Count Tom Brady among those who were perplexed by Ohio State’s offensive gameplan against Michigan.
During an appearance on The Herd earlier this week, the seven-time Super Bowl champion – who’s now a commentator for FOX Sports – criticized Ohio State’s offensive playcalling in its 13-10 loss to Brady’s alma mater last weekend.
“Michigan is a very tough, hard-nosed team. They run the ball very well. They haven't been great throwing the ball. But if I looked at Ohio State’s strengths and weaknesses, they have a great 7-on-7 team. They got guys they can throw the ball to. In the second half, they don't even target their best players,” Brady said. “So to me, it's like, I may as well have been out there playing receiver for Ohio State. I can't run, I couldn't catch, but it doesn't matter if you don't throw me the ball. Just like they didn't throw a lot of their best players the ball in the second half of that game.”
While Ohio State finished the game with seven more passing attempts (33) than runs (26), 13 of those 33 passes came on the Buckeyes’ final drives of each half when Ohio State was in must-throw situations. Ohio State’s last drive of the first half was the Buckeyes’ only touchdown drive of the game, culminating with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Jeremiah Smith, as the Buckeyes gained only 97 yards in the second half.
Will Howard only threw the ball more than 20 yards downfield twice – drawing pass interference penalties on throws intended for Smith both times, which meant they didn’t count as official passing attempts – and Smith was targeted just twice in the second half despite being Ohio State’s most productive offensive weapon this season. The Buckeyes ran the ball between the tackles 14 times and gained just 34 yards on those plays, according to Pro Football Focus, as Ohio State’s interior offensive line proved overmatched by Michigan’s standout defensive tackle tandem of Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.
Brady drew a comparison to how Bill Belichick would prepare the New England Patriots to play in the Super Bowl by making sure they drew up their best plays for their biggest game of the season.
“Why don't we just dial it down and dial it back to the only the specific ones where our best players are going to touch the ball, doing the best things that they do,” Brady said. “And we're going to go out like that. If we lose, we lose. If we win, great. But we're not going to lose doing things that we don't do well.”
“I may as well have been out there playing receiver for Ohio State. I can't run, I couldn't catch, but it doesn't matter if you don't throw me the ball.”– Tom Brady on Ohio State’s offensive playcalling vs. Michigan
Ryan Day acknowledged Wednesday that Ohio State’s offensive game plan against Michigan did not work and that it needs to do a better job of putting its best players in positions to succeed going forward into the College Football Playoff.
“I think when you look at the offensive side of the ball, it was not a good day. It wasn't a good day across the board on offense. And some of that had to do with the coaching and some of the game planning that went on,” There's no question that we could have done a better job getting the ball to the perimeter.”
