Ohio State’s rushing offense had its best game of the season to date against Michigan State last Saturday, when the Buckeyes ran for a season-high 335 yards against a Spartans defense that had allowed 87 rushing yards per game – and ranked third in the entire Football Bowl Subdivision – entering Saturday’s game.
While Ohio State’s offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage and running backs Mike Weber and J.K. Dobbins both had big days with the ball in their hands, a big reason for their collective success was an effective offensive game plan that committed to the power running game and did so in a way that the Spartans could not stop.
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and co-offensive coordinator Ryan Day are known to be the main architects of the Buckeyes’ offense, and typically take most of the credit or blame for the offense’s success or failure as a result. Meyer said Monday, however, that offensive line coach Greg Studrawa also took ownership in game planning for Michigan State – playing a bigger role in that facet of the week of preparation than he usually does – and also deserved credit for the offense’s overall success against the Spartans.
"That's as active as he's been in the game plan," Meyer said of Studrawa, who is in his second year on staff.
There was reason for Studrawa, who has also led his offensive line to an excellent 2017 season, to step up and take ownership last week – and advocate for a more run-heavy game plan – after a questionable offensive game plan one week earlier against Iowa, when Dobbins and Weber had only 11 combined carries, J.T. Barrett threw four interceptions and the Buckeyes had only 371 yards in a 55-24 loss.
Wilson said Wednesday, however, that it’s nothing new for Studrawa – and other position coaches who are not coordinators – to be involved in Ohio State’s offensive game planning.
"Our offensive staff’s a joint deal, it’s a group effort, there’s a lot of talking between drives," Wilson said. "I’ll flip over to Stud, say ‘Hey, I’m thinking these two runs, what do you like, because I like this one, how about this one?’ So there’s a lot of open communication, that’s how the offensive staff works."
Because of their various backgrounds in working with different positions, Wilson said Meyer, Day and wide receivers coach Zach Smith typically take most of the responsibility in developing a passing game plan each week, while Wilson and Studrawa lead the way with the running game plan. Wilson, who is in his first season at Ohio State, believes he and Studrawa have built a good rapport working together this year.
"He’s got a background with some two-back work, which I got a part of. From his time with Coach (Les) Miles (at LSU), he’s got a lot of quarterback run in him, with some of his time with Coach Meyer previously, what they’ve done at other spots when he was at Maryland," Wilson said of Studrawa. "So even though I’ve never worked with him (before this season), we have a lot of similar thoughts and sometimes he’ll see it differently, but our communication, our thought process is similar, and I enjoy working with him. I think we work well together."
Recognizing a need to utilize their running game more effectively against Michigan State than they did at Iowa, Wilson said he and Studrawa worked hard to figure out what didn’t work and put together an improved game plan.
"Last week, we just kind of really just hashed out 'What do you like and why?' and just kind of put our laser lights on it," Wilson said. "We kind of eliminated some things we didn’t like, focused on some things we wanted, worked it hard."
“Our communication, our thought process is similar, and I enjoy working with him. I think we work well together.”– Kevin Wilson on working with Greg Studrawa
That offensive game plan worked as well as any Ohio State game plan has worked all season, but that doesn’t mean the Buckeyes can simply repeat what they did last week against Illinois this week. The Illini present a different defensive structure than Michigan State did, Wilson said, and even though Illinois ranks 105th in the FBS in rushing defense (199.1 yards allowed per game), Meyer said the Illini’s defensive line is the strength of their team. So Wilson, Studrawa and the rest of the offensive coaching staff have gone back to the drawing board once again this week.
"It clicked (last week), but it takes just a little bit to be off, and you’re fighting every week to put it together and you’re fighting to stay on," Wilson said. "We’ve had it sometimes, sometimes we haven’t. And goodness, we got to fight like heck to have it this week."
