Monday, October 03, 2016

Grading the Bucks: Week 5 -- Rutgers

Not much to say here.  Total domination once again.  I'm going to start adding MVP's here for each unit as well!

Offense: A    
MVP: Mike Weber and JT Barrett (for setting the record for career passing TDs at OSU)
After the poorly thrown pick by JT early on and discounting one other poor throw later in the game, there are really no other negatives.  The line shut down the pass rush and the skill positions dominated as you'd expect against an overmatched foe.  Mike Weber was fantastic and continues to impress with his vision and shiftiness.  It's also time to start talking more about Demario McCall with his breakaway speed.  I would have loved to see a little more in the passing game, but it simply wasn't needed.  Overall, great performance all around.

Defense: A+
MVP: The whole unit
This unit continues to surpass expectations.  After that first drive, I don't think Rutgers crossed the 50.  That's just an incomprehensible achievement.  Rutgers didn't complete a pass after the first quarter...mostly because they saw that throwing was futile against this group.  The sure tackling and relentless pursuit were beautiful to see when faced with countless missed tackles by top teams throughout the rest of the day.  So far, Greg Schiano is the runaway assistant coach of the year...and it's not close.  You can argue the defense is talented, but no one saw this coming with the inexperience.

Special Teams: B+
MVP: None
I'll lower the score for that missed PAT (c'mon Tyler), but what else can you say? Coverage was good, the FG was made, and punts were...nonexistent (hard to grade when you don't need to punt).  Solid day other than the missed extra point.

Coaching: A
Again, tough to grade the coaches when the talent gap is this wide.  While I said I'd like to see more development in the passing game, it just wasn't needed and perhaps Urban didn't want to rub Chris Ash's face in the dirt.  No Noah Brown sighting until late was a big bothersome from a development standpoint (no substitute for live action), but there wasn't a need.  Defensive scheme was great as it's been all year.

Overall: A
The only real blemishes were the interception and the missed PAT.  If that's the worst thing we see all day, this team isn't losing.  Sometimes, games like these provide a letdown.  I'm very happy to see that there is no mercy granted by this team.  The fire remained (credit the coaching staff) and the results speak for themselves.  If this continues, the sky's the limit.  There's only one team in the country that can hang with this team at their peak, but there's still work to be done.  On to the next one.

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