The 2018 Ohio State football team hasn’t looked much like the stereotypical Buckeye squad in a lot of ways.
The defense gave up big play after big play and ranked among the worst in the nation for much of September and October.
The team threw the ball more than any OSU team in history, breaking passing records on an almost weekly basis.
And for a full month, it couldn’t get a run game established, even against bad competition.
The Buckeyes averaged 3.2 yards per rush in the dramatic comeback at Penn State, 3.2 while beating Indiana, 2.9 in a win over Minnesota, and 3.0 against Purdue. You probably remember how that one turned out.
It was absolutely stunning to see a team that routinely put up numbers nearly double that against far better competition in 2017. OSU ran for 5.2 yards per carry against Penn State and 5.7 against Wisconsin. Both of those teams finished in the top-10 of the final polls after winning New Year’s Six games.
During the Buckeyes’ off-week, the coaching staff sat down and evaluated everything about the run game to figure out how to fix it.
The answer: dump the run/pass option plays.
The impact was immediate. Against Nebraska, J.K. Dobbins rushed for 163 yards on just 23 carries. It was his first 100-yard game since against TCU in mid-September.
Weber rushed for 91 yards on nine carries against the Cornhuskers, and then put up 104 yards on the ground against Michigan State, the top rushing defense in the country. It was his first game with 100+ yards since the season-opener against Oregon State.
“He earned every yard. And the offensive line earned every yard,” said head coach Urban Meyer on his Thursday radio show.
The game was about more than just stats for Weber. The trip to East Lansing was a homecoming of sorts for the Detroit native as well.
“It felt good. I had a lot of family there, from uncles, aunties, Grandma, parents, brothers and sisters, so it was real cool to have a good game in front of them,” Weber said.
The junior running back said it’s not a matter of being clever or deceptive, but of the offense just asserting its will.
“Really just to go at dudes. Try not to be more into the scheme, but more just attitude and just running guys over and running right at guys,” Weber said. “That was our attitude, and it’s been working out for us the last couple weeks.”
After the Nebraska game, multiple offensive linemen were outright thrilled to see the RPOs deemphasized and pure, downhill running return. Following another solid performance on the ground, Weber was happy with the results, too.
“I think it’s better to have more straight-forward runs. That way there’s no confusion and there’s no timidness towards it. If you just run at guys like we’ve been doing, old-style football it’s going to work out for us. Eventually the defense should break,” he said.
Wednesday, left tackle Thayer Munford said that everything changed after the 49-20 loss at Purdue.
“A couple weeks ago, everybody was saying ‘oh, the offensive line can’t run the ball’ and we were like ‘forget that. We’re about to run this ball and just shut everybody up,'” Munford said. “Everything is just attitude. Just how we take things and how we take the field. We said this week we’re about to go over there and just run the ball on them. Pure, point blank.”
The RPO isn’t totally gone. Offensive coordinator Ryan Day said read plays are still being used, but not as often as early in the season. That has just meant finding different ways to move the ball on the ground.
“When you’re running the ball, you have three different options. You read somebody, you run away from somebody, or you kind of change the look and splash the waters a little bit,” Day said.
“We’ve kind of found different ways to do that. We have had some plays where we’ve been reading a guy, but also some ways we’re running away from the guy or possibly splashing the water.”
Weber is a veteran now, and has seen in person what can happen late in the season if a Buckeye team can’t run the ball. He was there for the 2015 loss to Michigan State, the 2016 playoff loss to Clemson, and the 2018 Purdue loss, all of which saw the Buckeyes failing to reach even 4 yards per carry. He knows what this team has to do in the coming weeks.
“You’ve got to have a good balance, especially like you said in November,” Weber said. “It gets really grimy and really good teams start to show up. I feel like if we keep our balance, we’ll be a good team.”
Compare how MI fared at home vs. MSU then how OSU did on the road vs. MSU. Lots of improvement, but steps forward.
How did Warriner ever get away? Or how did Meyer not realize how valuable he was?
Because Warinner couldn’t be OC and OL coach at the same time, so he moved to TE coach and was replaced on the OL. When he failed to succeed as OC, the demotion wasn’t an acceptable fate for him.
