Game Observations: Ohio State Offense vs. Minnesota

Here is my immediate reaction to how the Ohio State offense fared against the Golden Gophers.

Author:
Brendan Gulick
Sep 2, 2021 11:45 PM EDT

Here is my immediate reaction to how the Ohio State offense fared against the Golden Gophers.

First and foremost, this offense still has big play capability. They scored offensive touchdowns from 71, 70, 61, 56 and 38 yards. At any point, they can totally crush the hopes of their opponent. There's an element of trying to impose your will at the line of scrimmage, but the Buckeyes can still swing for the fences nicely.

Let's start with Miyan Williams, who earned the start tonight and looked absolutely fantastic ... but he wasn't on the field enough in the first half. I understand rotating and playing depth as you try to figure out exactly what you have early in the season. But after scoring a 71-yard touchdown on their first offensive series, the Buckeyes took Williams off the field for the next several series.

TreVeyon Henderson didn't get on the field until the fourth series, after Williams, Master Teague and Marcus Crowley all got chances to play. Henderson played fine in the first half, but his major highlight moment came in the fourth quarter. Henderson caught a screen pass and bolted 70 yards, untouched to the end zone.

Game Observations: Ohio State Defense vs. Minnesota

As far as C.J. Stroud is concerned, it's easy to get caught in the emotional roller coaster of a game. His second quarter was poor, for sure. But Stroud was dynamite in the second half. His mistakes are a bit more glaring because you can't turn the ball over and he missed a couple of open receivers. But I absolutely loved the play-calling on the opening drive of the second half to settle him down. He made three absolutely perfect throws to Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson for long touchdowns.

Let's give some love and attention to Jeremy Ruckert. I don't think he gets nearly the focus that he deserves publicly. This guy is very arguably the best tight end in the country and should be considered for the Mackey Award. He runs good routes, he is a fabulous blocker and I thought he played a terrific game tonight.

I'm fairly certain that Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba played every single play at wide receiver. I don't recall seeing Julian Fleming, Emeka Egbuka or Marvin Harrison Jr. at all until the last series of the game when the Buckeyes were running out the clock. Stroud and Wilson had a hard time connecting in particular. Wilson was targeted 11 times but only made five catches, but most of those incompletions were in the first half.

The offensive line - sans Harry Miller - did a solid job. Ohio State was far more effective on the ground on Thursday evening, averaging 7.7 yards per carry. I also thought they gave Stroud sufficient time to throw, but the Buckeyes didn't move the ball through the air all that effectively.

Plenty more to come on BuckeyesNow after tonight's big win!

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