Raza’s Recap: Ohio State vs. Minnesota

The Buckeyes are back. After 234 days, Ohio State returned to the football field to begin a brand new season filled with both expectations and uncertainty. The #4 team in America traveled to Minneapolis to take on the Golden Gophers of Minnesota in an unorthodox Thursday night conference game to open the season. It was a bit of a strange game from start to finish, but the Bucks were able to come away with a strong 45-31 victory to kick off 2021. Let’s recap what happened.

Coming off of a national championship appearance, Ohio State is still one of the best teams in the country with all the talent in the world, but Thursday night was all about seeing the new pieces in scarlet and gray. All eyes were on redshirt freshman QB C.J. Stroud. The 19-year old from California had never thrown a pass in a game before, but with the departure of former star QB Justin Fields, he now has the keys to the car. The expectations in Columbus for this kid are sky high, especially after winning the starting job in camp in one of Ohio State’s most stacked QB rooms to date. But as a teenager playing his first meaningful snaps, it wasn’t all peaches and cream.

Stroud got an early boost from his running game, as redshirt freshman RB Miyan Williams took an outside handoff all the way down the sideline untouched for a 71-yard touchdown on the 5th offensive play. Williams is anticipated to be a premier back in a loaded RB room for the Buckeyes offense, and this was the best possible way to start his season. The run came after a missed deep overthrow from Stroud to WR Garrett Wilson, which should have been a touchdown. It wouldn’t be the first early mistake for #7, as on Ohio State’s next offensive possession, he still looked very jittery and erratic, overthrowing his receivers or delivering simply inaccurate passes. The Bucks were still able to drive down and get a field goal to go up 10-0.

The Silver Bullets forced a subsequent 3-and-out, but already down 10 with no momentum, Minnesota HC P.J. Fleck opted to go for a 4th and 1 on his own 29. It was an extremely gutsy decision that paid off in a massive way, as Gophers star RB Mohamed Ibrahim broke through and cut outside for a massive 56-yard run. It sparked the team and the crowd at TCF Bank Stadium, and 2 plays later, QB Tanner Morgan delivered a dime to WR Dylan Wright, who made a very strong hands catch over DB Lejond Cavazos for a touchdown to put Minnesota on the board. All of a sudden, the momentum was completely swung to the team wearing all-black.

That momentum may have gotten to Stroud, as on the fourth play of the next possession, he threw way over and behind WR Chris Olave on a simple slant pattern, and was intercepted. Minnesota did not waste the opportunity, marching all the way down the now-short field for another impressive touchdown drive to take a 14-10 lead, capped off by a 1-yard score by Ibrahim. The Gophers forced a quick 3-and-out, and went into the locker room at halftime in prime position to pull a potential upset.

Unfortunately, every time this happens in a college football game, it never exactly pans out. Ohio State came out of the second half absolutely scorching, and Stroud seemed to have shaken off all the jitters he was so clearly affected by in the first half. The Buckeyes offense took the first possession of the half down the field with a balanced offensive attack, and on a rollout, Stroud delivered his best pass yet off of his back foot across the field to Chris Olave, who maneuvered his way into the endzone to retake the lead. It wouldn’t be the last major contribution from the senior, who continues to make a case for being the best pass-catcher in college football.

Minnesota still wasn’t fazed by the challenge, as they once again took it right to the Ohio State defense. Benefited by a pass interference call and a very questionable roughing the passer call (which brought back an interception by S Josh Proctor), Ibrahim once again punished the Buckeyes, sprinting through the hole for a 19-yard score to put the Gophers back on top. Their defense would force a subsequent 3-and-out, and all of a sudden, it really looked like Minnesota could pull off the gargantuan upset. That would change rather quickly.

Ohio State’s next offensive possession would be a rather short one, as its one play was an almost too easy touchdown pass from Stroud to Garrett Wilson, who was wide open after running an absolutely filthy route that left the safety looking for directions. Just like that, the Buckeyes were back on top. It was the first of many statement plays to come from Wilson this season, as many people think the junior from Texas might just be college football’s best receiver. Either way you look at it, C.J. Stroud must be happy that, even when the pressure is high, he can always count on his star wideouts to make plays to make his life easier.

