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This is supposed to be the year that Ohio State dominates the Big Ten and goes into the College Football Playoff as one of the favorites to win the national championship However, after losing a tough 32-31 decision to top-ranked Oregon on the road and following up with a narrow 21-17 victory at home over Nebraska, it's clear the Buckeyes (6-1, 3-1) have major problems.
Since Ohio State will face Penn State (7-0, 4-0) in Happy Valley this week, head coach Ryan Day must see his team show significant improvement or the team could face an embarrassing defeat. The Buckeyes played poorly against a team that had been blown out 56-7 by Indiana the week before. When the Cornhuskers came to Columbus, they were licking their wounds from the defeat by the Hoosiers.
But once the game started, Nebraska started flexing defensive muscles that most in the college football world didn't know they had. The Buckeyes didn't know that Nebraska was capable shutting down the running game, but that's just what happened.
Day and Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly need to figure out what happened against Nebraska and come up with a solution immediately. The Buckeyes have a pair of talented running backs in TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, and the brain trust must figure out a way to allow them to deliver a strong ground attack.
Ohio State running game has to come to life
Judkins and Henderson were equally unproductive against Nebraska. Judkins had 1o carries for 29 yards and his longest play was 7 yards. Henderson had 10 carries for 25 yards and while he did have a 15-yard run, the rest of his attempts were unproductive. As a team, the Buckeyes averaged 2.1 yards on 31 carries for a total of 64 yards.
The Buckeyes had problems on the offensive line, and the biggest issue was at left tackle. Josh Simmons is done for the year as a result of an earlier knee injury, and the Buckeyes don't have an adequate player to replace him.
Normally, elite football schools like Ohio State have a plethora of blockers who can step in when a starter gets hurt, but that is clearly not the case this year. Zen Michalski had a brutal time of it against Nebraska until he got hurt in the fourth quarter.
Michalski was on crutches in the game's final moments, so the Buckeyes don't have an adequate fill-in at this point as they prepare for the 3rd-ranked Nittany Lions.
In addition to the poor running game, the pass blocking also was a struggle. Quarterback Will Howard had decent numbers as he completed 13 of 16 passes for 221 yards with 2 TDs and 1 interception, but he was under pressure throughout much of the game. Howard was sacked twice and felt the pass rush on six other occasions.
Day knows that the Buckeyes have to find a solution. “It’s not good enough,” Day said. “We have to be able to run the football and we didn’t do that today.”
Coaching has to step up and get results
Ryan Day appears to have all the weapons a coach would need to be successful at an elite football program like Ohio State. However, the Buckeyes have lost quite a bit of their luster.
They have lost a game to Oregon and struggled badly against a Nebraska team they should have beaten thoroughly.
The days of dominating archrival Michigan are over. They have lost three straight games to their archrival. Michigan appears to have significant weaknesses in the team's first year without Jim Harbaugh at head coach, and if Ohio State can't end the losing streak this year, Day will have to answer for the losses.
This is a program that is in danger of getting exposed this year. They have a loss to an elite team on the road and a near defeat to a good but not great team at home.
They have major challenges coming up at Penn State, at home against undefeated Indiana and at home against Michigan. It may be very difficult for Day to survive the upcoming gauntlet.
