By PAUL GOTHAM
COLUMBUS, OH — The top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes put a vise grip on the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors in a 38-0 win at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.
How it happened
Ohio State endured seven penalties (eight counting an offsetting situation), a handful of botched snaps and a shoddy air attack for their second win of the season and 15th in a row. Not that the game was ever in question, but 14 points over 1:19 in a 21-point fourth quarter put the game out of reach. Ezekiel Elliott punched it over from one yard out for his third TD of the day. Three plays later Vonn Bell grabbed a fumble and scampered 14 yards for a 31-0 Buckeye advantage.
Enjoying the grind
Urban Meyer adopted the mantra of “enjoy the grind” for the season. Saturday’s game typified the effort. Five days after scoring six touchdowns on less than 28:00 of possession, the Buckeyes held the ball for over 35 minutes Saturday. Ohio State took a 24-0 fourth quarter lead on a 17-play, 91-yard drive that consumed 8:05. The Buckeyes did not have a drive that lasted longer than 3:55 in the week one win. Ohio State’s longest drive in week one consisted of right plays. The Scarlet and Gray had three drives of nine or more in Saturday’s home opener.
Get out your microscope
That’s what you’re going to need to see Hawaii’s offensive production. The Rainbow Warriors gained 4.19 yards per play during their 28-20 win over Colorado in week one. Ohio State’s defense held the Rainbow Warriors to 2.7 yards on Saturday. Take away the first play of the game where Hawaii’s Max Wittek connected with Dylan Collie on a slant for 29 yards, and Hawaii gained 2.26 yards per play. Consider this: Hawai’i completed eight passes (Wittek went 7-for-28 and Ikaika Woolsey completed 1 of 2). Ohio State’s defense broke up eight passes and collected two interceptions. Bell stuffed the stat sheet with three tackles, three pass break ups, a fumble recovery, and interception and a touchdown. Joshua Perry and Raekwon McMillan had seven tackles apiece. Perry had one sack and one tackle for a loss. Gareon Conley broke up two passes and intercepted another.
Grounded
Elliott, who rushed the ball just 11 times in week one, had 27 of Ohio State’s 49 carries on Saturday. The junior scored three touchdowns and has four on the season. He scored 18 touchdowns a year ago.
Norm Chow
Hawaii’s fourth-year head coach includes on his resume stops at USC and a successful stint in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans as an offensive coordinator. Chow’s offense never found its rhythm at the Shoe. The Rainbow Warriors completed just six passes in their last 13 “drives.”
They said it
Ohio State’s Urban Meyer: “I’m going to go see my family, have a hell of a time tonight, and make sure our players come in bright eyed, ready to rock and roll tomorrow and get a little better. I love coaching these guys because they want to get better, too. But I can promise you this: We shall enjoy it. I’m not going to evaluate myself tonight.”
On Ohio State playing their second game in less than five days: “That’s a very solid excuse, one that’s not allowed. I made that clear down there. I mean, that’s good, that’s good to bring that up and say that’s the reason we didn’t play necessarily well on the offensive line.You’ll never hear that. If I do, then that coach has got a problem and that player has got a problem. That’s not execution. That takes away from that team.”
Hawaii’s Norm Chow: “We had way too many drops. You know the windows aren’t going to be very big when you play a good football team. The numbers don’t look good. We dropped a ton of balls and we can’t keep doing that. We talked about it before the game – every opportunity that we had to make a play we had to because we’re playing the No. 1 team in the country.”
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