COLUMBUS, Ohio - After watching a complete dismantling of an overmatched Cincinnati defense that was a late botched snap away from being the most impressive statistical performance an Ohio State offense has ever had, Urban Meyer had a right to smile.
He didn't, probably because the Ohio State defense is still somewhere between struggling and scary enough to give up 500 yards to anybody.
Meyer could have, though, because Ohio State beat Cincinnati to the edge, beat Cincinnati in the trenches and threw the ball over Cincinnati's head. The final score was 50-28, and that's only because both teams let up a little bit in the fourth quarter, and an Ohio Stadium-record crowd left thinking that these Buckeyes are coming along nicely with Big Ten play around the corner.
These Buckeyes can score and score fast. That Virginia Tech game seems like it was a lot longer than three weeks ago.
"When you have a horizontal and vertical punch, that's the hardest offense to defend" Meyer said.
Might this eventually be the turbo-charged, hard-to-defend offense Buckeyes fans have been waiting for? Could one game that was far from perfect but still resulted in 710 total yards be the beginning of what Meyer, offensive coordinator Tom Herman and a bunch of highly-touted skill-position players have been hoping they could produce?
At very least, it's a start and proof that a tune-up over Kent State and a bye weekend have served the offense well. Saturday, J.T. Barrett threw for 330 yards and 4 touchdowns. Ezekiel Elliott ran for 182 yards and a score. The Buckeyes sprinted to the line, Barrett looked confident and took just one sack and lots of people got involved, specifically unique sophomore speedster Dontre Wilson, who caught a touchdown pass among his seven touches that resulted in 92 total yards.
Inside and out, Ohio State pounded Cincinnati. The carnage ended up 8 yards shy of the school record for total offense, and it would have been that if not for a late, errant snap that cost Ohio State 20 yards, only 10 of which were gained back on the next play. There were only a few throws Barrett would want back and just as many that should have been caught, but Ohio State was the aggressor and not only hustled to the line with its preferred tempo, but had guys playing fast after the snap.
"We looked like we were running in the mud on the edges," Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville said.
There's no way to simulate Ohio State's speed on most practice fields. A glance at the schedule shows the Buckeyes have until Nov. 8 at Michigan State to get operating even faster.
Ohio State led Cincinnati, 30-7, just over two minutes into the second quarter. By 9:20 of the third quarter the lead was down to 33-28 after three Cincinnati quick-strike scores before Ohio State scored the last 17.
"Pissed," Meyer said of the mid-game letdown. "Great teams don't do that."
The defense is still giving up to many big plays, but that's for a different discussion and a different day.
The offense is going really fast. If Ohio State has to win 50-49 on one of these Saturdays, it might be able to do it.
Racking up 300 yards passing and rushing in the same game is pretty rare air. It's a pretty good formula, too, even when the competition gets better. Eventually, it will.
Ohio State had the ball for 41:56. The final totals were 380 yards rushing and 330 passing and that lull late in the first half and the lopsided score late kept at least one of those totals from flying over the 400-yard mark. The Buckeyes had 236 yards and 15 first downs in the first quarter.
This is a team still trying to finalize an offensive line after losing four linemen and a bull of a running back from last year's team, a team that lost its quarterback in preseason camp and has played much of this season without its star tight end.
"We're an offensive line-driven team," Meyer said, finally letting on that he sees improvement. He had praise for Elliott, too, noting that he has all the tools "to be one of the best we've had here" if he continues to improve.
There's plenty of room to grow, Meyer said of Elliott.
Same goes for the sum of Ohio State's parts.
