The Ohio State football team was able to get a fantastic win in Week 1 over Texas, taking them down 14-7. While it was a low-scoring game, the Buckeyes did what they needed to do in order to win the first game of the year. They should be the new number-one team in the country now.
Defensively, the Buckeyes were downright nasty. They didn't allow Arch Manning to get comfortable at any point during this game, and smothered Texas' offense. It was a very good performance on that side of the ball, and they answered a lot of questions defensively.
While the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to get a win over the top-ranked team in the country, that doesn't mean that there aren't some concerns coming out of that game. There is one worry that is higher than the rest when it comes to the Buckeyes on offense.
The Ohio State football team must figure out a way to run the ball better
Ohio State wasn't able to figure out a way to run the ball at all in the opening game. Surprisingly, CJ Donaldson got the start in this game. He did score a touchdown, but ran it 19 times for only 67 yards. That's just 3.5 yards a carry, which is not good enough.
Donaldson was by far the better of the two backs that the Buckeyes trotted out. James Peoples was horrendous, putting up just 20 yards on 10 carries. He was constantly stuffed at the line and never came close to breaking out for a big run. His longest run was just six yards.
The offensive line has to bear some responsibility for that. They were fantastic in pass protection, but they simply couldn't move Texas off the line of scrimmage in the run game. Texas has a very solid defensive line, so the Longhorns certainly deserve some credit for that.
It seems like Ethan Oniwanwa is a total bust as a transfer portal player. He played 15 snaps at right guard and wasn't good in any of them. He was supposed to play left tackle, but it looks like he can't play any position up front. It's a horrendous development for someone who got paid a lot of NIL money.
It's highly unlikely that the running game remains this poor throughout the season. The Buckeyes will be able to figure it out and have this offense running like a well-oiled machine. Still, this is something to watch over the next few weeks.