This is the offensive play-by-play analysis against Maryland, a continuation of a series that I have been writing all season, with the last one located here. This format I have been using is based on the Upon Further Review series over at MgoBlog, with the grading system being similar to PFF's. The most recent one for them is located here.

There weren’t a ton of questions remaining for Ohio State’s offense after Rutgers. Maryland isn’t much better overall, and might be worse defensively. We expected a big offensive showing with Ohio State getting whatever they wanted, and they largely did. If there was anything interesting, it might have been whether or not Stroud could build off of his huge game against Rutgers.

Here is the play-by-play analysis:

No surprise, Ohio State is a lot better than Maryland. Particularly, their offense is so much better than Maryland’s defense, it wasn’t a fair fight. They looked better and they subsequently played better. Ohio State didn’t run anything particularly interesting or unusual on offense; they ran their base offense right at Maryland. The only criticism that can be had is the performance of the running game in the first half. Here is the running chart:

There were three factors leading to the early game run struggles. One, Maryland was running the 404 Tite 3-3-5 all game, which is what Tulsa used quite a bit to give Ohio State’s offense some issues. The 404 Tite front means that the base defense is a 3-3-5, but the three interior linemen are pinched in toward the middle of the line. Particularly, the two outside ends are lining up on the inside shoulder of the offensive tackles, rather than the outside shoulder, giving up some leverage outside and some pass rush for a better ability to plug holes in the interior of the line. The middle was often times really blocked up and congested, so there wasn’t much room to run.

This was compounded with the second problem, which was Wypler’s performance. He did not have a great game. In fact, on Ohio State’s very first offensive play from scrimmage, Wypler completely whiffed on a blocker, who hit Henderson in the backfield. While I thought he played well for the last two weeks, this was a step back. Running up the middle comes and goes with the center’s performance. There were still places to run, and that was mainly due to the huge game from Paris Johnson Jr, who continued his hot streak. Munford, Matt Jones, Dawand Jones, and Nicholas Petit-Frere played well too. Kevin mentioned in the Skull Session that Matt Jones was a center in high school, and it seems like that would be a natural fit. After this game, I am inclined to agree. Wypler’s played well the past couple of weeks, but it’s hard to keep Matthew Jones out of the lineup right now. If there is a weak point in the line, it is probably Johnson or Wypler. We will see what happens. They are playing well as a group, so maybe a change would be a mistake. Honestly, it’s a small issue, and I think they would be successful with any combination of those six right now.

I am not really pushing for a change at center even with Matt Jones’ performance because everyone else is playing really well. Combine that with the blocking from Ruckert and Stover, and there were plenty of holes to run through. The third reason that the run game started sluggish was because Treveyon Henderson would always attempt to cut up field instead of bounce the play outside, where he had blockers, especially on counter trey.

I don’t think this is the first time I’ve mentioned it, but Henderson will sometimes try to head straight upfield instead of bouncing it outside. This is unusual and welcome, as young running backs have a tendency to try to make everything a big play. The maturity aim for a couple extra is rare. However, in this game, Maryland was daring him to go outside and pick up chunk plays. In the first half, Henderson wouldn’t. On the very first drive, while deep in Maryland territory with 5:17 left in the first quarter, the line gave him beautiful blocks, and Rossi gave him a lane out of the I-formation. Henderson would have scored had he followed the blocks, but he didn’t have the patience to let them develop, and headed upfield immediately. Later, with 13:14 to go in the second quarter, Henderson runs a counter where Rossi steals a man’s soul, and the left side of the line takes care of their jobs. If he just follows where his lead blockers are headed, he gains 15 easy, maybe more. Instead, he tries to go upfield right away, leading to a measly 4-yard gain. It got bad enough where, with 1:50 to go in the second quarter, a running back made a nice play to follow his blocks and pick up 10 yards, which seemed like the best run of the day. I thought to myself, “There you go Henderson, good job taking it outside,” before I realized that Master Teague had been subbed in (though this is a good sign for Teague, as he also has a tendency to cut upfield early). This didn’t last the whole game though. After a while, Henderson figured out that there was open green if he bounced the ball outside. When he figured this out, he was getting 10 yards a pop. I don’t think this is that concerning given the adjustment, but it is something to watch moving forward.

There are also two other observations I would like to make real quick. Gee Scott did not have a good day blocking, and I imagine that will have to change in order for him to be a regular contributor. This is a pretty banal observation, as this was expected given the recent transition to the position, but I think he will contribute sooner rather than later. I’ve talked about his motor before, but it’s clear that he plays with a very high level of effort. Once he gets the blocking aspect down, he won’t be able to be kept off the field. Brandon26841 made a post here with the PFF grades, and it shows that Scott has the highest grade of any tight end, which I think is reasonable. He is clearly the best receiver. Once his blocking improves, he will be a starter, and I am guessing that will happen next year.

