The Ohio State football team is taking on one more easy non-conference opponent this season. That opponent is Western Kentucky. Despite playing two easy opponents prior to this weekend, the Buckeyes have yet to look like a national title-contending team.
The Buckeyes have several things they need to work on in this game in preparation for next week’s battle against Notre Dame. While they aren’t truly at risk of losing to the Hilltoppers on Saturday, they still need to be as sharp as possible so they can be on their “A” game heading into South Bend.
There are three keys for the Ohio State football team to get that “A” game. If Ohio State can do these three things, they will dominate WKU this weekend, which is what fans want to see. Quite frankly, it’s what the coaches want to see the week before the Notre Dame game as well.
The first one starts with the offensive line.
1. The Ohio State football team must run-block better
Blocking in the run game has been a significant struggle for the Ohio State football team so far this season. Holes just aren’t being opened. The offensive linemen are struggling to get off their blocks on the line and they can’t seem to get to the second level of the defense.
That sort of mediocre blocking might be fine against Western Kentucky this week, but it certainly won’t be next week against the Irish. We need to see the line be better in the run game this week so they have confidence going into next week that they can run the ball at will.
Specifically, I want to see the offensive line get more of a push in third-and-short situations, as well as fourth-down scenarios. Ohio State is one of the worst teams in the country in third-down conversion rate through two games. A lot of those have come in third-and-short yardages.
That needs to be fixed this week against an inferior opponent. Otherwise, the passing game is going to be burdened even further. Speaking of the passing game, that moves me to our next key.
2. The Ohio State football team needs to keep Kyle McCord comfortable
Ryan Day officially made Kyle McCord the starting quarterback for the rest of the season after his performance against Youngstown State last weekend. While it wasn’t perfect, it was miles better than his performance against Indiana in the opener. He was clearly more comfortable.
That’s another key for the Buckeyes this weekend. They have to keep McCord comfortable this week and allow him to keep his rhythm. Beating up on another weak defense might be just what his confidence needs before he heads into a hostile environment in South Bend.
McCord needs to show improvement from week to week. I expect him to be even better than he was against the Penguins. He did a great job of finding Marvin Harrison Jr. last week. Expect a heavy dose of him again this week. He’s the best player on the roster and needs to get the ball as much as possible.
A nice 300+ yard performance with no interceptions would be good to see out of McCord this week. Then, we know he’s going to be as prepared as he can be for the Irish. WKU doesn’t have a defense that can hang with these receivers so that’s definitely possible to do.
The final key for the Buckeyes this weekend has to do with an improvement on the defensive side of the ball.
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.