With the Rose Bowl against #1 Oregon just around the corner for Ohio State, there a few things I want to see from the Buckeyes’ coaches on January 1st, 2025.
Play to Your Strengths, Don’t Stop Yourself
Ohio State lost The Game this year because they played to the strength of their opponent and not their own. They beat the brakes off of a top-ten defense in Tennessee because they played to their own strengths. They went to the best receiver in football early and it took the top off of the defense and put them on their heels. They did that with Jeremiah Smith for their lone touchdown against that team up north but stopped themselves by not going to him once in the second half of that game.
Ohio State getting Jeremiah Smith so involved against Tennessee opened up everything else for the offense. It allowed them to get TreVeyon Henderson in space and use his speed both rushing and receiving. To go to Carnell Tate, the tight ends, and Emeka Egbuka who weren’t as heavily covered because Smith had to be accounted for.
And it allowed them to bulldoze in the red zone with Quinshon Judkins. If they have Smith covered, look to Tate and Egbuka. Run the read option more to make them have to account for Will Howard rushing too.
Create Mismatches
The easiest way to create mismatches for an opposing defense is to play to your strength. Bend your system to your best players. Make the other team bend their defense to the breaking point with your stars. Find ways to get your best weapons involved in the game at the same time.
Get the best receiver in college football Jeremiah Smith, veteran Emeka Egbuka, and quiet star Carnell Tate lined up out wide and get Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson on the field all at once. Even if this isn’t your usual offensive packaging, find plays you can run with your best players on the field. This will create mismatches which will create opportunities to win the game.
Help on Defense
In October, the Buckeyes had a rough time against Oregon’s passing game. In particular, Denzel Burke struggled in one-on-one coverage. The worst part of that was he got seemingly no help and was left alone on an island when he was getting beat. He should’ve had help from a safety or been asked to cover a different receiver. Don’t let this kind of potential problem fester if it starts to show itself again. If this had been addressed even only in the final quarter of that first game, the outcome would have been different.
Be Ready for the Quarterback to Run
Have packages ready to spy on Dillon Gabriel if he starts to run. The only success Tennessee had on offense was when Nico Iamaleava was running the ball. Ohio State responded accordingly by spying him but they made a mistake in how they did it.
They wanted to use star defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau, who Iamaleava was able to run away from with some success. The Buckeyes need to be ready to have a linebacker or defensive back spy Gabriel. Sonny Styles, Cody Simon, or Jermaine Matthews would be perfect for this task in the Rose Bowl.
Know What Your Special Teams Are
This could be the most important thing Ohio State needs to do. The coaches need to realize that sadly, for whatever reason, their special teams just aren’t that good this year, and they need to plan accordingly.
The field goal kicking game has struggled so badly that the offense needs to consider anywhere beyond Oregon’s 20-yard line that would normally be in field goal range is four-down territory. The punting game has only been slightly better, and anything on the Oregon side of the field also needs to be four-down territory.
Finally, as far as returns go you need Caleb Downs to do it all. If you don’t want to risk him because of how good a defender he is (and that’s totally reasonable) then you need to have the rest of your return men fair catch everything. These seem like daunting situations that on the surface could hurt you or slow you down. But knowing them for what they are and planning accordingly will save you more trouble in the long run.
Swing for Contact, not Home Runs
Another area the coaches can help their players is by telling them to not try to win the whole game on a single play every chance they get. Swing for contact and not home runs. What that means is that while big plays are great and have huge significance, always going for them actually hurts your chances of getting them.
Too often in the Ryan Day era, you’ve seen players on offense pass on a first-down run or catch while trying to go for the touchdown and end up with neither. Likewise on defense trying to force a turnover instead of making the stop and then not coming up with a turnover, and giving up a first down.
Ohio State has had national championship teams hit the big plays, especially the offense in 2014 and the defense in 2002. But the way they would make those big plays was by making the small ones first. Ezekiel Elliott would find the gap and hit it quicker than just about any other running back and doing that first is what allowed him to make the huge plays in huge games.
Same with the defense in ’02. Tackling to wrap up and stop led to the big bone-crushing hits and game-changing turnovers. These led to national championships and will again if done in the Rose Bowl.