Tag: Ohio State

Michigan vs. Ohio State Awards

Taco Charlton (#33, image via Zimbio)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . someone with speed. Eddie McDoom, Jehu Chesson, Jabrill Peppers, Chris Evans, Jourdan Lewis, anyone. There’s a saying everyone’s heard, and that saying is “Speed kills.” Michigan hasn’t had a ton of speed for the past few seasons, but the roster isn’t entirely devoid of those players. What I didn’t see on Saturday was a great effort to get those fast guys the ball in space. It was De’Veon Smith (one of the slower backs in recent Michigan history), Jake Butt, and Amara Darboh touching the ball most of the time. Out of 40 non-Speight rushing attempts, only 12 went to explosive players (Chris Evans had 6, Jabrill Peppers had 4, and Jehu Chesson had 2). Out of 23 receptions, only 2 went to explosive players (Jehu Chesson had both), unless you count Darboh. In my opinion, that’s only 14/63 touches for players who are dangerously speedy, and that’s not enough. Additionally, if you’re going to use Peppers on offense, you have to be more creative. He either has to play more offense so the defense forgets about him a little bit, or the coaches have to use him the same amount but in ways defenses haven’t seen yet.

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Preview: Michigan at Ohio State

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RUSH OFFENSE vs. OHIO STATE RUSH DEFENSE

Michigan is #19 in rush offense (235 yards/game) and #25 in yards per carry (5.23), but they’re #68 in Adjusted Line Yards. The line has been struggling, especially since left tackle Grant Newsome was lost for the season in the Wisconsin game. True freshman Ben Bredeson has just been okay at left guard, while fifth year senior right guard Kyle Kalis has had a rough couple weeks. Running back De’Veon Smith played a great game last week with a career-high in yards on 6.9 yards/carry. Backup Chris Evans has had a few good weeks and has averaged 7.4 yards/carry this season. Michigan doesn’t have the speed or athleticism to run outside much, so Smith will have to run right at the defense and try to churn out yards inside. Ohio State is #89 in Adjusted Line Yards on defense, #18 in rush defense (119 yards allowed/game), and #17 in yards allowed per carry (3.37). The defensive line is just so-so against the run, but the linebackers are outstanding and very athletic. Junior Raekwon McMillan (6’2″, 243 lbs.) leads the team with 71 tackles, followed by sophomore linebacker Jerome Baker (6’1″, 225, 64 tackles), sophomore safety Malik Hooker (6’2″, 205, 60), and junior linebacker Chris Worley (6’2″, 228, 48). The linebackers can all run sideline to sideline, and McMillan is solid stopping the inside run, too. Michigan has shown that they can run against stiff defenses at times, but if they can’t, it’s going to be a long day for the offense.
Advantage:

 Ohio State

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Recruiting Snapshot: Ohio State

Demario McCall

2016 Team Ranking: #1. They have two 5-stars, twelve 4-stars, and four 3-stars committed.

Cream of the 2016 Crop: Fort Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas defensive end Nick Bosa

, the brother of OSU junior end Joey Bosa, is a 5-star, the #1 strongside end, and #6 overall. He’s 6’4″, 265 lbs. and plays a lot like his brother.  Staying in the pass rush department, the Buckeyes have a 5-star commitment in Columbus (OH) Gahanna Lincoln defensive end Jonathan Cooper, who is the #2 weakside end and #25 overall. I also really like the speedy Demario McCall, who is the #2 all-purpose back and #49 overall. The Buckeyes lost 3-star QB Tristen Wallace to Oregon this past weekend, but they might be picking up the services of Potomac (MD) Bullis’s Dwayne Haskins, a Maryland commit who took an official to Columbus a few days ago. Haskins is the #6 pro-style QB and #67 overall.

Hit the jump for an updated on OSU’s 2017 class.

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Michigan vs. Ohio State Awards

Jeremy Clark

With an eye toward next year, here’s a look at who I’d like to see more of in the future. Of course the bowl game is coming, but the venue and opponent are up in the air at this point. So in other words, seniors are out of the running for “Let’s see more/less of this guy . . . .”

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . 

John O’Korn. Early in the year, I was hearing good things coming out of practice. The word was that if O’Korn were eligible to play, he would be on the field instead of Jake Rudock. Of course, Rudock finished the year on a hot streak, and that talk about O’Korn died down during the second half of the year. It’s hard to believe that O’Korn could have outplayed late-season Rudock, but if he’s better or close to better by the beginning of 2016, then Michigan will be in great shape offensively. He’s 6’4″, 220 lbs., has a strong arm, and can run a little bit.

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Ohio State 42, Michigan 13

That was uglier than expected. 

And frankly, it was uglier than it should have been. For all the talk of Jim Harbaugh being a master motivator, most of the team laid an egg on Saturday. I suggested on Twitter that maybe Michigan should have hired Brady Hoke as a special consultant for Ohio State week. Obviously, that was a tongue-in-cheek comment, but Hoke took worse teams and went 1-3 against the Buckeyes, including a couple close losses and some exciting performances from Devin Gardner. We knew that Ohio State would run tempo, which would be a problem for Michigan’s defense, which was already missing two starting linemen and a key backup. The immediately concerning thing was that Ohio State was making plays early in the game. An unblocked inside linebacker facing a quarterback in the hole is a win for the defense – and normally a dream come true for a linebacker – but Joe Bolden whiffed and J.T. Barrett scored a touchdown. If you can’t make that play when you’re fresh, then it’s going to be a long day against a team that runs tempo.

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