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| #34 Carlos Hyde had a career game vs. NEB (140 rushing yards, 4 TD's) |
It's a beautiful thing to see something start to come together. Just six games into the Urban Era, the Buckeyes still a work-in-progress, cruised past the Nebraska Cornhuskers 63-38, on Homecoming in front of the largest crowd ever at Ohio Stadium. After the 1st quarter in which saw the offense manage just 17 yards and zero first downs, Braxton Miller & Co. got things going in a big way, scoring 63 points on the night. On the night, the Buckeyes racked up close to 500 yards of offense (498) and scored on a pick-six and punt return, things you were use to seeing during Urban Meyer's stint down in Florida. The newest AP poll came out yesterday, and with a number of upsets over the week, the Buckeyes find themselves in the Top 10 sitting in the 8th spot. At the mid-way point of the season, the Buckeyes have accounted for the same amount of victories (6) as they had all of last season. Halfway to the ultimate goal in this bowl-ban season, a perfect 12-0 record. Keep it going Buckeyes, #Juice!
Offense:
63 points! And that's after having absolutely no offense in the opening quarter of the game. Once Braxton Miller broke off a 72-yard dash in the 2nd quarter, it seemed like the Buckeyes offense was unstoppable the rest of the evening. Scoring touchdowns on six of seven possessions at one point in the game, the Urban Era is leaving something behind, that the last administration related on consistently, FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS! The 63 points is the most the Buckeyes have put up in a Big Ten game since 1983, when they put up 69 vs. Minnesota. Braxton Miller again had another stellar performance as he seems to be getting more comfortable with Urban's offensive attack. He broke his single-game rushing record with 186 yards with one score, and accounted for another 127 yards via the air with one touchdown. The biggest differences in this game that hadn't been the case so far this season is he received plenty of help in racking up the points on the scoreboard, most notability from starting RB Carlos Hyde. Hyde was a man amount boys Saturday night, accounting for a career-high in rushing yards (140) and touchdowns (4). Miller also worked in a couple passes to the TE's and Philly Brown returned a punt in the 3rd quarter, that put the game out of reach at that point. Jake Stoneburner (I got a really funny joke for this guy), who was suppose to be a key contributor in this offense has been almost non-existent in the 1st two Big Ten Conference games. At this point, it looks like the Buckeyes are going to be a ground and pound attack, and just daring opponents to stop 'em running the ball. Till then, look for the Buckeyes to keep piling up the yards via the running game. 63 points! Wow, that was a lot of fun to watch.
Defense:
I guess, when you score 63 points in a game, you don't have to worry about how many points you give up, oh...sorry Baylor Bears. It was nice seeing the defense contribute in the scoring with Bradley Roby's pick-six, accounting for the only scoring in the 1st quarter for the Buckeyes. The unit accounted for 4 turnovers, picking off three passes from Nebraska's QB Taylor Martinez's and for the most part pressuring the QB all night. The night was highlighted by the offense, but the defense did enough on the night, especially with a number of guys getting banged up in this game on this side of the ball. They still gave up a number of big plays in the passing game and allowed Nebraska RB Rex Burkhead to run a couple long ones. It's not the thing you want to do as a defensive unit giving up close to 40 points, but when you have the offense like these guys have, forcing turnovers and making a stop here and there is good enough at this point. However, this defense still stink at tackling and wrapping up runner's. Like the offense, this unit is a work in progress and lets hope the 2nd half of the season, they start to resemble the silver bullets of years ago, they are starting to look like that, but still at times look a lot like last years squad.
Next Week:
The Buckeyes (6-0) travel to Bloomington, IN to face the Indiana Hoosiers (2-3) under the lights for the second game in a row on Saturday night (8:00, BTN). The Hoosiers this past weekend, lost to Michigan State, 31 to 27, dropping their 10th straight Big Ten Conference game.
