Their identity is the running game…TreVeyon Henderson (above) and Quinshon Judkins form the most formidable running back duo in the country. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
No. 2 Ohio State travels to No. 3 Oregon this week in one of the nation’s most anticipated games. And the Buckeyes know who they are in every phase of the game.
Football fandom frequently reflects life.
The illustrations to kick off the Sunday sermon about reassurance dealt with the childhood fears of learning to swim and riding a bike.
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A new fear came to mind as I sat uncomfortably because of pain recently inflicted on my backside. The fear was as fresh as Sunday’s lunch of homemade chicken salad.
Falling down the stairs.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Shortly before leaving the safety of my home Saturday for the Horseshoe to witness Ohio State dispose of Iowa, I gave an Olympic sport a try.
Distracted by a noise, I turned my head and kept walking. My bare right heel got too far forward. It slipped off the edge of the top step.
Inertia is real.
In an instant, I turned the stairway into a luge track. Flat on my back I bumped step by step to the bottom, yelling like I was going down that first big hill of a roller coaster.
Gravity finally stopped me, but not before setting a world record for fastest time down a flight of stairs. My wife came running to my aid. Fortunately, she didn’t fall in her haste.
And fortunately those stairs were recently covered with double padding and plush new carpet. My tailbone, therefore, was only bruised, not shattered. But the middle of my back has quite the rug burn.
After accepting my gold medal, I approach that stairway with caution. The handrail is my reassurance that I won’t slip and try to break my record or anything else.
The Ohio State football team tripped all over itself in the second quarter against Iowa. Then in the second half, the Buckeyes reassured themselves and their fans that they are perfectly capable of standing on their own two feet.
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Maybe I’m not. But the 5-0 Buckeyes are.
Surely the schedule has been favorable, ramping up each week as the Buckeyes establish an identity. And quite possibly what follows will read like nothing more than glass-half-full observations. But everything I’ve seen this season leads me to one conclusion: Win or lose at Oregon or anywhere else in the regular season, this team will be there at the end.
But don’t take my word for it.
Improvement in the offensive line…this group (Seth McLaughlin, above) has veterans in four spots and a fifth growing up fast.
Ryan Day, apparently quite comfortable in his CEO role with Chip Kelly calling plays, talks consistently about improvement. You can tell in almost everything he says and how he says it that he really, really likes this team.
Day wants his team’s primary identity to be the hardest working team in America. If Ford can claim America’s hardest working truck (you can buy T-shirts on Amazon that say so), then the Buckeyes can claim the same title among football teams if they want. Might make a good NIL-income producing T-shirt.
From the press box, I’ve seen nothing to the contrary. This team has taken care of the business put before it on five Saturdays with seven to go. If anyone has taken a play off, I haven’t seen it.
When the Buckeyes got two quick scores in the third quarter to go up 21-0, they didn’t relax and give Iowa a chance. Satisfied teams often get complacent.
“Keeping the foot on the throttle throughout that third quarter … keep expanding that lead as much as we can,” defensive end Jack Sawyer said.
Be reassured that this team is focused on playing hard for four quarters.
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The secondary identities – for lack of a more efficient term – grow out of the primary identity of hardest working team.
The No. 1 desired identity on most lists entering this season: Reestablish a strong, if not dominant, running game.
The Buckeyes will likely face a tougher all-around defense in the playoffs. But Iowa’s run defense helps set the standard every season. The Hawkeyes entered Saturday’s 35-7 OSU victory with the No. 4 rush defense in the nation at 62 yards per game. The Buckeyes rushed for 203 yards.
“It’s an 11-man effort,” says senior Emeka Egbuka of the Buckeyes formidable passing game.
Ohio State has always had the running backs and added another one this year when Quinshon Judkins transferred from Ole Miss to form the best tandem in the country with TreVeyon Henderson.
But the past couple seasons the problem was the offensive line.
This group, however, has veterans in four spots and a fifth growing up fast. It helps to have three starters back, add a stalwart from Alabama at center and see Tegra Tshabola emerge as the obvious starter at right guard.
“Running the ball is a badge of honor for an O line,” left guard Donovan Jackson said. “You want to see your running backs run down the field, and that’s a sense of pride you have.”
Be reassured this running game is getting stronger as the season wears on.
The passing game in this century has lifted Ohio State to elite status every season. That identity remains with Will Howard completing passes at a high rate, Emeka Egbuka making important catches up and down the field and Jeremiah Smith making one-handed catches and touchdowns seem routine.
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“It’s an 11-man effort,” said Egbuka, who caught three touchdowns against Iowa. “I couldn’t get in the end zone if all the O linemen weren’t blocking, if the running backs weren’t doing their thing, if the other routes weren’t taking away coverage, and obviously Will.”
Be reassured that the passing identity is well established and here to stay.
With the offensive uncertainty that carried over into August as the starting quarterback question was asked a million times, it was often noted that the defense is good enough to carry this team.
That unit’s identity under Jim Knowles could be described with many adjectives: dominant, stingy, unforgiving. They point to a line in the turf and dare teams to cross it. Iowa came in with the Big Ten’s leading rusher. Didn’t matter.
“We love going against teams like that that want to run the ball and challenge our manhood,” defensive end Jack Sawyer said Saturday.
Obviously, the Hawkeyes aren’t a scary passing team even if quarterback Cade McNamara is an upgrade from recent seasons. And it is true that the defense hasn’t faced a high-level challenge at all close to what it will see at Oregon on Saturday. But don’t think this highly experienced and talented unit won’t be ready for the Ducks and ready to force turnovers.
“We love when it’s on us,” Sawyer said. “That’s our mantra the whole season – we’re going to go win games. Can’t wait to go compete against a team like Oregon. Going behind enemy lines – we love that.”
Be reassured that the defense is prepared for any offensive scheme.
If any Buckeye displays a careless attitude this week about No. 2 going across the country to face No. 3, Egbuka will remind them what this game means. Egbuka is from Washington, so for him this is a bit of a homecoming. Same for defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau.
“If we go into Eugene and we’re the same team that was here today, then we didn’t improve throughout the week and there’s a good chance that we might lose,” Egbuka said. “So we have to continue to improve throughout the week, build week after week and at the end of the year you’ll have something special.”
Win the first Big Ten game on the West Coast that will have the nation’s attention, and fans will be even more reassured.
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