Ohio State Football: Dobbins and Weber form dynamic duo
When the Ohio State football program is mentioned you think of great backs. Now J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber could be the best RB duo ever.
The Ohio State football program has an abundance of riches at most positions. Maybe none more than running back.
J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber are two elite starters. Add in freshman Master Teague and potentially Demario McCall in some packages, the offensive staff have four workhorses to unleash on opponents this fall.
This begs the question. Will this be the best backfield ever in Buckeyes history?
This group has strong company. Few positions are more coveted at Ohio State than running back and none are more decorated.
Five out of the seven Heisman trophies won by Buckeyes are running backs.
In Weber’s and Dobbin’s favor is time. Despite all the historical success coming from Buckeyes’ running backs, we need to go back to the 1975 season to find two backs topping 1000-yards rushing.
Archie Griffin gained 1450 yards and Pete Johnson gained 1059. An odd statistic from that year is Griffin had only four touchdowns and Johnson had 28.
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Of course, Carlos Hyde and Braxton Miller did it in 2013 gaining 1521 and 1068 respectively, but my question concerns two pure running backs.
The closest for two backs outside of 1975 was 1989 when Carlos Snow rushed for 999 yards and Scottie Graham had 977 yards.
Not in this group’s favor is this year’s team will probably be a little more pass heavy with all of Zone 6 returning and two quarterbacks that can stretch the field. Ball distribution may hinder production.
A better passing game could help this backfield too as defenses will have to respect both threats more than they had to with J.T. Barrett.
If Dobbins and Weber both stay healthy, there is no doubt they will be the best one-two punch in college football this season. If both players exceed a 1000 yards, they’ll have a strong argument to say they are the best backfield ever to play for Ohio State.
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I am inclined to agree. Maybe even one of them will win the Heisman.