Before the game against Purdue, there were a lot of questions regarding the offense. While they had moved the football down the field, they struggled scoring touchdowns if they couldn’t generate explosive plays. Specifically, top-40 defenses have prevented Ohio State from getting into the endzone for the last couple of weeks, and have dominated the offensive line. Against Purdue, they would be up against a defense that was ranked in the top-30 according to SP+, with arguably the best defensive end in the country. There was genuine questions as to whether Ohio State would be able to score in the red zone.

After the game, there were no more questions. Ohio State had maybe their best offensive performance of the year against a good Purdue defense, and it wasn’t particularly close. This was an offensive explosion. The big questions after the game were about its legitimacy and if this performance could be replicated. Also, the much maligned offensive line performed admirably, and Ohio State did whatever they wanted to on the ground. The fact that they did this against odd-fronts throughout the game was even more impressive, as that has hurt them all year.

Before we get to the play-by-play, I should explain how I have been declaring the defensive packages for opponents. If I see a standup defensive lineman, I typically call them a linebacker, as is typical with the 3-4 scheme, where the outside linebackers are essentially defensive ends. However, I am considering adding a change so that the defensive alignment is clearer. I might have a defensive package of 3-4, but include 5-2 for the front so that is obvious that there are five players near the line, and only two players at the linebacker level. I do a similar thing for the defensive side, to show that the cover safety or bullet will sometimes drop in as a linebacker, or a defensive lineman will stand up. If it would be good to see for this side, let me know. My biggest concern is that it would not be consistent with the defensive analysis.

Regardless, here is the play-by-play chart:

That was a bloodbath. The offensive line’s issues have disappeared, even against a good (and often odd) front. Beyond that though, Miyan Williams had an outstanding day running the football, and the creativity of the offense was on display. Purdue was off-balance the entire game. The offensive chart is posted below.

The players who graded as champions for me were Petit-Frere, Munford, Wypler, Matt Jones, Dawand Jones, C.J. Stroud, Miyan Williams, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Cade Stover. Ohio State graded Treveyon Henderson, Mitch Rossi, and Paris Johnson Jr. champions in addition to the ones already listed. I did not grade a player a champion that Ohio State did not consider a champion this week on offense.  

Given that I graded 5 out of the 6 offensive linemen as champions, it is clear that they played well. I gave them the fewest amount of points that I ever have, it feels like. I thought that they played well, but they didn’t have much of a chance to shine or screw up, as so many plays were RPOs or other quick passes. That’s also why Paris Johnson Jr. being called a champion by the coaching staff doesn’t bother me – I just didn’t have enough data to really tell how they played compared to other weeks. Still, they blocked really well this week against both odd and even-fronts. Munford was the one who stood out the most to me, and he had a nice lead pancake (4Q 13:59) in this game. Besides him, I thought everyone else was solid. The thing that shocked me about their performance was the difference between the blocking for Miyan Williams and the blocking for Treveyon Henderson. It was identical.

Why would that be shocking? They both had great games, with Henderson averaging 7.5 YPC and Williams averaging 8.4 YPC. Both of them had nearly 100 yards. From those numbers, it looks like they played nearly identical games. The issue for me is that, when you take out each runner’s biggest game, the games look a lot different. Henderson’s average drops to 3.4 YPC, and Williams’ average drops to 7.3 YPC. This tells me that, while Henderson is more explosive, Williams is way more efficient and dependable.

That’s just from looking at the stats, though. While watching the game, I kept taking notes about how I felt so bad for the offensive line the past couple of weeks. I would watch a play that Williams would run and think to myself, “There’s nothing there,” before Williams cut back and picked up a chunk. In the first quarter, on his first action of the game, he ripped off two eight yard runs in a row (1Q 2:01 and 1:31) that I thought should have been stopped for two yards or less. His very next run, he picks up 22 yards on what looked to be inside zone (2Q 4:06). I thought his best run of the day was on the final drive, when he ran a simple split zone call that everyone knew was coming, and took it for 20 yards after a nice cutback and a soul-taking juke on the safety (4Q 7:10).

After watching him and Henderson both carry the ball in this game, I couldn’t help but come to the following conclusion: the offensive line wasn’t the thing that improved, the runner did. Because when I would watch Henderson’s runs, I started to realize that I had been grading him perhaps too leniently, as holes that I previously assumed were too difficult to get to were now regularly being hit by Williams.

This is not a knock on Henderson, by the way. He was good in this game, though not great. The long run showed off an explosive ability that Williams does not possess. I have also mentioned in the past that Henderson provides an element in the passing game as a receiver and a pass protector that Williams does not provide, which is necessary for an effective passing game. Treveyon Henderson doesn’t quite have the patience and vision to regularly pick up yards that Williams gets regularly though. This is understandable too, considering that he has only played running back for the last few years, and he didn’t have a senior year due to Covid. He’s inexperienced compared to other true freshmen, let alone the upperclassmen that he plays against.

