Ohio State football: One concerning thing about Notre Dame game

The Ohio State football team was able to beat Notre Dame on Saturday night 21-10. The Buckeyes beat a top-five team in a game at home. It was great to see the Buckeyes come out and beat a team of similar quality in the first game of the season.

While the Buckeyes were able to get a win that will look great on their resume for the College Football Playoff and did a lot of things right in that game, one thing happened that is concerning and needs to be addressed. That is what happened on special teams.

Specifically, the kicking game. Noah Ruggles was really good last year as the starting kicker for the Ohio State football team. In fact, he only missed one kick in 2021. He went 20-21 on field goals. Ruggles attempted just one field goal on Saturday and he missed it.

It wasn’t a very long field goal either. It was under 40-yards, which is a range that Ruggles is usually pretty solid in. The kick was missed and it ended up not affecting the score of the game. Even so, I think it’s something to keep an eye on for the rest of the season.

Ruggles should be better the rest of the way. I’d be surprised if he made missing these kinds of kicks a habit. It’s also a good thing that Ohio State’s offense played well enough that the missed kick didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

If the Ohio State football team can keep their offense going at the level they were at last year, they won’t need Ruggles to kick that many field goals. Hopefully, that’s the case and this is a problem that will no longer exist. I bet Ruggles makes the next five kicks he attempts too.