Ohio State may have beaten the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday afternoon, but they took a big loss, too. Despite beating IU 19-15, the Buckeyes had to finish the game with their backup quarterback. Julian Sayin was knocked out in the fourth quarter, and that meant Luke Fahey had to finish the game.
Sayin is going to be out for a while, and there's a chance he's out for the rest of the season. That means that Fahey is going to have to carry the Buckeyes for a while. Ryan Day and Arthur Smith are going to need to find a way to help him. There is a way they can do that fairly easily.
Arthur Smith needs to get in his bag to help Ohio State QB Luke Fahey
Fahey looked overwhelmed in his first meaningful action against IU. However, Smith can help him out during the bye week by getting him to run more crossers. Smith's game plan to start the game against Indiana was great. They used the tight ends by running them all over the field.
That needs to be a similar game plan with Fahey under center. Getting him big targets to throw to and easy passes to complete early will be key. That will help him get into a rhythm and allow him to get comfortable early in games. Then, he can start taking some deeper shots.
Getting Jeremiah Smith open on some easy mesh routes will be key, too. Smith worked on his yards after the catch in the offseason, and he has shown off that work all year. With him being able to take it to the house from anywhere on the field, it's going to be even more important to get him the ball as much as possible.
Against IU, Smith had his worst game of the season. He was still able to record four catches for 68 yards and a touchdown. Ohio State's future opponents are going to use the blueprint of what IU did against Smith, so it's going to be harder for him to make an impact.
Ohio State needs to lean on its defense for the rest of the season
Up to this point, Ohio State has the sixth-best passing offense in the country. It's almost impossible for them to keep up that pace with Fahey in the lineup. Even if Ohio State were to go to Tavien St. Clair instead, it wouldn't matter. The production in the air is going to fall.
That means Ohio State has to lean more on the defense. Matt Patricia has gotten his guys to play some really good defense this season, even if they aren't quite as elite as they were last year. Patricia is now going to need his guys to play at a borderline elite level in order to win these upcoming games.
Of course, Day has to have perhaps the best coaching job of his career if the Buckeyes are going to make a deep run without Sayin. He has to show that he can help Fahey along his way, even if he's nowhere near as good as Sayin is.
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