The Week That Was

 

1. Offense at a Glance: I know there was some consternation about the offense coming out of Friday night’s game, but I’m not sure I agree. While there are certainly some red zone frustrations, most of that later, we had 350 yards at halftime. Pretty hard to not be happy about that number. Before I look closer at the rushing success in #2, I want to touch on some specific points within the larger offense. First, I thought this was a slight regression in Gabriel’s performance after the rewatch. Beyond the red zone interceptions, he was late with the ball on multiple occasions and missed more advantageous matchups on another 3-4 dropbacks. I would like to see more throws with anticipation, essentially throwing a guy open versus throwing the ball when he’s open. Ohio State is not the type of defense where he’s going to be able to rely on receivers running open and having the time to deliver. Second, and I keep harping on it, this is finally the week where we’ll get a look at what this offense is designed to look like. Nothing to hold back, it's time to run your best stuff and that includes running your QB. If we need Gabriel to put his head down and get three yards to win a game, I hope we feel comfortable against Purdue with Dante Moore if it comes to that. I continue to hope we’ll find opportunities for Evan Stewart to be more involved, as he’s the type of player that can win contested matchups against good DBs like this week. 

 

2. Run Game Erupts: Finally! Great to see the combination of explosiveness and efficiency that we’ve been looking all year rounding into form at the perfect time. Jordan James is a really good runner, and instead of turning 2 yards into 5 yards, we saw him turn 5 into 12 this week. Really exciting to see the offensive line continue to gel, as they’ve essentially had a month together now as a unit. Specifically, I really love the way Nishad Strother is playing at G, and don’t see him losing his spot even if Bedford or Iuli returns. My main concern here is the drop-off from James, as from my untrained eye, Noah Whittington is still not back to 2022 form. It is imperative that he keep James healthy and find ways to manage his workload best we can. This probably not the week for that, but as important as Saturday is, December is the time where we need him most.