From that point on, it was all scarlet and gray, as the next drive was punctuated by a scoop and score by DT Haskell Garrett following a strip sack by DE Zach Harrison. After a Minnesota field goal on their next possession to bring it back to a one possession game at 31-24, the Buckeyes got an early dagger thanks to true freshman RB TreVeyon Henderson. The former 5* recruit and #1 RB in the 2021 class caught a short screen pass and, with an incredible burst of speed, blew past the entire Minnesota defense for a 70 yard touchdown to seemingly slam the door shut. The kid has sky high expectations in Columbus, and so far, he is living up to those expectations. It reminded me a lot of JK Dobbins’ debut in 2017 against Indiana, which was poetically also on a Thursday night on the road against a B1G opponent to open the season.

The Gophers still refused to say die, as they marched right back down the field for another score against the Buckeyes’ porous defense. Once again, it was just a 7 point game. Chris Olave made sure that was short-lived, as just 2 plays later, he caught a ball from Stroud, tiptoed down the sideline, and ran his way into the endzone for his second score of the game for the knockout punch. ‪CO₂‬ proved all night long that him coming back to school wasn’t for no reason, as he finished with 117 yards on 4 catches and those two trips to the endzone. After a fumble by Minnesota on a controversial non-targeting call (which I don’t believe was targeting at all), the game was over.

In my opinion, there are 3 major takeaways from this game. The first is obviously about C.J. Stroud. This was a difficult environment for a first start, and I had a feeling he would shake off his nerves, and while I’m glad he did, there is some cause for concern. It doesn’t get any easier, as next week is the toughest game on the Buckeyes’ schedule, as #11 Oregon comes into town. The Ducks have a great defense, headlined by star DE Kayvon Thibodeaux, and although the offensive line looked very impressive on Thursday night, this is a very tall task. I’m sure that the coaching staff will get Stroud ready for the challenge, and I have no doubt that he’ll be fine. His play wasn’t the sharpest of course, but he still ended up with great numbers: 13/22 for 294 yards and 4 TDs. YAC played a big role in that obviously, but I’m sure Stroud loves those numbers for a debut.

The second takeaway is the play of the defense. This was not a very strong unit last year, especially in the secondary, but they ended the year on a rather strong note (until running into the buzzsaw that was the 2020 Alabama offense). Despite getting themselves a touchdown, this was still a complete dud of a start to the season for a unit that should be much, much better. Minnesota’s offense had their way all game long, both on the ground and through the air. The main issue is that DC Kerry Coombs insists on playing a Cover 1 look all game long, which wouldn’t be a problem if the Buckeyes corners didn’t get burned consistently in man coverage, or if the defensive line could consistently get to the QB. Neither of those things happened in Thursday night’s game, and I fear it won’t happen consistently enough this season for the defense to be as strong as it needs to be. If any in-game adjustments were made, I’d feel a lot better. But Ohio State ran this same defense last year, and it didn’t do them many favors at many points. It could be another long season on that side of the ball.

The third and final takeaway is a very positive one, and it’s that Ohio State’s offensive talent is absolutely incredible. 201 rushing yards and 294 passing yards proves the balance and dominance of this unit, and they can beat you with any of their guys. Returning arguably the top 2 WRs in college football speaks for itself, but the incredible play of Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson coinciding with the dominance of the offensive line was truly a sight to behold. This could be the best OL in the country, and they were on full display last night, opening up holes that you could drive pickup trucks through, and giving C.J. Stroud enough time to make the throws he needed to. I can sleep easy at night knowing that this side of the ball will always be a delight to watch. I’m just hoping that the defense won’t let them down.

It wasn’t very pretty, but I never thought it would be. This always seemed like it would be a challenge for the Bucks, and I’m actually glad they faced some level of adversity this early in the season. It will help them next week as they welcome Oregon to The Shoe for both teams’ toughest game of the season, and a potential top 10 clash. It should be a very fun matchup, and I’m already both very nervous, but very excited for it. As always, I’ll be here to wrap that up next weekend.

All stats taken from ESPN.