3 Things We Learned About Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes This Past Saturday
College Spun / Antonio Venegas
The Urban Era finally kicked off this past Saturday after months of anticipation. The team stumbled out of the gates, but ultimately found its stride, racking up 538 yards of offense in a comfortable 56-10 win over Miami (OH). While the Buckeyes get ready to face off against UCF on Saturday in the Shoe, here are three takeaways from this past weekend.
The offense needs to start out faster
While the spread offense looked efficent, Braxton Miller and company did not get off to the fast start that many people were anticipating. Miller continued to struggle at times with accuracy and the running game didn’t pick up until early in the 2nd quarter. Those accuracy issues are going to be important to fix as the Buckeyes go up against a UCF team that ranked in the Top 10 last year in scoring, total defense, and pass efficiency defense.
Once Devin Smith made the gravity-defying catch in the endzone, the entire offense seemed to click. Miami (OH) simply had no answer for the balanced attack (294 rushing yards, 244 passing) and numerous players (Carlos Hyde, Corey “Philly” Brown among others) stepped up and made big plays when needed.
The secondary has its own issues to work out
While the secondary had its fair share of good plays, namely the two interceptions by Travis Howard and the touchdown by Bradley Roby, Miami (OH) quarterback Zac Dysert was able to pick apart the secondary on his way to a 300 yard performance. As the Buckeyes go through the rest of non-conference play and into the Big Ten schedule at the end of the month, the secondary has to correct the missed assignments and lapses.
The Urban Era has a different feel
Both the new “Quick Cals” tradition at the stadium and the spread offense have created a completely different environment in Columbus than in the past. In just 9 months, Urban Meyer is leading the process of transforming the program and moving away from the Jim Tressel Era.
Ohio State takes on UCF on September 8th at Noon in Ohio Stadium.
Statistics from last Saturday’s game were taken from ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
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