Haskins helps Buckeyes chew up Beavers

COLUMBUS — And, they’re off and running and passing and scoring with reckless abandon.

The talented but troubled Ohio State football team shrugged off a preseason of turmoil and finally got to focus on the field. On Saturday, a 77-31 destruction of Oregon State showed the fifth-ranked Buckeyes have the firepower to be their dangerous selves and contend in the Big Ten and beyond.

The toothless Beavers made for an easy opener for interim head coach Ryan Day, subbing in for the suspended Urban Meyer. That well-documented item has dominated the preseason.

“Not nervous because there was a quiet confidence about this team all along, there’s a quiet confidence about a lot of guys on our team,” Day said. “My job is not to replace Urban Meyer. My job is just to keep this place until he gets back.”

That will be this week for practice, although Meyer will miss the next two games, including next week’s Big Ten opener with Rutgers. On Saturday the Buckeye boss watched his team score 11 touchdowns on 13 possessions, with only a red-zone pick and a fumbled punt halting them.

The ugly interception was virtually the only mistake first-year starting quarterback Dwayne Haskins had all day.

“He knows I’m going to be all over him for that third-down throw in the red zone,” Day said. “But I thought it was a good start for him.”

Otherwise, the Buckeyes were unstoppable. Haskins completed 22-of-30 passes for 313 yards and 5 TDs. Running back Mike Weber ripped off 186 yards on 20 carries and scored three touchdowns. Receiver Terry McLaurin caught four passes for 121 yards and a pair of scores. The Buckeyes threw for 346 yards and ran for 375 more. It added up to a whopping 35 first downs and 721 yards of offense.

“Really proud of the way Mike has practiced. We’ve been talking about that for a while now. He’s had a really good preseason … so it was really good to see him play well today,” Day said. “We brought three guys up in the locker room, he was one of them. Malcolm Pridgeon was another one and Terry McLaurin was a third.

“Those three guys have arguably been some of the best practice players we’ve had and they had really good days today, so that was great.”

Still, all eyes were on Haskins, and he was outstanding. With a completely different skillset than three-time, first-team All-Big Ten QB J.T. Barrett, or two-time Big Ten MVP Braxton Miller, Haskins showed off a quick release and a powerful, accurate arm that will force the Buckeyes away from the zone-read option that dominated the offense during Meyer’s first six years in Columbus.

Ohio State was wildly successful with that approach, a national championship, another undefeated season, two Big Ten titles, at least a Big Ten co-division crown in the Big Ten in each of Meyer’s six seasons, not to mention postseason wins over Alabama, Oregon, Notre Dame and USC.

But it’s also true much of Buckeye Nation was anxious to see what a downfield passing game might look like. Haskins offers the chance to observe exactly that.

“I thought Dwayne started well, played well. Obviously he had the one play there that he’d like to have back, but overall it was a good start for him,” Day said. “He’s a gifted passer and does that really well.”

Perhaps an overlooked aspect of the attack was the Buckeyes’ quick tempo. Ohio State has tried it over the years with limited success. Barrett was so risk-averse it bordered on paralysis-by-analysis at times, and made it tough to push the tempo. Obviously only a fool would argue with the results. Barrett owns 25 school records, is the Big Ten’s career total offense leader, was 9-3 against Top 10 teams, 4-0 against Michigan and was the first three-time captain in school history.

Yet Haskins gives the program a chance to turn the page.

“I just want to keep moving fast with the ball and make good decisions with the ball,” Haskins said.

Day approved of that aspect of his sophomore’s performance, too.

“We played with tempo today and we played aggressively,” Day said. “I thought we stretched the field today. We stretched it vertically and horizontally, which was the goal. But I thought the tempo was really good.”

“We want to be in control, there are certain times when we think it gives us an advantage.

However, Ohio State also showed some significant defensive chinks that need immediate attention with 16th-ranked TCU looming in a road war two weeks away.

The Beavers, who won one game a year ago, were overmatched when they got off the bus. Even Meyer’s absence couldn’t change that. However, running back Artavis Pierce ripped off two long touchdown runs (80 and 78 yards) and backup quarterback Conor Blount threw for 169 yards and two TDs to Tevon Blount.

“Obviously, that’s a good football team we were playing,” first-year coach Jonathan Smith told Beaver Sports Radio Network after the game. “But there’s some things we can control and improve on.

Only defensive end Nick Bosa, who had a pair of sacks and two fumble recoveries, one for a touchdown, distinguished himself defensively.

With Bosa leading the charge, the Buckeyes showed a strong pass rush, but the back seven looked vulnerable, something that will need cleaned up in short order.