TreVeyon Henderson scores a touchdown as Ohio State beats Youngstown State
Game 2 View from the Couch Ohio State vs. Youngstown State (9/9/23)
Ohio State still had some bumps in the road but did what was most important against Youngstown State and that is win and improve.
Favorite Stat of the Game: 12 catches for 254 yards and three touchdowns. That’s the combined stats of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka. Any offense in football needs to go through its best players and that’s Harrison and Egbuka for the Ohio State Buckeyes. They didn’t go through them last week against Indiana and did this week and it showed in both games.
The Brooklyn Dagger Award: Marvin Harrison Jr.’s 39-yard touchdown catch. When Harrison caught his second touchdown, that proved the difference in the game because it proved that the Buckeye attack was going to get back to being a high-powered offense. They need games this the rest of the season from Harrison if they want to win and compete for championships.
Dwayne Haskins Player of the Game: Marvin Harrison Jr. The Buckeyes’ best player had seven catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns. The Buckeyes are going to need games like this from him like this one for the rest of the season if they want to compete for the conference title and another playoff spot. It can’t be said enough that the offense is going to need to go through him.
Chase Young Defensive Player of the Game: Tommy Eichenberg. The team captain had a solid game and led the way for Jim Knowles’ defense. He had six tackles, a tackle for a loss, and a sack. Eichenberg led the way in improving the defense last season and is picking up where he left off. They will have their work cut out for them because a pass-heavy offense is visiting next week in Western Kentucky. Which will be their last test before going to Notre Dame.
Ryan Shazier–Devin Smith Award: Davison Igbinosun. Igbinosun had five tackles and a pass defended as the secondary looked a lot better and improved from 2022. The Ole Miss transfer played well today and will get an even bigger test against pass-happy Western Kentucky next week.
Dane Sanzenbacher–K.J. Hill Award: Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton. While the Buckeyes edge rushers struggled to have the impact they expect of themselves Hamilton and Williams in the interior stepped up and quietly did their jobs. Together they had nine tackles including one for a loss. Most importantly they clogged up the middle, disrupting YSU’s offensive line. Allowing guys like Eichenberg, Igbinosun, and Burke to make plays at the next level.
Taylor Decker Award: Kyle McCord looked a lot better bouncing back this week than last. While still having some rough edges they are trending in the right direction. McCord was 14 of 20 for 258 yards and three touchdowns. He’s the starter (with the right attitude about the quarterback situation) and the Buckeyes need a full start from him. Next week going against a better-than-average Western Kentucky. Give him a full game, with getting the ball to the playmakers and he would be as ready as possible for Notre Dame.
Fedora Award: Sonny Styles. Styles is filling the shoes of Ronnie Hickman and doing it well early in this season. He has freakish speed in getting to the ball and the play and had another four tackles today. The safeties play such an important role in this defense it’s great that a star pickup is where one left off.
Sweater Vest Award: The kicking game. The special teams were solid again and did what was expected. Jesse Mirco averaged over 45 yards per punt and Jayden Fielding was perfect on kicks (all extra points). The kick coverage unit allowed only 32 yards on five kick and punt returns for a solid game.
Archie Award: Jim Tressel’s sweater vest for the Tressel Bowl. Jim Tressel has always been a man of character, class, and professionalism as a coach at Youngstown State, then at Ohio State, and as the school president of Youngstown State. Today he wore his usual, trademark red sweater vest. With a Youngstown State Y on one side of the front and an Ohio State block O on the other, representing his love for both teams. Tressel is beloved across Ohio and Buckeye fans would love for him to fill Gene Smith’s shoes as athletic director. Whether that happens or not, I’m thankful for Coach Tressel’s ten seasons at Ohio State (especially his 9-1 record. IYKYK)!
Horned Rimmed Glasses Award: Four Script Ohios. There is something special about Alumni Band Day at Ohio Stadium. Band members from across the ages come back and help TBDBITL do script Ohio four times on the football field. Script Ohio is one of the best traditions in college football and 105,000 Buckeyes go crazy when the “i” is dotted, like when Woody did it back in the 80’s. The love for Ohio State reminds Buckeyes everywhere that Ohio is home.
Coaching Moments of the Game: Getting your playmakers going. I liked McCord going deep and hitting Harrison for a 71-yard touchdown pass. Not only are you putting their defense on their heels but you’re getting your best player going early. You’re also giving McCord a massive confidence boost in knowing he can make huge plays. On the flip side, it felt like they didn’t let Brown do that and should have if they wanted him to have a chance to seriously contend for the starting quarterback job. It’s a struggle calling the offense to two different guys with two different skill sets because the other ten players have to adapt to that difference as well. It was good for McCord, to spread the ball to Harrison, Henderson, Egbuka, and others to get settled. To get those stars going, a defense has to defend everything.
Glass Half Empty: After a good start the Ohio State offense let their foot off the gas a little. 28-7 at halftime but only scoring once and only having three series in the second half isn’t very good. There are other factors in that, one being the switching of the quarterbacks. Whatever their reasons, there have been times in both games that the Bucks have looked sluggish and sloppy and that needs to change.
Glass Half Full: The good news is they’ve improved from their first game. They should improve next week after having got another win. Improvement was good to see and I think Kyle McCord is the starter going forward. If they settle on that and run their team accordingly you’ll see more of what was clicking in the first half of this win. And there’s a saying that the best thing about being 2-0 is a chance to go 3-0.
2014 Moment: Marvin Harrison Jr.’s 71-yard touchdown. That touchdown was like when J.T. Barrett or Cardale Jones would hit Devin Smith deep en route to the 2014 title. It’s a haymaker punch that takes the top off of a defense and puts them on their heels for the rest of the game which helps open up the run and other passes, particularly short passes. It had the desired effect today too, opening up touchdowns on the ground for Henderson and the short pass that Egbuka caught and took to the house.
2002 Moment: Denzel Burke’s defense. Burke made two huge plays in the third quarter that were all-American plays. His hit at the line of scrimmage where he lost his helmet was one you love to see a perimeter player make and then his interception in the endzone was textbook. He looked for and made a play on the ball and took it away from the receiver like Chris Gamble did in 2002.
1968 Moment: It was called back on hold (that wasn’t a hold in my view) but when the Buckeyes lined up in the I-formation in the RedZone with Chip Trayanum at fullback and Miyan Williams at tailback. Williams ran for a touchdown that was called back but there was still a lot of old-school good to be taken away from that play. First is the Buckeyes who have been a pass-first, shotgun formation team the last few years not being afraid to go to a power formation when they needed to.
That’s some aggression and trust from Day and Hartline that this team needs more of. The second is getting two great tailbacks in the game at once. Henderson, Trayanum, and Williams are all three playing at a great level and they need to find ways to get them into the game often enough for all to make a difference and for them all to get traction of repeated plays on the field and off the sideline.
