In the grand scheme of two games, three quarterback sneaks hardly register in one’s memory.
That trio of plays accounts for only 10 of Ohio State’s 1,024 yards across season-opening victories against Nebraska and Penn State. Not even 1 percent of the total yardage.
But if you choose to gloss over the plays, you’d overlook three drive-extending conversions that each led to scoring chances. They were relatively minor moments yet ones that helped the Buckeyes put points on the board shortly thereafter.
“It's not something we've really done a lot of, so when you can kind of catch people off guard, it's good,” Ryan Day said on his 97.1 radio show this week.
So far, the Buckeyes have dialed up three quarterback sneaks, and all three have converted first downs. In fact, they’re averaging more yards per sneak (3.3) than their upcoming opponent, Rutgers, is averaging on all of its rushes (3.1).
Given the success rate and willingness shown to call the play all over the field, we’re digging in on what exactly has made Ohio State’s quarterback sneaks so successful.
1st Quarter vs. Nebraska
3rd-and-1 from Ohio State's own 33-yard line
The Buckeyes just have so many weapons to defend. On this third-and-1 situation from the first quarter, the Cornhuskers have to keep an eye on Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, two tight ends – Jeremy Ruckert and Luke Farrell – and Trey Sermon. Oh, and apparently Justin Fields.
Because there’s so much to defend, even though Ohio State went under center, Nebraska can’t afford to stuff too many players in the middle.
“We run some stretch plays and stuff that it's kind of maybe hard for the defense to always to get heavy internally because we'll go under center and the ball's still getting stretched outside, so if they pack everyone inside, I think it's maybe hard for the defense to always load it up,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said.
With Nebraska utilizing a nose tackle and defensive ends lined up shading the inside of the offensive tackles, Ohio State correctly saw a winnable matchup.
Josh Myers fired off the ball and, with the help of Wyatt Davis, knocked the 1-technique three yards backward, sending him spinning to the ground. Harry Miller cut off Nebraska’s right defensive end. Fields, with the nose tackle slightly shading Myers’ right side, went left between his center and left guard to power forward for three yards.
The interior of Ohio State’s offensive line – Davis, Myers and Miller – would take a three-on-two matchup up front any day on a quarterback sneak.
“Justin's good at it,” Wilson said. “He manages the snap. I think the hardest thing about the quarterback sneak is the snap because the center's firing off the ball, and especially when it's shotgun so much. Justin is very comfortable under center. He manages the snap well. Then you're going behind Josh and Wyatt and Harry and some strong guys.”
2nd Quarter vs. Nebraska
4th-and-1 from Ohio State's own 33-yard line
Want to really get a gauge on how much Day trusts the sneak? Look at how he uses it here. Having seen it work in the first quarter of the season opener, he went back to it less than 15 minutes later on his team’s side of the field to convert on 4th-and-1 in a tie game, even deciding to go with the play after Nebraska called a timeout.
This quarterback sneak, however, required a bit more thought from Fields than the first, which relied mainly on brute strength and a numbers advantage on the line.
The Cornhuskers didn’t want to give it up quite as easily. So this time, with Ohio State employing the exact same formation, they lined up defensive tackles in both A-gaps (between the center and guards).
Nebraska’s issue? Fields never intended to go straight up the middle with the ball.
Instead, the quarterback had seen Cornhuskers defensive end Ty Robinson drop into a three-point stance on the outside shoulder of right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere. Robinson, it should be noted, didn’t even try to fight for the inside on the game’s first sneak. This time, his positioning gave Fields a wide-open gap between Davis and Petit-Frere.
So the moment he got the snap from Myers, Fields quickly side-stepped to his right and attached himself to Davis’ backside as he snuck around him for three yards and a first down.
“I feel like I've always just had a feeling for finding an open gap or something like that,” Fields said. “But I don't think there's a set example or description where you can describe how to be successful on a QB sneak. I feel like I've always just done it naturally.”
2nd Quarter vs. Penn State
3rd-and-3 from Penn State's 5-yard line
At least Nebraska had an idea a quarterback sneak might be coming when Ohio State converted. Penn State didn’t have a clue until too late.
“The one we ran the other day, we kind of caught them off guard, made it look like we were checking the play and kind of caught them looking over to the sideline,” Day said.
Sometimes trickeration works. It did a week ago.
The goal was simple: Get Penn State to drop its guard and snap the ball before it realizes what was going on.
Fields, originally set up for a shotgun snap, suddenly looked to the sideline pretending to get the play. The entire rest of the offense – including Myers, importantly – joined him in the acting job. Fields nonchalantly walked toward the line, almost pretending he’d forgotten to lower his hands. As he got right behind his center, Myers suddenly swiveled his head around to face forward and Fields dropped his hands and body for an under-center snap.
Safety Jaquan Brisker, about a second before the snap, started frantically alerting his teammates to what was happening. Too late. Fields put his head down and followed Myers, who legitimately didn’t have to block a single defender in order for his quarterback to gain four yards and move the sticks. Miller and Thayer Munford absolutely leveled one defensive tackle, and Davis and Petit-Frere handled to other, allowing Fields to sprint forward toward an unprepared linebacker corps.
Fields and Myers deserve the most credit here for their pre-snap performances. Since they both looked away, even as the quarterback crept toward the line, the defense's attention lapsed to open a lane for Fields.
“I think we're kind of picking the spots of where and when and the timing,” Wilson said.
Now that Ohio State’s rocking a 100 percent success rate, opponents will know they need to watch out for quarterback sneaks. Day already knows that to be the case.
“You get up big in there, real tight with double edges, they're going to gang up inside now,” Day said. “So we've just got to make sure we anticipate it and use it at the right moments and try to keep it fresh.”
As the Buckeyes have shown, however, shutting that aspect of their game down isn’t the easiest thing in the world.
They have rugged interior lineman, a quarterback with slipperiness and running back-like power in his legs and creativity with the play. Additionally, perhaps most importantly, enough dangerous options exist elsewhere in this offense to keep defenses honest and unable to sell out to shut down an admittedly hard-to-stop quarterback sneak.
“I think the combination of a lot of things – the ball can get outside, we're good inside, Justin's pretty good at it right now. We'll keep using it as we need it,” Wilson said. “There's still hits on the quarterback, so you've just got to be smart with when and how we do it.”
