When Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day were brought in to run the Ohio State offense, there was a belief that the passing game would be drastically different on every down. Instead, the offense is still an “Urban Meyer offense” that relies on a power running game, but there are brilliant flashes of what the offense will become.
With J.T. Barrett rumored to start this week against Wisconsin, it is hard to envision an offense that is based solely on Barrett runs — and that’s a good thing for the Buckeyes. Ohio State has excelled when they have been forced to be creative in terms of moving the ball, whether it is a frantic pace like against Penn State…
Wisconsin enters the Big Ten Championship game 26th in scoring offense, averaging 34.8 points per game. Additionally, the Badgers rank 18th nationally in Rushing Offense (243 yards per game) and more importantly, Wisconsin ranks an impressive second nationally in third down conversions at 50.7%. Defensively, the Badgers…
One of the biggest plays on Saturday almost never happened. It wasn’t Austin Mack’s incredible catch in traffic, or a long run by J.K Dobbins or Mike Weber, but rather Marcus Baugh’s touchdown reception from the arm of J.T. Barrett. After withstanding a first quarter that saw the Buckeyes trailing 14-0, and negative yardage in…
So often the emotion of this game renders any thoughtful analysis useless. Records don’t matter, stats don’t matter. What matters is that Ohio State defends against a throwback to a Michigan tight end. Here are a few other nuggets to watch for on Saturday. Michigan thrives on a Power running attack behind multiple tight ends…
Michigan enters this contest ranked 1st nationally in Pass Defense, surrendering only 144 yards per game. Overall, the Wolverines have the 3rd-best ranking in terms of Total Defense and rank 15th nationally in Rushing Defense, though their ranking drops to 47th versus ranked opponents (188 yards per game.) Michigan continues to impress…
One of the burning questions heading into the game versus Illinois was whether the Buckeyes would put more plays on film for Michigan to game plan for, or play a vanilla offense so as not to show too much. Ohio State wasted no time in showcasing a number of misdirection plays leading into The Game. In fact, the Buckeyes…
The game before The Game. It could be more vanilla than the annual Spring Game or an exhibition of innovative plays to force the Michigan coaching staff to work overtime. Either way, Illinois has shown to be a poor tackling team, which more closely resembles the Spring Game hypothesis.
Illinois is an extremely young team that has been riddled with injuries, forcing more youngsters into the mix. With 14 underclassmen seeing significant playing time, there have been a lot of growing pains for this team. Among the notable injuries is the loss of junior WR Mike Dudek, as well as freshman RB Mike Epstein, with QB Cam Thomas…
Following the loss to Iowa where there was very little creativity and near-criminal lack of carries for the Buckeye running backs, the Ohio State offense made the most of the mandate issued by Urban Meyer to run the ball. Meyer mentioned the use of a standard draw in his post-game press conference following the 48-3 dismantling…
There is a lot at stake this week versus a Michigan State opponent that has historically been a thorn in the side of Ohio State. Defensively, the Buckeyes should be motivated to prove last week was an anomaly and not the true identity of this collective unit. From an offensive standpoint, Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day need to prove they…
