Recap: Ohio State 27, Nebraska 34

Carlos Hyde's 67-yard run.

When Ohio State (3-3, 0-2) built a 27-6 lead over the favored, 14th ranked Cornhuskers, Buckeye fans across the nation watching could believe that they had finally turned it around and were ready to start competing. The Cornhuskers were on their heels for the majority of this game, at least, until true freshman Braxton Miller gained 3 yards on a 2nd down play.

That play is significant because Miller hurt his ankle to the point in which he could not return in this game, but even previous before that, the ghost of Maurice Clarrett seemed to come to the Huskers side, as Lavonte David stripped the ball right out of Braxton Miller's hands on a medium gain run. After that, the Cornhuskers rolled on offense.

Perhaps the reason is when Braxton got hurt, that left the game in Joe Bauserman's hands. Bauserman came in when Ohio State was then clinging to a 27-13 lead, and went 1/10 (10% completion percentage) for 13 yards and 1 pick. Every incompletion sailed high over every intended target, even some wide open ones. On the flip side, Taylor Martinez and Rex Burkhead just dominated in the second half, as the defense for OSU must have been super tired after not getting any long breaks from touchdowns while Bauserman was in. Martinez went 16/22 passing for 191 yards and Burkhead ran for 119 yards on 26 carries. Carlos Hyde led the Buckeyes in rushing with 104 on only 13 carries. Before Braxton Miller was injured, he was doing very well throwing the ball, and of course running. He went 5/8 (62.5% completion percentage), and rushed for 95 yards on 10 carries.

My Thoughts:

- I really don't believe it's the defense's fault in this scenario. Joe Bauserman could not do anything to save his life, and with no breaks and Nebraska's offense coming off the ball as hard as they did in the beginning of the game, OSU's defense was going to get tired eventually.

- Not having DeVier Posey was a big deal, but not to the point of win/loss against Nebraska. I think the receivers did fairly well including Chris Fields, Devin Smith and having Philly Brown was already a difference.

- I hate Joe Bauserman. I don't think I have any words to describe what I felt when he went in last night and turned that performance in. I really try and restrain myself from "hating" any Buckeyes, but I just can't stand his play.

- Carlos Hyde was the better back tonight, and should have gotten more carries. I'll never understand why Bollman started throwing all over the field when Bauserman was in, but ran way more with Braxton Miller. Either way, Hyde did everything he could to try and get the Buckeyes the win.

- I really hope Braxton Miller is OK. We'll have more information on that later this week I'm sure, but for right now I'm worried. He really started to find his groove in passing (YES) and running the ball even better than he had been. I'm liking our chances against Illinois (6-0, 2-0) if Braxton is 100% come Saturday.