No matter who’s been running the ball for Ohio State, they’ve struggled to do so at an elite level in the past three games.
TreVeyon Henderson was out with an injury last week, and Miyan Williams saw just two carries against Penn State before leaving Henderson to do most of the work the week prior. With multiple rushers against three different schemes in varying weather conditions since the bye week, Ohio State is averaging 105 fewer yards per game on the ground than it did in the first six games.
The constant? The offensive line, where no player beyond the five starters has logged more than nine snaps in any of the three contests in question.
“You gotta get the first down. There’s no excuse for not getting the first down. So there could be 50 guys in the box, you gotta go get it.”– Ryan Day on OSU's Short-Yardage Struggles
The play-calling tendencies of Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson have come into question as far as the issues with the run game are concerned, but as the Buckeye head coach often reminds us, success on offense starts up front.
“I think we all need to do better, absolutely. Going back and watching the film, we gotta block better, we gotta run better, we gotta try to do a better job equating numbers, all of the above,” Day said Tuesday. “Because certainly in games where they know you’re gonna run it, you have to come up with answers. But just moving forward in general, we know we can do a better job. And so we’ll get back to work this week and get after it.”
Ohio State’s 66-yard day on the ground in Week 8 came against an Iowa defense that ranks among the nation’s best at limiting the run. Against Penn State, Ohio State was down one of its top two backs for nearly the entire game, but Henderson’s two late touchdowns silenced some criticism as the Buckeyes exploded in the fourth quarter to leave Happy Valley with a win.
The Buckeyes can use both Henderson’s absence and the weather conditions to explain why the Ohio State ground game still didn’t quite seem to get back on track against a poor Northwestern run defense this past weekend. But three straight weeks of underachievement have quickly made Ohio State’s rushing struggles a trend.
Day isn’t pointing the finger at any particular area but has certainly identified issues at every level.
“Looking at all those things. I think you know our expectation here. Our expectation is to score every time we have the ball. So if you’re looking at it like that, no, it’s not good enough, and we need to be better,” Day said. “Certainly, the O-line is a big part of that, but the running backs are too. The tight ends, the wide receivers, the quarterback; everyone’s involved in the run game. And especially in a game like that, where they’re all down in there and everyone has to do their part to equate numbers. So it’s something we’ll keep looking at and trying to make sure we have the right stuff in, and then holding everybody accountable to do their job. And that’s coaches, players, everybody.
“The bottom line is we gotta go out there and run the football. And there’s gonna be conditions. There’s gonna be injuries, bumps and bruises. At the end of the day, we gotta go out there and produce, and that’s the bottom line.”
Starting guard Donovan Jackson has the 17th-best run-blocking grade at his position this season (78.2), per Pro Football Focus, but that number’s seen a sharp decline over the past three weeks. Against Iowa, Jackson graded out with a 65 in the run game, followed by a season-low 52.7 against Penn State and 56.4 at Northwestern.
Matt Jones has seen the most criticism of any interior lineman in recent weeks, and while his season run grade stands at 72.3, he’s averaging a 62.6 grade over the last three games. Jones also appears to be hampered with an apparent foot injury, which Day did not deny when asked about his health on Tuesday.
The first of the failed short-yardage runs. Except for Luke Wypler, none of the linemen got any push. pic.twitter.com/G0R50784tA
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) November 7, 2022
“He’s like a lot of our guys. There’s a lot of things that this time of year, guys are fighting through. And he’s a tough player, and we think he gives us our best chance to go be successful,” Day said. “But he’s like a lot of our guys that have these bumps and bruises right now that he’s fighting through. It’s that time of year, I guess.”
Day said the Buckeyes continue to evaluate personnel but believes the right five players are receiving the lion’s share of snaps up front for Justin Frye’s unit. However, he’s not entirely opposed to limiting reps for a banged-up lineman.
“You can spell some guys if we think he needs that. That’s something that usually we decide before the game,” Day said. “Get the injury report, talk to guys. Do we think we need to put him on a pitch count? If we do, then we can do that. And I think with the O-line, if it’s just one guy, it’s not the end of the world. And again, we try to make those decisions going into the game, and we feel like, based on what we see in practice every day, that those five are our best five.”
In recent weeks, Josh Fryar and Enokk Vimahi have been the sixth and seventh men on the offensive line. Vimahi briefly spelled Jones on the opening possession last week, and Fryar saw nine snaps as a sixth offensive lineman in certain sets for the Buckeyes.
Day likes what he’s seen from the pair, but perhaps not enough to supplant a starter on the inside.
“I thought Josh when he came in, played well. Having the six offensive linemen in the game is something we haven’t had to do a lot of, but when we’ve done it, it’s been solid for us. And I think his play has been better. I think he’s gotten better. When you come back after that ACL, it takes a while to really not just be healthy, but to get to the level of play that you were before. I think he’s getting to that point. I don’t know if he’s quite there yet, but he’s getting there and had some good snaps on Saturday.
“But we’re always looking at that. If there’s a better guy or two that we can put on the field, we’ll do that. Right now, we feel like we’re playing the best five.”
Frustrations on the ground might have been lessened had Ohio State still been able to convert crucial short-yardage downs with the run, but Day said that was his biggest concern of all after reviewing the tape of Saturday’s game.
The Buckeyes were just 4-for-15 on third down and 2-for-4 on fourth down, and many of those came in obvious run situations with just a yard – if not inches – to gain to move the sticks.
The failed fourth-and-1. The left side of the line gets pushed back, and Dawand Jones cant get enough of the linebacker to prevent him from shooting the gap. pic.twitter.com/3mS5BM2MX8
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) November 7, 2022
“Of all the things that I was disappointed with on Saturday running the football, short-yardage was the one that was high on the list. I mean, you know they’re gonna be in there, and we gotta convert in those situations,” Day said. “I think it was a combination of things. There was multiple ones that hurt us on third down. We didn’t quite get the movement we wanted to. We didn’t quite enter the blocks the right way. You’ll see a couple of them where we’re just not flush on the blocks. And then there’s one scheme that we probably could’ve done a better job with in terms of doing that.
“But overall, it was just they were down in there and we weren’t getting enough movement. We gotta get our pads down lower. We gotta fit those blocks a little bit better, and then there were a couple of times we could get them in better plays. Again, it’s not just one person that made a mistake because there were multiple ones we didn’t convert on. … it's a little bit of everybody, and that’s not a good sign when it’s kind of one guy here and one guy there. But that’s what happened.”
While Day’s spoken at length about the impact of the weather on Saturday's poor offensive performance, that pertains more to the Buckeye pass attack than it does its ability to pound the ball on the ground. The Ohio State head coach addressed the issues with the run game in more detail Tuesday than he has at any point prior this season, and he’s no longer giving excuses for it.
“You gotta get the first down. There’s no excuse for not getting the first down,” Day said. “So there could be 50 guys in the box. You gotta go get it. You gotta get movement and the extra guy, you gotta run him over or you gotta crack block him and get him to the corner and concert. That’s the bottom line. If we’re not converting, then yeah, we’re coming up short.”
