Grading the Bucks: Illinois

Short post this week.  Summary: Illinois sucks and the Buckeyes did what they were supposed to.

Offense: A
Not much to nitpick here.  Braxton is improving, Hyde has been a bulldozer, and we finally did what we should have to an inferior opponent.  I'm loving the running game.  Passing looked better, but the opponent sucks.  Braxton gives plays that show you the amazing potential...and then the converse 'duh' moments.  Not many 'duh' moments this weekend.  Let's hope he keeps it up.  The receivers really need to step up.  Stoneburner has been a real disappointment this year.  Outside of 1 deep TD vs. PSU, I haven't been impressed.  Smith has shown moments of brilliance followed by killer drops.  Passing game needs work, but 52 points in a rout makes me happy.

Defense: B+
The only reason I'm avoiding the A is the number of points surrendered.  That being said, I really liked what I saw.  Shazier is playing like a man possessed, Roby is shutting the opposition down, and Boren is stepping it up.  Christian Bryant is regressing back into the 'blow em up' tackling and missing which is very concerning.  Undisciplined play is a concern with the penalties, but most of those penalties were ridiculous.  I love the attack mentality we're starting to see with the defense.  Again, let's hope it continues against a real opponent.

Special Teams: C
The downgrade here is purely with respect to the kickoff coverage.  Maybe it's brought to the forefront when we score more points because we kickoff more, but we're giving up good starting field position on kickoff returns.  I'm starting to wonder why Basil doesn't bury the kickoffs in the endzone.  The piranhas are starting to get out of their lanes and miss tackles.  Kicking was nice, but I really get nervous on punt and kick coverage now.

Coaching: B
Eh...nothing special, but no problem.  No beefs, but nothing to 'wow' me.

Overall: B+/A-
Nice to win in a rout (1st time since Nebraska or Miami).  Room for improvement, but definite strides forward after the last month of questionable play.