Thirty-five days between games can only aid Ohio State ahead of the Peach Bowl.
A five-week layoff won’t halt any inexorable scarlet and gray momentum heading into the postseason. That’s because, as you well know, there isn’t any. Ohio State limped through the back half of the regular season (literally speaking, in some cases) and inconsistent performances caught up with the Buckeyes in the crescendo of mediocrity that was the Michigan game.
Instead of coasting into the College Football Playoff with the security of an undefeated record, a sense of invincibility or even a semifinal matchup in which it is favored, Ohio State knows it can’t replicate its recent performances if it hopes to knock off the No. 1 team in America. And in total, the Buckeyes will have well over a month to make the necessary adjustments.
Beyond any schematic or preparatory changes, the time off will allow a number of banged-up Buckeyes to heal before the most important game of the season. Perhaps a healthier roster alone will help Ohio State put forth a better effort on Dec. 31 than it had on Nov. 26, and aside from one notable exception, Ryan Day expects to have nearly his full complement available.
“I think Jaxon (Smith-Njigba), we’ll see, but everybody else, I think we should have,” Day said at a press conference Sunday. “That (injuries) was a little bit part of the story this year, and to be at full strength or almost at full strength is going to be important to go beat these guys. So yeah, great to get a couple of weeks and even last week, got a little bit more rest.”
Of course, it only took one more day to find out Smith-Njigba – who only appeared in three games this season while battling a hamstring injury – will not play in the CFP after all. The record-setting junior wideout released a statement Monday to say he’ll focus on getting “100% healthy” and declare for the 2023 NFL draft.
Love Go bucks pic.twitter.com/VHx8oUKPH4
— JSN (@jaxon_smith1) December 5, 2022
But while the Ohio State pass attack hasn’t been quite as lethal as it was a year ago, it still ranks No. 2 in passing touchdowns (38) and 14th in average yards per game (294.2) despite lacking the services of its most accomplished pass catcher for most of the year.
Other positions were impacted even more by injury down the stretch of the regular season, none more than running back. TreVeyon Henderson appeared in only three of Ohio State’s last six regular-season games. While Miyan Williams played in five of those contests, he missed almost the entire Penn State game, the second half of the Indiana game and was still hampered against Michigan.
The culture here is just fine. You try and come practice/ play with torn ligaments and a broken bone in your foot every week.. My brothers know I been trying to do whatever it take to fight alongside of them every week. Carry on..
— TreVeyon Henderson (@TreVeyonH4) November 28, 2022
As a result, true freshman Dallan Hayden and linebacker-turned-rusher Chip Trayanum became Ohio State’s top – or healthiest – options in the backfield in the final two games. The Buckeyes averaged 59 fewer rushing yards after the bye week than they did in the first six games, and there’s little doubt that the health of Henderson and Williams was a major factor.
Day said both players worked hard to get back on the field, but it was clear that neither had the necessary time to get back to full strength. Come the end of the month, perhaps Henderson and Williams will be significantly closer to 100%.
“I think that the running back position, especially those guys, it was hard for them. There's nobody that wanted to play, get on the field more than Trey and Miyan,” Day said. “But they just had some things that were just limiting what they could do. And I give them a lot of credit for keep trying every week, but it was just, there's two things: There's one, you can get bruised or you can get kind of hurt, then there's things where you get injured, that you just physically can't do it, and it gets frustrating.
“This allows us some time to heal from those, so that we can hopefully get some of this stuff behind us so we can have a full-strength team going into it. It's a lot of different positions. But I give those guys a lot of credit for trying it every week and getting out there and grinding through it. But it'll be nice to be at full strength.”
“You see a team that maybe didn't play in a conference championship and now the opportunity for those guys, they've had a week off, a week to recoup and get ready.”– Kirby Smart on Ohio State
Ohio State could also get a starter back on the interior of the offensive line. Matt Jones was carted off the field in the fourth quarter of the Buckeyes’ penultimate regular season game against Maryland and did not play against Michigan.
Even without a starter, Ohio State rushed for 79 more yards against Michigan on Nov. 26 than it did in 2021, and the Buckeyes only gave up one sack. Still, having all five first-string linemen on the field should help Ohio State against the defending national champions.
Defensive starters Tommy Eichenberg, Lathan Ransom, Mike Hall, Denzel Burke and Cameron Brown all battled injury issues to varying degrees through the back half of the season as well, so the extra rest should help Jim Knowles’ defense lick its wounds.
On the other side, Georgia will have one less week to prepare for the matchup with the Buckeyes. While Ohio State sat at home during conference championship weekend, the Bulldogs put a 50-30 beating on then-No. 14 LSU to win the SEC Championship Game.
While some may scoff at the notion that an extra seven days in the course of a month could give one team a distinct advantage, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart seems to see it that way.
“I always look at it and it's sour grapes now because I'm so happy that we got a chance to play in the SEC championship. We got a chance to win an SEC championship,” Smart told ESPN after the CFP selection show. “But you look and you say OK, I'd like to get my guys a little time to recover, relax, get in shape, worry about final exams. I mean, there's so many things going on. We got official visits next weekend. But you see a team that maybe didn't play in a conference championship and now the opportunity for those guys, they've had a week off, a week to recoup and get ready.
“They're going to be fresh and ready to go and ready to bounce back and start practicing. So we got to be smart about how we practice our guys, but we also got to understand it's gonna be a physical game because Ohio State's a very physical team.”
Meaningful advantage or not, Ohio State can use every edge it can get in preparation for a meeting with last year’s national champs, and every day counts.
