Oller: Ohio State offense looks pedestrian in sluggish 23-3 win against Indiana
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The most exciting moment of Saturday’s Ohio State season opener against Indiana happened sometime during the third quarter.
I would be more specific except I don’t know exactly when the Memorial Stadium work crew fixed the press box plumbing problem, which for about two quarters rendered the sinks and toilets inoperable. But when the fix finally came, well, it felt like a touchdown.
As for the Buckeyes’ offense, let’s just say it worked better than the plumbing. By a whisker. Ohio State put up 23 points and held the Hoosiers to 3, which for some offenses – hello, Iowa – registers as a satisfactory performance.
But OSU does not boast just some offense. Ever since Tresselball went the way of the leather helmet, Ohio State has been a sexy F1 race car caressing S-curves, Thor spinning his hammer and Tom Cruise riding his motorcycle off a cliff. Watching Dwayne Haskins/Justin Fields/C.J. Stroud guide the Buckeyes’ offense over the past five seasons was pass-the-popcorn entertainment. Ohio State has averaged at least 41 points a game each of the past seven seasons, and averaged 52.3 points in season openers over that stretch.
The aberration, a relatively puny 21 points against Notre Dame in last year’s opener, came against an opponent ranked No. 5 nationally.
Indiana is not ranked in the top 50. The Hoosiers have a decent defensive line, but typically the Buckeyes’ offense turns decent into indecent.
And there’s the rub. This is not a typical Ohio State offense. It may become that, if Kyle McCord – or Devin Brown, although Brown’s prospects appear to have dimmed – and the offensive line make a big jump from what they showed Saturday to what they will need to show Sept. 23 against Notre Dame and beyond. But against IU, the pickins were slim.
Just ask Ryan Day.
“You’d like to have more than 23 points," Day said. "I don’t know if that’s the operation or what. That’s part of identifying Week 1, what’s going on. I want better. I did anticipate some of this, but I thought we’d get more points. I thought we would convert some of those (scoring opportunities). We’re used to doing that here.”
Face it Buckeye Nation, you are spoiled. Your last three starting quarterbacks were Heisman finalists and first-round NFL draft picks. If McCord joins that club, good for him. But he has a long way to go before that becomes plausible.
Against Indiana, McCord looked unsure of himself early before settling down in the second half. By normal standards his numbers were not terrible – 20 of 33 passing for 239 yards, with an interception – but he has such a high bar to live up to that failing to throw a touchdown pass is akin to saying Michigan instead of TTUN.
Brown? Who knows? Day said earlier in the week the plan was for the redshirt freshman to play “meaningful” minutes. Instead, Brown played one series before halftime, handing off twice and losing three yards on a QB keeper, and not again until 1:44 remained.
Day explained that he did not want to risk losing the game by switching out quarterbacks and having them fall out of rhythm, which would hamstring the offense.
Fair enough, but the offense was hobbling anyway. Wouldn’t it have been constructive to see if Brown might “flash,” to use a Day word, by playing more than one series before mop-up duty?
That said, while the quarterback play was average – McCord did make two or three nice throws, but missed on several others – the more threatening issue is the offensive line. Day was measured in his tone, but clearly was not thrilled by the line’s lack of push on running plays.
“My expectation is run for 250, throw for 300 and score 50 points, and we didn’t do that today,” Day said, bluntly. “But we did win and it’s a start.”
What else may have factored into OSU’s ho-hum offensive showing? Just a hunch, but not having Kevin Wilson in the box overseeing things is a loss that will require more adjustment than initially thought. Wilson, who as offensive coordinator was something of a security blanket for Day, became the head coach at Tulsa after last season, leaving the play-calling up to Day with input from new OC Brian Hartline.
Day credited Hartline with providing “great feedback” between series, and also gave a shout-out to offensive line coach Justin Frye. But you don’t mesh with other coaches overnight, especially under intense game conditions.
“There are unknowns when you have guys who are starting for the first time,” Day said.
The Ohio State coach was speaking of freshman players, but he just as easily could have been referring to Hartline.
The good news for the Buckeyes is they survived to live another day, and next week things should get easier with Youngstown State visiting the Horseshoe.
Now, if the offense can’t score more than 23 points against the Penguins, well, that will make bad plumbing look tame by comparison.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football looks out of sync in Big Ten win against Indiana
