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Ohio State football: Time to panic about running backs?

By Alex Austin

COLUMBUS, OH - OCTOBER 24: Master Teague III #33 of the Ohio State Buckeyes is brought down at the line of scrimmage in the first quarter by Ty Robinson #99, Ben Stille #95 and Collin Miller #31 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first half at Ohio Stadium on October 24, 2020 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - OCTOBER 24: Master Teague III #33 of the Ohio State Buckeyes is brought down at the line of scrimmage in the first quarter by Ty Robinson #99, Ben Stille #95 and Collin Miller #31 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first half at Ohio Stadium on October 24, 2020 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) /
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Usually, one week into the season is not the time to worry about rust, but with only an eight-game season to impress the College Football Playoff Committee, should Ohio State be worried about their running back situation?

Ohio State did what most people expected them to do on Saturday. Earn a lopsided win against Nebraska while showing a bit of rust that needs to be addressed in practice. A 35-point win against a conference opponent is great and is a good piece to build on for the remainder of the season.

Justin Fields was incredible and showed that he is one of the best players in the country. The defense improved from the opening quarter to find a way to shut down the Nebraska offense and even put points on the board. The one area that did not improve was the Buckeyes’ rushing attack.

If Ohio State is going to compete for a National Championship, they cannot have their best rusher be Justin Fields. For as great as he is, he should not be running the ball 15 times in one game. Trey Sermon and Master Teague have to step up and take on the load for the Buckeyes.

Typically one game into a season is not the time to start panicking about anything, however, when the season is only eight games and the Big Ten is playing a shorter schedule than the ACC and SEC there is no room for error.

The Buckeyes have one week of practice before facing one of the biggest tests of their season. Sermon and Teague both need to show significant improvement against Penn State. There is a good chance that the issues on Saturday were from rust and lack of game reps, but things need to change fast.

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It is not quite time to panic, but another poor performance will certainly start setting off alarm bells.

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