College football:
Rebuilding year? No, Ohio State locked in, reloaded
Are the Buckeyes even better? Also, coaches poll.
J.T. Barrett has been telling people for a while that Noah Brown has “suction cups for hands,” and now everyone can see why.
The sophomore receiver’s circus catch — he grabbed both the slightly underthrown pass and a defensive back in a fierce embrace as they tumbled to the ground, with the ball pinned tightly to the defender’s back — was more than a highlight.
It was the pivotal moment, six seconds before halftime, as a showdown between two of college football’s all-time best programs turned into a showcase for Ohio State’s emerging bunch of new stars.
A 45-24 victory against Oklahoma served mostly as an introduction: Meet the new Buckeyes, same as the old Buckeyes — unless maybe they’re better.
Brown, a third-year sophomore, entered the night with five career catches. By early in the third quarter, he had four more — and four touchdowns.
None was more spectacular or meaningful than the one he hauled in late in the second quarter. It was the catch of the young season, and three months from now it probably won’t have been topped.
“When the ball’s around him, his hands find a way to get on to the ball,” said Barrett, the Buckeyes quarterback.
Brown, who missed last season after he was injured in preseason practices, was one of the nation’s most highly recruited players. But the Ohio State depth chart is filled this season with new names replacing a host of departed stars.
The road rout signaled several meaningful things. Most prominent: Ohio State just reloaded.
The Buckeyes lost 12 players from last year’s uber-talented squad to the NFL draft, all in the first four rounds. Six starters returned this season (three each on offense and defense), the few- est of any Football Bowl Subdivision team. Thirty players on the 74-man travel squad last weekend were redshirt or true freshmen.
“This was the coming-of-age game,” coach Urban Meyer said.
There’s now compelling evidence to consider the Buckeyes as legitimate contenders for the College Football Playoff.
“We know we can hang with anyone,” sophomore defensive end Sam Hubbard said.
Or hang half a hundred on anyone. Ohio State is “an outstanding team that really beat the heck out of us,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said, and Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield went with the PG-rated version, saying, “We got our (butts) kicked.”
What was demonstrated Saturday was the very significant talent gap between Ohio State and a team that brought back much of the nucleus from a Playoff appearance. The outcome was less a collection of big plays snowballing into an avalanche — something we see every week somewhere, by someone — than compelling evidence of what Meyer has built in stacking together several superlative recruiting classes.
Brown is only one of many Buckeyes we’re all about to get to know much better. One more example: Curtis Samuel, a potent blend of speed and swerve. Think of what Meyer had at Florida in Percy Harvin, and then flip back to the video of Samuel, time after time, outracing Oklahoma defenders to the edge and zipping upfield, and then consider what that might mean for the future.
Samuel is a junior, and he’d shown flashes in his first two seasons while playing running back behind Ezekiel Elliott. But he’s made for the H-back position. He’s going to make big plays look routine — and he’s only one of several weapons Barrett has at his disposal at any time.
Then there’s the defense. Through three games, the Buckeyes have snagged nine interceptions (including Mayfield, twice), returning four for touchdowns (once Saturday). It’s a fast bunch with room for growth.
The Buckeyes’ Big Ten schedule features three teams currently ranked in the top 12. But here’s what should be most alarming to college football:
“We’ve known all along it wasn’t a rebuilding year,” said senior center Pat Elflein, one of the few returning starters. “We knew what we had. This was our chance to showcase that.”