The other observation is that Toby Wilson is legit. Coaches across the country have their kids come to the school they are coaching at, but Toby Wilson has played really well the last three weeks. He wasn’t just a kid they offered a preferred walk-on spot because he was Kevin’s son; he can legitimately play. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but he ended up with a lot of half points for doing his job well.

If there was a storyline heading into the game, it was probably about whether or not Stroud could continue where he left off against Rutgers. Not only did he play well, but I thought that this was his best game yet as a Buckeye. Here are the quarterback charts:

CJ Stroud is continuing at a ridiculous pace, averaging 10.8 YPA, which is the same as Joe Burrow when he won his Heisman. I was more bullish on Stroud at the beginning of the year than most people were. The Minnesota game was not great, but I was very impressed with how he played against Oregon. He was inconsistent, but his highs in that game were so high that it was hard not to get excited. Haskins had a great 2018, but I don’t know if he had that many high level throws in a game until the Big Ten Championship game. Stroud did it in his second start, where he was a year younger than Haskins at his peak.

This game was his best yet. There were a lot of NFL throws, but this has become the norm for him at this point. The bigger thing that impressed me were no throws that were uncatchable, unless he was being heavily pressured. Perhaps even bigger, he didn’t have any reads that I thought were particularly bad. All of his passes made sense and he executed them. It’s hard to have a better game than this.

There are starting to be murmurs from around the country that Stroud might be the best quarterback in the country. I know the Solid Verbal podcast made a passing mention of it, and I am sure some on 11W have wondered about it as well. Stroud has a PFF grade of 90.8, which is ridiculous. First year starters never have grades that high, with the exception of Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence. That puts him 6th among quarterbacks, with Matt Coral being the only name from a contender ahead of him. Bryce Young is right behind him. He’s also second in the country with a 10.8 YPA passing average, which as I mentioned before, is excellent. The big question right now is: who would you rather have right now besides Stroud? Maybe Matt Coral and Malik Willis, but that’s about it. Even Coral feels a little too feast or famine for me, and much of Willis’ value comes from his rushing ability, which I don’t think would be the best fit in this offense.

Either way, defenses will start getting a lot better over the next couple of months. If he keeps playing the way he has, and Ohio State keeps winning, he will win the Heisman. Those are two enormous if’s. It is probably unreasonable to expect Stroud to keep playing this well. Of course, his numbers and grades include Oregon, Tulsa, and Minnesota. If he can avoid lows like Tulsa, and can capitalize more than he did against Oregon, this seems doable.

Stroud should get plenty of help from his wide receivers. Here is their chart:

Olave is incredible. That catch he made for a touchdown was spectacular. He nearly came up with a couple of other diving catches earlier in the game. Even that pass while Olave was well covered hit him in the facemask, though that might have been tipped, it was hard to see. Either way, he’s leading a group of three receivers that all have a legitimate shot to finish with 1,000+ yards in a single season.

I haven’t talked about this much, but since it has started to become a trend, Jeremy Ruckert hasn’t been catching a ton of 50/50 balls this season. Stroud has been throwing them to him, but he rarely comes down with him. I still think he is a good target, and I think the offense is better when he gets targets, but if he isn’t coming down with a ton of 50/50 balls, it’s hard to give him targets over the other three receivers. This is the third game this year where it seems like he gets the ball dislodged from his hands a little too easily. He still makes the most sense to start as he is easily the most balanced tight end on the roster, and you can do a lot with him on the field in terms of scheme and formations (see the play-by-play chart: they flex him out as a fourth WR a ton). He is probably the spot on the offense that could see the biggest improvement, however.

This was also the most Henderson was involved in the passing game, which might be a reaction to the early struggles in the run game. Either way, those wheel routes off of Mesh were a thing of beauty, and he is the perfect back to run those kinds of routes. I would be surprised if that doesn’t continue to be a part of the offense.

After this game, Ohio State might have the best offense in the country right now, with the possible exception of Ole Miss, though I think Ohio State is more consistent at the moment. Indiana will tell us more, and Penn State even more than that. If they get through those two games and they are still rolling, they probably won’t face another team who can test them until Iowa. The rest of this month will say a lot about the future of this team. So far, so good.

Next week I will put up the cumulative scores for the whole season and do a bit of a season review. Tomorrow I will release the defensive analysis. Go Bucks.