You’re Nuts: Which Buckeye is headed for a strong second half of the regular season?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.

Aside from Ohio State not leaving Eugene with a victory on Saturday night, the game between the Buckeyes and Ducks was just about everything you could ask for. Two of the best teams in the country going back and forth in a raucous environment. There’s no question both teams are deserving of spots in the College Football Playoff, and they should also meet again in the Big Ten Championship Game as long as Penn State and Indiana don’t pull some shenanigans.

As Buckeye fans, we have become accustomed to picking at every negative thing we can find after a loss. Setbacks are few and far between for the Buckeyes, so it’s natural to want to identify the problem so it can be fixed and we don’t have to deal with the pain of another loss again anytime soon.

Today we are going to put the loss to Oregon behind us and look towards the rest of the season. Coming out of the loss to the Ducks, there were some Buckeyes who played well in Eugene, hopefully sparking a second half surge. What we want to know today is which Ohio State player you are looking towards to have a strong second half of the regular season.

You’re Nuts: Which Buckeye is headed for a strong second half of the regular season?​

We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.​

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Brett’s answer: Gee Scott Jr.​

From the opening play of Saturday night’s game, Gee Scott Jr. was locked in. Scott was in the right spot at the right time to catch the deflected Will Howard pass for a six-yard gain. Even though the gain wasn’t for much, the pass could have easily been intercepted if Scott hadn’t made a play on it. Scott would finish with three catches for 46 yards in the game.

Entering the Oregon game, Scott had four catches for 19 yards and score, with three of those catches and the touchdown coming in the win at Michigan State. The former wide receiver who transitioned to tight end is now just four catches and six yards from eclipsing his single-season highs of 10 catches and 70 yards, with both of those marks being set last year.

A little earlier this season I was critical of the production from the tight ends following the departure of Cade Stover. Scott has started to answer the call the last few games, with three catches in two of Ohio State’s last three contests. The Buckeyes don’t need Scott to be Stover when it comes to production, they just need him to be alert and available since he could see more targets if opposing defenses send more resources to cover Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith.

I feel like Scott could be a big factor down the stretch for the Buckeyes. Howard is becoming more comfortable throwing Scott the football. With his big body, Scott could be utilized even more in the passing game later in the season since he could deliver some punishing blows to opposing defenses. Also, Scott’s body size and soft hands could see him with more targets in the red zone.

The wide receivers and running backs are the stars of the Ohio State offense, there is no question about that. Scott will likely be doing a lot of the dirty work on the offense but he is becoming more of a threat to be used in the passing game and should continue to see targets going forward

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Matt’s answer: Caden Curry​

Gone are the days of Chase Young. Gone are the days of Nick Bosa. Gone are the days of Joey Bosa. Hell, gone are the days of Billy Bosa, Nick and Joey’s easily overlooked older brother who once had two sacks in a game against the South Florida Mauraders in the Broward County U12 Pee Wee Football League.

The Ohio State defensive line is seemingly incapable of generating sacks as currently constructed, so something’s gotta give. I don’t know if it’s Jim Knowles or Larry Johnson (although I have my suspicions), but the refusal to do anything other than ask the four defensive linemen to run straightforward and hope that their athleticism simply overwhelms the five or six offensive linemen standing in front of them ain’t cutting it.

We saw against Oregon yet another example of what happens when you cannot generate a pass rush to disrupt what a talented quarterback and wide receivers are doing. So, simply put, if Ohio State wants to win the Big Ten and national titles — which are both still very much in their grasp — they have to make a change up front on defense.

Whether that change is in personnel and/or scheme, is less important right now as is the willingness to make a change to begin with. Personally, I believe the scheme is the most important aspect of reasserting OSU’s pass rush as an integral part of their defensive approach, from disguising the rush to mixing up who is bringing pressure, from dropping linemen into coverage to blitzing linebackers and DBs, something must be done in order to change what’s happening along the line of scrimmage.

However, I also think that it is beyond time to start mixing up the rotation on the defensive line. I know that the starting defensive line of J.T. Tuimoloau, Ty Hamilton, Tyleik Williams, and Jack Sawyer is supremely talented, which is why I view their lack of production in this area more as a schematic and philosophical failure than anything else. However, as good as they may or may not be at stopping the run — individually or collectively — they need to be better at generating pressure.

I think that Jack and Tyleik have shown the most ability to do that, so I think that — in conjunction with changes in the play calls — Knowles and LJ need to get on the same page and start getting guys on the field who can bring more to the pass rush in key situations.

So, my pick for this article exercise is Cadden Curry, but I would honestly be good with Mitchell Melton, Kenyatta Jackson, Kayden McDonald, anyone who is going to pin their ears back and regularly force their way into the backfield and hit the quarterback. It would be a massive dereliction of duty for this coaching staff to squander four years of Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud at quarterback and another year with arguably the best roster in Ohio State history in a six-year period and not win a national title.

There are no excuses left, there are no more justifications available, there are no more rationalizations accepted, they simply must get the job done.

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