COLUMBUS: Admit it, Buckeyes nation — you thought this was going to be a dance through a rose garden for Ohio State this season.
But what became increasingly clear during a 48-3 win over Tulsa on Saturday at Ohio Stadium is that coach Urban Meyer and his staff will have to do their share of nursing this version of the Buckeyes along — on both sides of the ball.
After plucking the Bowling Green Falcons 77-10 last week, the Buckeyes walked face-first into some strong Golden Hurricane wind. An Oklahoma team was supposed to be the toughest test on the schedule, but everyone assumed it would be the Sooners, who OSU will play next week.
However, for at least a brief period of time, that team instead was Tulsa as the Buckeyes struggled on offense and defense.
Tulsa’s defense gave up 53 yards rushing in their first game — just 1.7 yards per carry — so no one should have been surprised that Buckeyes runners Mike Weber and Curtis Samuel weren’t exactly running free.
When they tried to go inside? Stuffed. Pushed back. Stifled. In the first half, the Buckeyes produced 158 total yards. They had more success in the second half, and finished with 417.
Early on, the Buckeyes’ defense suffered from the same sluggishness before being poked one time too many. Missing defensive lineman Tracy Sprinkle and outside linebacker Dante Booker, an Akron native, the Buckeyes allowed the Hurricane to push through on more than one occasion.
Greater football minds will say it is better to bend than break. Sometimes, however, that’s not the case in college football.
Bending and not breaking gets you a meager 6-3 lead at the 10:10 mark of the second quarter and allows an upset-minded opponent to build confidence just from being able to hang around.
Perhaps someone told the Buckeyes’ defense that, because when that relatively inexperienced unit needed to be shaken from its doldrums, it delivered.
“I saw some disappointment in the way we played offensively in the first half,” Meyer said. “But good teams pick up each other.”
It rained buckets — causing a 50-minute delay because of lightning strikes — and turnovers. And OSU defensive backs took advantage to deliver two touchdowns on interceptions to give the crowd something to actually cheer.
The first came courtesy of safety Malik Hooker’s sticky fingers. Hooker jumped a crossing route, snagged the pass and ran 26 yards to the end zone for a 13-3 lead.
“I just felt like we weren’t playing with the intensity we needed to play at, and I just wanted to make a play for the team,” Hooker said. “… I made a good play and the offense got rolling, and once we get rolling we’re hard to stop.”
Moments later, with 33 seconds left in the half, Marshon Lattimore stole a pass at the Hurricane 40 and raced to the end zone for a touchdown to give the Bucks a 20-3 halftime lead.
In all, the Buckeyes have seven interceptions this season — three for pick-sixes — after they had a total of 12 last year.
Those turnovers seemed to inspire the OSU offense, which came out and took control on the opening possession of the second half with a 9-play, 72-yard drive that culminated in J.T. Barrett’s 11-yard touchdown run.
That started a half of offensive football that fans expected — but it should not have come to that.
The score will reflect a dominating effort when, in fact, the Buckeyes played sluggishly. They simply didn’t put together a complete game.
And it will take that and a team playing in complete harmony next week against the Sooners — another Oklahoma team — in Norman.