Marla Ridenour: Last three games of last season an unfair comparison for Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio In its final three games last season, Ohio State set a standard by which the Buckeyes are now being unfairly measured.

It sounded almost incongruous to suggest Saturday that an 18-point halftime lead on Western Michigan was just as “discombobulated” OSU coach Urban Meyer’s word as an ugly seven-point victory over Northern Illinois the week before.

Something seemed wrong when at one point I found myself questioning the players’ leadership when they came out flat for the second consecutive game against a Mid-American Conference foe.

In some college football climates, the fact that a defense scored a touchdown for the third consecutive game would be a cause for celebration, not an indictment of the offense.

But the defending national champions have so much NFL-caliber talent, so many weapons, that a 38-12 victory over the Broncos in Ohio Stadium again fell short of expectations.

And in a sense, that doesn’t really seem fair.

Perhaps Western Michigan’s gaffes on special teams that could have made the game much closer overshadowed OSU’s progress. The Broncos missed one field goal, had another blocked, hit the left upright on an extra point and failed to fair catch a punt that OSU downed at the WMU 1. But that would also overlook Tyvis Powell’s block and Cameron Johnston’s 67-yard punt that Corey Smith stopped just in front of the goal line.

The huge holes opened by the Western Michigan offensive line that allowed the Broncos to rush for 87 yards on 14 carries in the first quarter seemed troubling. But that would ignore the excellent performance by WMU early and the interior adjustments made by Ohio State as the Broncos finished with 169 net yards on the ground.

There is so much hand-wringing over OSU’s woes that a thing of beauty like running back Ezekiel Elliott’s hurdling of defenders with two more coming Saturday because he said he’s tired of taking shots to his legs or his ninth consecutive 100-yard game seem like an afterthought.

Yes, issues abound. The improvement of the receiving corps, save for Michael Thomas, is maddeningly slow. Meyer cited four passes underthrown that could have been touchdowns, or at least “big hits.” His staff is working out the transition to a new play-caller in offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Ed Warinner and to a new quarterbacks coach in Tim Beck. Quarterback Cardale Jones passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns, but still graded himself a C+ or B- because of the underthrows, one leading to an interception, an intentional grounding and a backwards pass that was ruled a fumble. H-back Braxton Miller, making the transition from quarterback, has failed to live up to his smashing debut at Virginia Tech.

But last season’s incredible chemistry that resulted in stunning victories over Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon to end the season didn’t come together overnight. It was born of adversity, from the suicide of a teammate, from season-ending injuries to the Buckeyes’ top two quarterbacks, from struggles against overlooked foes Minnesota and Indiana and a shocking home loss to Virginia Tech.

Expecting Ohio State to be a juggernaut right out of the gate was too much to ask.

“It’s frustrating because everybody assumes that after seven months you just pick up where you left off and that isn’t the case,” Warinner said. “There’s new pieces on the coaching staff, there’s new pieces on the offense. Every team and every season is different.

“Nothing we did last year is helping us win any games this year. It’s all based on what we did in the offseason, in the summer, and what we do to grow as a football team moving forward. We get that as coaches, you don’t pick up where you left off, you start from scratch.”

Ohio State survived a week of offensive second-guessing at every turn, with Meyer mentioning the days of grilling he received from OSU play-by-play man Paul Keels. The Buckeyes responded with improved offensive line play, what Meyer called a good day from the receivers, and consistent production from Elliott. They showed glimpses of what they could be, especially if Jones improves his timing on the deep ball that will be the focus before Saturday’s Big Ten opener at Indiana.

“We definitely took a couple good steps today,” Elliott said. “We showed a kind of a sneak peek of what the Buckeyes look like when we’re going.”

The time to compare OSU to what it was against the Badgers, Crimson Tide and Beavers doesn’t come until November. Until then, the Buckeyes are a work in progress. Warinner knows it. Meyer knows it. The players know it, too.

“I definitely feel like we took a step forward, but there’s so many more steps we need to take to be that offense we need to be to put ourselves in position to play for championships in November,” Jones said.

A lack of progress would be more alarming that underwhelming victories against overmatched opponents. But as Saturday’s victory showed, the reconstruction of the Buckeyes is well underway.

(c)2015 Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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