Still...not. good. enough.
Offense: C-
This offense has the skill player to absolutely annihilate the competition...and I didn't see enough yesterday. Cardale made some horrible decisions (hidden by the fact that Hawai'i is bad), Zeke couldn't get going, and the team was just blah. Curtis Samuel had a fantastic game but that was the only bright spot offensively. The playcalling was questionable once again. More to come later on that. JT brought came in and ran the standard offense quite well. Many are judging the poor two-minute drill as a monster negative. I don't because that's not his skill set. Running the zone read was great again. I know I'm picky about Cardale's game, but I think an objective viewer would have just as much to be desired. Braxton ran well again, but it's becoming predictable (more later).
Defense: A
Nothing bad to say here (except for the dropped interceptions). There's really nothing to nitpick when the goose-egg is on the scoreboard for the opponent. The pass coverage was excellent (first time Hawai'i held under 100 passing yards since 1998). A couple hiccups with stupid, but overall consistent sure tackling. Darron Lee was fantastic (on defense) as were the rest of the linebackers. D-line looked pretty good with Bosa's return. Bosa demolished his man but got double teamed a lot. Expect that to continue so time for the backside DE to push the envelope.
Special Teams: Hot garbage
Death, taxes, and Urban Meyer special teams kicking off out of bounds--the few sureties in life. Darron Lee was great on defense but the roughing the punter in the endzone...c'mon man. I'm at the point where I want a touchback every time on kickoffs (I've always said that), play base defense vs. punts and let all punts bounce. This is a major issue...but we won the title last year so...eh?
Coaching: B-
Defensive coaching was fine. Again, the offensive playcalling raised eyebrows. Why is Zeke running laterally? Will Braxton ever hand off on the read option? Why is JT lined up outside when Braxton takes the snap? These are serious questions that the dumb fan in me has raised...and if I see it, I would expect the opposing team sees these trends. Every time Zeke went between the tackles, he got about 4+ yards. Stretch plays or read sweeps yielded -1 to 2 yards. I just don't understand why the playcalling doesn't match the strength of the players.
Overall: B-
38-0 shutout and I'm giving a slightly above average grade. Why? Because this game was closer than it should have been. OSU should have limped to 50+ points. The defense was great but I was not pleased with the offense. There is still work to do. I think the coaching staff needs to gameplan with the players skills in mind. When everything gels, look out.
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