You are right Charlie.. it is absolutely NOT hard to figure out..We have sub-standard coaches coaching top level talent..and the issue is.. we CAN’T develop these players. I rarely see a player brought in here ,reach their projected potential..some may disagree ,but i stand by my observations. Mr Mills brought up the other MAJOR issue..ATTITUDE…..as well as heart. Attitude can be changed, heart can’t be coached…you either have it or you don’t. It freaking blows my mind when a player blows an assignment,.. that you don’t see that player work harder the next play to make up for their blunder..example “SCREEN DOOR” play by our tackles.. getting beat by the same player repeatedly into the backfield. I would think if they had that “ATTITUDE” they would do whatever it takes to explode quicker, set feet quicker, arm punch harder, and negate that defensive player form making another big play…dont see it from these guys.. I know when i played, IF i got beat on 1 play, by God, it didn’t happen again! no matter what…
Evidentially they aren’t phased by embarrassment, or care that they are a weak link, and letting down the team.. If you have one guy that don’t pull his weight, if compromises the integrity of the whole team…and we have several on both sides of the ball, but coaches refuse to see it.. This team could completely change with 4 or 5 moves from coaching staff , but their lack of wanting to be wrong is keeping this team from achieving reachable goals..Sad…failure to evolve makes you become extinct.
Some of us have been preaching that running the football is 100% attitude since the second week of the year. RPO might change the shape of the rush plays, BUT, it REMAINS 100% about attitude. The RPO QB is the ace in the hole in the running game NOT the offensive line. Their roles don’t change and remains 100% attitude. We’ve discussed moving to more drive blocking for WEEKS, but, it took getting taken out to the woodshed by a team the Buckeyes should beat by 50 frigging points. before a single drunk (aka coach) would step up and admit they had a problem.
Bad news. That drunk is still in denial. Go back and watch both the Nebraska game and the MSU games. Offensive line pad level is abysmal, and they’re still getting blown into the backfield, or simply beat off the snap. Michael Jordan ISN’T a center and for his size you’d expect more fight in him. Same thing with Malcolm and Isaiah. Dimitrius is spotty. It’s almost like it’s a game time decision for him whether he shows up to play with attitude or not.
I’m just not ready to buy their comments about “shutting people up.” I have a better idea……….have self respect and show the hell up every week and nobody will make comments about garbage level offensive line play.
It isn’t just the offensive line, it’s also been crap level linebacking. They faced a really…….really…..really bad offense and perform “reasonably well”, as if it’s a statement.
For both units it’s a split responsibility between players and coaches. Most people watching games see’s when execution is bad, and when the scheme is bad. MAYBE…..just maybe it’s not a coequal reason for the poor performances at all. Maybe it’s just that guys are sluggish being coached by a couple of clowns that most of the players could easily out coach and motivate. The answer for linebackers was talked about since last season. The miserable trainwreck of the offensive line has been talked about since spring ball ended. NEITHER have gotten a damned bit better……………and that’s on the Head Ball Coach not taking corrective action that’s long term, and, not merely a bandaid.
“Some of us have been preaching that running the football is 100% attitude since the second week of the year.”
Must have been someone not named James A Mills. In reading your posts I’ve seen plenty of blame placed on Studrawa, the scheme, etc. If it were 100% attitude OSU could roll out a line of hungry 1 star recruits every game and average 4-5 ypc.
You must be a subjective reader…….this is a case of “go back and reread everything talked about……..”
Playing with an attitude IS something learned from coaching. Well competent coaching anyway. The offensive line is weak and soft BECAUSE they have a garden variety idiot for a position coach. It’s even developed further by a position coach solely relying of scheme and not reinforcing FOOTBALL instinct.
Ed Warriner is now at Michigan! It’s not a coincidence that Michigan is tapping at the door of the CFB playoffs! It’s because of him. The defense they’ve had but Warriner is the key piece! That should tell you what a good O-line coach can do! We don’t have that. We have a damn good QB, a stud group of receivers and two PROVEN and experienced 1,000 yard RBs that anyone in the country would love to have, yet we can’t put the pieces together. It’s not hard to figure out.