BYE WEEK

On first reflection, the bye week came at a most opportune time for the Ohio State Buckeyes.  The glaring issues along the line of scrimmage, undisciplined play resulting in penalties, and lack of a ground game, finally caught up with this team in the shellacking at Purdue.  Nevertheless, don’t believe all the so-called “experts” that now peg Michigan as a favorite for the college football playoff.  Michigan still has Penn State to get through and has to come to Columbus, a place where they haven’t won since Bill Clinton was president.  Then, there’s Urban Meyer’s domination of the Wolverines, but we’ll go further into it as that game approaches.  The Buckeyes still have to play them one at a time, beginning with Nebraska on Saturday.  But, they must improve on their shortcomings to come through these last four regular-season games unscathed.  

            Ohio State’s running game has trended downward since the opening win over Oregon State and despite having one of the nation’s most talented backfields, the Buckeyes have averaged less than 3.3 yards per carry in their last four games.  They have only 12 rushing touchdowns all year.  J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber have 521 and 516 yards respectively.  This is the first time under Coach Meyer, the quarterback does not offer a significant running threat and the Ohio State offense and the offensive coaches have yet to make a consistent adjustment.  Many of the run play calls, I have noticed, are the same ones they called when J.T. Barrett was here.  Opposing defenses know Haskins is not the same threat on the ground as Barrett was, so they load up the box and Dobbins and Weber don’t have much of anywhere to go.  The offensive coaching staff should try some more traditional pro-style running plays that allow the running backs to attack different holes and the offensive line to block to the point of attack.  Perhaps this could allow the offensive line to gain some traction on the line of scrim age and start knocking opposing defenses off the ball, as they are well capable of doing.  They also should utilize Tate Martell as a “red zone quarterback” with his true dual-threat ability, as they did in 2015 with J.T. Barrett coming in for Cardale Jones.  This could be a solution for their “red zone” issues; the Buckeyes have scored touchdowns in the red zone at a mere 56 percent clip.  It hit a low the past two games with two field goals in the red zone against Minnesota and Purdue.  This, of course, goes hand-in-hand with lack of execution on the ground.  Ohio State’s offense currently ranks second in the nation  at 555.5 yards per game, so the offense can move the ball.  Perhaps they can experiment with more “tight” formations utilizing two tight ends, along with Martell and Dobbins and Weber in the backfield on the same plays.

Ohio State is averaging over 75 yards per game in penalties, ranking them 119^th in the nation and have committed at least nine penalties in five games this season.  Particularly galling was the two penalties on Purdue third downs where they were stopped and would’ve punted, however Davon Hamilton roughed the punter and Dre’Mont Jones got flagged for a late hit, which led to Purdue touchdowns.  Now, some of the holding and pass interference calls were bad calls by the refs, but roughing the passer and false starts are simply lack of discipline and those issues should’ve been corrected long before the eighth game of the season. 

Giving up big plays to the opposition has been an obvious issue since the beginning of the season.  Against TCU and Purdue, the Buckeyes gave up 93-yard touchdowns, which are the two longest plays ever against an Ohio State defense.  Defensive coach Greg Schiano said they have already started moving the linebackers away from the line of scrimmage, which may help them be in better position to cut down on the big plays

So, the question is, can the Buckeyes win out from here?  Yes, they can.  They have better players and coaches than the four teams left on their regular-season schedule. Of those four games remaining, the one in East Lansing against Michigan State figures to be their toughest test due to the recent history of the OSU-MSU series.  But the road to improvement must start this Saturday against Nebraska and go from there.