Ohio State football: Hold that line!

If you’re of an older age group (like me), I’m sure you remember hearing the chant of “Hold that line! Hold that line!” when fans were imploring their favorite team’s defense to get a big stop in a short-yardage situation. Well, what was once a cheer now seems to have become a strategy for the offensive line of the Ohio State football team’s opponents.

Considering what we’ve all witnessed in the last two games if a Buckeye fan hears “Hold that line!” coming from opposing fans, they’ll think it is in reference to all of the jersey-stretching grabbing being done by that team’s offensive linemen.

We’ve all seen it. These aren’t the usual ticky-tacky variety you see on every play. The holding being done to Ohio State’s defensive linemen has been obvious, blatant, and out there for all to see.

It was Penn State’s final drive of the first half where this problem really began to boil over. As the Nittany Lions started to move the ball a bit, the Ohio State football team began to blitz and put pressure on their quarterback, Sean Clifford. The more the Buckeyes blitzed, the more their offensive linemen held them.

Tommy Eichenberg was grabbed and nearly dragged down. Lathan Ransom was bear-hugged by a running back and pulled to the ground. It was so bad ABC’s announcer team was questioning how the officials missed these and others.

It continued against Nebraska. Ohio State’s defensive ends were held mercilessly. But, what may have been the worst was when Jerron Cage was blatantly held out in the open with the umpire looking right at it. The umpire’s job is to look for infractions along the line of scrimmage.

Why are Big Ten officials refusing to call these? They certainly didn’t hesitate to throw a flag (and rightly so) on Dawand Jones for throwing down a Nebraska defender. It’s been a baffling and frustrating trend over the last two games.

If you think this is just one fan’s whining and belly-aching, think again. Longtime Ohio State beat writers, who I’ve rarely seen mention officiating, have pointed out the blatancy and frequency of these holds. Defensive end Tyreke Smith took to social media after the Nebraska game to voice his frustration.

When Ryan Day was asked his opinion during his mid-week press conference leading up to Nebraska, he was careful in his answer. He also let everyone know he and the coaching staff saw it all as well and turned in film to the Big Ten,

"“You know, listen, the refs have a tough job. They hear it from all angles and I get it. But certainly, we have to advocate for our guys, and when we see something that doesn’t quite look right, we have to make sure we recognize that and do that in certain ways, but also be respectful and be professional. But certainly, there were some things we did turn in, yes.”"

Unfortunately, the Ohio State head coach can turn in all of the film clips he wants, but this is up to the Big Ten to resolve. Until the conference’s officials begin throwing flags, I firmly believe the Hold that line! “blocking” strategy is going to continue to be used by Buckeye opponents.