Weekend Recap: Indians still lurking beneath surface
September 7, 2015NEO High School Football Week 2: Mentor wins shootout, moves to No. 1 in rankings
September 7, 2015When you are the first unanimous preseason no. 1 team in the Associated Press’s college football poll, there is a large target on your back. When the team aiming at that target is at home and the only club to defeat you during your championship season, you prepare for aggression. When your head coach is Urban Meyer, you feel invincible. So now that The Ohio State University begins their title defense, what can they expect when traveling to Blacksburg, Virginia, to play Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University?
Familiar Faces
On September 6, 2014, the Virginia Tech Hokies defeated The Ohio State University Buckeyes 35-21 in Columbus. A year later, the previous sentence does not compute. After last season’s loss, pundits across the country wrote that OSU’s College Football Playoff dreams were dead. The Bucks never read those stories on the way to Big Ten, Sugar Bowl, and national championships. Looking back, it seems strange that a 14-1 champion Buckeye team lost to a 7-6 Military Bowl-winning Hokie team. So how did Virginia Tech win in 2014?
• Turnovers: In his second career start, his first at home, J.T. Barrett played like a redshirt freshman. He completed 9-of-29 passes with one touchdown and three interceptions. Barrett ran for 70 yards and a touchdown, but appeared more eager to abandon the pocket for a mad dash than to stand tall and find a receiver.
• Playcalling: Ezekiel Elliott rushed for a paltry 32 yards on eight carries with one touchdown and a long run of 15 yards. In light of Elliott’s postseason performance a few months later, that stat line looks heretical. At that point in the season, no one knew which of Elliott or Curtis Samuel would emerge as the feature back. At 6:1 Heisman odds this season, Elliott will no doubt carry the rock early and often on Labor Day.
• Young Offensive Line: Before they were holding back Wolverines and Badgers, “The Slobs,” as the Buckeyes’ offensive line is known, looked very green early in 2014. Virginia Tech’s front four disrupted Ohio State’s game plan all evening, forcing Barrett into bad looks, turnovers (see above), and seven sacks. The highlights of that game look like a horror film. “Look out! He is right behind you!” Boom. Sack.
• Expectations: Entering the game, Ohio State held the No. 8 spot in the AP Poll while VPI entered unranked. Whether the Buckeyes bought into the hype or not is unclear, but the visitors seemed readier for the moment at kickoff. Cardale Jones refuses to entertain distractions this year, however.
Ohio State’s Quarterback Situation
Only Urban Meyer knows who will play quarterback for Ohio State on Labor Day. J.T. Barrett arrived on the scene in a big way last year, picking up where a then-injured Braxton Miller left off. When he succumbed to injury against That School Up North, former third stringer (and “school player”) Cardale Jones stepped up against Wisconsin, Alabama, and Oregon.
This embarrassment of riches creates headaches for opposing defensive coordinators, but could potentially cause issues within the Buckeye locker room. There is no unanimous opinion about the effectiveness of two-quarterback systems. Some would point to the 2006 Florida Gators squad (coached by Urban Meyer), who successfully juggled Chris Leak and Tim Tebow en route to a BCS title, as an example effective dual quarterbacking. Others would reference Ohio State in 1996, a team which tried to balance playing time for both Stanley Jackson and Joe Germaine. They eventually lost a perfect season to No. 21 Michigan.
Personally, I want the following to happen on Ohio State’s first play: Braxton Miller, Cardale Jones, and J.T. Barrett all stand in the backfield in a wishbone formation. Braxton Miller runs out wide. The snap goes to Barrett. He flips the ball to Jones on a flea flicker. Cardale airs out a strike to a sprinting Miller who catches the pass and jogs backwards into the endzone. Hokie fans stare into the night sky and contemplate their own mortality as the stadium slowly sinks into despair. Or the quarterback hands off to Ezekiel Elliott. I’m good with either.
Getting to Know the Hokies
Virginia Tech is no stranger to playing preseason top-five teams in the opening weekend. In 2004 the Hokies fell to No. 1 USC 24-13 in neutral Maryland. In 2009 the No. 5 Alabama Crimson Tide defeated No. 7 VPI 34-24 in the Georgia Dome. The following season, No. 3 Boise State bested the Hokies 33-30 in Maryland (again). Virginia Tech next tangled with a top-ranked Crimson Tide club in 2013, falling 35-10. Overall the Hokes are 0-4 against ranked FBS teams in Week 1 since 2004. The Hokies are 0-8 all-time against No. 1 ranked teams. Assistant coach Shane Beamer called this contest the “biggest game in Lane Stadium history.”
Players to watch – VPI
• DL Dadi Nicolas & DL Ken Ekanem: Two of Virginia Tech’s strongest defensive linemen, this tandem combined for 18.5 sacks and 33 tackles for a loss last year.
• CB Kendall Fuller: An All-American in 2014, Fuller will play on an island against Ohio State wideouts, including newly converted H-Back Braxton Miller.
• QB Michael Brewer: The Hokies’ signal caller threw for 2,692 yards last season as well as 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He played unevenly against the Buckeyes last year; harassing him into bad throws will no doubt be at the top of the defense’s to-do list.
Final Thoughts:
This game makes me nervous. In the afterglow of the first College Football Playoff Championship, I figured the Buckeyes would defeat Virginia Tech 100-0 on Labor Day. Then Joey Bosa, Jalin Marshall, Corey Smith, and Dontre Wilson received suspensions for violating team policy. Then Noah Brown went down for the year with an injury. Las Vegas favors Ohio State by 14 points, and the line for this game is currently the tightest of any Buckeye opponent this season.
The Tech students will be frothed into a frenzy by the time the game kicks off, with three full days to hydrate in anticipation. Still, until proven otherwise the Buckeyes are the No. 1 team in the country and I full expect them to make the pollsters look smart in Blacksburg. Look for a tight contest that Ohio State eventually claims for its 13th straight victory.
2 Comments
Go Buckeyes!!!
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