Ohio State football: Separation sooner than expected

We knew this was probably going to happen at some point during the season. Regardless of who played early, a couple of guys would probably separate themselves from the others and make it clear they should get the bulk of the playing time. We just didn’t know it would happen so quickly.

The Ohio State football team’s running backs room is loaded. So much so that one guy moved to defense before the season (Steele Chambers). The Buckeyes are blessed with five talented backs who can be productive. Thursday night’s game against Minnesota saw a rotation among four of them. However, after just one game it is obvious the offense is going to be better alternating between only two.

Miyan Williams made his first career start as a Buckeye and played the opening series before giving way to Master Teague on the next. Marcus Crowley saw a few plays before TreVeyon Henderson made his debut. What became very clear by halftime is which two had separated themselves.

I’ve said this many times, Master Teague’s skill set is limited and it was evident again Thursday night. He ran the ball six times for a 4.8-yard average, but sandwiched between the speed and power shown by Williams on the first series and Henderson exploding through the hole when he finally got his chance, the difference was stark. Don’t get me wrong, I like Teague. He runs hard and is obviously an outstanding person off the field, but he doesn’t add as much to the Buckeye offense as others.

In the past months, I’ve talked about the Buckeyes’ need to find a running back who is Special (read that article here). A running back who is Special can make something out of nothing. He can take what should be a two-yard gain and turn it into six or seven.

Those are just a couple of things a Special running back does. Teague has never shown me the ability to consistently do those. When you take a look at each of their long touchdowns and other things they did when they had the ball in their hands, Williams and Henderson have the skillset to be Special. Cutting the rotation to just those two will make the Ohio State offense more potent.

What about Marcus Crowley? Although he was on the field for a few plays in the first half, all of his six carries came in the final few minutes. He gained just nineteen yards, but I’m willing to take a wait-and-see attitude with him because he’s missed so much time in his career due to injury. I don’t think he should be a part of the regular rotation, but if he can show he deserves a regular role of some sort, I’m all for it.

The Ohio State football team ran the ball only 26 times against Minnesota, so there were not a lot of carries to go around. But, going forward it is obvious to me this offense is much more dangerous with Williams and Henderson. Expect to see those two a lot next week against Oregon.