There’s one metric that jumps off the stat sheet at Ryan Day more negatively than any other for his offense through two weeks.
Tasked with 23 third-down attempts on offense this season, Ohio State has moved the chains a mere seven times. That’s a 30.43 percent conversion rate that is tied for 114th in college football.
“We’ve found ourselves this year so far in some 3rd-and-2s and 3rd-and-3s that we haven’t converted on offense,” Day said. “We’ve got to get it fixed. We’ve got to do a better job of that. We’ve just been in some situations where we haven’t executed very well. We expect to. 3rd-and-long, 3rd-and-extra-long, different story. But 3rd-and-medium, 3rd-and-short, we’ve got to keep drives going.”
For all its success in allowing a combined 10 points through two games, Ohio State’s third-down defense hasn’t done that much better. Opponents have converted against the Buckeyes on 40 percent of their third downs, a below-average ranking of 73rd in the country.
“You give up a couple third downs but they don’t score, ultimately that’s a check,” defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “But we’re at Ohio State, we need a check-plus. Check-plus means getting the damn ball back. And we need to do a better job of that.”
That said, for an offense still trying to find its rhythm, there's an urgency to figure out how to keep drives alive with a top-10 matchup against Notre Dame sneaking up on the horizon.
Day isn’t lying about the team’s struggles on 3rd-and-short.
| Distance | Conversions |
|---|---|
| 1-3 yards | 2-for-8 (25 percent) |
| 4-6 yards | 2-for-6 (33 percent) |
| 7-10 yards | 3-for-7 (43 percent) |
| 11 yards or more | 0-for-2 (0 percent) |
The Buckeyes have needed three yards or less for a first down on third down eight times this season, and have only moved the chains twice in such situations. That’s 25 percent of the time, a lower rate than they've converted on third downs of 4-6 yards or 7-10 yards.
One of the issues on some of those conversion attempts has been missed blocking assignments. Opponents have stuffed Ohio State’s ballcarriers for no gain or a loss of yards several times after infiltrating the backfield in short-yardage situations.
“There were some good plays where I thought we came off the ball, but again, overall consistency is something that we’re working on,” Day said of the offensive line. “We’ve got to get better. There was some improvement there, but we expect on 3rd-and-1, 3rd-and-2, 3rd-and-3 to execute and get first downs. There were a couple penalties in there as well. Got to clean those things up.”
It’s not all on the group up front though, Day added. The team is breaking in a new quarterback after all, and the hope is that with more time comes better situational efficiency.
“I don’t think you can point to one thing, but that’s what happens when you have some inexperience,” Day said. “It’s one thing here, one thing there. You add those up and you’re not as efficient as you’d like to be.”
Defensively, the Buckeyes held Indiana to a respectable 5-of-15 on third downs but saw that tick up a tad to 7-of-15 against Youngstown State. Day pointed out how both teams ran slow-tempo offenses that helped accentuate new clock rules and limit Ohio State’s possessions. Thus, there’s more emphasis for the defense on getting the ball back.
“I thought our third-down production was not good enough (against Youngstown State),” Knowles said. “It’s one of those things you always emphasize, the third down and now you get to show your players how important it is.”
Third downs are far from the only area Ohio State is working on, but it’s a big-time focus for the team as it continues tuning up early in the season.
“Third down is something that statistically jumps out, but it’s all areas,” Day said. “I can’t sit here and tell you that we’re a finished product in any one area. If you name off all the different areas on the team that we’re trying to get better, we know that we’re not where we need to be. But it’s like we say, it’s 1.0, 2.0, this has got to be our third version of ourselves and it’s got to improve, because now you’re on film for two weeks and teams do a great job, coaches do a great job scheming you up.”
