Ohio State football: 5 reasons the Buckeyes will beat Army

2. Army’s offense plays right into the Buckeyes’ defensive strength.

There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes, and Army running the life out of the football. Almost 82% of their total offense last season consisted of running the football. The team completed just 54 receptions on 123 total pass attempts all season. Needless to say, Army ranked just behind Air Force with the second most rushing attempts in the nation.

Senior quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw was the team’s second leading rusher last season. He will be once again leading this team along with junior running back Darnell Woolfolk. Interesting enough, Army’s leading rusher last season, Andy Davidson, has only logged six carries this season.

Bradshaw is an elusive quarterback and is not afraid to take off and run with it. He is the key cog in what makes Army’s offense tick. If the Bucks can key on Bradshaw then that may be all they need to diminish Army’s offense.

Along with the triple option, Army uses a unique type of offense that is rarely used by any other team. It’s called a ‘flexbone’ offense. Army’s brand of offense is derived from something that seems simplistic yet it is complex at the same time. An offense like this is completely foreign to the popular spread offenses practiced by most other major schools.

Fortunately for the Buckeyes, their defense is built to defend this rushing based offense. This season’s version of the Buckeyes’ defense in particular should fare well against this offense. The Bucks’ passing defense has gotten absolutely shredded through the air this season as they’ve given up a whopping 403 yards a game. This is over 200 yards per game more than the Bucks gave up on average last season.

The Bucks’ rushing defense has been advertised as being one of the very best in the nation. The return of Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis, Nick Bosa, and Dre’Mont Jones on the defensive line make that unit alone one to watch out for. Couple that with linebackers Jerome Baker, Chris Worley, and Dante Booker and that’s double the fun.

So far this season, the Bucks’ rushing defense has mostly lived up to the hype as they only allowed 17 rushing yards to Indiana and 2.8 yards per carry to Oklahoma. If the Bucks can do that well against those teams, then it wouldn’t be out of the question for the Bucks to do that well if not better this Saturday against Army.