Ohio State Football: What Minnesota does best

With under a week left until the opener, it’s officially game week for the Ohio State Football team. We take a look at what their opponent for the opener, Minnesota, does best and how to stop it.

The Ohio State football team opens up their 2021 season on Thursday night against Minnesota. This isn’t a team that they face very often. In fact, they haven’t played the Golden Gophers since 2018 when Dwayne Haskins led the Buckeyes to a 30-14 victory.

Minnesota was not very good last season. They took a major step back in 2020 after winning 11 games in 2019, winning only 3 in a shortened season last year. They are expected to be much better this season as it’s now P.J. Fleck’s fifth season leading the team.

What the Golden Gophers did do well last year is run the ball. They were fourth in the Big Ten conference in rushing, averaging just under 192 yards per game. In fact, they were just 9 yards shy of the second-place team in the Big Ten in terms of rushing. They were pretty good at running the ball.

This is what Ohio State needs to shut down for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most important reason they need to shut down the running game is because it kills the play-action chances Minnesota would have. Picking on the secondary is the only chance they have of winning.

Fleck also leans on the running game to shorten the game against opponents like Ohio State. If they can keep getting first downs on the ground, then C.J. Stroud doesn’t have an opportunity to get the ball and sling it around. It keeps the game within reach.

I don’t think the Buckeyes will struggle to slow down this rushing attack. That’s the one thing they did halfway decently last season. I would expect them to be able to do more of the same on Thursday night to keep Minnesota from being two-dimensional on offense.

Ryan Day will have to be prepared for a few wrinkles that Fleck will throw his way. I’m sure he’ll be ready though.