Ohio State’s traditionally strong running game is taking a hit this season. The best defense in the country and an elite passing game have more than made up for it so far. But they still want to fix it.
By Marcus Hartman for Press Pros
Columbus, OH – Can’t anybody here play this game?
Maybe the World Series being underway put that quote from Casey Stengel in my head when considering this Ohio State rushing attack through seven games.
VPP, in Versailles, proudly sponsors Buckeyes football on Press Pros Magazine.com.
The 2025 Buckeyes are much better than the 1962 New York Mets, of course, but this whole situation is still somewhat exasperating because it’s not for lack of effort.
I wrote before the season one big question no one wanted to ask about Ohio State was, “What if the quarterbacks don’t pan out?”
Veteran columnist Marcus Hartman writes the OHSAA, Ohio State, and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
I wasn’t trying to be provocative. I just thought it was a valid concern because the quarterback development since C.J. Stroud came of age was not on the level it had been from Day’s arrival through 2022.
Well, we can put that one to bed.
Julian Sayin has been as advertised, if not better, with his poise and precision passing. The receivers, to the shock of no one, have also been great, and Max Klare is starting to show why everyone wanted him as a pass-catching tight end in the portal.
After they collectively torched Wisconsin, is worrying about the other parts of the offense nit-picking?
Well, yes.
Is it legitimate for a team with true hopes of being the first at Ohio State to repeat as national champions?
Also yes.
We’ve seen this movie before.
The 2021 team, complete with highly regarded quarterback from California and a bevy of talented receivers, blitzed teams through the air all the way to second place in the Big Ten East (actually they shared first place with Michigan but lost the tiebreaker, which is what matters).
Those Buckeyes were riding high until they weren’t, including offensive outbursts against Purdue and Michigan State leading up to a showdown with Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Logan Services, in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, proudly sponsors the best area sports coverage on Press Pros Magazine.
After that 45-27 loss to the Wolverines, I went up to the press box and said to no one in particular, “Well, the basketball on grass thing is fun unless you lose.”
Now there does seem to be a big difference between now and 2021, and I don’t just mean the defense (which is major, no doubt). That team did run the ball well at times and was much more explosive on the ground, too.
More importantly: While Day gave only lip service to the rushing inconsistency in his third season as head coach of the Buckeyes, he seems genuinely concerned this time.
Day lamented the lack of balance after the loss to Oregon that season when Stroud threw 54 passes and the Buckeyes ran only 31 times, but he let the same thing happen in a closer-than-expected win over Nebraska in November.
C.J. Donaldson was the presumed and veteran #1 after transferring from West Virginia. That presumption is still a work in progress.
Then Michigan shattered the Buckeyes’ air of invisibility in The Game — a mystique they’re still trying to get back. That team ended up throwing on 56% of its snaps, which is very likely the highest in Ohio State history. (I counted back to 2001 and also checked Joe Germaine’s amazing 1998 campaign. If any others in the previous 120 years featured less than 50% rushing, I’d be shocked.)
This season, about 52% of Ohio State’s plays have been designed runs or QB scrambles, which is right about average for the Day era overall.
Given the lack of efficiency, one could argue the Buckeyes have called too many runs. But unlike Zac Taylor, Day seems to have come around to the fact that practice not only makes perfect for running games, it is necessary for them to work at all.
But can they make it work?
That’s the big question heading into November.
In a surprisingly candid moment last week, Day said the coaches still don’t know who their best running backs are, which I guess is cause both for concern and hope.
Isaiah West was a sight or sore eyes against the Badgers, but he also had the most and best holes to run through. I don’t know what James Peoples did to the offensive line, but he seems to get the fewest creases now after struggling to hit them early in the season. C.J. Donaldson runs too high and lacks wiggle, but at least he hits the hole and gets most of the yardage that is available. Bo Jackson was a revelation early, but he got banged up at Illinois, as freshmen often do (not at Illinois, but during a college football season).
Knapke Kitchens and Baths proudly sponsor the Buckeyes on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Whoever is running the ball, traditional counting stats are not good. The Buckeyes are 72nd in the nation in rushing yards per game (151.7) and 51st in yards per carry (4.58).
Advanced stats are worse.
According to CollegeFootballData.com, the Buckeyes rank 86th in offensive line yards, which attempt to isolate the line’s role in the running game by more heavily weighting the first four yards of a run (as well as yardage lost). The Buckeyes are 81st in rushing success rate, which measures if a play goes for at least 50% of the yards to gain for a first down on first down, at least 70% on second down and 100% on third and fourth down.
The Koverman Staley Dickerson agencies sponsor the OSU Buckeyes on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Second-level yards measure the average between 5-10 yards of a run, and Ohio State ranks 100th in that category. What about open-field yards (the average yards of a carry beyond 10)? That’s worst of all: 119th.
Day said the backs were hitting the holes at Wisconsin, so that puts more of the onus on the blocking. He also called out the line for both misidentifying who to block and failing to maintain technique.
That could also be both alarming and comforting: Seven games seem like plenty for a team to know who to block — especially with a veteran center — but that’s also fixable.
So is technique, even if it takes some personnel changes such as plugging in sophomore backup center Joshua Padilla at right guard for struggling junior Tegra Tshabola.
Tshabola is an earnest young man and a great off-field story, having come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with his parents in pursuit of a better life, but this is a production business. Maybe some time off would benefit him by helping him clear his mind. He could yet come back and be a productive member of the line, but this unit needs to be better — no matter what it takes.
Then it’s up to the backs to make good with their opportunities, but to paraphrase another famous New York baseball personality, it’s starting to get late early.
Wilson Health/Orthopedics proudly sponsors the best in area sports and the Ohio State Buckeyes on Press Pros.