Is there any doubt? Is there any doubt at all that says Ohio State isn’t the best team in college football right now?
This game was certainly better than it’s 24-7 final score and the gentleman who posted that he thought this game wasn’t going to be a high scoring affair like everybody intially thought, was pretty much on the money.
I can’t say enough good things about Troy Smith after watching that game. Forget the numbers (17 of 27 for 269 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs by the way) for a second and just marvel in the way Smith kept his cool all game.
Going against a Texas team on its home turf is certainly no small task and Smith made it look easy. His pocket presence was excellent – he would go through two or three reads before making his final decision on virtually every one of his drop backs – and when he threw the ball he delivered great touch or zip given the situation.
His accuracy in finding wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez all game was fun to watch and anyone who thinks that the Long Horns didn’t suffer without their top corner didn’t see the same game I did. Way to get Ted Ginn Jr. involved early and often as well – that slant play on second down to Ginn on the Buckeyes first possession that went for 46-yards set the table for OSU’s offense all night.
On the flip side, I stressed the importance for the Buckeyes being able to stop the run this week in my College Game of the Week on Bullz-Eye.com and I don’t think I would be out of line to say they still have a lot of work to do. Selvin Young and Jamaal Charles had a lot of success running the ball on first downs in the first half. It wasn’t for a lack of talking by OSU, either – they just weren’t engaging the runners until they had already chewed up three or four yards already.
With that said, nothing can be taken away from the performance sophomore James Laurinaitis had tonight and the entire Buckeye defense made plays when they had to. The fumble Laurinaitis caused in the first quarter was obviously timely and a huge momentum killer for Texas, but it was his interception of Colt McCoy to start the second half that really took the wind out of the Long Horns’ sails.
Speaking of McCoy, this kid has a bright future. As much as I liked the way Smith stood in the pocket like a senior quarterback should, McCoy was equally impressive in his decision making (minus the interception of course). He took a couple of huge shots and still delivered the ball with accuracy and precision.
In the end, I just don’t think the kid made enough plays when he had to, however. There were a couple of times he led his receivers out to pasture when there really wasn’t a play (mostly on check downs). I thought he would run more and he certainly didn’t get Limas Sweed in the game at all.
I think this game came down to Texas playing soft in the secondary with Tarell Brown not playing and Smith just picked them apart. Antonio Pittman looked strong down the stretch run of the game as well and the defense will bend, but they refuse to break.
