Ohio State Football: Lessons learned from the Oklahoma game
By Joe Russo
Ohio State failed to win back to back games versus Oklahoma. Given how they played, what does that mean going forward?
A total team failure resulted in a 31-16 loss at home. The Ohio State Buckeyes continue to struggle in these types of games: prime time home games against top ranked opponents. It’s not just home openers, but visions of Virginia Tech from 2014, Michigan State from 2015, and Michigan of 2016 (not a prime time game, but still) occurred.
There was a lot to be critical of against the Oklahoma Sooners, so let’s just dive right in to what we learned from Saturday’s loss and what it means for the week ahead.
Thank God Army doesn’t pass the ball.
Army has attempted all of 10 passes all season. 10. So it’s a semi-safe bet that the Army Black Knights won’t light up what is statistically the single worst passing defense in the country.
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The ground based game of Army plays right into the hands of the Buckeyes’ defense. Right now, the only strength is the defensive line. But my goodness the secondary has been awful.
Say what you will about how lost Damon Arnette has looked, but it isn’t exactly like Damon Webb, Denzel Ward, Kendall Sheffield, or Jordan Fuller have accomplished much.
Since they cannot cover anyone in man to man, linebackers have had to bail to help underneath and both Fuller and Ward are stuck in no man’s land.
Here’s the worst part of it. Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield threw for 386 yards and three touchdowns. Great numbers overall, leading to a 87.5 QBR.
However, Mayfield averaged only 11 yards per pass. He wasn’t pressing the ball downfield and taking huge chunks of yards at a time to pad those numbers. Mayfield took advantage of the fact that his receivers could get enough separation to then gain ground after the catch.
All of the misdirection and actual play-calling left the Buckeye pass defense guessing all night long.
Kevin Wilson is not calling the offense.
You cannot convince me that Kevin Wilson is truly in charge of the offense right now. Look at how his Indiana teams have played in the past. Look at how the plays were called on the field on Saturday.
If you can honestly say the Wilson scheme is what we saw on Saturday, we’d love to hear from you. There were far too many quarterback runs and far too little involvement of the running backs.
We’ve covered on this site before how Wilson likes to use his running backs. Jordan Howard, Tevin Coleman, and Devine Redding carried the load on the ground during Wilson’s tenure in Bloomington, IN.
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Nate Sudfeld and Richard Legow did not run the ball.
Against Oklahoma, J.T. Barrett ran the ball more times (18) than J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber combined (16). There are nuanced ways to say it, but Ohio State cannot win games if this happens more often.
Yes, Barrett could find success running the ball more and I’ve actually written as much heading into last season on this very site. But right now, it simply isn’t true because what Wilson wants to do is at odds it appears with what Urban Meyer wants to do.
It’s time for the wide receivers to step up
Say what you will about Barrett’s inability to drive the ball downfield. There is plenty to not like about Barrett’s play against Oklahoma, but read what I have above about Mayfield. 386 yards on 11 yard per pass. Barrett threw for 304 yards against Indiana by averaging only 8.7 yards per pass.
It’s not necessarily a matter of driving it vertically. It’s a matter of getting key plays at key moments. That just hasn’t happened.
I still don’t pin the blame on Barrett. Is he contributing to the issue, yes. Is he the cause of the issue? Absolutely not. Flash back to 2015, when Michael Thomas and Braxton Miller were on the roster.
Thomas was a big bodied receiver that ran great routes. That part of his game benefited him so much as a rookie standout in the NFL last year. Flash back to 2014, when Thomas and Devin Smith were on the field together, providing the best receiver combo during Barrett’s time in Columbus, OH.
In 2016, though, Ohio State’s best receiver was Curtis Samuel, a converted running back. In 2017, there isn’t one receiver in the program that has taken the next step and seized their opportunity to stand out. No one is going to confuse K.J. Hill, Johnnie Dixon, Paris Campbell, Austin Mack, Binjimen Victor, or Terry McLaurin for either of the aforementioned former Buckeyes.
There is no Michael Jenkins, Ted Ginn, Brian Hartline, Anthony Gonzalez, etc on the roster right now. I don’t care how many of these guys were four star recruits. Someone has to step up and become a number one target on a top-10 program. At this rate, Ohio State might as well mimic Army and just run the ball 50 times a game.
Mission 2017 is now win the Big Ten
In many ways, the loss is a good thing. It’s good for the fans in order to realize this team is not infallible. Granted, Meyer is 62-7 during his time at Ohio State, so it’s easy to understand why fans expect a “playoffs or bust” approach to the year. I may be of the minority here, but that might be doing this team a disservice right now.
Would it surprise you to know that Meyer has exactly one Big Ten title during his Buckeye tenure? That came in the magical 2014 season. For reference, Jim Tressel won seven Big Ten titles in 10 season while leading the program.
He has just as many national championships in Scarlet and Gray. This isn’t meant to be a comparison of the two. It’s meant to show that while as fans we focus on winning national championships, we are losing sight of the more immediate goals.
Losing to Oklahoma hurts the short-term future of this team making the playoffs. There is a positive spin to this. Losing to the Sooners means Ohio State can stop worrying about whether they remain in the playoff committee’s top four.
Instead, they can focus on what should be considered the first hurdle to making the playoffs anyways and that is winning the Big Ten.
Penn State, Michigan, and whoever else they could face in Indianapolis, IN are all more pressing than worrying about finding a way to make the playoffs. If the Buckeyes focus on winning their conference, that will take care of itself.
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Win the Big Ten East. Win the Big Ten Championship. That’s it. That’s all that Ohio State and Buckeye fans need to focus on.