Ohio State football vs. Indiana: Offensive grades

The Ohio State football team was able to play some good football in some bad weather on Saturday. It snowed most of the game and it was pretty cold too. But because there was no wind, they were able to move the ball a lot better on offense than they did against Northwestern. Here is how each unit graded out.

C.J. Stroud had a bounce-back game after throwing for a career-low in passing yards against Northwestern. After throwing for just 76 yards in Evanston, the Buckeye quarterback threw for 297 yards and 5 touchdowns. That’s a good way to get back into the Heisman conversation as a potential front-runner.

I wanted to see how the Ohio State football team was going to run the football in this game after they had struggled to do so the previous three weeks. Overall, they ran it much better. Ohio State had 340 yards rushing and ran it for 7.9 yards per carry.

Of course, the big story of the game was Miyan Williams being carted off the field after suffering an ankle injury in the second quarter. Before that injury, he had accumulated 147 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Ryan Day did say he doesn’t think that the injury is long-term, but that’s still greatly concerning.

Dallan Hayden showed he is capable of running the ball well in relief. He had 19 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown. If absolutely necessary, former walk-on receiver Xavier Johnson can run it too. He had a 71-yard touchdown run late in the game too.

The offensive line opened up holes a lot better in this game than they had been doing, as evidenced by the rushing numbers. But there was still one concerning area that the Buckeyes didn’t fix in this game; running the ball in short-yardage situations.

That comes down offensive line push. The line didn’t win the line of scrimmage in several short-yardage scenarios and it led to them getting stuffed. It’s an issue that frustrated Ryan Day and that I’m sure they will be working on yet again leading up to the Maryland game.

Cade Stover caught two touchdown passes in this one and finished with a total of three catches. He did however get called for holding yet again. Stover has had some issues with blocking in recent weeks. That’s a problem that needs to be corrected.

Marvin Harrison Jr. continues to catch touchdowns. He caught another one on Saturday and he now has 11 on the season. He finished with 7 catches for 135 and that score. He’s clearly the best receiver the Buckeyes have on the roster right now. Julian Fleming has some drop issues that need to be fixed too.

The best moment of the day was when Kamryn Babb got out there to catch a touchdown pass. It was the first touchdown catch of his career after suffering four torn ACLs. It was an emotional moment for him and his teammates celebrated with him. It was a very cool moment.

The offense was back to being really good. Let’s hope it stays that way.