Key Takeaways as Buckeyes polish off nonconference slate

COLUMBUS -- Ronnie Hickman pointed to the scoreboard, but it wasn't to gloat about an Ohio State blowout victory.

The Buckeyes could have just looked at the huge margin of victory and patted themselves on the back. Hickman could have accepted the accolades for forcing the first turnover of the season for Ohio State. Or he even could have made a couple excuses for a shorthanded secondary that allowed some of the few blemishes in the rout on Saturday night over Toledo.

Instead the veteran safety looked at the latter half of the 77-21 victory over the Rockets -- and made clear that wasn't good enough for the Silver Bullets.

"Yeah, for sure -- we have expectations, we have a standard and 21 points is not the standard," Hickman said before leaving the Horseshoe. "We came out with a win. But we'll have get back in the room tomorrow to get it fixed and get ready for Wisconsin next week."

The Buckeyes will still head into the start of Big Ten play with something of a unique mindset: Bursting with confidence, yet still not satisfied.

There is room for growth in all three phases for Ohio State after sweeping through its nonconference slate, and that might be a scary thought for the rest of the conference based on what the program put on display on Saturday. But before moving ahead to the matchup with Wisconsin, Dotting The Eyes is taking another look back at the lessons learned about the Buckeyes during the throttling of the Rockets.

There should have never been any real concern that the Ohio State aerial show would eventually get off the ground. But after a relatively disjointed start in the opener and even a few inconsistent moments a week ago while the Buckeyes, the Deathstar appeared fully operational again by Week Three. There is plenty of credit to go around for the fast work on the project, especially since Jaxon Smith-Njigba was clearly still not himself during his handful of snaps against Toledo. Everything really starts with the next-level evolution of quarterback C.J. Stroud, but the way sophomores Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka have elevated their games seemingly game by game as they add experience has been incredible to watch. Now with Ohio State even having a weapon it trusts at tight end in Cade Stover, it has somehow become even more deadly through the air. The ceiling is only going to get higher once Smith-Njigba returns to form.

There is simply no denying it: When Mike Hall is not on the field, it's obvious right now that the Silver Bullets aren't the same. The sophomore defensive tackle was a full participant in warmups and was dressed for the game on Saturday, but the left shoulder injury that knocked him out of the Arkansas State win had to still be lingering since he didn't play a single snap. Ohio State was able to generate some pressure from the edges, and aside from some quarterback scrambles was mostly able to stay solid against the ground game. But the productivity dropped off precipitously without Hall on the interior, where guys like Taron Vincent and Jerron Cage didn't even register a single tackle. In short order, Hall has become close to indispensable to the national-title hopes for Ohio State -- and resting him against Toledo was probably the best way to protect those long-term interests.

Normally a walking boot on the foot of TreVeyon Henderson would be cause for a little bit of panic, particularly for a team that already was stretched thinner at tailback after losing backup Evan Pryor for the season during training camp. But the Buckeyes didn't really bat an eye, and there were two reasons for that: A) Ohio State doesn't believe the injury to be serious and B) There's still some eye-catching depth available. It's no secret that Miyan Williams has become a legitimate weapon for the Buckeyes and is at least in a co-starter conversation with Henderson. But after that, Dallan Hayden has not looked like a true freshman for a single second when called on to boost the backfield -- and he's actually the first guy from that unit to post a 100-yard outing after tearing through Toledo. Hayden isn't necessarily going to take away snaps from Williams or a healthy Henderson, but the fact that he clearly could handle them is significant for the Buckeyes moving forward. Plus, the Buckeyes might have also unearthed a gem in walk-on TC Caffey after he dropped some jaws in the fourth quarter. Ohio State doesn't expect Henderson to be gone long, if at all. But it seems like it might be able to survive just fine even if he was.

The accountability for penalties was ramped up on the practice field, and that translated directly to the Horseshoe. The Buckeyes were only flagged once for five yards in the win over Toledo, a false-start penalty on the offensive line in the midst of some apparent communication issues before the snap. Ohio State also had an offsetting personal foul that didn't produce any lost yardage, and the coaching staff was also warned for a sideline infraction at one point on a punt. But after a couple weeks of less-than-ideal discipline with penalties, the Buckeyes cleaned that up decisively and showed what can happen when they set their mind to something.