Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said his team went from "devastated to crushed to pissed" to "moving forward" after its 31-16 loss to Oklahoma last Saturday.
The Buckeyes had to get to the "moving forward" stage quickly because of who they are playing this Saturday.
Typically, a team like Ohio State might be able to use the week before a non-conference game against a non-Power 5 opponent to focus on addressing its issues from a loss the previous week. That’s not the case, however, when that non-Power 5 opponent is a service academy.
While Army is a 30-point underdog for Saturday’s game at Ohio Stadium, the Black Knights deploy unusual schemes that could challenge the Buckeyes on both sides of the ball, forcing the Buckeyes to take a different approach to preparing for Saturday’s game than they do for any other game.
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| ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS |
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2-0 ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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4:30 P.M. – SATURDAY, SEPT. 16 OHIO STADIUM COLUMBUS, OHIO |
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FOX Fox Sports Go |
It’s so different, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, that Ohio State linebacker Chris Worley said the Buckeyes spent very little time this week reviewing their film from the Oklahoma game.
"Dealing with a team like Army that runs this type of offense, we can’t spend a whole week watching that because then we would never get what we need to see for this week," Worley said. "Even though that film, that’s a great film for us to watch, we have to go out here and watch the Army film, because if we don’t, it’s going to be bad."
Although Ohio State and Army have both been playing football since 1890, Saturday’s game will be the first-ever game between the Buckeyes and Black Knights, and the significance of the matchup – and of each opposing school – is not lost on either team.
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who has regularly expressed his gratitude and admiration for the U.S. military, says he is "a big fan of the service academies." Defensive coordinator Greg Schiano believes playing Army comes with "great prestige."
"For the three-and-a-half or whatever hours it is that we’re playing, they’re the opponent and that’s what they are. But I truly, I think I join most of you in truly appreciating what those guys do and what they’re going through for our country, so I almost feel like we need to play those schools," Schiano said this week.
Army, meanwhile, appreciates the chance it has to play on network television against one of college football’s marquee programs.
"It's an unbelievable opportunity for our players," said Army coach Jeff Monken. "Like everybody who probably plays football and has aspirations of playing college football, they dream of playing college football at the highest levels, in front of the biggest crowds, against the country's best teams. This is one of those opportunities."
“It's really a great privilege and honor for us as a program and it gives our players a unique experience, which I think is really special."– Jeff Monken
ARMY BREAKDOWN
Going into Saturday’s game at Ohio Stadium, the Army football program appears to be in the strongest position it’s been in more than 20 years. The Black Knights finished last season by achieving an 8-5 record, their best record since 1996, and ending their 14-year losing streak against Navy. The Black Knights are off to a strong start this season, having earned a 64-6 win in their season opener against Fordham and a 21-17 win last week against Buffalo.
All of that was enough for Monken, in his fourth year as Army’s coach, to be rewarded with a multi-year contract extension on Thursday.
The conversation entering any game against a service academy always seems to center around the triple option offense – specifically, in Army’s case, the wishbone offense – that each of the service academies still use.
While it’s a throwback to an older era of football, before the sport moved in the direction of the pass-happy spread offenses that dominate the game today, the triple option remains an effective offense for Army and a tough offense for any defense to prepare for. It’s an offense that requires discipline, as the Black Knights’ quarterback, running back and fullback are all used as runners – hence the triple option designation – while the linemen are smaller but quicker than most FBS teams, and use cut blocks and other blocking techniques to take defenders off their feet and open up running lanes.
It’s also a completely different offensive scheme than that which Ohio State faced in its first two games against Indiana and Oklahoma, which meant the Buckeyes not only had to devote all of this week, but also time during the preseason, to preparing for the triple option.
"We trained for this triple option in the summer, in camp, so it’s not where it just started this week," Schiano said. "If you did, you’d have no chance to defend them."
"It’s a very unique set of challenges when you play a triple option football team," Schiano added. "You have to play assignment football. You’re going to get cut, you have to make tackles, you have to get off cut blocks. In a regular football game, you’ll have a couple (cut blocks). In this game there could be 40 cuts or attempted cuts. So you really have to practice differently."
