Offensive line comes under microscope as Ohio State's run game continues to sputter
Entering the season, Ohio State’s offense faced two major questions.
Settling on a successor to C.J. Stroud got most of the attention. A quarterback battle always does. Junior Kyle McCord has been generally solid, and he has been even better in key moments. The other question centered on the offensive line, which had to replace three starters now in the NFL. That one hasn’t been answered so affirmatively.
Heading into Saturday’s game at Purdue, the offensive line remains the biggest obstacle to No. 3 Ohio State making a run at championships.
The pass protection has been a bit spotty, but overall decent. The run blocking, on the other hand, has been well below the expected standard. Ohio State is averaging only 131.6 yards per game on the ground. That’s 96th nationally and ninth in the Big Ten. Ohio State is averaging just 4.36 yards per carry.
In last week's 37-17 victory against Maryland, OSU ran for 83 yards in 30 carries, excluding sacks. After the game, coach Ryan Day said his staff would evaluate whether to consider personnel or schematic adjustments.
On Tuesday, Day provided an update, saying he wouldn’t make any changes to the line's configuration. He also said he didn’t believe a major schematic change was necessary.
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“We just have to execute better,” Day said. “We have to coach it better, and that starts with me. We’ve got to figure out a way, whether we're doing too much or too little, whatever that is. But I felt like the scheme and what we were doing was very sound. I think we have the right guys.”
Ohio State has new starters at both tackles with San Diego State transfer Josh Simmons on the left side and senior Josh Fryar on the right. Redshirt freshman Carson Hinzman is at center, flanked by veteran guards Donovan Jackson and Matt Jones.
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During the spring, the Buckeyes mixed and matched several other players, including Enokk Vimahi, Vic Cutler, Tegra Tshabola, Zen Michalski and freshman Luke Montgomery.
The starting five is safe for now.
“We looked hard at it,” Day said. “I still don't see any of those (backup) guys right now pushing. I'd like to see that. But don't see them pushing on the door enough to say someone deserves 20-30 snaps in the game just yet.
“But there's still a lot of football left to play, and feel free to make a push. We want that in that practice.”
Among the departed linemen, left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. was the sixth overall pick, and right tackle Dawand Jones is starting for the Browns.
Is it simply that this line doesn’t have the talent OSU is used to?
“I think that's hard for me to say because I believe in our guys, and I think they are plenty good enough to go win every game,” Day said. “I would tell you if I didn't think so.”
Day pointed out that the line is not solely responsible for the run game woes. He said McCord, the running backs and receivers also bear the burden.
But it doesn’t take a trained eye to see that the linemen are not bulldozing opponents with any regularity and struggle to create creases in short-yardage situations.
“I think we can do a better job of getting movement up front,” Day said. “I think we can do a better job of getting in the second level and getting the running backs there. I think the running backs can do a better job of seeing it, so it’s a little bit here, a little bit there.
“I'm not just going to tell you it's one or two things. We're just going to keep swinging. That's kind of sometimes how the run game goes. You’ve got to keep working to get better at it, and that's not going to be different this week.”
Day understands that weather will increasingly become a factor late in the season. Some Saturdays, it will be difficult to throw effectively.
“Nobody wants to run the ball more than me,” he said. “The bottom line is if you're going to put that many guys down in the box, there's probably going to be open receivers down the field with the guys that we have. I get that part of it. But that doesn't mean that we're just going to abandon the run game.
“I've been down that road before. Throwing for 450 yards in a game is great, but it's going to catch up with you later in the season if you can't figure out how to run the ball. I’ve learned my lesson on that.”
Day said he wasn’t specifically referring to the last time Ohio State played at Purdue in 2018, when he was OSU's offensive coordinator. Dwayne Haskins Jr. threw for 470 yards, but the Buckeyes ran for only 76 yards in 25 carries. The Buckeyes were stunned 49-20, killing their College Football Playoff hopes.
Day does not want a repeat of that.
“We're just going to keep pushing as hard as we can to make sure that we have the balance we need,” he said.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: A question mark before the season, OSU's offensive line remains one
