Snap Counts: Eleven Ohio State Defenders Play Season-High Snaps While Ohio State Offense Plays Season-Low 48 Snaps in Tight Win over Nebraska

Ohio State’s defense was on the field for 72 plays against Nebraska, and the Buckeyes needed their starters to play the entire game, resulting in 11 different defensive players playing more snaps against the Cornhuskers than they did in any of Ohio State’s first six games of the year.

Ohio State’s offense, on the other hand, was on the field for just 48 plays against the Cornhuskers as the Buckeyes gained just 11 first downs in 12 possessions. The Buckeyes still managed to grind out a 21-17 win, but most of their offensive starters played their lowest snap counts of Big Ten play even though they were on the field for four full quarters.

The only regular defensive starters who didn’t play their highest snap counts of the season were Mike linebacker Cody Simon, who was occasionally replaced in the base defense by Arvell Reese against Nebraska, and Jordan Hancock, who played most of the game at safety in place of Lathan Ransom – who missed the game due to injury – but was not in the starting lineup as Jaylen McClain made his first career start at strong safety.

McClain played a total of 15 defensive snaps, the most he’s played in a game so far in his freshman season, while Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Lorenzo Styles Jr. also played their highest snap counts of the season to date as they spent the game rotating at slot cornerback, the position Hancock usually mans.

In total, 54 Buckeyes saw playing time against Nebraska, the same amount that played against Oregon. Sixteen Buckeyes played on offense, 21 Buckeyes played on defense and 17 played on special teams only.

Our full breakdown of how the Buckeyes distributed snaps at each position on offense and defense, using data from Pro Football Focus’ premium statistics, can be found below.

Quarterbacks

Will Howard: 48

Howard played every snap of the game at quarterback for the second game in a row, yet attempted a season-low 16 passes against Nebraska, completing 13 of them – good for his third straight game with a completion percentage of 80% or higher – for 221 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. He also ran the ball six times for 24 yards, not including a pair of sacks on which he lost 10 yards.

Running Backs

Quinshon Judkins: 26
TreVeyon Henderson: 25

Ohio State’s two running backs saw nearly identical playing time against Nebraska with Judkins played just one more snap than Henderson, who started as he has in all seven games this year. Neither back was able to get much going in the ground game – Judkins finished with 29 rushing yards on 10 carries while Henderson finished with 25 yards on 10 attempts – but Judkins added a 9-yard catch for the game-deciding touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Buckeyes back on TOP!

Will Howard finds Quinshon Judkins for the @OhioStateFB TD pic.twitter.com/CwuLIUPHaV

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 26, 2024

Wide Receivers

Emeka Egbuka: 42
Jeremiah Smith: 41
Carnell Tate: 39
David Adolph: Special teams only
Kojo Antwi: Special teams only
Brandon Inniss: Special teams only
Bryson Rodgers: Special teams only

For the first time all season, none of Ohio State’s backup wide receivers played a single offensive snap as the Buckeyes relied entirely on the starting trio of Egbuka, Smith and Tate against Nebraska. While Egbuka played one more snap than Smith and three more snaps than Tate, the other two had the more productive games against the Cornhuskers as Tate caught four passes for 102 yards and a touchdown and Smith caught four passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.

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Tight Ends

Gee Scott Jr.: 44
Bennett Christian: 13
Jelani Thurman: 10
Patrick Gurd: Special teams only

With Will Kacmarek sidelined by the injury he suffered against Oregon, Scott was on the field for all but four of Ohio State’s offensive plays against Nebraska, catching two passes for 20 yards. Christian was the first tight end off the bench as he was after Kacmarek left the Oregon game on the opening drive, but Thurman also saw increased playing time with Kacmarek out, playing double-digit snaps for the first time since September.

Offensive Linemen

Donovan Jackson: 48
Josh Fryar: 48
Seth McLaughlin: 48
Zen Michalski: 44
Tegra Tshabola: 38
Austin Siereveld: 10
Luke Montgomery: 4
George Fitzpatrick: Special teams only
Joshua Padilla: Special teams only

Michalski made his first career start at left tackle as Ohio State’s initial choice to replace Josh Simmons, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Oregon, but Michalski’s day was cut short in the fourth quarter when he had to be carted back to the locker room with a lower-body injury of his own. Jackson slid over from his usual starting spot at left guard to play left tackle for Ohio State’s final four offensive snaps, with Montgomery entering the game at LG.

