The Ohio State Buckeyes are a national championship team, with a caveat. The Athletic's Cameron Teague Robinson believes that caveat is figuring out the run game over the next month, leading up to "The Game," the Big Ten Championship, and the College Football Playoff.
Teague called the run game an "issue," but deemed them the team to beat if they can figure it out against the Purdue Boilermakers, Penn State Nittany Lions, UCLA Bruins, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, and TTUN.
"The running game is an issue. The Buckeyes are averaging 102 yards per game and 3.1 yards per carry in the last two wins over Illinois and Wisconsin. That’s not good enough and could become a problem when Ohio State gets into a position where it needs to have success on the ground to ice a game or move the ball because Julian Sayin is having an off day at quarterback." Teague wrote.
"If they can figure out a way to build a sustainable run game over the next month, before Michigan, I like the Buckeyes’ chances of winning another title."
With Brian Hartline's promotion to the offensive coordinator spot, the run has been used as a device to set up the passing game. It's a receiver-heavy scheme, but there's room for better running back performances than what the team has gotten.
It's not a good thing when the most memorable performances all season from the position group came against the Ohio Bobcats and Grambling State Tigers. Bo Jackson, the team's undisputed standout, has inflated numbers from those non-conference cupcakes.
Luckily, there are defenses on the schedule that things can be righted against. OSU has three of the Big Ten's bottom four units between Penn State and TTUN. Then again, the Wisconsin Badgers and Illinois Fighting Illini are barely above that group, and the Buckeyes didn't get more than 55 yards from any given back.
Ohio State has an easy remaining schedule, but it won't serve its purpose if it's not used to prepare the program for a repeat.
This roster is too good not to be in a position to win it all again. Maybe it's a high bar, but the Buckeyes spent enough to be in that rarified air.