The leader of Army’s offense is senior quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw, a third-year starter who leads the Black Knights through two games with 34 rushing attempts for 324 yards and three touchdowns. Another key player is 5-foot-9, 235-pound fullback Darnell Woolfolk, who has 31 rushing attempts for 186 yards and three touchdowns. No other Army player has more than eight individual rushing attempts, but 17 total Black Knights have already had at least one carry this season.
235-pound fullback Darnell Woolfolk is among the key players in Army's rushing attack. Danny Wild – USA TODAY Sports
As a team, Army has already rushed for 835 total yards this season, most among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and 11 touchdowns.
On the other side of the equation, Army has only completed two passes this season for 17 yards, least in the Football Bowl Subdivision by a wide margin in both categories. Even so, Schiano says the Buckeyes can’t be fooled into thinking the Black Knights can’t pass the ball at all, because they could pay the price of allowing big plays if they do.
"When they’re really humming, they count on two or three big plays in the pass game where they can get the run game going," Schiano said. "They get you off your assignment and then ‘Bam!’ They hit a pass, or two, or three. And they don’t always have to be pinpoint passes if you make a mistake and you play the run. Sometimes guys are running free. So that’s going to be the key."
While Army’s offensive scheme gets most of the attention, the Black Knights are solid – and unorthodox schematically – on the defensive side of the ball, too. The Black Knights ranked fourth nationally in total defense in 2016, with only 291.5 yards allowed per game, and they’re off to a good start again this season, with only 309 yards allowed per game.
Meyer described the Black Knights’ defense as a "Star Wars" scheme that brings pressure "from everywhere."
"On defense, like some of the service academies that I've coached against before, they're 3-4, all over the place and play extremely hard," Meyer said.
Weakside linebacker Cole Christiansen, sophomore safety Jaylon McClinton and junior cornerback Jalen Sharp lead Army with 10 tackles each through two games. Strongside linebacker Alex Aukerman, the Black Knights’ leading returning tackler from last season, leads the team with 2.5 tackles for loss, including two sacks.
Army is at its best when it is able to keep the chains moving with long, sustained drives on offense, which keeps the defense off the field for most of the game and fresh when it is on the field, while also allowing the Black Knights to control the field-position battle. That proved to be the recipe for victory in Army’s most recent game against Buffalo, when the Black Knights held the Bulls to only 39 offensive plays for the entire game.
"They shorten the game," Meyer said. "So it’s going to be every possession’s a priority. Tackling the ballcarrier and getting them down and forcing them into punts is a priority."
BUCKEYE BREAKDOWN
Because Army is a drastically different opponent from Oklahoma, Ohio State isn’t necessarily likely to be plagued by the same issues this week that led to last week’s loss. With that being said, it’s likely that any opponent – including Army – will look to take advantage of the Buckeyes’ flaws that Oklahoma was able to expose.
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| OFFENSE | ||||
| 32.5 | 63rd | POINTS FOR | 42.5 | 23rd |
| 229.5 | 32nd | RUSHING OFFENSE | 417.5 | 2nd |
| 243.5 | 57th | PASSING OFFENSE | 8.5 | 129th |
| 473.0 | 37th | TOTAL OFFENSE | 426.0 | 60th |
| .441 | 52nd | 3rd DOWNS | .524 | 18th |
| 1.000 | 1st | RED ZONE | 1.000 | 1st |
| DEFENSE | ||||
| 26.0 | 75th | POINTS ALLOWED | 11.5 | 17th |
| 60.5 | 13th | RUSH DEFENSE | 92.5 | 31st |
| 403 | 129th | PASS DEFENSE | 216.5 | 68th |
| 148.1 | 109th | PASS EFFICIENCY DEFENSE | 131.0 | 85th |
| 463.5 | 107th | TOTAL DEFENSE | 309.0 | 43rd |
| .419 | 85th | 3rd DOWNS | .333 | 51st |
| .778 | 50th | RED ZONE | .400 | 6th |
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||
| 2.3 | 96th | PUNT RETURN | 0.0 | 109th |
| 35.3 | 13th | KICKOFF RETURN | 24.0 | 34th |
| 45.5 | 10th | NET PUNTING | 31.3 | 116th |
| MISCELLANEOUS | ||||
| + 2.0 | 5th | TURNOVER MARGIN | + 1.0 | 25th |
| 7.0 | 79th | PENALTIES | 4.0 | 14th |
| 8 | EDGE | 11 | ||
Offensively, there’s no question that the Buckeyes’ passing game needs to get into a better rhythm after J.T. Barrett completed just 10 of his first 21 passes for 84 yards and zero touchdowns in last week’s game. Yet the Buckeyes’ best offensive game plan might be a run-heavy attack centered around running backs J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber, who received a combined total of only 16 carries in last week’s loss.
