Chip Kelly is blaming himself for Ohio State’s offensive failures against Michigan.
Sixteen days after the Buckeyes’ 13-10 loss to the Wolverines, Kelly met with the media for the first time since that defeat. And he says it’s on him to do a better job putting Ohio State’s players in position to be successful than he did in that game, in which the Buckeyes had their worst offensive performance of the season by far, gaining only 252 yards on 59 plays.
“We didn't put our players in position to make the plays that they needed to make in that game, and that falls on us as a coaching staff,” Kelly said Monday.
Kelly, like Ryan Day two weeks ago, acknowledged that the Buckeyes ran the ball inside too often and that they didn’t do a good enough job of getting the ball to their playmakers on the perimeter. Jeremiah Smith scored Ohio State’s only touchdown but finished the game with only five catches for 35 yards as he was targeted only twice in the second half; fellow star receiver Emeka Egbuka had just four catches for 51 yards.
“No, we didn't,” Kelly said when asked if he thought Ohio State did a good job of using its top playmakers against Michigan. “I think you got to get the ball to those guys. We’re really talented on the perimeter, and sometimes people are scheming up to take things away; play two-deep and double cover some guys and force you to kind of play a little bit left-handed. And I think you still have to find ways and we have to be creative enough that you can still get the ball in those guys' hands.”
The team that’s won the rushing battle has won every edition of The Game since 2001, and that was the case once again this year as Michigan outran Ohio State, 172-77. But the Buckeyes potentially could have overcome that if they leaned more heavily on their passing offense. While Ohio State threw seven more times (33) than it ran the ball (26), 13 of those passes came on the final drives of each half – the first of which resulted in its only touchdown of the game – when the Buckeyes were in their two-minute offense.
One of the biggest critiques of Ohio State’s offensive gameplan against Michigan has been how frequently the Buckeyes ran the ball between the tackles against the Wolverines. Despite going against a pair of projected first-round pick defensive tackles in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant with a patchwork interior offensive line following season-ending injuries to Josh Simmons and Seth McLaughlin, Ohio State ran the ball between the tackles 14 times per Pro Football Focus, gaining just 34 combined yards with 17 of those yards coming on one play.
Kelly said that decision was partially driven by the respect the Buckeyes had for Michigan’s defensive end tandem of Josaiah Stewart and Derrick Moore, who they felt would make it just as difficult to run the ball outside.
“They did have two really talented inside players; they also have two really talented defensive ends that I don't think get enough credit. And if you look at the statistics from both of those guys on the field and their ability to set edges is part of the decision there,” Kelly said.
That said, Kelly acknowledged he went into the game feeling like Ohio State had to run the ball to win and recognized in hindsight that the Buckeyes probably should have thrown the ball more often than they did.
“I think sometimes you kind of go in with the mindset you have to establish the run to win a football game. Maybe that's not the case. Sometimes you got to kind of go away from some of the norms and say, ‘Hey, maybe if we throw it a little bit more,’” Kelly said.
“We didn't put our players in position to make the plays that they needed to make in that game, and that falls on us as a coaching staff.”– Chip Kelly on Ohio State’s offensive failures vs. Michigan
There’s been some speculation since The Game that Ohio State was hesitant to pass the ball more after Will Howard took a hit to the head in the second quarter. Howard had his worst game of the season against Michigan, completing just 57.6% of his passes (19-of-33) for 175 yards, both season-lows, with one touchdown and a season-high two interceptions. But Kelly said the Buckeyes never lost confidence in Howard and that he needed to do a better job of setting Howard up for success.
“I always look back on it from my perspective, so I think I got to do a better job of putting Will in position to make plays,” Kelly said. “That's how I always look at it, and I didn't do that against them.”
With three weeks between the loss to Michigan and this week’s first-round College Football Playoff game against Tennessee, including a full week in which the Buckeyes didn’t know who their first-round opponent would be, Kelly and the rest of Ohio State’s coaching staff had plenty of time to dissect what went wrong against Michigan. Day said that’s something you have to do after a loss to learn from your mistakes – but he also said they’ve put the loss behind them now to focus on what they still can accomplish.
“Three weeks is kind of the sweet spot. It allowed us the week to sort through the issues and get them addressed, take accountability, because that's the big part of that; nothing matters if the problems aren't fixed and then we don't make adjustments. That's what it comes down to,” Day said. “And then the recognition that, OK, we're in the playoffs now. That game's behind us.”
Ohio State has had to refocus all of its energy on preparing for Tennessee if it wants to be more successful offensively against the Volunteers, because scoring on their defense won’t be any easier than it was against Michigan. Tennessee enters the CFP ranked fourth nationally in both points allowed per game (13.9) and yards allowed per game (278.3), and has an elite run defense like Michigan, allowing fewer than 100 rushing yards per game. The Volunteers also rank fourth nationally in opposing red-zone touchdown percentage (44.1%) and fifth in opposing third-down percentage (29.5%).
Kelly said Tennessee’s defense is different than Michigan’s but knows the Buckeyes have to have a better game plan for the Volunteers than they had against the Wolverines.
“We're playing a really formidable defensive group coming in here that's really well-coached and they've got good players at all three levels,” Kelly said. “So that's going to be a challenge for us again this week and our players are excited about that opportunity.”
Day thinks there are two key things the Buckeyes need to do better offensively against Tennessee: Maximizing their personnel and executing better in crucial situations such as when they’re in the red zone, coming out of their own end zone, trying to convert on third down and two-minute situations at the end of a half. Ohio State scored just 10 points on five trips to the red zone against Michigan, Howard threw interceptions inside of both 20-yard lines and the Buckeyes went just 6-of-16 on third downs against the Wolverines, so executing better in those areas could make all the difference against the Volunteers.
“We've got to do a better job in those situations. I think that is very, very important,” Day said. “Now, in those situations, schematically, how do we want to attack a defense? I think that's good conversation. We are a different offense than we were three weeks ago, five weeks ago and at the beginning of the season. I think we need to recognize that. But that's not just the only thing here. There was a lot that went into that game. And we've got to make sure we're playing good situational football.”
