Ohio State Football: Three keys to beating Indiana
By Ryan Stano
2. The Ohio State football team needs to establish the run early
The Buckeyes have the most prolific offense in the country in terms of yards and points scored per game. They aren’t able to be stopped unless a really good defense is in front of them, and even then I’m not sure that will be enough the way that they are going right now.
Establishing the run early is something that opens up the offense to all kinds of possibilities. TreVeyon Henderson is one of the best running backs in the entire country. He needs to get the ball more often than he’s been getting it the last few weeks.
C.J. Stroud has been magnificent in the passing game the last couple of weeks. His numbers have been downright crazy. But soon enough, teams are going to drop 7 or 8 and force the Buckeyes to beat them on the ground. That’s something they can easily do though.
Henderson should be fed the ball on the ground at least 15 times in this game. IU has a pretty good defense, so it might start out a bit slow at first. Henderson is good enough to wear them down though and get big chunks of yards later on in the game.
Starting with the run early and often opens up play-action possibilities down the field. That helps the entire offense and would get Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson more involved as well. A successful running game is where it all stems from.
The last key is more of a mental key than anything else.