Two phases enough to dominate Terps
Football coaches often describe their team as a three-legged stool.
Offense, defense and special teams are all essential. If one unit is missing, the stool topples over.
Ohio State blew that notion to smithereens Saturday.
Despite a kicking game that had coach Urban Meyer doubled over on the sideline, No. 10 Ohio State rolled over Maryland 62-14 at Ohio Stadium.
The Buckeyes (5-1, 3-0 Big Ten) allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown, had a field goal blocked and missed another, and muffed the hold on an extra-point try. They even had a delay-of-game on a kickoff.
And all of that proved to be nothing more than window dressing because the Buckeyes dominated so thoroughly on both sides of the ball. Before Meyer started pulling his starters late in the third quarter, Ohio State had a yardage advantage of 466 to 15. That is not a misprint.
Quarterback J.T. Barrett completed 20 of 31 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns. He, J.K. Dobbins, Mike Weber and Parris Campbell each ran for a score.
The victory came at a cost, though. Right guard Branden Bowen was carted off in the first quarter with what his mother tweeted was a fracture of both the tibia and fibula bones in his left leg.
The Buckeyes also lost cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Damon Arnette, who were ejected for targeting. In the first quarter, Ward dislodged the ball from Maryland receiver Taivon Jacobs on what looked like a scoopand-score for the Buckeyes. Instead, officials ruled the play an incompletion and penalized Ward. Arnette was ejected in the second half, which means he will miss the first half of next week’s game at Nebraska.
But no matter who was in, the Buckeyes’ defense was suffocating. Maryland lost its top two quarterbacks earlier this season and clearly weren’t comfortable with letting Max Bortenschlager air it out against the Buckeyes. Maryland didn’t complete a pass until less than 5 minutes remained in the first half.
“I know why they didn't throw very much,” Meyer said. “The D-line was all over them.”
Ohio State’s run defense was just as stifling. Through three quarters, Maryland had 24 yards on 31 carries.
The Buckeyes expected a tougher game against Maryland, which they vanquished 62-3 a year ago. The Terrapins (3-2, 1-1) had beaten Texas and Minnesota on the road and were hoping to show it could compete with the elite of the Big Ten.
“We knew that was a good football team coming in here, and I think we were ready to play,” Barrett said. “It was addressed in meetings yesterday to make sure we weren’t caught sleeping.”
Ohio State dominated from the start. The Buckeyes took the opening kickoff and marched 70 yards in nine plays for the touchdown.
The defense then got into the scoring column for the first time this season. On a third-down pass, defensive end Nick Bosa blew past his man and knocked the ball from Bortenschlager. Linebacker Jerome Baker recovered it at the 20 and raced in for the touchdown.
Then came the first of the kicking blunders. Meyer replaced Blake Haubeil with Sean Nuernberger this week because he was unhappy that the freshman couldn’t consistently target his kickoffs to the left corner. Nuernberger’s went to the middle of the field and the explosive Ty Johnson had a gaping hole to go 100 yards for a touchdown.
“We’re the only team in the country that can’t kick the ball down the field (accurately),” Meyer said. “It’s something I have to strongly evaluate and find out why.”
That would be Maryland’s only significant counterpunch. Weber was left wide open for a 53-yard completion to set up Ohio State’s next touchdown.
The Buckeyes put the game away with three touchdowns in the final five minutes of the first half. Tight end Marcus Baugh hurdled a Maryland defender on a 10-yard touchdown reception, Campbell scored on a 24-yard end-around on a handoff from Dobbins and Austin Mack scored with 10 seconds left on a 5-yard pass to make it 41-7.
The second half started with an out-of-bounds kickoff that had Meyer bent over in dismay, but that was just a blip as the Buckeyes kept rolling.
Weber and Dobbins added touchdown runs in the third quarter to make it 55-7. Dobbins finished with 96 yards on 13 carries.