2020 tOSU Offense

[ScriptOhio]

The best wide receiver in the Big Ten plays at Ohio State.

Actually, the top two wide receivers in the league play for the Buckeyes.

Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson are more talented than any other pass-catchers in the league. There are plenty of others who are certainly worthy of consideration, but the two standouts for the Buckeyes are simply the best.

So when the Big Ten released its first-team all conference list, the coaches got it right, naming both Wilson and Olave to the first-team sheet.

The media, well, did not. What happened each Saturday that made the media and coaches differ on who was the best two at that position in this league?

Ty Fryfogle of Indiana and David Ball from Purdue are both talented receivers, and a handful of others are good players. But better than Olave and Wilson? That’s nonsense. Both of the Buckeyes standouts are averaging more than 100 yards receiving per game. That’s more than Fryfogle, who was named Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year because Ohio State’s secondary let him loose for a career day. That’s more than Bell, who can make spectacular catches in traffic but doesn’t have the same level of consistency that Wilson and Olave possess. And it’s more than every other receiver in the conference.

Just watch the games. The two best wide receivers in the league are on the same team. And while the coaches in the Big Ten got it right, the media did not. It’s not just the Big Ten media, either. Olave and Wilson were overlooked for the Big Ten honors just a week after being overlooked by the Biletnikoff Award voters, too.

“I think they should be on there,” Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields said of his two go-to wide receivers when they weren’t on the Biletnikoff Award finalist list. “But we try to not focus on individual awards. We just care about national championships and winning Big Ten championships.”

Ohio State wide receiver Garrett Wilson is one of the best in the Big Ten.

Both Wilson and Olave should be on first-team All-Big Ten honors for both the coaches and media.. And one of them should be the wide receiver of the year in the league. Not sure which one? Flip a coin. They’re the two best at what they do in the Big Ten.

 

[ScriptOhio]

 

[ScriptOhio]

 

[ScriptOhio]

FILM STUDY: OHIO STATE'S RECORD-SETTING RUN GAME QUIETLY EMERGED JUST IN TIME FOR THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF

"When you have a player that's in a rhythm like that, you just have to keep feeding him the ball, and that's what we did” - Justin Fields discussing Trey Sermon's performance in the Big Ten Championship Game



Despite what the forums may tell you: no, the sky is not falling on the Ohio State offense. Justin Fields has not regressed. Ryan Day has not forgotten how to call plays.

Instead, the true identity of this team emerged at the most critical time. Despite featuring the most talented quarterback in school history and a plethora of blue-chip wide receivers, the 2020 Ohio State Buckeyes win games in the trenches.

A stout front-seven, led by the stellar play of tackles Tommy Togiai and Haskell Garrett, carries the Buckeye defense, while their counterparts on the offensive side of the ball continue to get better and better each week. Through six games, the OSU running game has improved game by game, averaging more yards-per-carry than the contest prior and head into the College Football Playoff with the top rushing offense of any Power-5 team.

Never has this been more apparent than last Saturday in Indianapolis as Trey Sermon broke Eddie George's school record for rushing yards in a single game with 331 yards. As a team, the Buckeyes racked up 399 yards in Lucas Oil Stadium, the most surrendered by Pat Fitzgerald's disciplined defense in over a decade.

Throughout much of the first half, however, little seemed to go right for Day and his offense. The traditionally conservative Northwestern defense switched up coverages far more than expected, making Fields hesitate in the pocket.

When the Buckeyes tried to run early, the Wildcats often countered by slanting in the direction opposite the running back, expecting him to accept the handoff across the face of the QB and run right in the direction of the defenders. Early on, the move largely held Ohio State's running game at bay, limiting it to just 44 yards on 12 first-quarter carries.

Just before the half, however, the Buckeyes found a spark.



With the Wildcats slanting right into Trey Sermon's aiming point after he took the handoff on a mid-zone run, the graduate transfer stuck his right foot into the ground and cut back all the way behind the play where no defender was waiting. Thanks to the threat of Fields keeping it himself and the Wildcats' aggressive plan to attack the play-side, no one was there to contain the veteran runner as he burst through the open gap.

Though the drive would fizzle out in the red zone, it provided a glimpse of what was to come in the second half.

Coming out of the break, Sermon remained the primary back, replacing Master Teague III almost entirely. To create more cutback opportunities, Day began fiddling with his formations to remove a defender from closing on these runs back against the grain, resulting in some big gains.



Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...emerged-just-in-time-for-the-college-football

 

[ScriptOhio]

This "awesome" article is well worth reading....



Dabo Swinney said Ohio State was going to be a quick watch because of their lack of available game film. After last night's 49-28 debacle in New Orleans, we can ask the question: Did Clemson watch any Buckeye film? The Ohio State offense did whatever they wanted through the air to the Tigers with Justin Fields putting together his best game ever in the upset win.

Let’s start with the praise. The Bucks' EPA per play on passes was .93 — almost one unexpected point added per pass. It is by far their highest mark in the last six seasons, with a 2017 game at Nebraska coming in second at .89. That .93 was the 10th-highest in a single game this season. As for Clemson’s defense, it was their worst day in a very long time. Over the last six seasons, nothing even remotely comes close to them allowing .93 EPA per play. The second highest is Alabama in 2015 with only .43. In fact, in these six years, Clemson has only given up positive EPA per play via the pass 17 total times in 82 games. It’s almost like Clemson forgot to actually watch Ohio State’s film, regardless of how many games the Buckeyes played.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Just sayin': The offense is peaking at the right time. Maybe playing just 6 B1G games was the right number. I'm not sure how the offense could have played much better than they did against Clemson, but I do hope we haven't actually hit our offensive peak until the next game......

 

[Systems_id]

Just sayin': The offense is peaking at the right time. Maybe playing just 6 B1G games was the right number. I'm not sure how the offense could have played much better than they did against Clemson, but I do hope we haven't actually hit our offensive peak until the next game......

Hot take: I think the B1G is a much better defensive conference than people give it credit for and I think that’s borne out in the bowl games. SEC might be worse than I thought?

 

[OHSportsFan]

I wasn’t exactly impressed with this side of the ball either.

I thought Bama had a suspect backfield and yet everything seemed like hard work for the Bucks. I thought Olave and Wilson would be more open. Curious if Fields felt pressure and missed guys open or what.

More poor redzone conversions in big moments too. Fields has to hit Wilson on that out-fade. Not on coaching there, but still had 2 or 3 more shots from the 8 yard line.

Not sure how much Sermon makes a difference. I want to think a decent amount in moving the ball and chunk plays. But I also feel like Day and co. get way out of sorts after one punch to the mouth. That 2nd quarter really got away when Bama dialed up some pressure.

 

[1926Buckeyes]

I wasn’t exactly impressed with this side of the ball either.

I thought Bama had a suspect backfield and yet everything seemed like hard work for the Bucks. I thought Olave and Wilson would be more open. Curious if Fields felt pressure and missed guys open or what.

More poor redzone conversions in big moments too. Fields has to hit Wilson on that out-fade. Not on coaching there, but still had 2 or 3 more shots from the 8 yard line.

Not sure how much Sermon makes a difference. I want to think a decent amount in moving the ball and chunk plays. But I also feel like Day and co. get way out of sorts after one punch to the mouth. That 2nd quarter really got away when Bama dialed up some pressure.

Sermon makes a difference in keeping drives on schedule, but they weren't going to hit the big shots needed without Fields driving the ball downfield. He was hurt more than he let on, and a lot of passes seemed to float or come out as ducks.

Other than that, it was another game where I kinda expected them to have more tailored plays, but it seems like they were never able to go past the first chapter in the playbook due to COVID, reps, and depth. Day and Wilson are really good offensive minds, and its hard for me to imagine they were vanilla for the sake of being vanilla.

 

[buckeyboy]

I wasn’t exactly impressed with this side of the ball either.

I thought Bama had a suspect backfield and yet everything seemed like hard work for the Bucks. I thought Olave and Wilson would be more open. Curious if Fields felt pressure and missed guys open or what.

More poor redzone conversions in big moments too. Fields has to hit Wilson on that out-fade. Not on coaching there, but still had 2 or 3 more shots from the 8 yard line.

Not sure how much Sermon makes a difference. I want to think a decent amount in moving the ball and chunk plays. But I also feel like Day and co. get way out of sorts after one punch to the mouth. That 2nd quarter really got away when Bama dialed up some pressure.

Good point. The offensive coaches really didn't have much of a response to the blitz throughout the season. The logical approach was likely some quick slants or screens.