Newcomers hurt Ohio State last night as the football team lost its first game at Oregon. The loss will not hurt Ohio State in all likelihood, but the game revealed some troubling signs. The starting left tackle for Ohio State, Josh Simmons, hurt his knee and is out for the season. Two newcomers made big mistakes, and Denzel Burke had his worst game as a Buckeye. While the loss is unlikely to hurt Ohio State, this puts a national championship in doubt.
Scoring Summary
It seemed all game like Ohio State would win this back-and-forth affair. The Buckeyes scored first as newcomer Will Howard rushed for a touchdown. However, before the first quarter expired, Oregon scored a touchdown, leaving the score at the end of the quarter knotted at seven.
In the second quarter, Quinshon Judkins rushed for a touchdown, but Oregon answered with Evan Stewart, who had a career day and scored a touchdown right away. Then Oregon kicked a field goal to give them a 15-14 lead. Granted, Oregon did have some trouble kicking extra points. The fourth score of the quarter was a touchdown for Ohio State. That lead would not last as Oregon scored a touchdown right before halftime on a 48-yard bomb of a pass. So, the score at halftime was 22-21, Oregon.
In the third quarter, newcomer Jeremiah Smith caught yet another touchdown pass. He is going to shatter the Ohio State freshman touchdown record. Ohio State went back on top 28-22.
In that fateful fourth quarter, Oregon opened the scoring by getting another long touchdown, this one rushing, to go up 29-28. Ohio State then kicked a field goal to go up 31-29. See-saw. Oregon then kicked the decisive field goal to go up 32-31. That was the final score. It was mentioned that Ohio State got the ball back, but they were undone by the newcomers Howard and Smith.
Newcomer Will Howard’s Big Mistake
Newcomer Quarterback Will Howard transferred to Ohio State from Kansas State in the off-season. The numbers say Will Howard had a good day. He was 28-35 with 2 passing touchdowns and another running. He had a 177.1 passer rating and did not throw any interceptions, but he ruined it all in the waning seconds of the game.
On the last play of the game, with just six seconds to go, he ran up the middle, was tackled, and the clock expired. Ohio State could have probably kicked a field goal if they had time left on the clock. This newcomer did not have any turnovers, but this mistake in clock management cost Ohio State the game.
Newcomer Jeremiah Smith Messed Up
Another newcomer is freshman Jeremiah Smith. He has been exceptional so far this year and was quite good in this game also. Smith’s mistake was an offensive pass interference penalty against him in one of the last plays of the game. Smith made the catch to put Ohio State in field goal range but was then penalized for pushing off the defender. The 15-yard penalty committed by Jeremiah Smith knocked Ohio State out of field goal range.
Denzel Burke’s Terrible Game
Denzel Burke is not a newcomer; he is an Ohio State defensive cornerback veteran. He was rumored to be a top-five pick but played so poorly last night that he probably cost himself millions of dollars. He was beaten for long pass completions in one one-on-one coverage. Also, he had significant problems tackling, including an embarrassing incident where he tried to tackle a wide receiver, but the wide receiver in question carried Burke for about twenty yards. It was a particularly rough time to have such a bad game. His performance was emblematic of the entire defense, which struggled.
Conclusion
This loss will probably not affect Ohio State’s playoff chances with the twelve-team playoff, but, that said, there were some worrying signs in this game. If Ohio State does not clean up these errors, they will be in trouble. Fortunately, they are idle next week before facing a good Indiana football team and then traveling to rival Penn State.
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