3 reasons Ohio State will get revenge against Clemson
By Alec Hartman
3. The Buckeyes’ offense has no real weakness to be exploited.
The Buckeyes have now operated with Justin Fields at the helm for two full seasons. He picked up right where the offense left off with prior Buckeyes quarterback Dwayne Haskins at the lead providing an uptick in production in 2017. Whether it be the genius of coach Ryan Day entering the picture that year or the bevy of weapons on the roster to choose from, the Buckeyes have exceeded expectations each season since from a production standpoint.
This season was no different as Fields and his top receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson jelled immediately. The Buckeyes’ offense scored 40 points in every regular season game except one. it was not exactly smooth sailing for the Buckeyes along the way though as they faced a few miscues and areas of concern.
The Buckeyes’ particular areas of concern entering the season stemmed from the run game and defense given the significant departures. It was very clear that the Buckeyes would be relying on the play of Fields early on as their top two running backs lacked experience with the offense and were recovering from injury. Master Teague and Trey Sermon flashed in the past in their own right but were in no way expected to fill the shoes of rock star incumbent J.K. Dobbins.
Even with their running game taking a bit of a hit without Dobbins, they finished first in the Big Ten in rushing yards while playing less games than the majority of teams. As if people forgot that the rushing attack is the star of the Buckeyes’ show, they really flexed in the Big Ten title game. Sermon rushed for 331 yards and two touchdowns against Northwestern which is enough to get the whole world’s attention. That production total broke the school record for most rushing yards in a single game which was previously held by Buckeye legend Eddie George and it was the most rushing yards in any conference championship game in FBS history.
The Buckeyes needed all the help they could get against Northwestern as the rest of their help was on the sideline due to being on the Covid reserve list. The team was missing many of their typical key starters including star receivers Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, and third option Jaxon Smith-Njigba. For some odd reason, the Buckeyes decided to take their usual approach by having Fields be the first option meaning he’d sit back in the pocket and throw or make a play himself. With all top receivers out, this certainly posed a problem.
The Wildcats easily contained the edges of the field where Fields operates best throwing and running the ball. The defense was certainly not going to allow Fields easy run opportunities and throwing over the middle has been dangerous for him in the past. It took two quick interceptions from Fields and a deficit for the Buckeyes to finally ‘resort to’ the run. Sermon had been playing well recently but nobody expected him to explode for over 300 yards.
The Buckeyes’ main focus in this match up will be to eliminate turnovers. Most scores allowed by the Buckeyes have come from turnovers which gave the opposition a short field. The Buckeyes have everything they need offensively to compete with any team in the nation but they will have to stop turning the ball over to capitalize against an opponent like Clemson. Expect the Buckeyes’ offense to be ready for a fight against Clemson.