Ho-Hum

Greetings from sunny C-bus:

It is said that the important thing when you play a less-talented opponent is to not let them hang around and think they can compete (hear that UM?).

In fact, the best OU tackle of the day might have been when the OU Bobcat mascot made a surprise attack on Brutus when the teams ran out to start the game. It had 105,000 fans rolling in laughter.

But, for the Bucks, it was no laughing matter but it was all business.

Clearly, the Bucks heard the message to take out OU early, loud and clear and clamped down on OU early and often. The first half was about as perfect a game as the Bucks have played this year, save the INT at the end of the half - the first turnover of the season. Pryor had a period of 16-straight completions, a new OSU record easily passing the previous 13 straight (Bellisari and Boeckman shared the record) and Pryor was throwing the ball to a number of receivers across a number of routes.

But all was not perfect ...

The Bucks gave up another kick-off return TD - but for a penalty. The Bucks had little ground game in the first half - or the game for that matter - against an inferior opponent.

But some things are better upon further review ...

The re-loaded defense is as tenacious a defense as the Bucks have fielded since 2002. The Bucks' d-line is just loaded with a mix of experienced talent - Cam Heyward, Nathan Williams and Dexter Larimore - and young talent - Johnathan Hankins and John Simon, for example. Heyward sets the tone for the defensive line and the defense for that matter. He is a well-known perfectionist. He was upset apparently in the first half when a sack eluded him, but he made up for it with the fumble recovery and short run following. The linebackers are a mix of run-stoppers and speed. Ross Homan is a sure tackler that can cover. Brian Rolle has speed and tenaciousness. He's firey and hits like a safety. Tyler Moeller can tee it up on anyone. With Andrew Sweat out with injury, we had a mixture of bodies. All made stops. Then the walking wounded in the secondary. Joining Moeller is the steady Jermale Hines and experienced Chimdi Chekwa who did not disappoint coming off of a career game vs. Miami. CJ Barnett is now out for the season and Orhian Johnson filled in ably. Devon Torrence has been a stud in the secondary all season, but there were a number of injuries in the secondary in particular: Torrence, Travis Howard, Donnie Evege, and Dorian Bell. Howard appears to have the worst of the injuries though Evege appeared to have a broken arm, perhaps.

The offensive unit has dazzled with TP's new command of the passing game and inserted into the mix has been Jake Stoneburner. A local Dublin kid (Dublin Coffman HS), Stoneburner moved from WR to TE and has gotten a lot of looks this season with the ball. Stoneburner has shown the receiver's ability to get open and has the size of a TE. Stoneburner caught 3 passes vs Marshall and the rumor that the Bucks were going to throw to the TE appeared to be amazingly true. But yesterday, Stoneburner caught 5 to join Posey and Sanzenbacher with 5 a piece. And Jake got his first TD catch in his OSU career. Stoneburner has 9 catches on the season for 110 yards. Compare this to Jake Ballard who had 14 catches in all of last season's 13 games.

The offense has yet to really hit the ground running, so to speak. I spoke too soon annointing Brandon Saine as the answer. He seems unable to be the consistent go-to guy and the coaches seem to be trying to keep the carries between Boom and Zoom relatively equal. Jordan Hall again showed some pizzazz, mostly on special teams and perhaps the best rusher of all is still TP.

And the special teams remain the weak link. While the Buckeye returns on punt and kick-off have actually looked solid with Hall and Jamaal Berry back there on returns, coverage remains problematic. A few changes were made in the mix of personnel yesterday - Jordan Hall was out there on coverage and there were other first-teamers out there from time to time. The lane discipline remains the issue and the inconsistency in the kickoffs and punts is not helping matters. The short kickoffs immediately expose the Bucks to a run-back and solid punts have resulted in the speedy Bucks over-running the returner. A slight miss on a lane assignment can spring a returner. But, in the course of yesterday's games, I saw a phenomenal number of run-backs. Are the returners all just too fast for a coverage unit?

So, if we were to click down through the team's attributes through three games, I'd probably point to the following: defensive line - check; linebackers - check; secondary - check with an injury caveat; offensive line - improved with room for improvement; passing game - check; running game - incomplete; kickoff and punt returns - adequate; kickoff and punt coverage - failing grade.

And I would also say that we are seeing a more open playbook than a year ago, for sure.

Next up: Eastern Michigan. This is a team that did not win a game all of last season and is 0-3 coming into next Saturday. The game is at 3:30 eastern on ABC.

GO BUCKS from JennyBucks!