Because Oklahoma had so much success with its three-man front and bringing pressure off the edges against Ohio State last week, and Army also runs an odd-fronted, pressure-heavy defense, Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson expects the Black Knights to use some of the same defensive looks in hopes of replicating the Sooners’ success. That could spell problems for the Buckeyes, but Wilson says the Buckeyes have prepared accordingly to try to put themselves in better positions this week.
"There’s a lot of things that we saw last week that we’re probably going to see again," Wilson said. "We’ve worked hard to address it."
The Buckeyes have also had major issues in the passing game on the defensive side of the ball, as evidenced by their dead-last ranking among FBS teams in passing yards allowed per game. But aside from potentially catching the Buckeyes off-guard once or twice as aforementioned by Schiano, Army isn’t likely to test Ohio State’s passing defense consistently in this game. Instead, it’s Ohio State’s run defense that will be put to the test this week.
Run defense has been the Buckeyes’ strength in their first two games, as they have held their first two opponents to averages of only 60.5 yards per game and 1.9 yards per carry. Army’s wishbone attack, however, could put a greater stress on Ohio State’s run defense than the spread offenses it faced in its first two games.
"It’s just a whole ‘nother animal," said Ohio State defensive end Tyquan Lewis. "Versus Oklahoma, you’ve got (run-pass options). You got Army, they’re going to run the ball eight times and throw it two."
Lewis said that "nobody" likes having to defend the triple option, but he believes this game will help the defense grow because of how disciplined it requires the Buckeyes to be. Worley says he is looking forward to the challenge.
"I will say I would enjoy this more than playing Indiana where they threw the ball 65 times," Worley said. "Hopefully it’ll be 65 runs, giving the linebackers and safeties and D-linemen more chances to make plays."
Chris Worley is looking forward to playmaking opportunities against the run against Army.
While it’s evident the No. 8-ranked Buckeyes need to play better on both sides of the ball to be a national championship contender, Ohio State still has one of the most talented teams in college football and a significant talent advantage over most teams, including Army, which is a fact not being overlooked by Monken.
"As I told our team, they perhaps may be the most talented football team Army has ever faced in school history," Monken said during his press conference on Tuesday. "I don't know if I would say that they are more talented on offense or defense. I think all the way across the board they are really good."
HOW IT PLAYS OUT
While Ohio State is a heavy favorite to win Saturday’s game, there are two schools of thought on how the game could ultimately play out. If the Buckeyes come out of the gates strong – something they have yet to do this season – and are sharp on both sides of the ball, they could overwhelm Army with their talent and roll to a blowout victory. Yet if the Buckeyes continue to miss big-play opportunities on offense and give up big plays on defense, they could end up having to scrape out a victory in a dogfight.
Considering the way they were embarrassed on their home turf last week, along with the respect the Buckeyes appear to have for Army, one shouldn’t expect Ohio State to overlook its opponent this week. There’s still potential for this game to be dangerous, though, because of Army’s toughness and discipline, how challenging its schemes are to prepare for and how it can wear a defense and the clock down if its running game can keep the chains moving.
Monken recognizes that few expect his team to actually win this game, and that Ohio State – from a talent standpoint – should win this game. He also says, though, that he and his team will go into Saturday’s game with a belief that they can win the game, because it’s not in their DNA to back down from a challenge.
"We have to give our guys some hope," Monken added. "Nobody outside of this room is running around saying 'Man, Army is going to beat the heck out of Ohio State.' Everyone is saying we're going to get our butts whipped. I'm not walking in here telling the guys to start preparing for Tulane (Army’s next opponent) because we're going to get our butts whipped. That's not the way we're wired.
"We know we are in for a real battle and test and it is going to take our very best effort out of every one of our guys and coaches to stay in the ballgame with these guys. We are going to give it everything we've got."
ELEVEN WARRIORS STAFF PREDICTION: Ohio State 45, Army 13
