fitting that I use that as my outline for recapping the biggest non-conference regular season win in program history.
The turnover battle was won on both sides of the ball.
AB was a leader, a hero, and the calmest person in a room of 100,000+.
He protected the ball, spread it around to eleven different receivers, and he did his best Masoli impression when he barreled over an Ohio State defensive back on his way to a clutch first down run that set the tone early.
Consider that truck stick—and this victory—as Anthony Brown’s official Message to the Haters.
And on the defensive side of the ball, the Ducks were missing both Kayvon Thibodeaux and Justin Flowe*—the two highest-rated recruits Oregon has ever signed—and they still played out of their minds.
*AS FIRST REPORTED/SPECULATED BY DITCH RICH.**
**Also, the 247 guys mentioned on their podcast that: “outlets [they] had never even heard of,” were following those injury rumors. So it’s official folks, I’m a whole damn outlet.
Brandon Dorlus, Popo Aumavae, Noah Sewell, and so many others were able to sell out to stop Ohio State’s run. The soft zone coverage by the secondary challenged young CJ Stroud to beat Oregon through the air, and that stategy paid off, too.
To Stroud’s credit, he completed 35 of 54 passes for 484 and three touchdowns. But as the game went on, the redshirt freshman had to press while playing from behind, and he inevitably did what Tim DeRuyter expected him to do:
He tossed one into the eager hands of Verone McKinley.
The Ducks defense did manage to force three HUGE turnovers-on-downs throughout the game, but it was that one interception—with 2:50 left in the game—that ultimately put the Ducks in position to close out the win.
I already touched on this a bit, but the second key to the game was to limit the Buckeyes in the deep passing game.
Ohio State had three receivers with over 100 yards each, and Stroud missed a couple of long throws that probably could have shifted the story of this game, but the Ducks (and anybody) were more than willing to trade yards for points.
Two weeks into the season, and it looks like Oregon is back to the bend-but-don’t-break philosophy of defense—which usually works when you can tackle as well as they did in the open field—and I, for one, welcome the gameplan back with open arms.
Without KT, Oregon’s pass rush wasn’t really a factor until the last defensive two drives, but I don’t think that’s too worrisome.
Ohio State has the best and biggest offensive line on the whole schedule, and the Ducks still ended up getting the best of them in the end. DJ Johnson even stepped into the shorthanded d-line to get the game-sealing sack—which came just about five real-world minutes after he caught the game-winning first down as a tight end in his patented DJ Play, which is back by the way.
When it comes to, “Running the Damn Ball,” and the offensive performance in general, it would be hard not to begin with the brilliance of Joe Moorhead.
My Playbook Usage Metric is pleased to report that the DJ Play and its cousins each have about a dozen permutations within JoMo’s RPO dreamland—and Coach found a rhythm that Ohio State had less than zero answers for.
In my review of the Fresno State game, I thought that we had seen about 66% of everything Joe Moorhead really had in his playbook, and that we probably saw all of those plays be executed to around 66% efficiency against the Bulldogs.
But in Ohio Stadium? I think JoMo showed us at least 80% of his cards. And even better, AB and that offensive line made sure we ran things at a clip that felt just about 90% efficient.
The PUM is all eye test, and intentionally unscientific, but the best things always are. Why should analytics be reserved for the math nerds? I do my own math.
But speaking of that offensive line.
Ryan Walk, Alex Forsyth, Dawson Jaramillo, George Moore, Steven Jones, and Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu were the six strongest guys in the field on Saturday, and it wasn’t even close.
Last week, I called the big boys out for their pass protection and I talked about living up to Mario Cristobal’s brand of physicality. But I have a feeling that they really were just chilling out against Fresno State because they seem to have turned things up to eleven and a half with ease.
They pushed tOSU’s d-line around in the run game, allowing the New York-bound CJ Verdell to run for 8.1 yards per carry and three total scores. Verdell’s 77-yard track meet helped him prove once again that he knows how to run the length of the field on your ass, just as much as he can gash you at the goal line.
Oregon was guard-pulling like madmen, and the line protected AB all day long. They proved that a top Pac-12 team could not only hang with a Blue Blood, but that they could be downright dominant.
This win is a lot.
It took a lot. It means a lot. And it feels like a lot.
To step into the Horseshoe and win took guts. And leadership. And a coaching job unlike any other.
To win in such a decisive fashion means that Mario Cristobal’s insane recruiting, insistance on physicality, and his certain kind of swagger is how Oregon will transcend into the next tier of the sport.
And to do it all while the college football world watched on make it feel like the Ducks just signed on to a whole new set of expectations.
The Division? Duh.
The Conference? That’s the minimum.
The College Football Playoff—and the whole damn universe while we’re at it? Why the hell not?
Welcome back to The Hunt, Oregon, it’s been too long.
Go Ducks.