Ohio State Football: Expect Buckeye offense to be balanced like 2014
With a young quarterback and a talented group of backs don’t expect to see the ball in the air as often as it was during the 2018 season.
Last season Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins smashed Big Ten records throwing the ball all over the place. Expect this year’s Buckeye offense to be more balanced.
There is a better chance the offense will look more like the one when J. T. Barrett ran the show than when Haskins was behind center. Especially the one when Barrett stepped in as the starter as a redshirt freshman.
While there are high expectations for Justin Fields, it would be wise for Buckeye fans to temper them, at least early in the season. First, Fields will have to learn the nuances of Ryan Day’s offense. He will also have to get on the same page as his receivers.
More from Ohio State Football
- Ohio State Football: How Denzel Burke has bounced back so far this season
- Ohio State Football rolling into form at the perfect time
- How Ohio State football has done historically versus new Big 12
- Ohio State Football: We need to see “Killer Ryan Day” at South Bend
- Ohio State Football vs. Notre Dame Prediction, Odds, Spread and Over/Under for College Football Week 4
Anybody who has played quarterback knows that takes time. Even though Brian Hartline has improved the receivers’ route running each player runs a slightly different pattern.
Also, Fields will have a great group of running backs to hand the ball off to. Of course J.K. Dobbins will be the featured back and will be shooting for a third straight 1,000 rushing season, but there are other talented backs in the mix.
Redshirt freshman Master Teague had two fine spring games (he was an early enrollee last year) and he may be ready to explode onto the scene. Marcus Crowley is a promising freshman, and like Teague brings plenty of speed to the backfield.
Demario McCall apparently is now settled in at running back. When healthy, McCall is a big play waiting to happen.
Fields was also the No. 1 dual threat QB in the 2018 recruiting class so you can expect the read-option to once again be an important part of the offense. I doubt you will see a lot of straight quarterback runs up the middle as you did with Barrett but Fields will get his share of carries on the edge.
Next. Justin Fields vs. 2018 QB room. dark
With a new quarterback at the helm the Buckeyes could very well average something close to 264 yards on the ground and 247 through the air like they did during the 2014 season. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, it worked out pretty well that year didn’t it?