Ohio State Buckeyes: 4 things to watch against Maryland

Ohio State plays Maryland in a game in which the Buckeyes are expected to roll as 31 points favorites. Here’s what to watch for.

D.J. Durkin has the Maryland Terrapins looking better than they have in years, sporting a 3-1 record on the year. As they head to Columbus, they’re also down to their third string quarterback.

What do Buckeye fans need to keep their eye on for Ohio State versus Maryland?

Who the heck plays defensive tackle?

Dre’Mont Jones suffered a severe cut to his leg in a locker room mishap and is out for the second straight game. According to the latest depth chart for the Buckeyes, no one has officially been named a starter in his place. Tracy Sprinkle has played well and will continue to start at one of the interior positions, with Robert Landers listed as his primary back up. But when you look at the rest of the list, neither Landers, Devon Hamilton, Jashon Cornell, or Haskell Garrett have claimed a starting role.

Jayln Holmes, though, started in Jones’s place against Rutgers, albeit briefly after Ohio State jumped out to a 35-0 nothing lead and rotated him out. When he was on the field, Holmes barely left it. With so much depth at end, the 270 pound Holmes was needed more on the inside. While he’s played on the inside in previous games, it was mostly in passing situations in the “Rush Man” group that had four defensive ends on the field.

Against Maryland, the story might be a little different. Jones relied on his quickness and ability to shoot gaps to be effective, something Holmes can and has done. Maryland is a ground heavy team given their quarterback situation. They ran the ball 47 times for 262 yards in their last game against Minnesota. Against Texas in their opener with all of the quarterbacks healthy, they ran 43 times for 263 yards. On the year, they’ve run the ball 163 times against only 89 passing attempts. All of this adds up to the defensive tackle rotation being essential for the Buckeye defense.

Will Max Bortenschlager look like a third stringer?

Both Kasim Hill and Tyrell Pigrome are out for the entire season, elevating Bortenschlager into the starting role after beginning the year holding a clipboard as the third quarterback on the depth chart. All he did against the Gophers was score three total touchdowns with a 134.1 quarterback rating.

Ohio State has a habit this season of making run first offenses beat them with their quarterbacks. UNLV couldn’t get anything going with Armani Rogers, only allowing him to throw for 88 yards. The Rutgers combo of Nate Bolin and Johnathan Lewis managed only 77 passing yards and the Scarlet Knights didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver. By combining a high scoring offense with a dominating run defense, the Buckeyes have forced opposing quarterbacks to beat them in back to back weeks. That helps make up for the Buckeyes ranking only 56th in rushing yards allowed per game.

Unfortunately, that’s what got Ohio State beat by Oklahoma. Max Bortenschlager is not Baker Mayfield. He’s probably not even Richard Legow. Maryland will rely on Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison to carry the load offensively. If Ohio State can stop the run like they have done the last three weeks, Bortenschlager will have to outperform the expectations placed on him. If Ohio State can jump out to a lead early, keeping the ball in Bortenschlager’s hands will answer the question.

Will the secondary be able to stop D.J. Moore?

Through the first two games, Ohio State had the worst secondary in football. Recent weeks have shown improvement, but there is still more that needs to be done to shore up a leaky defensive backfield that hasn’t faced a top receivers since Oklahoma. That changes when D.J. Moore and Maryland come to town.

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Moore leads the Big Ten in catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Ohio State figures to have Denzel Ward mirror him whenever possible. With Erick Smith out again, Ward won’t have the same type of safety behind him in Jordan Fuller, so he will need to be on top of his game. Moore also stands third in the Big Ten in total yards from scrimmage and is really only behind Saquon Barkley in terms of play makers in the conference.

What worries me the most about this match up is the way Maryland runs the ball. This might keep safeties in the box a bit more and will have the defensive backs peeking a bit too much into the backfield to ensure they handle their run responsibilities. Remember that even against Army Ward got bailed out by Smith a couple of times to break up potential touchdown passes. It’s worth noting the Maryland running back Ty Johnson is second in the Big Ten in yards from scrimmage, giving the Ohio State secondary a reason to keep their eyes in the backfield.

How will Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins split carries?

Aside from the rumors that Urban Meyer is working on two-back sets, both running backs will need to be utilized all season lone for Ohio State to be successful. Against Rutgers, Weber had 10 carries compared to only 8 for Dobbins. It was Weber, though, that hit pay dirt on three short runs in the red zone, establishing the rhythm for the backs and perhaps previewing how they’ll be used going forward. Dobbins is the big play back to cover more ground, but the more sturdy Weber grinds it through over the goal line.

It would be very different for Urban Meyer to split carries. While at Ohio State, a single running back has been the focus, from Carlos Hyde to Ezekiel Elliott to Mike Weber to J.K. Dobbins. If both Weber and Dobbins share the field, they obviously will eat into each other’s carries. With Weber now healthy, that is likely to happen anyways, creating a new found timeshare in the offensive backfield.

Game Prediction

Maryland may be better, their improvement on the field and on the recruiting trail isn’t ready for prime time yet. There’s a lot to like about the Terps. They run the ball well and have one of the most exciting players in the Big Ten in Moore. There’s just not enough on defense to keep Ohio State from putting too many points on the board for Maryland to keep the ground game moving.

Next: 5 reasons Ohio State will destroy Maryland

Ohio State will keep feeding Weber at the goal line and dare defenses to commit to stopping Dobbins between the 20’s. We’ve already seen how Johnnie Dixon can take advantage of the running lanes after the catch when teams load up to stop the run.

Final score: Buckeyes 42, Terrapins 14

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What to Watch for: Maryland

By Joe Russo | Oct 7, 2017