Ohio State football: Blowouts will be important

Most years, the Ohio State football team participates in at least two or three blowouts a year. Most of the time, Ohio State is on the winning side of those blowouts as well. That has allowed them to put players in the game who wouldn’t normally get playing time.

Second and third-stringers get into the game and get some valuable playing experience. That’s how a lot of young players get development. This year though, that experience playing in blowouts is going to be more important than usual because of what the Buckeyes lose next season.

Next season, the Buckeyes lose their starting quarterback, their best receiver, and possibly up to four of their starting offensive linemen. That’s just on offense as well. Defensively, they will lose their leading tackler in 2021 in Ronnie Hickman, as well as some defensive linemen.

The experience of the younger guys on offense is especially important this season so that next year isn’t a disaster. That means that the Ohio State football team has to use their schedule to an advantage this year to have enough blowouts to get these players some work.

The Arkansas State and Toledo games in the non-conference part of the schedule are two obvious games that could lead to blowouts in which the backups can get some valuable snaps. Rutgers and Maryland are two other possibilities. That gives the backups four games to get some experience.

There could be more blowouts or there could be fewer. What I do know is that the Buckeyes need to play well enough to get these guys some snaps. That helps them not just this year, but next season as well when they lose a lot of their offensive talent.