When No. 4 Ohio State (4-0, 1-0) and No. 9 Penn State (4-0, 1-0) take the field Saturday night, some old football adages will be at the forefront for both teams, but maybe not the same adages.
Both teams are obviously going to have to win the battle up front in order to win the Battle of Four Quarters, but they may be fighting different campaigns in order to get it done.
For the Nittany Lions, if they can run the ball, then their offense is going to be almost impossible to stop. No Big Ten team is running the ball better than their 275 yards per game. A strong running game will open up the play-action and the run-pass option, and with all of the varieties that Penn State can throw at a defense, the Buckeyes may never get a good footing.
For the Ohio State offense, defenses have set out to stop their running game, and for good reason. That decision, however, has also left the Buckeye receivers in single coverage, and with the way the offensive line has protected quarterback Dwayne Haskins, there may be no good poison to pick for an opposing defense.
Ohio State is leading the B1G in passing (365.8 ypg), completion percentage (76.9), touchdown passes (17), fewest interceptions (1), and pass efficiency (200.69).
A large part of the reason for OSU’s superior passing performance this season has been that quarterback Dwayne Haskins has had time to throw the ball. Ohio State has only allowed six sacks in four games.
That’s why Penn State knows that if they are going to disrupt an Ohio State offense that is second in the nation in scoring (to Penn State), they are going to have to get to the quarterback and get Haskins off rhythm.
“I think it’ll make it hard to beat any team if you don’t get pressure on the quarterback, and especially Dwayne,” Penn State defensive end Shareef Miller said this week. “Just the way he has been putting up numbers these past couple games. So that’s going to be a real focus point for us to get pressure on him.”
Normally, every defense will set out to stop the run, especially against Ohio State. While Penn State will do the same, they know that if they don’t get pressure on Haskins, it may not matter what the Buckeyes do in the ground game.
“I would say Ohio State’s offensive line is really good,” Miller said. “They have a lot of experienced guys. But come Saturday with the game plan [defensive coordinator Brent] Pry will have for us, [defensive line coach Sean] Spencer, we’re going to create pressure this Saturday.
Creating that pressure will be key, and they don’t expect it to be easy. Ohio State may only have two returning starters on the offensive line in the same spots they were in a year ago, but that doesn’t appear to be holding them back according to Penn State head coach James Franklin.
This week, Franklin was asked what the biggest difference in the Buckeye offense from last year to this year is, and rather than cite a passing game that is more prolific than any ever seen in Columbus before, Franklin went to the offensive line.
“I think the biggest difference for them in some ways, probably similar to us, is that it’s the best O-line that they’ve had,” he said.
“They are massive. You look at them on film and it’s like they’re all legs, unusual that you see a six-foot-seven center. That’s not something you typically see and they’re pretty much six-foot-six to six-foot-seven across the board, about 315 pounds across the board. This is a big, athletic offensive line, and I think they kind of set the tone for everything and then they’re just so balanced.
Because of Urban Meyer’s desire for balance, Franklin knows that if the Penn State defense leans one way or the other, the Ohio State offense can take whatever the defense has decided to allow.
So far this season, defenses have taken their chances with allowing Haskins to throw the ball, and they have each paid a dear price for that decision.
If Penn State is going to win this game Saturday night, they will have to get to Haskins. If they don’t, it may not matter what else the Nittany Lion defense accomplishes. We have seen this season that with time, Haskins has been almost perfect. Franklin knows pressure is going to be key.
“That’ll be a significant challenge for us,” he said. “Being able to get pressure on the quarterback is not something that people have necessarily consistently been able to do against them, for a couple of reasons. Number one, I think the quarterback does a good job of getting the ball out of his hands quickly, and I think they’ve done a good job with their scheme and the talent that they have at wideout that typically his first or second progression is open because of the scheme and because of the talent, that he’s not holding on to the ball very long as well. I think it’s a combination of those two things.
“We’re going to have to make him uncomfortable in the pocket and get to him, some of that will have to be through pressure, but some of that’s going to have to be with four down,” Franklin said. “That’ll be a challenge, because I do think this O-Line is probably the best O line we’ve seen since I got here in terms of playing Ohio State.”
A good plan to attack that type of pressure falls right into the slot receivers and H-Back wheehouses, not even mentioning halfback hot reads, or TE checks. Parris Campbell can take a dump pass the distance. KJ catches anything in his vicinity, and if they want to go to Demario, he can wear a defensive secondary out trying to chase him all over the field.
If PSU is going to get the type of pressure they’re talking about they are going to need 5 or 6 guys to get it done. LOL…….Good luck matching up with the skill players the Buckeyes are going to put on the field.
The strength of the Nits are the defensive ends. Thayer and Isaiah are going to have their hands full………….thankfully they’re big hands attached to pretty darned athletic players. Isaiah will probably have PSU’s best pass rusher across from him most of the night. So far PSU hasn’t shown a propensity to move him around from the right side of the offensive line. He’ll get a nights worth of beating from Isaiah, who has worked himself into being one of the top offensive linemen in the Country. Isaiah is just flat out mean, and he has the skills and size to make him……….ah……..TROUBLESOME.
I really like the Buckeye offense against the Penn State defense.