It was a hard fought, defensive slugfest in South Bend, Indiana between Ohio State and Notre Dame, and it was one filled with frustration for many Buckeye fans until a classic, classic ending, with OSU winning on the second to last play, 17-14.
At one point, the Buckeyes’ TreVeyon Henderson ripped off a 61-yard touchdown to get a ten point breather, but the Fighting Irish kept on plugging away and was able to make enough plays on offense down the stretch to take the lead 14-10 late in the game.
And now we catch our breath.
After each game we like to look back and try to see what we can pick out as observations we learned from all the action, and we’re going through that exercise once again after one of the all-time classic games between these two blue bloods.
Here five things we think we learned after the Buckeyes’ 17-14 win over Notre Dame.
This offense is still a significant work in progress
Ohio State's defense continues to do enough. Now the Buckeye offense has to get going.
— Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) September 24, 2023
What we think we learned
We are now four games in and we’ve made all the excuses for this offense. A new quarterback, replacing three starters, and all of that are true, but this is Ohio State and the offense shouldn’t have struggled like it did in three of the four games we’ve seen.
The defense kept the team in this one, but time and time again the offense couldn’t finish off drives to hold up its end of the bargain — until it mattered late. This team will still be fine, but it won’t be national title and Big Ten championship fine without some significant development from here to the end of the season.
The defense is still really, really good
Defense standing tall 😤 https://t.co/nOVHLkzmyw pic.twitter.com/TOB8JjEyYo
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) September 24, 2023
What we think we learned
The Ohio State defense held its own tonight. It was on the field for a long time because of the struggles of the offense and still stood on its head with a couple of key fourth down stops that kept the momentum on OSU’s side.
You can only hold up so long though and the Fighting Irish offense finally got things cooking midway through the fourth quarter with a long march that wrestled the lead away for good. Still though, the defense is really good and will keep this team more than afloat going forward. It mattered more than anything tonight.
This team still lacks an identity
1 more to go in South Bend.#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/M8L63odord
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) September 24, 2023
What we think we learned
If you are like me, you are still trying to figure out what this team can hang its hat on. It definitely feels that way with the play calling as well. There’s not really a lot of trust yet in the passing game, and the offensive line doesn’t often get the push in short yardage situations to feel good about gaining a yard when you need it.
That finally happened when it mattered the most, and if toughness is what starts to weave its way into the what this team is made of, we can all deal with that.
The play calling will be questioned in this one
QUARTERBACK SNEAK. It's that simple.
— Andrew Lind (@AndrewMLind) September 24, 2023
What we think we learned
A few situations in this game are going to come into question. The glaring one is the resistance to run a quarterback sneak. Ohio State had it inside the 1-yard line and got too cute early in the game, then refused to dial it up on fourth and inches with the game literally on the line. Instead, a jet sweep? What!?
And while the defense played well, several drives were kept alive because of the unwillingness to bring at least some designed pressure on Sam Hartman. He’s been playing for like fifteen years in college and if you give him enough time, he’s going to make the right read and find the open man. The defensive line wasn’t getting to him much and save for a couple of exceptions (that worked by the way), there was again a refusal to try and force him into making a quick decision.
I know there’s a fine balance here, but you can’t let a guy as talented as Hartman just play pitch and catch. I’m also far from one that calls out play calling all too often, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Buckeye Nation is going to be up salty about these situations.
But … a win, is a win — and it’s a much better position to be in to learn lessons from a win than from a loss.
Many goals are still alive
Ohio State is 0 for 2 on 4th down tries, both deep in scoring territory. They will be scrutinized for obvious reasons.
— Tim May (@TIM_MAYsports) September 24, 2023
What we think we learned
Now for some good news. Everything is still on the table. If Ohio State can somehow right the ship and figure things out on offense, it could go on a run and catapult from here. The College Football Playoff is still a real possibility and likely still would have been even with a loss, but this win is going to be a big resume builder.
Exhale and step away from the ledge Buckeye fans because we snatched one away from the jaws of defeat today and now it’s on to the next one with a much better feeling than what we though we were going to have late in this one.
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