Halftime Analysis: Buckeyes Can't Get Out Of Their Own Way

Ohio State had a bunch of success in the first half, but far too many self-inflicted wounds have kept Arkansas State in the game.

Halftime Score: Ohio State 24, Arkansas State 9

The beginning of the first quarter featured largely what I expected - an offensive drive that ended in an Ohio State touchdown and a pair of 3-and-out's defensively.

What I didn't anticipate was how sloppy and undisciplined the Buckeyes would look when they had chances to get off the field on their second drive.

Denzel Burke got hit with a pair of defensive pass interference calls after Teradja Mitchell earned a personal foul call by hurdling the punt shield that gave Arkansas State and automatic first down. Burke also got burned on a deep ball early in the second quarter.

In all, Ohio State finished the first half with five penalties for 55 yards.

By the early second quarter, Burke wasn't on the field. JK Johnson had taken his place.

It's fairly obvious that the Red Wolves can't move the ball between the tackles against the Silver Bullets, but the penalties have to stop. ASU had much more success in the second quarter when they started to get the ball out on the perimeter more quickly.

The Buckeyes out-gained ASU 224 total yards of offense to 40 in the first quarter, and 22 of those yards came after the penalties. ASU had 1 rushing yard in the first quarter.

Offensively, C.J. Stroud's early touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. was a thing of beauty. He threaded a perfect ball through three defenders over the middle and Harrison did the rest himself. But I was particularly impressed by Stroud's recognition pre-snap that the middle of the field was going to be wide open and that a well-executed ball would likely result in a big gain. That was a great throw.

I also love how Ryan Day's offense came out with two tight ends deep in their own territory on the first drive and basically said, "we're gonna run the ball, try and stop us." TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams both had good tough runs. Henderson broke one off for 40 yards up the left side.

Stroud also lobbed a gorgeous deep ball up the right side to Harrison for a 45-yard completion and another really perfect 35 yard pass to Cade Stover.

I also thought the officials mis-called the final play of the first quarter. It sure looked to me like Harrison caught the ball at the 1, leaned toward the goal line and broke the plane before the ball came out. I believe that should have been a touchdown instead of an incomplete pass. OSU settled for a field goal instead.

Ohio State had more than 300 yards of offense in the first half, but they let an opportunity slip by in the final minute before halftime when they really had a chance to step on ASU's throat.

One other smaller surprise: Josh Proctor started the game at safety today instead of Lathan Ransom. While Ryan Day didn't give a definitive answer on which guys would start, he seemed to indicate that Ransom would be out there first.

We'll have a bunch of coverage for you during and after the game this afternoon. Make sure you SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel and hit the notification bell so you can join us for Ryan Day's postgame press conference and our live Instant Analysis reaction to today's game.

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