Ohio State football struggles to beat Northwestern

The Ohio State football team came into their matchup against Northwestern 38.5-point favorites. It was expected to be a blowout. It was anything but because of terrible weather conditions. Instead, the Buckeyes struggled in the game to move the ball offensively.

In the end, they were able to get the win 21-7. It was an extremely strange game offensively. It was a game in which we saw C.J. Stroud run for more yards than he threw for. Because of 50 mph wind gusts, the passing game was not effective for either team.

It didn’t help that Stroud had several balls dropped by his receivers. It seemed that the only guy who could actually catch the ball was Marvin Harrison Jr. I was surprised the passing game was as ineffective as it was. Stroud was only 10/26 for 76 yards. It’s by far a career-low.

Stroud did run for a career-high 79 yards, including a 44-yard run down the sideline to set up Ohio State’s only touchdown in the fourth quarter. That was about the only time the Buckeyes could run the ball. They struggled mightily to run it in the first half. It’s becoming a troubling trend.

If the Ohio State football team can’t run the ball against Michigan, they’ll get beat. Ohio State has lost the ability to be a balanced football team. It’s something I thought they’d correct today against a bad Northwestern team. Clearly, they still have things to work on. The final numbers look better than what it actually was.

A win is a win, but the Buckeyes showed serious concerns. I’m not willing to chalk it up to bad weather. This team needs to get better in a hurry with running the ball. Otherwise, there will be no opportunity to win a national championship.