Ohio State absolutely clobbered their first opponent of the season, Bowling Green, surpassing even the most optimistic expectations. Sure, Ezekiel Elliott is gone and he was one of the best backs in Ohio State history, but Samuel seems as if he’ll be just fine in that role.
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This is the story of the 2016-17 Buckeyes who return only six starters total, but the real question is what players will break through and transform, where they can actually contribute in games, which eventually should make the team better and allow each unit to develop chemistry.
When Ohio State announced its seven captains, the names were familiar and fairly predictable. When fans craned their neck to look at the scoreboard on the way out of the Horseshoe, it read 77-10.
On the defense, Ohio State football yielded 15.1 points and 311.3 yards, 184.5 in passing and 126.8 in rushing a year ago.
Coming into the 2016 college football season, there are some people that see junior J.T. Barrett as one of the front runners for the Heisman.
Mike Jinks was within an hour of making his debut as a head coach for Bowling Green when two brush fires spontaneously ignited around him.
That’s a pretty accurate summation. Then we won that first game against Missouri, his first game as a head coach, and that was a lot of fun. Conversely, Ohio State will be lining up several new starters at wide receiver, tight end, and running back, so the Bowling Green defensive coaching staff will need to be prepared in a comparable manner. The Westerville North grad was Urban Meyer’s first quarterback, in 2000 as Meyer took the reins at Bowling Green.
Let’s move on to Bowling Green, shall we? We have very good personnel. The family of receiver Austin Mack, a freshman from IN, staked out a spot near Ohio Stadium before the game so they could have a good view of his first entrance to Ohio Stadium for a real game as the players finished their walk from the Skull Session. Other than that, we’ll watch film. “That’s why we have to get better every week and play our best ball at the end of the season”.
No doubt, Meyer’s fifth Ohio State is off to a good start. And, this could be a special squad.
In other Big Ten Conference games, Wilton Speight threw three touchdown passes in the first half and No. 7 MI beat visiting Hawaii 63-3 in its most lopsided victory since 1975. Thirty Ohio State players played in their first college game.
– The stands were mostly empty, but the soggy show went on. Their 776 yards of total offense broke an 86-year old school record. He also ran for 30 yards.
Barrett tied his own school record, which he shares with former Buckeye Kenny Guiton, with six touchdown passes.
“I’ve done this long enough”, Meyer said. “We have a lot of depth on the offensive skill”. Ohio State’s secondary was hard hit by early National Football League departures, with only redshirt junior cornerback Gareon Conley returning as a starter.
Six carries for 30 yards was ideal. Curtis Samuel is the one person that coach Meyer is going to use as his replacement.
Joe Burrow’s 36-yard touchdown pass to freshman running back Demario McCall on the first play of the fourth quarter made it 63-10.
After the 77-10 romp, Meyer made it clear that he wants to see what his team can do when the competition gets more hard, especially in two weeks when the No. 6 Buckeyes have to travel to Oklahoma. Also, they will test the two new safeties, Malik Hooker and Damon Webb. They’re going to come here ready to play, and we know that. “We’ve got a deep group. He’s still young. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and continue to improve”. James Knape will be the starting quarterback for the upcoming season.
“He’s a cagey veteran”, Urban Meyer said after the game when asked about Barrett.
They weren’t alone. Ohio State saw the same thing. He had two interceptions, just like the spring game this past April.
“I’m definitely excited for my sophomore year to finally get back out there on the field after the injury I had”, Brown said Tuesday night in a telephone interview.
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No, he played great.
