Ryan Day met with the media yesterday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to talk about all things Ohio State ahead of Saturday night's primetime College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup against the 9th-seeded Tennessee Volunteers.
With the fanbase still reeling from a fourth-straight loss to Michigan, denying the Buckeyes a win in The Game, a chance at a Big Ten title and a high-seed in the CFP, Day believes his program has turned the page and is excited for a chance to make a run at a national title.
Step one on that quest comes against a Volunteers defense ranked 4th in scoring defense (13.9), 4th in total defense (278.3), 8th in rushing defense (99.6), 4th in rush yards per carry allowed (2.8), 7th in tackles for loss per game (7.8) and 39th in sacks per game (2.4).
Simply put, Ohio State's offensive line should have its hands full once again. And as Buckeye fans are well aware, the group will be without its two best players after left tackle Josh Simmons was lost for the season during a game six loss to Oregon and center Seth McLaughlin tore his Achilles in the week leading up to game 11 against Indiana.
Ohio State first tried Zen Michalski at left tackle but a very poor performance preceded his own significant injury late in a close win over Nebraska causing starting left guard Donovan Jackson to permanently kick outside. Jackson's move to left tackle triggered reserve Carson Hinzman slotting at left guard and that lasted three games before McLaughlin's injury pushed Hinzman to center and Austin Siereveld (who started for the injured Jackson at LG early in the season) to left guard.
After using the left-to-right lineup of Jackson, Siereveld, Hinzman, Tegra Tshabola and Josh Fryar versus Indiana and Michigan, Day said Monday that reserve Luke Montgomery is now in the mix to see time on Saturday night along the interior.
Luke Montgomery's got some reps at guard. And so you're probably going to see him at guard some this game. We'll see how this week goes. Austin (Siereveld) will be rotating in there as well with Tegra (Tshabola). So that'll be the plan now. We still have a whole week of preparation and things can change when we get on the field but the plan right now would be to rotate those guys.
luke's been mostly getting reps at left guard, but he will have an opportunity to get reps at right guard as well.– -Ryan Day
With the injuries to Simmons and McLaughlin, Ohio State's basically had to deploy three different starting lineups in the trenches.
When Ohio State's best offensive line was on the field (minus Jackson for two games to start the season), the Buckeyes enjoyed solid success.
| OPPONENT | RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | RUSH YPC | RUSH TD | OPP YPC NATL RANK | TFL ALLOWED | SACKS ALLOWED | OPP TOT DEF NATL RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AKRON | 33 | 170 | 5.15 | 2 | 96 | 0 | 0 | 110 |
| W. MICHIGAN | 39 | 273 | 7.00 | 6 | 110 | 5 | 2 | 111 |
| MARSHALL | 31 | 280 | 9.03 | 5 | 80 | 3 | 1 | 78 |
| MICHIGAN STATE | 35 | 185 | 5.29 | 2 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 33 |
| IOWA | 40 | 203 | 5.08 | 1 | 36 | 2 | 1 | 16 |
| OREGON | 33 | 141 | 4.27 | 2 | 35 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 6-GAME AVERAGES | 35.2 | 208.7 | 5.93 | 3 | NA | 2.67 | 0.83 | NA |
Sure Ohio State played some cupcakes to start the season but the final three games played by its best offensive line group came against respectable B1G rush defenses. Over those six games, OSU averaged over 200 rushing yards, almost six yards per carry and three rushing touchdowns while giving up less than a sack per game. The importance of losing Simmons late in the second quarter at Oregon was immediately felt as OSU averaged 5.8 yards per carry in the first half with him in the lineup but dropped to just 1.6 in the second half with Michalski in his place.
| OPPONENT | RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | RUSH YPC | RUSH TD | OPP YPC NATL RANK | TFL ALLOWED | SACKS ALLOWED | OPP TOT DEF NATL RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEBRASKA | 31 | 64 | 2.06 | 0 | 22 | 7 | 2 | 18 |
| PENN STATE | 40 | 176 | 4.40 | 0 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 6 |
| PURDUE | 35 | 173 | 4.94 | 2 | 114 | 3 | 1 | 125 |
| NORTHWESTERN | 33 | 173 | 5.24 | 2 | 53 | 2 | 1 | 61 |
| 4-GAME AVERAGES | 34.8 | 146.5 | 4.31 | 1 | NA | 4.50 | 1.75 | NA |
With a bye week to regroup after the loss in Eugene, the Ohio State braintrust determined the best solution to replace Simmons was to stick with Michalski. That plan didn't last long as the Buckeyes couldn't run the ball at all versus the Huskers and of course, Michalski was hurt late in that contest paving the way for the changes noted earlier.
Jackson and Hinzman both showed excellent run blocking prowess the following week in State College and the group as a whole performed serviceably though not spectacularly against Purdue and Northwestern. Across the four-game stretch without just one offensive line starter, OSU averaged 4.31 yards per carry while giving up 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.75 sacks per game - all noticeable drops in performance versus the averages over the first six games (again with three of those against non-conference layups).
And then, instead of continuing to build cohesion with that starting five, disaster struck again as McLaughlin tore his Achilles on Tuesday of the game week leading up to a home matchup with Indiana.
| OPPONENT | RUSH ATT | RUSH YDS | RUSH YPC | RUSH TD | OPP YPC NATL RANK | TFL ALLOWED | SACKS ALLOWED | OPP TOT DEF NATL RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INDIANA | 29 | 115 | 3.97 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| MICHIGAN | 26 | 77 | 2.96 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 14 |
| 2-GAME AVERAGES | 27.5 | 96.0 | 3.49 | 1 | NA | 4.00 | 0.50 | NA |
Now without McLaughlin, the eventual Rimington Trophy winner, Ohio State shifted Hinzman to center - where he logged 12 starts a season ago - and input Siereveld at left guard. Even though the Buckeyes won big over Indiana, the run game wasn't up to snuff. Ohio State averaged 3.97 yards per carry and that included a 39-yard TreVeyon Henderson run with the game essentially over. Take that away and the Buckeyes averaged 2.7 yards across 28 attempts.
That effort was Herculean compared to what happened the next week however as Michigan limited the Buckeyes to 2.96 yards per carry. The playcalling did the offensive line no favors but there's no arguing the interior of the group was badly overmatched in a 13-10 loss.
Now Day and company have a lot more time to find a personnel combination - or combinations if Montgomery might weave in at both guard spots - that can work up front and augment it with a more coherent game plan versus a stout Vols front.
The matchup of Ohio State's offense versus Tennessee's defense may come down to how well OSU can hide its deficiencies up front more so than if the staff can turn the makeshift group into a legit strength.
