Four Georgia players have more than 400 receiving yards this season. Only one of them is a wide receiver.
Tight end Brock Bowers is Georgia’s leading receiver this season with 52 catches for 726 yards and six touchdowns. His 726 receiving yards are the fourth-most among all FBS tight ends this year behind only Syracuse’s Oronde Gadsden II, Utah’s Dalton Kincaid and Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer.
Running back Kenny McIntosh is Georgia’s third-leading receiver for the year with 37 catches for 449 yards and one touchdown. His 449 receiving yards are the second-most among FBS running backs this season behind only Northwestern’s Evan Hull.
Tight end Darnell Washington is Georgia’s fourth-leading receiver with 26 receptions for 417 yards and two touchdowns. His 16 yards per catch leads all Bulldogs with more than three catches for the season, and he’s one of the most unique physical specimens in all of college football with unusual athleticism at 6-foot-7 and 270 pounds.
With all three of those players often on the field together, Ohio State’s linebackers and safeties are set to face their biggest test of the year in pass coverage.
For the most part, Ohio State’s pass defense has held opposing tight ends in check this season. No individual tight end has gained more than 57 yards in a game against the Buckeyes. Most notably, the Buckeyes held Mayer to only five catches for 32 yards in their season opener against Notre Dame.
The Buckeyes believe they can build off of that success in Saturday’s College Football Playoff semifinal at the Peach Bowl. Georgia’s offense presents a unique challenge, though, in that both of their top two tight ends are potential future first-round NFL draft picks.
“Absolutely, you play off of that,” Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said when asked if the Buckeyes’ success against Mayer can translate to this week’s game. “Now there's two of them, then maybe we need to multiply. But the system part of it, you can show examples and it’s good.”
From a defensive scheme standpoint, one of the biggest questions entering this week’s game is whether the Buckeyes will make any personnel adjustments to account for the threats of both Bowers and Washington. Bowers’ receiver-like athleticism makes him a tough cover for a linebacker, while Washington’s lineman-like size creates mismatches against defensive backs.
“Washington, he's huge, he's big, uses his body. Big frame. You can put the ball anywhere, he has a chance to get it,” Ohio State safety Lathan Ransom said. “And then Bowers, he's fast. He's a great route runner and uses his body real well too.”
Could a bigger safety like Josh Proctor or Sonny Styles see increased playing time against Georgia to account for those matchups? We won’t know that until the game actually begins Saturday night, as Ohio State isn’t going to give away its game plan until it has to. That said, Ransom believes the Buckeyes’ base defense is fully capable of matching up with the two tight ends.
“At the end of the day, we don't have to change anything super, get out of character,” Ransom said. “We just need to do our job, do the technique that we've been taught all year and should be successful.”
As challenging as it can be to cover Bowers and Washington after the ball is snapped, one of the most important steps to limiting their impact on the game will be for Ohio State to make sure it is properly positioned before the snap. Georgia is known to create confusion for defenses by shifting players around before plays, and that has often resulted in one of its tight ends running open even though they are surely highlighted on every opponent’s scouting report.
“They do a good job moving them around, just always keeping you on your toes,” Ohio State linebacker Steele Chambers said. “The first step is just knowing where they are, and then the second step is just knowing how to play against them. I mean, they're both amazing tight ends. It's just playing off your keys, just trusting your eyes. And then whenever you go up against them, just gotta go up against them with confidence.”
While Georgia’s tight ends draw many of the headlines, the Bulldogs’ biggest X-factor offensively might be McIntosh, who’s as dangerous out of the backfield as any running back OSU has faced this year.
The Buckeyes have done a great job covering running backs in the passing game this season, with no running back gaining more than 37 receiving yards (Maryland’s Roman Hemby) against Ohio State. But the combination of McIntosh’s receiving ability paired with Bowers and Washington means the Buckeyes’ linebackers and safeties have three major passing-game threats to deal with, all of whom help open things up for one another.
“They always have to have eyes on him, because even like in the pass game he can slip out late and make a guy miss and just be gone getting a lot of yards,” Bowers said when asked how McIntosh’s receiving skill helps him make plays in the passing game. “So it definitely helps open up some other stuff.”
As linebackers, Tommy Eichenberg said he and Chambers have to be quick to recognize when Georgia wants to throw the ball to McIntosh, and Chambers said they have to make sure they stay disciplined with their eyes.
“With the back that's really dangerous out of the backfield, I think you just gotta be prepared for it,” Chambers said. “Just like in the back of your mind, know that he can get out (in space as a pass catcher) at any point.”
If Ohio State can keep a lid on the running backs and tight ends, the Buckeyes will have a chance to shut down Georgia’s passing game. Ladd McConkey (51 catches for 675 yards and five touchdowns) is Georgia’s only wide receiver with more than 27 catches or 303 receiving yards this season (marks both held by Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint), and McConkey’s status for the Peach Bowl remains uncertain after he suffered a knee injury in the SEC Championship Game. McConkey was not seen at practice during the 15-minute viewing window that was open to reporters during Georgia’s practice Wednesday in Atlanta.
But a similar comment could have been made before Ohio State’s regular-season finale against Michigan, and a Wolverine wide receiver ended up being the player who swung the game in their favor as Cornelius Johnson – who entered The Game with only 25 catches for 300 yards and four touchdowns on the year – scored touchdowns from 75 and 69 yards out. The Bulldogs have plenty of talent at wide receiver even though they don’t have a ton of production at the position, so Ohio State needs to be prepared for many different ways Georgia could look to attack it.
“The versatility of the offense with the multiple tight ends who are extremely talented, receivers who can make plays in various ways throughout the field, running backs who can attack you both inside and outside and a quarterback who just does a marvelous job of managing the whole thing, it's a complete offense,” Knowles said. “It's developed like an NFL offense, and they have a bunch of tools at their disposal. So we need to be sound across the board and really play hard with great effort.”
