OSU report card: Big surprise, grades as bad as game

Jon Spencer
Mansfield News Journal
Purdue quarterback David Blough gets a pass off before Ohio State's Chase Young can get to him.

Offensive line

A second straight shaky performance by the front five. They had trouble with Purdue's pressure the entire game, drew more penalties and couldn't knock Purdue off the ball on three straight runs near the goal line. Then to cap that disastrous series, on fourth-and-goal from the 2, Michael Jordan's shotgun snap was a high floater and Dwayne Haskins couldn't connect with K.J. Hill on a quick slant. Was Haskins' rhythm thrown off by the snap? Possibly. On this night, let's just say yes.

Grade: F

Running game

This is becoming ridiculous. After averaging 2.9 yards per rushing attempt against Minnesota, the Buckeyes had to pick it up in the second half to get to 3.0 against a Purdue defense that has given up 31 and 40 points in losses to Northwestern and Missouri. A microcosm of their troubles came in the third quarter, down 21-6, when they had first and goal and couldn't get the job done on three straight running plays. Haskins, keeping on third down, showed he clearly is no dual threat.

Grade: F 

Passing game

Forget the school records Haskins set for completions (49), attempts (73) and passing yards (470). First of all, if you're throwing 73 times, something's wrong. Purdue did a nice job of disrupting him and that made him panicky, even when the heat wasn't there. He overshot a wide open Terry McLaurin on a deep ball and underthrew him in the end zone. He threw a pick-6 and could have been intercepted three other times. We wondered what would happen to this one-dimensional attack if Haskins had an 'off' night and we just found out. Even uglier than you thought, right? The Buckeyes have gotten spectacular plays from their receivers, but the one time that could have happened a deep ball that twisted Johnnie Dixon into knots went through his hands.

Grade: C minus

Purdue freshman Rondale Moore completes a 42-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of Saturday's resounding win over Ohio State.

Defensive line

The Buckeyes have played 5.5 games now without Nick Bosa, but being without their All-American became more real when he opted earlier in the week to leave the program and concentrate on recuperating from a core injury in preparation for the NFL draft. Let's just say the week got even worse for the front four. They did a good job of pressuring Purdue QB David Blough early, forcing wild throws, but Blough eventually settled in and led the Boilermakers on sustained TD drives of 98, 80, 73, 76 and 75 yards. None of those drives had fewer than eight plays. Everybody on this defense was to blame. Everybody.

Grade: F

Linebackers

What else can we say that hasn't been said all season about this crew. Nowhere. To. Be. Found. More explosive plays right up the gut. We've long since run out of fingers and toes to count them. Purdue started 1 for 7 on third down but made four big conversions in the second half, none bigger than the 1-on-6 pass completion on third-and-9 that led to a 42-yard TD run by D.J. Knox, also on third-and-9, making it 28-6.

Grade: F

Defensive backs

For the Buckeyes to win this game, Haskins had to out-play Blough (25 of 43, 378, 3 TDs) in the battle of big throwers. He didn't. Blough's only mistake was running on the field to celebrate a pick-6 by LB Markus Bailey (a Columbus kid) to cap a 28-point fourth quarter by the Boilermakers. The Buckeyes didn't really come close to a takeaway and that's an indictment of the entire defense. Mighty mite Rondale Moore, a true freshman, was exactly as advertised, flustering the Buckeyes all night. His 42-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter summed up his night. He made defenders whiff and look silly, finishing with 12 catches for 170 yards and two scores.

Grade: F

Special teams

Just a footnote by the end, but two of Purdue's touchdowns in building a 21-6 lead were set up by a successful fake field goal and a roughing the punter penalty. The Buckeyes had an awful night in the red zone, magnified when kicker Blake Haubeil, who couldn't miss in his first start last week, hooked a 33-yard field goal attempt. Ohio State's night was summed up when Johnnie Dixon failed to field a kickoff and had to scramble to reach the ball out to the 1 to avoid a safety.

Grade: F

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer was as frustrated as everybody rooting for his Buckeyes on Saturday night.

Coaching

It's a good thing OSU is heading into a bye week because there's plenty to work on before the Buckeyes host Nebraska in two weeks. Of course, a case could be made that they began the bye week early. They were out-schemed on offense and defense. Asked afterward if two weeks is enough time to get things fixed, Meyer said "Yes." But they had several weeks to fix what he admitted were "glaring shortcomings" and didn't. Time and again we've seen this staff make halftime adjustments this season. The other two times they've been away from Ohio Stadium, they rallied. This time troubles snowballed. Every year since the 2014 national championship they've had an inexplicably bad loss. To undermanned Michigan State at home in 2015, to a Penn State team that capitalized on special teams breakdowns to rally from 21-7 in the fourth quarter in 2016, to huge underdog Iowa 55-24 last year. Big Ten goals are still there, but losing by giving up 49 points to unranked Purdue will likely kill any playoff hopes.

Grade: F

— Jon Spencer