After dismantling Rutgers, Dwayne Haskins is ready for TCU

Dwayne Haskins and the Ohio State Buckeyes offense has continued to look unstoppable, and they’re doing it in a fashion that we haven’t seen before in the Urban Meyer era. Not only are they dominating on the ground at 300 yards per game — which is what we’ve grown accustomed to since Meyer has been around. But, they’re also doing an excellent job of meshing the run game and the passing game, which makes this offense nearly impossible to defend. In about five or so quarters of action, Haskins has completed a remarkable 79.2 percent of his throws for 546 yards, nine touchdowns and only one interception. For all that a dual-threat quarterback brings to an offense when things break down, it certainly is refreshing to have a pure pocket passer equipped with a rocket arm to lead the offense.

• Just like last week, the offensive line did an excellent job of keeping their quarterback clean and upright. On Haskins 25 dropbacks, he was only sacked, pressured and hit one time. Through two games, Haskins has only been sacked twice, pressured four times and hit three times.
• The only slightly concerning thing about the two sacks has been that the pressure has came up the middle both times — and Haskins did not see the defender either time. It’s great that he’s keeping his eyes downfield, but when he’s set to face more competitive and talented fronts, he needs to show better pocket awareness. His pocket presence should get better with more game reps.
• When Rutgers saw Ohio State run all over Oregon State with Mike Weber, Ryan Day played chess, while former Buckeye defensive coordinator Chris Ash, played checkers. He came out on the first play with play action, getting the defender to bite on the run fake and opening up an easy throwing window for Haskins to hit Parris Campbell for a 12-yard gain.
• As we know, Haskins throws a beautiful deep ball. It’s a mix of J.T. Barrett’s touch from his sophomore year with Cardale Jones’ arm strength. On the first touchdown pass, he cocked his arm from the Rutgers’ 44-yard line and hit Johnnie Dixon in stride about a yard into the end zone. Although he overshot Binjimen Victor on a deep ball, his deep accuracy is off the charts — which is refreshing.
• After J.K. Dobbins really never got it going Week 1 against Oregon State, Day made sure he pounded the rock with his young running back to get his confidence and rhythm going. At one point at the end of the first quarter, they gave Dobbins six straight touches (including a WR screen) and he finished with nine touches out of the 14 play scoring drive. Although the two backs are extremely special and are a dangerous one-two punch, both have likely been the workhorse of their respective offenses for their entire football lives. Taking every other series off might throw them out of rhythm and it will be important to get them both in rhythm early on.
• Playing against one of the better defensive minds in college football in Gary Patterson will present the biggest task of Haskins’ short collegiate career. Sure, getting thrown into the fire against Michigan was quite the test, but TCU has been preparing for this game all offseason with hope to shock the world. Just like when we saw Bud Foster back in 2014 throw in the Bear Front, expect a solid defensive game plan with a potential wrinkle to throw off the young quarterback. Either way, Haskins, Day and the rest of the Ohio State offense will be ready.