First was Cardale Jones, the Buckeyes starting quarterback for most of the 2015 season and the player who led the team to a Big Ten Championship, Sugar Bowl Championship and National Championship in the postseason previous year.
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I make no apology for loving college football, a passion that began as a University of Texas fan in my native Texas as a boy, continued with three seasons as the Philadelphia Inquirer’s beat man on Penn State both before and after my years on the 76ers’ beat, and has included columns on the Buckeyes since I came to The Plain Dealer in 1984. “From the very beginning, we were going to give the ball to the running backs and let the offensive line dominate”. Alabama came within the wonderful “Kick-6” of Auburn in 2013 of playing for a third straight national title, an unprecedented feat in the modern (Post-World War II) era.
Alabama’s Derrick Henry played well in limited action (nine carries, 68 yards and two touchdowns) in the Crimson Tide’s 56-6 win over Charleston Southern.
“The one thing that made a difference … this game we got to be the chaser”, Spartans coach Mike Dantonio said. Ohio State managed only 75 yards, and when the rain and wind picked up in the second half, the game became even more of a grind. Eight came in one drive.
Conversely, all game, the Buckeyes struggled to move the ball despite having a full arsenal of players: J.T. Barrett, Ezekiel Elliott, Jalin Marshall, Michael Thomas and a roster full of stud, blue-chip talent to go along with a veteran line. “We were gashing them”, he said, “and then we didn’t see those plays called the rest of the game”.
UCF is bad. It is dead last in FBS in rushing yards, yards per play, and total offense, and the beer’s still flowing freely at the bar that promised it gratis to patrons during Knights games. Those plays weren’t called anymore. I asked for those plays to be called and they weren’t and … it hurts. You guys saw that on that drive, and we had a lot of momentum.
Elliott was rankled in the postgame aftermath, saying “we weren’t put in position to win this game”. And Elliott said it all could have been easily prevented. “No, I was not content”, Meyer said. “For a while I didn’t think I was going to play”.
He wasn’t coming back anyway but what he said was for good reason.
SALT LAKE CITY – Quarterback Josh Rosen threw for 220 yards and a touchdown, and running back Paul Perkins added 96 yards and a touchdown to lift UCLA.
That was the furthest thing from Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s mind.
Baseball legend Ken Griffey Jr. celebrated his 46th birthday Saturday, and his son, Trey, gave him a birthday present to remember with this scintillating 95-yard catch-and-run touchdown for Arizona.
“I don’t think we really cared who we played”, defensive back Cyrus Jones told Rankin.
In pre-game warm-ups, it was noticeable that Elliott was wearing a wrap on his leg. Afterward, he revealed that he had a scratch on his leg which turned into a skin infection that put him in the hospital last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Elliott said he spiked a 103-degree fever and “was crying like a baby”, because he didn’t think he would be able to play against the Spartans.
He just didn’t get it.
The arrogance, or perhaps ignorance, of the Meyer-lead staff to not adjust their game plan proved to be fatal. “That hurts so bad“.
“Honestly, I can’t speak for the play calling”. But he didn’t show any ill effects and said he felt perfectly fine at game time. MI State has been injury-plagued all season.
It’s a valid question for Ohio State in the wake of its 17-14 loss to MI State, a defeat that takes control of the Big Ten title race out of the Buckeyes’ hands and snaps a 23-game winning streak and a run of 30 consecutive regular season Big Ten triumphs since coach Urban Meyer arrived in Columbus.
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The Buckeyes also lost a few locker room harmony. Anybody who has watched the Buckeyes knows his frustration didn’t boil over because of one game.
