All year long, the Ohio State Buckeyes have been dealing with offensive line injuries. For most of the season, Phillip Daniels was hurt. He returned in time for the Indiana game and promptly allowed Julian Sayin to get demolished, which injured him for the rest of the year.
Austin Siereveld missed a couple of games with an illness. Ian Moore was questionable last week against Oregon, but did play. Injuries and general ineffectiveness have plagued the offensive line. Now, the Buckeyes might lose Luke Montgomery against Northwestern.
Ohio State OL Luke Montgomery is listed as questionable vs. Northwestern
Montgomery is listed as questionable on the Big Ten availability report for this game. No one for Ohio State has officially been ruled out yet, but Montgomery is one of several players who are listed as questionable. Montgomery is perhaps Ohio State's best offensive lineman.
If Montgomery doesn't play this weekend, Ohio State might be forced to put Daniels back on the field. He did not start last week against Oregon. However, there would need to be offensive line shuffling if Montgomery can't go. That would likely mean Daniels at right tackle and Siereveld at left guard.
Any combination that has Daniels on the field for Ohio State is a bad one. He has earned the reputation as the worst starter-level offensive lineman on the roster. He played better last year as a starter, although the final two games would end up being some of his worst tape.
Ohio State shouldn't need Montgomery to beat Northwestern, but the offense has lacked explosion ever since Sayin went down. Luke Fahey needs all of the time he can get in the pocket. Not having Montgomery out there doesn't give him that opportunity.
Ohio State needs to find an offensive game plan that works
Ohio State has to find a better way to execute on offense. The last two weeks ahve been some of the worst offensive games that the program has produced in the Ryan Day era. The only thing that has been worse has been the defense, which has allowed 71 points in two weeks.
It doesn't seem that Arthur Smith knows exactly what is wrong, either. That's the most distressing part. Smith has failed to get the running game going at all this season, and that's what he was supposed to be the best at. Instead, Ohio State is one of the worst running teams in the country.
It's unclear whether or not the Buckeyes will have an effective enough offensive game plan to score enough points to win the game. The good news is that Aidan Chiles is out, so Northwestern will also be playing with a backup quarterback. That might be the best-case scenario for Ohio State's struggling defense.
We will know better later in the week if Montgomery will be able to go for this game. He certainly wants to play, as he has not given up on this season. However, the Buckeyes have to figure out a way to get both sides of the ball to play better for it to make any difference.
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