Ohio State Grades and Awards: Buckeyes Clobber Kent State

The Ohio State Buckeyes had no trouble making quick work of the visiting Kent State Golden Flashes, with a 66-0 victory at Ohio Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Here’s how Urban Meyer and company graded out, as the Buckeyes head into a idle-week on a winning note…

The Offense

The obvious grade should be an A, because J.T. Barrett did tie a school record with six touchdown passes. It was a great effort, but curb your enthusiasm, just a little, because the opponent was Kent State.

Barrett faced virtually no pass rush and relied heavily on swing passes and screens. This makes sense, as Ohio State needs to get the ball to its playmakers. But why not make Barrett live out of his comfort zone a little bit more? He had the a lot of room for error.

The screens and swings worked against Kent, but teams with better talent and better coaches will adjust and find a way to shut those plays down.

Grade: B+

The Defense

No Noah Spence, no problem. Kent State had one threat in quarterback Colin Reardon, and the Buckeyes limited the sophomore to 76 yards passing. Reardon completed 14-of-27 attempts, good enough for a lousy 2.8 yards per completion.

The Flashes came into the game with just 95 rushing yards through their first two games. The Buckeyes kept Kent around their season average by only allowing 47 yards on the ground.

Michael Bennett, Adolphus Washington and Joey Bosa showed the Mid-Americna Conference Flashes what big-time pass rush looks like, as the unit was unforgiving in their early in their pressure on Reardon.

Grade: A

Special Teams:

Dontre Wilson returned four punts for 44 yards, including a 22 yarder, and he had a 38-yard kickoff return. Jalin Marshall almost returned a punt for a touchdown, before being tackled by Kent’s punter.

Grade: A- (Got to the beat the punter, Jalin!)

Awards

MVP: Raekwon McMillan. Just kidding. I’ll get to Raekwon later, but the obvious choose here is J.T. Barrett. Six TDs, and this little tidbit, compliments of the Ohio State athletic department:

Barrett also is the 1st OSU QB to top 300 yds passing since Troy Smith (316) vs. Michigan, 11-18-06#GoBucks
— Ohio State Buckeyes 🌰 (@OhioStAthletics) September 13, 2014

Player I Want To See More Of: This goes to Marshall. He had that stellar, 51-yard punt return, even though the kicker got in the way, and he scored his first collegiate touchdown. Most Likely to go to a Bank: This one goes to Kent State athletic director Joel Nielsen. Kent’s athletic program got $850,000 richer for taking a beating at The Horseshoe. Showing Up, Showing Out: I promised Raekwon, and now I’ll deliver Raekwon. The true freshman linebacker had a great game, and led the team in tackles in his first significant action of the season.

And then there's this: In Raekwon McMillan's first significant action of the year, he led team in tackles (7), TFLs (3) and sacks (2).
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 13, 2014

The freshman I know now that I didn’t this morning: Johnnie Dixon. He had 20 yards on four carries. That’s called making your carries count.

Dixon is a Florida native who committed to OSU last December.