Sloppy Win Leaves Big Questions for Ohio State Ahead of Washington

There are multiple ways to look at it, but the score doesn’t tell the true story of Ohio State’s 36-9 win over Ohio University. If you just look at the score, you’ll think Ohio played a pretty solid game, keeping this pretty competitive. Then, if you look at the offensive stats, you’d see Ohio State outgained the Bobcats 573 to 181, making you think this one was actually pretty lopsided in favor of the Buckeyes.

The reality of this one was that Ohio State was in total control; the game was never really in doubt, even when Ohio cut the lead to 4 in the second half. Unfortunately, this was an incredibly sloppy performance from Ryan Day’s Buckeyes, and after the bye next week, they’ll travel to Seattle to play the Washington Huskies, and a performance similar to that would have Ohio State on upset alert.

Three issues were the most significant causes for concern last night, and they were the redzone offense, poor decision-making from Julian Sayin, and finding the leader in the running back room.

All three of these issues led to the low-scoring offensive performance, but when you come down to the nitty gritty, the biggest issue was the goal to go offense, sputtering out on multiple drives. Too many times, you saw Ohio State settling for low-percentage, one-on-one balls with your elite receivers, and Ohio hung tough in those matchups.

That Bobcats defense is well-coached, and when you shrink the field for them, it puts their less explosive athletes in a position to make a play on the ball, which they did on multiple occasions, making pass breakups against Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate.

Penalties also pushed Ohio State into obvious passing situations, and Sayin felt rushed. He missed his running backs in the flats for easy scores on multiple occasions and really felt like he was locking onto his first read in the red zone. It felt like a lack of creativity, from the players on the field and the coaches off it.

You don’t want to show too much of your hand against an opponent from the MAC, but also at points it felt like you needed to remember, you’re Ohio State, run the ball three or four times and put it in the endzone.

The Buckeyes were at their best when they had lots of room to work with, and they could take the top off the defense with deep balls to their future first-round picks. In the second half, Ohio State finally started to take shots. The run game hasn’t been dominant, and they could get some needed space if Ohio State were more willing to take more downfield shots to Smith and Tate.

The run game has probably been the weakest part of Ohio State’s play through three weeks, which hasn’t been the case in recent years, given the wealth of running back depth they’ve employed over the last decade or so.

That being said, if you’re struggling to run the ball, maybe let your best back get more touches. Bo Jackson is far and away the best runner on this team. The freshman from Cleveland is built like a fifth-year senior, weighing in at 220 pounds. Not only that, but he is the most explosive runner on the team, averaging 12.1 yards per carry. James Peoples and CJ Donaldson might be more experienced, and help Sayin out with better pass protection, but you have to let Jackson work through the issues on the field because he’s far too explosive to be kept off of it.

Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the defense still looks like the best in the country, as the only touchdown was scored on a somewhat lucky jump ball play. I have zero worries for this unit, especially with the pass rush improving week over week.

The schedule heats up now for Ohio State as they jump into Big Ten play in two weeks against a frisky Washington Huskies squad. This team can still be great, but they need to improve against stronger competition, especially in their first road test.