My thoughts on the young QB in the context of this game:
He showed signs of being competitive and mentally able to handle a very big road game against an elite opponent. Mentally he already seems tougher than some past, highly-touted QB flame-outs we have had.
His passing game needs work, but there is reason to be optimistic. Some of his throws were late, which is to be expected for a guy that missed a year of high school and is in his first year of real starting in several years. He had a couple of nice intermediate and long throws that give me some reason for staying positive.
The designed runs were mostly called at bad times and didn't fool anybody. Though I give credit to OSU's defensive line which looks better than advertised early on; also noting the issues with our IOL are pretty obvious. Correll needs to go to the bench and Patterson back to starting C. We need consistent push inside against the big-boy DLs on our schedule.
Rees fumbled the second half play calling, but I know why he did. He knows Buchner is not ready to carry the team with the pass; it's just our OL problems prevented Rees from integrating Buchner more in the running game. I also think not using other RBs for speed and change of pace more was a mistake that did not help Buchner and the offense be multiple enough to keep OSUs defense honest.
The WRs were not consistent enough to implement a full passing game plan. Avery's injury did not help, and Salerno is not in his class as an athlete though he tries hard. We could have used his veteran presence especially down the middle where the OSU defense was most vulnerable.
OSU sat on Mayer's routes and their quickness on the outside often negated his size advantage. Quickness is the best way to counter size (if you don't have equal size) in both basketball and football, and OSU players have plenty of quickness and raw speed.
This is a building game for the young QB. He did the most important thing first, he kept his head in a hostile environment on the road. He ran the plays called, but he just needs to get more consistent in the passing game. This is going to be a process, perhaps one in which Tyler reaches his true potential in year 2 of starting and not this year. How well he adapts to the college passing game will determine his ultimate fate, as he appears to have the intangibles and athleticism that he needs.