Henderson’s probably the better running back to have between the 20’s, when you have the potential for explosive plays, and you can rely on spreading out the defense with the passing game. The closer the offense gets to the end zone, the more it will value efficiency running the football over explosive potential running and passing. This is the role that I hope to see Williams take in the future, though I don’t know if that’s what they actually will do. From my uneducated viewpoint, it might end up solving most of the issues the offense faced against Penn State and Nebraska. Hopefully, the coaches noticed too. Either that, or I am completely off-base. This is something that I will be following closely for the rest of the year.

The man of the hour though might be C.J. Stroud, as he has now become the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman trophy. Here is his chart:

The gameplan put a lot less on his shoulders this week, and this is mostly due to the success of the run game. I do think I may need to give him more points when he gets off his main read, which he does often. He doesn’t have the otherworldly accuracy of Fields right now, but he does have a great arm, a quick release, and an ability to work through his progressions and reads at a remarkable pace. I am consistently surprised at how quickly he works through his reads, and how rarely he screws up a read. Here’s a fun stat to illustrate another strength: Fields took a sack for every 11 pass attempts in college, while Stroud takes a sack for every 44 pass attempts. While Fields did take a lot of sacks, Stroud only taking a quarter as many is unbelievable. That’s not from an offensive line improvement as much as it’s been Stroud’s ability to make his reads quickly and get rid of the ball on time. He was barely a champion according to my grading when I felt like he played nearly perfect.

The biggest change over the last couple of weeks is the amount of RPOs that they have asked him to run. That’s two straight games in which double-digit RPOs were called (at least). This suggests that they are trying to figure out ways to even up numbers in the box without running Stroud, and that they trust him to make the correct read. At least in this game, I did not see an incorrect read on an RPO.

Those who have read these know that I have been impressed with Stroud since the Oregon game. He’s had to follow probably the greatest quarterback in program history. Despite this, he’s flourished. In the last twenty years, I haven’t seen a quarterback this advanced at this age for Ohio State. I think he’s proven his excellence over the past couple of months, but in order to win the Heisman, he will have to maintain his play against three ranked opponents coming up. Based on the last few weeks, his success will likely determine the success of the Buckeyes as a whole. He is fortunate to throw to the three best receivers in the country, though:

That wasn’t hyperbole regarding the wide receivers. This chart doesn’t say a whole lot other than their targets and what they did with them. I do think Olave has had a little bit of bad luck having multiple long receptions taken off the board due to holding penalties, but he’s one of the greats. Wilson and JSN are getting more and more national recognition, which is good. They make Stroud’s job a lot easier, as at least one of them is open on basically every play. There aren’t a ton of tight windows to throw into.

I can’t fault Ohio State for charting Rossi as a champion. There weren’t many plays I graded for him, and it’s always possible that I missed something.

What should we worry about moving forward? Nothing? Maybe? I guess we can worry about Henderson’s vision for this year. It’s nitpicky, but he isn’t the all-world running back that I thought he was for a few weeks there. He has weaknesses. He will one day be outstanding. For now though, he doesn’t have the vision and patience to be the only back who plays. This was only unearthed because of how good Miyan Williams played, which isn’t exactly a bad thing.

What should we not worry about? The offense as a whole. They are the best in the country by a wide margin. They may not be historically great, but they are easily the best in the country. If any team can score on Georgia, it’s Ohio State.

What should we get excited about? The reemergence of Miyan Williams as a runner. He may have solved the offense’s only issue, which was efficiency in the red zone when they have to run. I don’t know if I expect him to replicate this performance, but if he can, look out.

The increase of RPO elements is exciting as well, as the offense continues to increase in complexity and variety. They have more and more ways to score and move the football.

What does this mean for Michigan State? Ohio State may have an answer to Michigan State’s bend-but-don’t-break philosophy with Miyan Williams. They should be able to move the ball on MSU without any real issues. Scoring in the red zone is the only concern for this game, as Ohio State has had issues there, while Michigan State has done a great job at preventing them. If Ohio State is as efficient as they were in this game, they will be able to name their number against MSU.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about any of this, or corrections for my work. Thank you for reading!

Archive

Offense vs. Oregon / Defense vs. Oregon

Offense vs. Tulsa / Defense vs. Tulsa

Offense vs. Akron / Defense vs. Akron

Offense vs. Rutgers / Defense vs. Rutgers

Offense vs. Maryland / Defense vs. Maryland

Mid-Season Review

Offense vs. Indiana / Defense vs. Indiana

Offense vs. Penn State / Defense vs. Penn State

Offense vs. Nebraska / Defense vs. Nebraska

This series is inspired by Upon Further Review from MgoBlog. If you want to read their latest entry against Penn State, it is located here.