Five reasons No. 10 Ohio State football will surprise No. 4 Michigan

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Ohio State Football J.K. Dobbins (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images) /

5. The Buckeyes’ upsurge in production on offense will make them difficult to defend

The bright side to the Buckeyes’ ugly win over Maryland is that the offense was operating at a high level. Everything that needed to get going offensively ended up working out great last weekend.

The Bucks put up an absurd 688 yards of total offense. Most of this was forced as the Buckeyes ended up trailing at times in this game and was doing everything in their power to move the ball but it was encouraging nonetheless.

Everyone already knows what the Buckeyes’ offense is capable of but it definitely seems at times that they tend to lose confidence in their ability to do so.

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The offense is always in a limbo between trying to be conservative while also trying to be aggressive. This same problem that they’ve struggled with for the last two years now strikes again which is their absence of identity.

Though the Buckeyes did do a little bit of everything well offensively against Maryland, there’s one thing that stood out the most.

This was their commitment to the run game. By far this was the most impressive thing that the Buckeyes did in this game which most likely was the main cause for their eventual victory. For the offense to pass just 66 times as compared to 56 rushing attempts while they were down essentially the entire game is absolutely unprecedented.

The absence of Mike Weber could have made this offense way more one dimensional in the process but the Buckeyes actually used this to their advantage.

They just kept feeding J.K. Dobbins time and time again and picked up good yardage each time. It was very methodical but positive results were drawn over time. Dobbins averaged 5.5 yards per carry which was the sweet spot for keeping the chains moving.

This allowed the passing offense more room to work as it kept the secondary on their toes. Maryland never knew when to collapse on the run or stay up for the pass. It will be much more difficult to move the ball against the Wolverines’ defense. The Wolverines rank first in the nation in total defense allowing just 235 yards per game.

This may seem like a daunting task to overcome the best defense in the country but it’s something the Buckeyes are certainly capable of doing.

Considering the Bucks are ranked second in the nation in total offense, they certainly fit the bill. If the Buckeyes perform similar to last week on offense, minus the turnovers, then overcoming the odds is definitely possible. Expect the Buckeyes to give it all they have in this match up as their time to push it on offense starts in their first possession.

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