When Ohio State took the field against Nebraska this weekend, the Buckeyes were returning home after a one-point road loss to the current No. 1 team in the country. Nebraska was hitting the road again after a disastrous performance in Bloomington, which led to Indiana’s 56-7 routing of the Huskers.
Maybe the Huskers just felt like getting in the Halloween spirit, or maybe the cracks in the Buckeyes’ foundation are just becoming easier for opponents to exploit. Either way, in theory, this game should never have been close, and yet, Ohio State just could not shake the Huskers.
In fact, for the better part of the game, the Buckeyes seemed half asleep out there. And unfortunately for Ohio State, bedtime is when Freddy Krueger does his best (worst?) work.
In the 1984 Wes Craven horror classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Krueger is the stuff of nightmares — literally. He targets a group of teenagers in their dreams, except that when Krueger kills you in dreamland, your death translates to reality too. We learn the rules of Krueger’s game early, when Tina Gray is chased by him in her nightmares only to realize upon waking up that her nightgown has been slashed.
But Krueger isn’t just haunting Gray’s nightmares. He’s also wrecking the sleepy time of Tina’s best friend—our protagonist Nancy Thompson—and Nancy’s boyfriend Glen.
So how do you shake something that only comes to life when you’re sleeping? You stay awake.
It’s advice the Buckeyes would do well to heed moving forward, though they failed to do so this weekend against the Huskers. Nebraska stayed right on the Buckeyes’ tails the entire game, outpacing Ohio State in time of possession, first downs, third-down conversions (the Buckeyes converted a mere one out of 10 third-down opportunities), and total rushing yards.
The Buckeyes struggled to establish their run game, in large part due to offensive line struggles. With talent like Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson at running back, coupled with Chip Kelly’s offensive schemas, it’s hard to blame anything but the offensive line’s ability to create room (which is also a credit to the job Nebraska did defensively).
Over the course of four quarters, they punted five times and missed a field goal they should have made. They should count their lucky stars that the defense managed to stop the Huskers from scoring after Will Howard threw an interception that put the Huskers on the two-yard line.
If they made any progress, the Huskers had an answer. Those answers came in the form of three field goals (long and impressive ones, at that), a touchdown run from Dante Dowdell to give the Huskers a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter, and a two-point conversion on that touchdown, all of which slashed the Buckeyes’ lead like Freddy Krueger chopping up humans in their sleep.
In fact, Krueger seems to stay on the heels of Nancy and her friends too. Any time they make headway on figuring out exactly what this freak’s deal is, they doze off and he’s back to swinging his little sword claws around.
“Seven, eight, gonna stay up late.
Nine, ten, never sleep again.”
Nancy does finally find a way to fight back that doesn’t involve a caffeine IV drip, and in that same vein, the Buckeyes got scrappy at the end to pull out the win—this week—thanks to a game-saving interception from Jordan Hancock. But, without spoiling it, at the end of the film, the door is still cracked open for more trouble from Freddy in the future, and if the Buckeyes don’t correct major issues fast, their nightmares might continue into the rest of the season.
Ohio State hits the road to face the currently undefeated Penn State next weekend in a matchup Penn State tends to keep close even when they’re at their weakest.
Suffice it to say, the Buckeyes need to show up, play their best game, and stay alert or their bad dreams will probably continue. I know mine certainly will if things don’t change soon.
