It had been a while since we got to see the Ohio State Buckeyes on the football field, so there was a lot to take in when watching OSU defeat Nebraska 36-31 on Saturday.
We all went in with an eye on the running game and the tackling, and while both were improved, I don’t think anybody is going to be throwing the F-word* around.
J.K. Dobbins was finally J.K. Dobbins again, but perhaps the brightest light on a sun-plopped day was the number of young Buckeyes coming through in key roles. If Ohio State is going to win out, they’re not going to do it with status quo. Changes were needed and changes have been made.
Are more coming? We’ll see next week.
For now, let’s talk about what we learned on Saturday against the Huskers.
(* “fixed”)
1. The Buckeyes can run hard.
Urban Meyer said he wanted running backs J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber to run through some tacklers and be their own blockers, which they did quite well on Saturday. They combined for 254 yards rushing on 32 carries and if they can do that the rest of the way out this season, the Buckeyes won’t lose again. That is the biggest of ifs, however.
2. From now on, maybe “RPO” should stand for “run people over.”
The Ohio State offense went without the run-pass option on Saturday, choosing instead to go with the LJRTDBO (“let’s-just-run-the-damn-ball option”). Greg Studrawa has talked about the difficulties of run blocking in an RPO offense, but Isaiah Prince took it a step further after the game, explaining that with an RPO, you never really know where the defense is going to be and what it is going to do. As a blocker, that is difficult to deal with. When there is no RPO and the offensive line knows that it’s just going to be a hand-off, they also know what the defense is going to do in order to stop the run. The linemen know where the defenders are going to be and how they’re going to get there. They have more information and more confidence that they can handle it. As Prince said after the game, there is a time and a place for the RPO, such as the successes they had with it in the TCU game. But to a man, the linemen were happy to just get back to mauling people without a concern for the ball being thrown behind them.
3. Brendon White needs to stay on the field.
There was a lot of mixing and matching in the secondary on Saturday due to injuries. The original plan was for Shaun Wade to be at field safety and Jordan Fuller to be at boundary safety. Then on passing downs, Wade would slide down to nickel, and Brendon White would come in to be the second safety. When Fuller was ejected for targeting, White came in at boundary safety and played as well as Fuller has this season. Heading into the game, I felt like the best safety duo would be Wade and Fuller, but with the way White played, you have to make sure that wasn’t a fluke. He needs to stay in the game this week against Michigan State. White had a great week of practice leading up to the Nebraska game and responded with 13 tackles in three quarters of action. His confidence is sky high right now and needs to be both mined and rewarded.
4. Wyatt Davis needs to see more action.
No, Wyatt Davis didn’t get any snaps on the offensive line, but he did make for an effective blocking tight end. They went with the jumbo pistol look (three tight ends, one receiver, one running back) at least three times. Since it worked on short-yardage, that means we will see it more, which also means we should probably name it. “Jumbo Pistol” isn’t flashy enough, so how about the “Dirty Harry Formation”? In the times they did run it, Davis was able to engage his man and stay engaged. Eventually, however, he’s going to be wide open on the play action.
5. The pistol should be more involved.
It’s something we have been advocating for for a while now. The pistol formation will always get an approval from me when it comes to running the ball downhill and attacking with the play action. It doesn’t feel like something that needed a bye week to figure out, but at least we saw more of it than we have so far this season. It’s not the only answer, but it’s part of a collective response that is absolutely necessary.
6. Dwayne Haskins is not a fan of contact.
In case we’re just figuring this out now, Dwayne Haskins isn’t a huge fan of getting hit by large men. He took a pretty big hit from the Huskers and he was slow to get up from it, as most quarterbacks would be. That is understood. What was hard for many to understand was his scramble and slide with nobody within seven or so yards of him on a 2-yard run. There were boos and grumbles in the crowd after that slide, but on a positive note, it was probably his best slide of the year.
7. The young players are indicative of a coaching staff trying.
While the coaches weren’t talking too much about personnel changes over the week, this game provided a bunch of snaps for freshman tight end Jeremy Ruckert, as well as freshman defensive tackle Tommy Togiai and sophomore defensive tackle Haskell Garrett. We already know about sophomore safety Brendon White’s day, and freshman receiver Chris Olave worked his way into the receiver rotation. Seeing Ruckert involved so often in the running game tells me that his blocking has gotten much better and he is soon going to be making plays in the passing game. Things are happening in several places, which is a step in the right direction. The journey is far from finished, but at least the Buckeye coaches have decided to attempt the trek.
8. Even Dwayne Haskins’ worst game is plenty good enough.
Let’s all take a moment to criticize Dwayne Haskins’ worst game as a starter. He completed 18-of-32 passes for 252 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. If he simply averaged 252 yards over a 13-game season, he’d finish with the second-most passing yards in a season in OSU history. And if he averaged just two touchdown passes per game over 13 games, he’d finish with the fifth-most touchdown passes in a single season in school history. Haskins found eight different receivers on a day when he was clearly off. But even his off games are still good enough to win with.
9. The linebackers just don’t look confident.
There were times on Saturday when more than one linebacker ran into the backfield only to see the ball run by them on an option read. You could see the disappointment on more than one occasion from the linebackers themselves. There were still missed tackles, just like in the Purdue game. Also, just like the Purdue game, the linebackers were put in difficult spots to make plays. Some of those plays need to be made — like Dante Booker out wide attempting to blow up a screen. Other plays, however, are impossible to make — like Pete Werner being picked while trying to defend J.D. Spielman in the flats. We already know the linebackers weren’t comfortable being asked to take on offensive linemen for the defensive line. They don’t look super comfortable running after 4.4 slot receivers either. Is it a lack of confidence in the system or the simple fact that they know they are being asked to do something that they are not consistently capable of doing? Are they not being coached well enough to make any of this week? There are still plays that are there to be made, but is there simply too much thinking and worrying going on to be able to play naturally?
10. There may be other answers out there.
I plan on writing about this in the next day or two and asking Urban Meyer about it as well. As Tom Orr and I talked about on Sunday’s podcast (by the way, we have changed the name of Accost the Field to “The Buckeye Weekly Podcast“), Terry McLaurin said last week that it took Urban Meyer a while to be convinced that Chris Olave was tough enough to play because he didn’t get to see him in camp. I’m wondering how many other players Meyer is only now coming around on. Brendon White, Jeremy Ruckert, and Wyatt Davis all provided answers. Are there other answers out there? Keandre Jones had a punt block. Could he be an answer? The freshmen linebackers are providing help on special teams. Can they do more on defense? Who else is out there that still needs to convince Urban Meyer that he can handle a role?