43
Buckeyes impressed by Arkansas quarterback Mallett
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo taken on Oct. 23, 2010, Arkansas running back Knile Davis walks off the field after their 38-24 victory over Mississippi in an NCAA college football game in Fayetteville, Ark. Davis has established himself as the No. 19 Razorbacks' top running back headed into Saturday's game against Vanderbilt.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett poses for a photograph during NCAA college football media day at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010. Mallett, who threw for 3,624 yards and 30 touchdowns last season, is practicing with the team after recovering from a broken foot.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams (45) waits on the sidelines for the start of the red-white intrasquad college football game at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, April 24, 2010.
BY Tim May
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS
The more Jermale Hines watches video of Arkansas and its quarterback Ryan Mallett, the more the safety likes what he sees as Ohio State prepares its opponent in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4.
“This is a more pro-style offense, so it’s more like real football, as I would say,” Hines surmised.
It’s not Texas — spread the field and let Colt McCoy fling it — like the Buckeyes faced in the Fiesta Bowl two years ago. And it’s not Oregon — a zone-read spread offense run by Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James that went sideways as much as it went down the field — like they faced in the Rose Bowl last season.
Arkansas has an offense in the classic sense, with the towering Mallett preferring to stay in the pocket and launch to a fleet of talented receivers. The Razorbacks also have the country’s best tight end, John Mackey award-winner D.J. Williams, and 1,000-yard running back Knile Davis.
“Sometimes they have a fullback in there, sometimes they have two tight ends in there, three tight ends,” Ohio State linebacker Ross Homan said. “So it really is kind of a smash-mouth game they can play at times.
“This is by far the best offense we’ve played against all year, so we’re taking it as a huge challenge for our defense and working on it every day in practice.”
The Buckeyes defense, which is second in the nation in total defense (250.58-yard average), has a month to prepare, just like in its past two bowl games.
Two years ago, even though McCoy threw for 414 yards, it took him 58 passes to do it while the Buckeyes were shutting down the Longhorns’ running game. In the end, McCoy put together a 78-yard drive, capped by a 26-yard touchdown pass to Quan Cosby, for a 24-21 victory. Ohio State still kept Texas 20 points below its average.
In the Rose Bowl, the Ohio State rarely let Oregon put two first downs together while its offense held the ball for 41 minutes. Oregon went in averaging 425 total yards and 37.7 points but managed just 260 and 17 in a 26-17 loss. So confounded were the Ducks that they thought the Buckeyes had cracked their hand signals.
What the Buckeyes had done, Hines said, was crazily study the Ducks’ tendencies. But stopping them was more about fighting the tendency to chase their offense.
“You knew everything they were going to do, and the big part against an offense like that was just basically staying at home,” Hines said.
Mallett, on the other hand, is no Masoli or even McCoy. Ohio State fans may remember him from his freshman season at Michigan, when he was the understudy to Chad Henne and thrust into the fray several times as Henne dealt with a shoulder injury. The 6-foot-7 Mallett prefers to throw from the pocket but almost always with the threat that Davis could take an inside handoff or an outside pitch.
The Buckeyes are primarily using 6-4 freshman quarterback Taylor Graham in practice to stand in for Mallett, with redshirt freshman Kenny Guiton helping. But it’s difficult to imitate Mallett. He has passed for 3,592 yards and 30 touchdowns with just 11 interceptions while directing the Razorbacks to a school-record 5,871 total yards and a 37.3-point scoring average.
“The biggest thing to me is his size and his arm strength, and his confidence,” Ohio State cornerback Devon Torrence said. “He just seems like he’s an all-around good quarterback. He doesn’t seem to be too arrogant or anything like that.
“He just seems like he’s an overall seasoned quarterback when you watch him play.”
So, for a third straight bowl game, Ohio State is preparing for a high-powered offense directed by a quarterback who is excellent at his particular craft.
“Texas, we played OK. We actually had a chance to win the game at the end, and we blew it,” Hines said. “Oregon, I’d say we played real good. That was a high-octane offense that had been scoring at will, and I feel like we did a very good job containing them. And I feel like in this outing we will do a good job as well.”