C.J. Donaldson ran hard, scored this second half touchdown through traffic in the Buckeyes’ 34-16 win over Illinois. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Ohio State doesn’t play its cleanest game or its most inspiring game Saturday in the Central Time Zone, but Ryan Day will always take a win at a ranked Big Ten opponent.
Champaign, IL – How would Ryan Day – always demanding improvement, never satisfied – assess his football team’s performance Saturday against Illinois?
Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Middling.
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“Was it all perfect?” he said. “No, but they’re a good team. That’s kind of how it goes. We all expect perfection, including me.”
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Day showed respect for how difficult some Big Ten road games are to win. He showed respect for Illinois. But he knows – particularly on offense – it all could have been better. A win, however, sometimes must be enough.
To Day’s point, no question the 6-0 Buckeyes were far from perfect. No question they were good enough to go on the road and win a Big Ten game against a ranked opponent. No question the defense made difference-making plays with three turnovers. No question a 34-16 victory over No. 17 Illinois (4-2) is more than enough to move forward as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.
All after Altmyer…Arvelle Reese and Kenyatta Jackson combine to pancake sack Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer during Saturday’s Buckeye win over Illinois.
But it all felt a little off at times on offense, a little like a Kyle McCord game without the anxiety. A fine performance, but not quite up to scarlet and gray standard. Still, Day defended his team, giving them credit for lots of things.
Maybe his biggest worry was the early road start – 11 a.m. in Illinois.
“We all know the concern is that you show up and you don’t have a lot of energy,” Day said. “I don’t think that was the case at all. The effort was excellent. I liked the look in our eye.”
Day bristled at the suggestion of a slow start because the opening 12-play, 67-yard drive ended with a short field goal.
“On the road it was a good first drive,” he said. “We always want to score touchdowns, but it sort of set the tone with some physicality. And then we came right back down and scored on the next drive. So I thought that was good.”
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Day even had to reassure his team after the game that this was a good win, that maybe wins shouldn’t always be emphatically measured by how well you run toward the winner’s circle, just as long as you make it there first with a little room to spare.
We don’t know Day’s exact words to his team after the game in the Memorial Stadium locker room. Based on what he said publicly after the game, it went something like this.
Moment for concern…Jeremiah Smith took this awkward hit in the third quarter and limped off the field. He later returned to the game.
“I know you think this win should feel better. We all agree that we left some things undone out there on the field. And we know we let our foot off the gas a little at the end and lost some focus. But this is a good win.”
Now for the good stuff.
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Cornerback Jermaine Mathews started as slot cornerback instead of his usual spot on the outside because of an injury to Lorenzo Styles Jr. And Mathews made two of the biggest plays in the game.
“Jermaine is that boy,” said fellow corner Davison Igbinosun. “Jermaine can play outside, inside. He’s just a natural football player. So I wasn’t surprised. I see it every day at practice.”
Bo Jackson rang the bell with this 17-yard touchdown catch during the third quarter.
On Illinois’ first possession, Mathews broke up a third-and-five pass over the middle. The ball floated into the air and to linebacker Payton Pierce. He returned the interception 15 yards to the Illinois 35. It was Luke Altmyer’s first interception this season.
The Buckeyes took advantage of good field position all afternoon, averaging a starting position of their own 49 on their first eight possessions. This time C.J. Donaldson finished the short drive with a one-yard touchdown run behind the blocking of freshman tight end Nate Roberts.
Mathews created the clinching turnover in the third quarter when he blitzed from the left side and knocked the ball out of Altmyer’s hands. Caden Curry, always the playmaker at end, recovered the fumble at the 24 to set up the Buckeyes’ final points.
“I knew when I got in that slot today it was going to be something,” Mathews said. “I knew it.”
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Position versatility is big for the Matt Patricia-coached defense. Mathews has been taking some practice reps in the slot position all along. He doesn’t care where he plays.
“I just like to be on the field,” he said.
The final touchdown came on quarterback Julian Sayin’s two-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Smith, who made an All-American move on the cornerback who whiffed when he tried to jam Smith at the line of scrimmage.
Smith’s jukiest of moves to the inside, then to the outside was slicker than anything seen in this town since Red Grange galloped up and down the gridiron. Smith got four steps to the defender’s one step and was an easy target for Sayin.
“It was an awesome route,” Sayin said. “I was anticipating I was going to have to kind of leave it a little short so he could go up and get it. But he beat him so bad.”
Speaking of bad beats. Defensive tackle Kayden McDonald paid no attention to the man in head-to-toe orange who tried to block him when he tackled running back Ca’Lil Valentine at the line of scrimmage, ripped the ball loose and recovered the fumble at the Illinois 26. Valentine’s leg was injured on the play, and two teammates carried him off the field.
Caden Curry celebrates this third quarter fumble recovery in the Buckeyes 34-16 win over Illinois.
“Coach Patricia preaches taking the ball away, and I feel like we needed that in the moment,” McDonald said. “They’re little guys. I’m a big guy. I could easily take it away. And once I got the opportunity, I just took it.”
Before Illinois recovered, Sayin threw a pass to running back Bo Jackson in the left flat. No one in orange saw Jackson. He got one block from tight end Max Klare down the sideline and scored a 17-yard touchdown for a 20-3 lead going into halftime.
The defense, as well as it played again, left two regrets on the field. They allowed the first red zone touchdowns of the season. The first, however, was allowed quite grudgingly.
The Illini were stopped inches from the goal line on a shovel pass up the middle. Then Altmyer tried to get away and was pulled down by linebacker Sonny Styles at the sideline those same few inches from the goal line on third down.
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Would the Buckeyes man up another goal-line stand? Illinois got smarter than everyone else who keeps trying to go straight ahead in these situations. Altmyer handed off, then the ball was pitched even wider to Aidan Laughery who scored easily to trim Ohio State’s lead to 20-10 with 10:06 left in the third quarter.
James Peoples somehow ran through this tackle attempt for yards and a first down during the Buckeyes win in Champaign.
No fear. The offensive identity Saturday was to slug away, live with short gains on the ground and passes underneath. And the Buckeyes did that next with a 14-play, 63-yard drive that docked over seven minutes off the clock. Donaldson scored from the two, and the Buckeyes had left too little time for Illinois to come back from a 27-10 deficit.
“The guys played really hard, and it’s hard to focus that long, especially up front,” Sayin said. “To punch it in like that and give us the 17-point lead was awesome.”
Punching. That’s what the Buckeyes did on offense. The fact that they were outgained 295-272 is misleading. The touchdown drives were 35, 26, 63 and 24 yards. Short fields reduce the opportunities for explosive plays like the Buckeyes put on Minnesota last Saturday.
“The thing that was tricky was – and it’s a good thing – but we were in plus territory a lot,” Day said. “It’s hard to be explosive. And then when we were a little bit towards midfield, they were playing a little bit more coverage.”
But that’s OK. Because those situations reveal his team’s character. Sayin didn’t try to do too much. No one did. They blocked for the plays that were called and took what they could from the Illini defense. So what if the offense had the feel of a little like two years ago.
“That goes back to the unselfishness of our team, understanding what needs to get done,” Day said. “There’s a lot of plays that we’re going to want to come back, but I thought there was a lot of good, physical runs down there where we had to punch the ball in. We did what we had to do to win the game. That’s the bottom line.”
Maybe not two thumbs up. But at least one.
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