Kneejerk: Week 8, Minnesota *UPDATED*
Took me a while with this, but better late than never, right? I was pleasantly surprised with what transpired on the field this week. I had hoped the Buckeyes would bounce back against Minnesota, but I wasn’t expecting the “offensive explosion” that we got. The team and staff have been talking about this offense breaking out for a month now, and it finally seems to have click as Ohio State rolled the Golden Gophers 38-7.
IN A NUTSHELL (late additions denoted with *)
- I welcomed the return of play action. It was wrong to move to a shotgun only offense and TP looked great taking the snap under center.
- TP looked very comfortable today. Was very decisive, made great decisions, and stepped into his throws. Well done!
- Although it’s not good that Mike Adams is injured, the Oline was much improved this week. It’s hard to ask you QB to make plays when the defense is in the backfield right away. Not the case today, thankfully.
- Even though our top 2 backs are ailing, Jordan Hall and Jermil Martin filled in admirably! So exciting to see both of them get their 1st Buckeye TDs today. Expect to see more next week!
- DeVier Posey is going to be craaaaazzzzzy good for this team before he moves on to the NFL. He’s well on his way! But for now, I’d love to see him pull in a few more passes after he’s hit. Should have had at least 1, possibly 2, more TD grabs today.
- The first quarter was incredibly boring and seemed to last forever. Second quarter wasn’t much better.
- LOL @ the Minny RB trying to get in Doug Worthington’s face. Seriously, dude? You don’t want none of that!
- Gopher WR Eric Decker getting injured was huge for us. I saw it the second it happened. He pulled up almost immediately after the ball was snapped. He was really their only weapon coming into this game.
- Once the defense started attacking, they looked really great. Was frustrating at times to see them give up all those passing yards early on.
- Ok, I’m no defensive coordinator, but I watched enough Minny games to know that when #5 MarQueis Gray comes into the game, 9 times out of 10, he’s going to be running. Why did it take our defense so long to catch on?
- Remember the Minny safety that was talking trash about TP last year? Probably not, but it doesn’t matter because he’s no longer with the team. Couldn’t cut it academically.
- Speaking of last year’s game. This was the game TP put his shoulder down and trucked a Minny LB. I noticed he was taking on contact by lowering his shoulder often today. Is there just something about Minnesota? In any case, I want to continue to see Terrelle be physical.
- Teams still haven’t figured out that it takes a little more effort to bring down TP. You’ve really got to wrap him up, and that’s if you can get close enough to him after he stiff-arms you…
- I’m so glad that New Mexico State is the opponent next week. It’s effectively a bye-week that gives some of our players another week to get healthy. We’ll need them for the November stretch of PSU/Iowa/Michigan.
- How clutch does Kurt Coleman continue to be for this team? MVP…
- I am more and more impressed with Nathan Williams with each passing week. Beast!
- Was it just me or were the refs terrible? All I could do was SMH.
- It was great for the backups to get some game reps, Joe Bauserman included. The 2nd team defense may have been unable to preserve the shut-out, but we’re going to need them next year, so those reps are invaluable.
- I was really, really, really worried that if the team didn’t get off to a fast start (which they didn’t) that the boo birds would come out. Glad the fans kept themselves in check on that.
- Wait…I don’t recall any false start penalties against us today. Huge!
- Loved the music piped into the stadium in the second half. Great stuff!
- I decided to bring my poncho today. Good thinking FTW!
- I used my iPhone to try and find free wireless in the stadium — so I could live tweet — but I wasn’t in range for any of them. Looks like the signal situation will continue to prevent me from any and all live updates from the ‘Shoe. This wasn’t a problem when I sat on the East side of the stadium last year…
- *Forgot to mention Pettrey. It was kind of funny the first couple of games, but it’s not anymore. We’re probably going to be in some games, down the stretch, where a field goal could mean the difference between a W or an L. We need someone who, when they kick short field goals, is automatic. We have 2 other kickers. There needs to be a competition or another “kick scrimmage” this week because Pettrey missing short FGs is absolutely unacceptable.
I’m going to bed one extremely happy and encouraged Buckeye fan. Read on for some postgame video and pictures.
POSTGAME GOODIES:
TP talks about his play:
The Ozone’s gallery
Bucknuts’ gallery
Rivals.com’s gallery
*Josh Winslow’s gallery
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