Something’s off about the Ohio State run game.
In the past 10 full seasons, the Buckeyes have only failed to average 200 yards per game on the ground in two of them. Coinciding with the 2021 team’s 189.3-yard average this year, Ohio State has failed to reach the 200-yard benchmark in each of the past four games, and the Buckeyes’ efforts running the ball have been particularly troubling in back-to-back close wins against Penn State and Nebraska.
Not hitting a desired number of rushing yards was no big deal when the Buckeyes were scoring 66 and 54 points against the likes of Maryland and Indiana. But as the offense has struggled to replicate that pace in the two subsequent games, the issues on the ground have been underscored.
“When you can’t make a shot, you just gotta keep fighting through it. So we’re gonna fight through the run game,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said Tuesday. “It is the time of year in November, you gotta run the ball. You gotta run the ball in the Big Ten. We’ve got some great playmakers, we’ll keep throwing it great, we’ll keep doing our best to protect great, but we’ve got to run the ball well down the stretch to be the team we need to be. We’ve been working at it, and last two games, a little off, but I think it’s things that are correctable.”
Through the first five games of the season, Ohio State was averaging 219.4 yards per game on the ground, with 6.45 yards per carry. In the last four games, the Buckeyes are averaging 151.75 rushing yards per game on less than 4.7 yards per attempt. Against Penn State and Nebraska, those numbers shrank again, this time down to 127 yards per game and 4.09 per carry.
Even against Maryland and Indiana, the Buckeyes were still punching the ball into the end zone on the ground. Ohio State had three rushing touchdowns in each of those games for six combined. In the past two games, the Buckeyes have rushed for just one single touchdown. For the first time all season, Ohio State was held without a rushing touchdown entirely against the Huskers.
While there are several contributing factors to the Buckeyes’ recent lack of production, Wilson believes it starts up front.
“Even when you're running stretch plays, the object is you gotta get vertically down the field at some point in time. If you go sideways, you’re not gonna run the ball,” Wilson said. “We’ve talked a lot about it, the last two weeks with the defenses we’ve had, we’ve not done as good as we need to. It’ll be a challenge this week because Purdue’s strength is their front, their D-line, and in the weeks to come. So we’ve gotta do a better job.”
Starting left tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere said Wednesday that he believes the group is still playing well, but that there’s plenty of room to grow when it comes to communication across the line. Petit-Frere said the level of competition in the conference doesn’t make things any easier on a weekly basis.
“The Big Ten is one of the toughest conferences in the nation. It’s not like every single weekend you’ll just roll through people,” Petit-Frere said. “There’s always gonna be great competition, there’s always gonna be great coaches that scheme up against you. All we can do is just work through those challenges and get better every single week.”
Offensive line coach Greg Studrawa reconstructed the Buckeye front in the preseason to bolster pass protection with a new quarterback under center. That meant Thayer Munford and Paris Johnson, both natural tackles, moved to the interior to play guard. Make no mistake, the unit has kept C.J. Stroud clean in the pocket for most of the season and has helped launch true freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson into a star role as well. However, there still may be inherent disadvantages in the run game with such a lineup on the inside of the line.
“I believe that you can be a little too tall at certain positions, because there is leverage on every block,” Wilson said. “There’s leverage on every pass block. We have to be able to play low and all that. But at the same time, those guys are good knee-benders. And again, we’ve just got to do a good job of getting more vertical push, whether it be the schemes that are called, the plays that are called, the running back trusting the scheme. And we just got to get a little bit more – not necessarily downhill, old fashioned iso running, but we’ve got to come off the ball better. Tight ends, everybody. We’ve got to come off the ball better.”
Despite the obvious struggles on the ground, Wilson said he’s been encouraged by the Buckeyes still having success running the ball when they have absolutely had to at the end of the last two close games.
That was certainly true in the second half against Penn State, when the Buckeyes followed up a 19-yard first half rushing with 142 in the second. Against Nebraska, though, Ohio State mustered just 31 rushing yards in the second half on 14 attempts. If there was a silver lining for the Buckeye running game, it was that Henderson’s two best carries – one for 11 yards and another for 22 – came on the drive that sealed the game for Ohio State late in the fourth quarter as it looked to eat up the clock.
“I think we can run the ball better; we gotta run the ball better. But I think down the stretch, we’ve ran it well when we had to, when everybody knows you have to run," Wilson said. "So I think it’s there, let’s just get a little bit more consistent. Let’s clean it up in our practice and what we’re doing, and maybe putting them in better positions in practice. Let’s do a better job of myself and Coach Day working to get maybe some cleaner calls for our guys and get that ball in 32’s hands when we need to.
“At the same time, the quarterback’s playing well, we’re gonna throw it around, there’s pretty good balance. When we clicking really good, we’re really good, and sometimes you got to win ugly once in a while.”
Another talking point in relation to the Buckeye run game this week centered around how the carries have been divvied up as of late. Henderson has played 132 snaps in the past two games, which is almost as many as he played in the previous five games combined. Henderson has carried the ball 49 times in the last two contests, while no other Buckeye running back has had more than four in the same span.
“I’ve been impressed with how he's been able to handle the amount of carries. Whether we have that happen again this week, we’ll see," Ryan Day said Tuesday. “We certainly would like to see them split up a little bit. It’s a lot to ask for a young player, but we’re getting some of the guys back that are in that room.”
Purdue has allowed an average of 163 rushing yards per game to Big Ten foes this season. Against all opposition, its run defense, opponents yards per carry and average rushing touchdowns per game all rank in the bottom five teams in the conference.
On paper, that could mean Ohio State will get its running game back on track this week. If the Buckeyes expect to make it out of their regular season schedule unscathed, that had better start happening sooner rather than later.
“It’s concerning because we need to be better, but I don’t think it’s worrisome that we’re not gonna get it right,” Wilson said.
