For the second year in a row, Ohio State enters the College Football Playoff on the heels of a 13-10 loss. Unlike last year, when the sky was falling after losing to Michigan in Columbus, the setback on Saturday
to Indiana is a little easier to process since the loss didn’t cost the Buckeyes a first-round bye in the playoff. Even though it would have been great to beat Michigan, win the Big Ten title, and then go on to win the national championship in the same season, as we saw last year, a natty can still be won without winning the conference championship.
At least there isn’t nearly as much negativity surrounding the program heading into this year’s playoff run. Last year, there was talk of Tennessee fans overrunning Ohio Stadium, and Buckeye Nation was ready to pack Ryan Day’s bags. Hopefully, the loss to the Hoosiers elicits the same sort of response from the team as it did last year.
What the loss to Indiana does for Ohio State is take a deep look at the areas where they are lacking. While some schematic changes can be made to try and rectify some issues, there are others that might not be able to be fixed because the Buckeyes just might not have the personnel needed.
Today, we want to know what about this year’s Ohio State is most worrisome heading into the College Football Playoff. Maybe there’s a position where players are underperforming, or it could be with coaching personnel who might not be ready for the bright lights. Then there are certain situations on the field where the Buckeyes are consistently failing. The good news is Ryan Day and the rest of the team have nearly a month to work on these problems before they take the field in Dallas on New Year’s Eve.
Today’s question: What is most worrisome about Ohio State the rest of the season?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Short yardage situations
Last year, it was almost a given that when Ohio State needed a yard or two on third or fourth down, they would either let Will Howard keep the football or hand it off to TreVeyon Henderson or Quinshon Judkins. Howard was perfect for scenarios where a yard or two was needed because his big frame could power forward for the first down.
While Julian Sayin does a lot of things that are great, it’s obvious he is not comfortable running the football. In the Michigan game, he slipped and was unable to make it into the end zone early in the game, and then against Indiana, he looked to convert a fourth down deep in Hoosier territory before replay revealed that his knee had touched the ground short of crossing the line to gain.
All the blame for short yardage failures can’t go on Sayin, since the struggles have been a common theme under Day, with last year being an outlier. The style of offense the Buckeyes run just isn’t conducive to being a successful short-yardage team. Since Ohio State mainly runs its offense out of the shotgun, it’s easy for opponents to know what is coming when they line up under center. Last year, the Buckeyes had the physicality to telegraph what they were doing in short-yardage situations and still pick up first downs or touchdowns. The same can’t be said this year.
Prior to the Michigan game, these issues hadn’t popped up nearly as much since Ohio State had been so far ahead of opponents in most games that it didn’t have a major impact. Now, when the Buckeyes aren’t playing the weaker teams in the Big Ten, they’re going to have to fight for every yard. There’s likely no easy fix to this issue besides just trying to play tougher.
One thing I did see in the Michigan game that I liked was trying to bring in Kayden McDonald to block near the goal line. While you don’t want to risk losing McDonald to injury by blocking on offense, maybe during the break, the Buckeyes work on using some bigger bodies at fullback since Nate Roberts just isn’t working. That’s about the best option I have when it comes to trying to clear a path in short yardage situations, since taking Sayin off the field isn’t an option.
Last year, Day found the right buttons to push in the playoff run. Now it’s time for him to go back to the drawing board and look at the areas of weakness the Buckeyes have and find a way to fix them, since this team has been too good all season long to see it all fall apart near the end.
Matt’s answer: Red zone offense
While this is admittedly similar to what Brett wrote about, I am going with Ohio State’s red zone offense as the most worrisome thing heading into the CFP. This has been a bugaboo for Ryan Day’s offenses throughout his tenure in Columbus, with last year being the exception.
As Brett mentioned, the combination of Henderson, Judkins, and Howard gave OSU a much more powerful and dynamic running attack in both short-yardage and red zone situations, and that helped propel them to the national championship. While it doesn’t need to be run-focused, Day needs to figure something out to turn this trend around.
In the Big Ten Championship Game, OSU did not score at all in the second half, but it was not due to a lack of opportunities. The Buckeyes had two drives — one in the third quarter and one in the fourth — that ate up nearly 15 minutes, but resulted in zero points. In the third quarter, Ohio State took a touchback and started at their own 25 with 8:02 left in the period. Six minutes and 58 seconds later, upon review, Julian Sayin’s knee was determined to have gone down before the line to gain, ending a 12-play, 70-yard drive.
Then, in the fourth quarter, OSU started on its own 10 after an IU punt and proceeded to methodically march down the field 81 yards until on 3rd-and-1, there were no wide receivers on the field, so Sayin was forced to try and squeeze on into a well-covered Bennett Christian, Ohio State’s third-string tight end. I am never going to love taking Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith off the field in a crucial situation, but I could have lived with that bizarre third-down call if they had gone for it on fourth.
However, as you know, they did not. And then, on the next play, Jayden Fielding missed a 31-yard chip shot that would have tied the game with about 2:45 remaining in regulation. So, on the heels of a nearly 7-minute drive ending with no points, OSU had a 7:57 drive end with no points as well.
So, to me, the red zone issues are the most important to get fixed, because they are a combination of piss-poor playcalling and terrible short-yardage execution. Whether the Buckeyes play Texas A&M or Miami in the Cotton Bowl, they will need to perform better in the red zone, and, while I feel for the kid, you just cannot afford to run Fielding out there anymore. So, whoever is calling plays in the playoffs needs to figure out a way to get the ball to the best wide receivers in the country — regardless of what the Biletnikoff voters think — and finish some of these drives. It literally could spell the difference between an early ouster and back-to-back national titles.