Tshabola started and played most of the game at right guard as he has all season, though Siereveld replaced him for two drives. McLaughlin played every snap at center and Fryar played every snap at right tackle for the second game in a row.

Defensive Ends

Jack Sawyer: 64
JT Tuimoloau: 58
Kenyatta Jackson Jr.: 15
Caden Curry: 9
Mitchell Melton: 5

Despite Urban Meyer’s suggestion that Ohio State needed to rotate more at defensive end, Sawyer and Tuimoloau played even more snaps against Nebraska than they did against Oregon while Jackson, Curry and Melton each played fewer. Sawyer had three tackles and three quarterback hurries on his season-high 64 snaps while Tuimoloau had five tackles with two tackles for loss, one sack and one hurry in his season-high 58 snaps.

Defensive Tackles

Tyleik Williams: 61
Ty Hamilton: 60
Kayden McDonald: 10
Eddrick Houston: 5
Hero Kanu: 2
Jason Moore: 2

Williams and Hamilton also played their highest snap counts of the season against Nebraska as each of them were on the field for at least 60 plays against the Cornhuskers. Williams recorded four total tackles with two tackles for loss, a sack and a hurry; Hamilton notched five tackles with a sack as he played the highest snap count of his career.

McDonald was the only backup defensive tackle to play double-digit snaps against Nebraska. Ohio State supplemented its 3-technique depth by moving Houston – whose only defensive tackle snaps in the first half of the season came in Rushmen situations – to DT, where he played five snaps against the Cornhuskers. Kanu and Moore each played just two snaps while Tywone Malone Jr. saw no defensive playing time for a second straight game.

Linebackers

Sonny Styles: 72
Cody Simon: 64
Arvell Reese: 24
C.J. Hicks: Special teams only
Gabe Powers: Special teams only
Joey Velazquez: Special teams only

Styles was on the field for all 72 of Ohio State's defensive plays against Nebraska as the Buckeyes’ Will linebacker in their base defense and Sam linebacker in the 4-3 defense.

Reese made his second start of the season in between Simon and Styles as the Buckeyes opened the game in their 4-3 defense, while he also saw a little bit of action in the base defense, replacing Simon for eight plays at Mike in the 4-2-5. Simon still earned Ohio State’s defensive player of the game award as he led the Buckeyes with eight tackles and three tackles for loss.

Ohio State didn’t use any other linebackers on defense against Nebraska, but it may need to if it plans to use its 4-3 defense against Penn State, as Reese will be sidelined for the first half of that game following his fourth-quarter targeting ejection on Saturday.

Cornerbacks

Denzel Burke: 68
Davison Igbinosun: 67
Jermaine Mathews Jr.: 35
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 29
Calvin Simpson-Hunt: Special teams only

After struggling against Oregon, Burke was on the field for all but four plays against Nebraska and played much better – recording six tackles with two tackles for loss and allowing only two catches for six yards in coverage – though interestingly, he was replaced by Mathews on the Buckeyes’ second-to-last defensive series in the fourth quarter, a series on which they forced a much-needed three-and-out while clinging to a four-point lead.

Mathews also occasionally substituted in for Igbinosun against Nebraska, including one sequence where Ryan Day called Igbinosun off the field for a play after he committed two defensive pass interference penalties in one drive. That said, Igbinosun still played all but five snaps against the Cornhuskers.

Styles was the first player to enter the game at nickelback when Ohio State put its base defense on the field for the first time, but Mathews also rotated in at that spot throughout the game, resulting in both of them playing their highest snap counts of the season – which in Styles’ case is also the most snaps he’s played so far in any game since transferring to Ohio State in 2023.

Safeties

Caleb Downs: 72
Jordan Hancock: 55
Jaylen McClain: 15
Malik Hartford: Special teams only
Brenten "Inky" Jones: Special teams only
Keenan Nelson Jr.: Special teams only

McClain made his first career start as the Buckeyes put him in the game nearly every time they put Reese in the game, giving them more of a true strong safety at that position to match up with Nebraska’s heavier personnel. Hancock, however, played the majority of the game as Ohio State’s second deep safety in the base defense. Moving to that position from his usual slot cornerback spot because Lathan Ransom was unavailable, Hancock excelled in his first game as a full-time safety, recording the game-sealing interception as well as five tackles with a forced fumble.

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Downs played his highest snap count so far as a Buckeye, recording five tackles with one tackle for loss, as he was on the field for all 72 of Ohio State’s defensive plays against Nebraska.