To the disappointment of many, the team started out uncharacteristically slow. The men of scarlet and gray struggled to muster up only a few first downs in the first quarter of play, while Miami moved the ball with little trouble, primarily through the air. They drove down the field and created 2 first and goal opportunities, but were only able to come up with 3 points (2 field goal attempts, 1 missed). Surely a 14-0 deficit would have put the crowd in shock.
As the final score indicates, the game was all OSU after the 1st quarter. Touchdown after touchdown, primarily through effective passing. Ohio State's Devin Smith made potentially the catch of the year with an incredibly athletic one handed grab in the endzone for OSU's first score. When all was said and done, and after a controversial score with 44 seconds left in the game, OSU rolled. 56-10 was the final with running up the score. Urban made his statement, that this is our conference and we will play hard football from start to finish, and made it well.
In terms of player performance, Braxton was so so. Many of his throws were flat and did not have good rotation. In blunt terms, it looked like a freak athlete with a middle school arm was on the field at many points in the game. Granted, with the athleticism of this OSU team, all most of our receivers need is a lobbed pass for them to have a good chance at making a catch. He ended up completing about 50% of his passes, but was more than efficient on the ground with 161 yards rushing.
The defense as a whole was solid. CB Christian Bryant was burned a few times early in the game, but played shut down D for 3 quarters. John Simon and the burly D line allowed for -1 rushing yards the entire game- Wow! Schaizer and Roby have great speed, this should be a fun team to watch.
The Buckeyes will take the field next 9/8 against UCF, many expect to see another blow out. Let's just hope the Bucks show up for a full 4 quarters in this one.
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