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Youngstown State vs. Ohio State Preview by Tony Gerdeman |
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The Ohio State Buckeyes will open their 119th season of football on Saturday and they will be doing it against the same team they opened their 118th season of football against.
In last season’s matchup, the Buckeyes started slow, but played well enough to secure a 38-6 victory over Youngstown State. The loss snapped a streak of eleven consecutive season-opening wins for the Penguins.
Youngstown State (ranked 12th in both FCS polls) comes into this game 19-21-1 all-time against Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and they are 7-0 all-time in August games.
However, they are 10-18 all-time in season opening road games.
The Buckeyes come into this game ranked 2nd in the AP Poll and 3rd in the Coaches Poll. They are 174-48-15 all-time versus in-state opponents and have not lost to an Ohio team since 1921, when Oberlin beat the Buckeyes 7-6.
Ohio State is 102-12-4 all-time on opening day and has won 29 consecutive home openers. The Buckeyes are 106-8-4 all-time in home openers.
In their history, the Buckeyes are 6-1 in August.
When Youngstown State Has The Ball
The Penguins have gone to a spread offense, but since there is no film to go on, it isn’t quite known what type of spread they will be. They will also be utilizing a no-huddle attack at times, further attempting to keep the defense on its heels.
Youngstown State will have to break in a new quarterback as four-year starter Tom Zetts is gone. Todd Rowan will step into the position this year and even though he is a two-time letter-winning junior, he only threw two passes last season. By comparison, wide receiver Ferlando Williams threw three.
The Buckeyes won’t really know what type of spread offense they’ll be facing until the collisions start happening, but they’ll be preparing for a balanced attack and adjust from there.
Not helping matters for the Buckeyes will be the fact that starting strong safety Kurt Coleman will likely be held out due to a sprained ankle. In his place will be sophomore Jermale Hines, who has moved back and forth from linebacker to safety to nickel back and so forth. This week, however, he’s all safety.
Injuries won’t just be hampering the Buckeyes, as the Penguins will be without leading rusher Kevin Smith this week and will instead rely on last year’s second-leading rusher, Jabari Scott. Scott rushed for 524 yards last season, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. He is probably a better homerun hitter than Smith.
Not knowing what type of spread offense they’ll see, it is hard to say what type of defense the Buckeyes will start out in. Will it be a base 4-3 defense, or will we see a nickel package? Whatever it may be, the Buckeyes will be helped greatly by linebackers James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman, who are both very good against the pass.
With the secondary thinner than normal this week (the Buckeyes will also be without reserve cornerback Andre Amos), the front four will have even more urgency in getting to the quarterback. And probably none of Ohio State’s defensive linemen will be as ready to go as defensive end Lawrence Wilson. It was in this game last year that Wilson broke his leg and was lost for the season.
Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the depth on the defensive line will allow them to attack as much as possible. One way that Youngstown State will counter this, however, is with the no-huddle. If the Penguins aren’t huddling, then the Buckeyes will have trouble getting tired defensive linemen off the field. The sooner the defense gets the Youngstown offense to punt, the better it will be for all involved.
The one big playmaker to watch for Youngstown State will be receiver Ferlando Williams. Last season, Williams had 499 yards receiving and 464 yards rushing. He will get the ball anywhere, and as mentioned earlier, he may even throw it.
The Youngstown special teams could be deemed average. Punter Ben Nowicki returns this season after averaging 37.1 yards per punt last season. Stephen Blose handles the kickoffs and is listed as the first team kicker on the depth chart. Blose made one field goal last season as a backup.
The return game is less than dynamic, though the Buckeyes have had issues covering kicks of late.
When Ohio State Has The Ball
Last season, running back Chris Wells was held to 46 yards on 16 carries. On Saturday, everybody will be expecting a much better outing. Youngstown State, however, will come into this game looking to repeat last season’s performance, and they’ll do it by crowding the line of scrimmage and forcing the Buckeyes to pass.
And the Buckeyes will oblige.
Quarterback Todd Boeckman will likely come out throwing to a multitude of receivers, but will probably find Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline a little more than the others.
The Buckeyes will continue to throw the ball, but they won’t abandon the run. Chris Wells will get the ball and likely have to battle eight and nine-man fronts. Of course, once he gets through the initial gauntlet, there really won’t be anybody else there to stop him. Expect to see at least one run of forty yards or more from Wells.
There will be four Buckeye running backs involved in the game, provided Brandon Saine is healthy enough to go. Perhaps the main thing to look for will be the debut of redshirt freshman Boom Herron at running back. Herron was a scout team star last year and looks to carry his success over to the playing field this season.
Along those lines, probably the aspect of this game that most people will be looking forward to watching will be the debut of the Buckeye freshmen, and in particular, quarterback Terrelle Pryor. If you are at the game, be sure to take in the ovation you hear the first time Pryor runs out to the huddle, because it will likely be a story you’ll be telling for a long, long time.
When Pryor is in the game, you can expect him to run the ball, though this would probably be a great opportunity for him to throw the ball a bit in order to get some feel for the passing game.
The defense that Pryor and the other, more experienced, Buckeye quarterbacks will be facing will be a group of defenders that doesn’t have a great deal of playing time under them. The Penguins will enter this game minus last season’s top five tacklers. The leading active career tackler for Youngstown State is their star defensive tackle Mychal Savage, and he’s only tallied 104 total. So while the Penguins will load up the box, they may end up firing a few blanks.
The Buckeyes return all of their special teams contributors and will look to get a larger contribution from their kick returners. Perhaps Boom Herron, who is known for his straight-ahead style, will provide the same type of gains that Maurice Hall used to give--he may not take it to the house, but he’s always getting at least 25 yards before he’s brought down.
How It’ll End Up
The Buckeyes will move the ball early and often. The passing game will loosen up the running game. The Buckeyes will score two early touchdowns.
On the fourth series, back-up quarterback Joe Bauserman will come in and some audible grumbles will be heard as fans’ anticipation for Terrelle Pryor’s debut will have to build for at least one more series. Bauserman will throw a bomb off of the play-action on his first snap.
When Terrelle Pryor finally does enter the game, the crowd will be told to quiet down. And then he’ll hand the ball off. On his second snap, he will fake the handoff and take off on the bootleg.
All in all, it will be a very successful day for the quarterbacks, as they will all accumulate touchdowns.
Chris Wells will rush for 100 yards, but he won’t see a series past the middle of the third quarter.
Because the defense doesn’t quite know what to expect, and because they are going to play a lot of players, they will not get the shutout, but they’ll still look pretty darn good.
Ross Homan will have a sack and an interception.
And the fourth quarter will have a running clock.
Ohio State 41 – Youngstown State 10
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