Ohio State Football vs. Western Kentucky: 3 keys to victory

3. The Ohio State football team needs to record more sacks

Sacks are usually not an issue for the Ohio State football team. It’s usually something they can accumulate by just rushing four guys up front. So far this season, that has not been the case. Through two games, the Buckeyes have just one sack from a defensive lineman.

What’s worse is that neither J.T. Tuimoloau nor Jack Sawyer have a sack. Sawyer has been borderline invisible out there so far this season. At least JTT has pushed the pocket around a bit. Both of them need to get going in this game so they can be confident heading into next week.

Western Kentucky loves to throw the ball around. They will likely throw it close to 60 times in this game. That will give the Buckeyes plenty of opportunities to sack Austin Reed. We just need to be able to see the defensive line wreaking havoc in the backfield because they have to do that next week.

If Ohio State can’t do that this weekend, then they are going to get carved up next weekend by Sam Hartman. He might be the best quarterback the Buckeyes will face all year. Saturday is an opportunity for the defense to get confidence in their rushing abilities before taking him on.

Again, Ohio State can win this game against Western Kentucky without taking care of these three keys. I’m not sure they can beat Notre Dame next week if they don’t do these things this week though. This is necessary preparation.