Ohio State's offense provides an indefensible performance while getting murdered 41-28 against Oregon.
The Buckeyes' rushing attack was abysmal. They came in averaging 170.8 yards per game and only got 54 yards on the ground. They’re now averaging 147.7 yards per game, 77th in the nation. The passing game was a little better. They entered the game averaging 313.3 yards per game, and Luke Fahey had 360 in the loss.
They now average 320.2 yards per game, for 8th in the FBS. The Total offense was 486 yards per game and only put up 413 on Oregon. That lowered their season average to 467.9, 14th in the nation. Scoring was also lower than usual. Before, it was 36.6 points per game. After scoring only 28 on Oregon, it dropped to 35.7, 21st in college football. As we’ll see, these stats are a mirage that don’t tell the whole story for this offense.
What the Ohio State offense needs to improve on
There’s so much; I’ll just go with what we’ve seen them screw up lately. Maybe the biggest is to stop trying to run NFL schemes in college football. That’s been a recent excuse from Ryan Day for why he’s doing some of the self-destructive things he’s doing on offense.
It’s the closest thing we’ve heard to a reason for playing so many tight ends and not having awesome receivers like Chris Henry Jr. and the rest of the receivers (from Wide Receiver U) out on the field at the same time to try to give defenses headaches defending such a slew of talent.
It was a problem against USC, and when asked about it afterward, Day indicated his determination to keep going with it. If he’s serious about winning, he’ll remove those plays and formations from the playbook, yesterday. He seems more serious about auditioning for the NFL.
They need to find some urgency to hurry up on offense when needed. Just like with USC, and just like in the Cotton Bowl last year, no deficit was enough to get the offense moving with any speed. Maybe if someone points out that NFL teams have always gone up tempo when the clock has been a factor, he’ll think about making it part of his offense.
Then again, he’d just find a way to do it with three tight ends on the field. The offense also needs to stop being the best defense opposing teams have against Jeremiah Smith. Malachi Toney was averaging over nine per game in many blowouts on an undefeated team before he went down with an injury. Smith is averaging just under eight catches a game when it should be over 12.
What the offense did right
What the offense did and does right was also what it does so very wrong. It’s insane that this isn’t obvious to Ryan Day, Arthur Smith, Billy Fessler, and the rest of the offensive staff that this offense is at its best when it leans on its best player. WHEN they go to Smith, everything is much better across the offense.
Ohio State had a huge gap where they didn’t target Jeremiah Smith. It lasted over half of the game clock. During that span, Oregon scored 38 points, and Ohio State scored 0. Outside of that span, Ohio State scored 28, and Oregon scored three.
Getting the ball to Smith works. He had seven catches for 133 yards and a touchdown. It was just too little too late from a head coach and staff that would rather lose than change their plan or admit they’re wrong.
Offensive player of the game
Despite being forgotten about and coached by a staff that’s more concerned about getting their third and fourth tight ends in the game than they are about throwing to the best player in the nation, Smith still soldiers on. Clowns out there criticize him for showing emotion, but Buckeye Nation appreciates that he’s one of the few leaders on this team who cares! Despite being forgotten about half the time, the man still has 69 catches for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns. He deserves better.
Offensive stat of the game
There are only bad offensive stats for this game. The first to address is the running game. For the first time since 2003-2004, Ohio State has had two games in consecutive seasons where they rushed for 53 yards or less as a team. It’s never happened in the last thirty years within a 10-game span until now. Their 53 yards against Oregon and 45 against Miami are their lowest rushing outputs since 35 yards against Michigan State in 2011.
We could also go with the fact that they are 6-5 and half of Nick Marsh’s foot from being 5-6 in their last 11 games. This is the first time they’ve had three regular-season losses with a full-time head coach since 2004. This is the first time they’ve given up 38 unanswered points since 1999 against Wisconsin, whom they also led 14-0 before their coach, who Ryan Day looks like more each day, let his team melt down.
The biggest one just shows that these coaches either don’t know what they’re doing, or worse, are stubbornly stupid. That gap I mentioned earlier between targets of Jeremiah Smith. It lasted for 32:37 of game clock. From late in the first quarter until the final play of the third quarter. Only bad coaching lets that happen.
Nothing will change
Ohio State fans can expect nothing to be learned. If they were capable of learning from this, they wouldn’t have repeated it after the Big Ten Championship game and the Cotton Bowl last year. Those alone should have taught them that going four tight ends deep and not knowing how to play quickly with the clock is unacceptable.
They’re too proud to change. Just like they were too proud to give Tavien St. Clair a single series, or even a single snap while trailing 38-14. The changes needed at Ohio State will have to come from beyond the power of the coaching staff. They’ve demonstrated that no amount of on-field failures can sway them from the course they’re on.
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