After 'mediocre' performance against Indiana, OSU offensive line knows it needs to improve
Right tackle Josh Fryar didn’t sugarcoat it.
Ohio State’s offensive line didn’t play up to its standard in the season-opener against Indiana last week. Not since 1991 had the Buckeyes scored fewer points against the Hoosiers than they did in their 23-3 victory, and the offensive line was the main culprit.
“Mediocre,” Fryar said of the line’s performance. “I think we’ve got a lot of stuff to improve on.”
The rebuilt line was a major question mark entering the season. With Saturday’s home opener against Youngstown State on tap, it still is.
Ohio State converted only 2 of 12 third downs last week. Many of them were short-yardage downs on which Indiana shot through gaps.
Though Fryar didn’t excuse the Buckeyes’ performance, he did point to some mitigating circumstances.
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It was the opener, with the accompanying first-game jitters. Fryar, San Diego State transfer left tackle Josh Simmons and redshirt freshman center Carson Hinzman are all new starters.
Indiana’s co-defensive coordinator Matt Guerrieri was on Ohio State’s staff last year, so he knew OSU’s tendencies. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, were largely flying blind because they didn’t know what kind of scheme IU would run.
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Add in the large number of transfers Indiana has, and game-planning was difficult.
“Indiana brings a lot of stuff – with blitzes, with twists,” Fryar said.
He said that Ohio State’s linemen didn’t communicate as well as they needed to.
“Going on the road the first week in the Big Ten conference (is challenging),” Fryar said. “And don’t get me wrong, I think Indiana is going to a bowl game this year. I think they’re a really good team with that defense.
“But I think everything was correctable. It’s just little, slight communication errors on us that we have to fix.”
Fryar was the only lineman to grade at a champion level, but he took little comfort from that. He said he should have communicated better with Luke Montgomery when the freshman entered the game as an extra lineman.
The center is responsible for making blocking assignment changes at the line of scrimmage, which is a lot of responsibility on Hinzman. Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he was encouraged by Hinzman’s play, as was Fryar.
“I think Carson did really well,” Fryar said. “Like I said, I think all of us have correctable mistakes. But I think Carson played a really good game for his first start.”
The line’s inconsistency has been the subject of much criticism this week. The linemen are aware of it, but not dwelling on it, Fryar said.
“I saw a clip where Kirk Herbstreit said that Ohio State fans can be psychotic,” Fryar said, referring to the ESPN analyst and former OSU quarterback. “I love Ohio State fans. But I think the scrutiny we’re under right now doesn’t affect us.
“Yeah, the offensive line didn’t play very well. Look around the country – a lot of offensive lines didn’t play very well.”
Tight end Cade Stover maintained his optimism about the line hasn’t wavered.
“We’ve got all the talent in the world,” he said. “I have all the confidence in the world in these guys, no matter what anybody says. We’ve got the right people in the room. We’ve got the right people on the line.”
Stover said the Buckeyes’ short-yardage issues are easily correctible.
“We’ve just got to come off the ball vertically, and that’s all there is to it,” he said. “Short and simple. Let’s get north to south.”
It’s a football adage that teams typically improve the most from the first game to the second game. The Buckeye linemen are hungry to prove that’s the case this week.
“If the hunger is not there, then we’re in trouble,” Fryar said. “So yeah, I think the hunger is there.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: After 'mediocre' opener, what does OSU line need to do to improve?
