2026 tOSU Offense Discussion

[Buckeneye]

The more I watch the game vs Miami, the less I'm worried about the receivers and play calling... the more I'm worried about the OL. That 2nd play in particular, Julian was locked in. Pass pro just didn't hold up.

Early and often, OL was the Achilles heel.

edit: I said Julian has to take the next step to an NFL passer. He's capable, but I won't just single him out. Individually & collectively the OL play needs to improve. If it doesn't, you're going to see another early playoff exit.

 

[Mike80]

The more I watch the game vs Miami, the less I'm worried about the receivers and play calling... the more I'm worried about the OL. That 2nd play in particular, Julian was locked in. Pass pro just didn't hold up.

Early and often, OL was the Achilles heel.

Still won't stop the stupid narrative that Day was the issue...

Offensive line play HAS to improve against athletic fronts this next season.

 

[sparcboxbuck]

Still won't stop the stupid narrative that Day was the issue...

Offensive line play HAS to improve against athletic fronts this next season.

I think that is why we saw what we saw in filling the OC and additional OL coach roll. They are keenly aware — or minimally strongly believe — the issue was coaching and not players. We would have seen more OL at least make visits if they thought the issue was really the kids.

 

[Mike80]

I think that is why we saw what we saw in filling the OC and additional OL coach roll. They are keenly aware — or minimally strongly believe — the issue was coaching and not players. We would have seen more OL at least make visits if they thought the issue was really the kids.

Ehhh blaming the coaching only goes so far. At some point the kids gotta execute.

 

[ScriptOhio]

 

[sparcboxbuck]

Ehhh blaming the coaching only goes so far. At some point the kids gotta execute.

Kids can only execute what they are prepared to execute. I agree, in general, with your statements; I know that I’ve coached games that I can look back at and say, that it was on the kids… but sure as shit, I can point at a few games that were completely on me and what I did to prepare them.

 

[pnuts34]

OSU needed speed, athleticism and most importantly experience in their WR transfers and it seems like thats what they’ve gotten.

 

[Mike80]

Depending on the offensive line lineup...

Smith typically prefers a zone scheme in his running game and uses a gap scheme as a changeup. Last year's scheme was all over the place running the ball and it did seem like sometimes defenses were guessing well against it.

Hopefully they do address any weaknesses in the Oline and put the kids in the place they need to be to succeed. You can also slow down any defensive line rush issues by mixing up your looks in the run game. That wasn't something we saw much of last year and I think a lot of that goes to the relative inexperience from Hartline as OC.

 

[Tanner]

Still won't stop the stupid narrative that Day was the issue...

Offensive line play HAS to improve against athletic fronts this next season.

They got out-schemed to death in those 2 games

 

[Mike80]

They got out-schemed to death in those 2 games

Not particularly - especially the Cryami game. Execution matters.

To expand on the point - Ohio State is best when it's efficiency is excellent. I'd be willing to bet that their efficiency dropped off a cliff post-TCUN game. Part of what was Indiana was a team of destiny and Cryami played at a high level, but a lot of efficiency comes from goo execution, and the offense was not very crisp at all in either game. You can only scheme or try to out-scheme the other team so much - the kids have to execute the plays that are called or else it doesn't matter much.

 

[Tanner]

Not particularly - especially the Cryami game. Execution matters.

To expand on the point - Ohio State is best when it's efficiency is excellent. I'd be willing to bet that their efficiency dropped off a cliff post-TCUN game. Part of what was Indiana was a team of destiny and Cryami played at a high level, but a lot of efficiency comes from goo execution, and the offense was not very crisp at all in either game. You can only scheme or try to out-scheme the other team so much - the kids have to execute the plays that are called or else it doesn't matter much.

Disagree. Anybody can draw up fancy plays on the chalkboard. But you have to call plays that suit your personnel. Yeah, the o line wasn't great but it's not like they were non-functional. They weren't the only team in the country that had to work around some o line issues. Going into the Miami game against that d-line depending on long-developing deep shots was dumb

 

[Mike80]

Disagree. Anybody can draw up fancy plays on the chalkboard. But you have to call plays that suit your personnel. Yeah, the o line wasn't great but it's not like they were non-functional. They weren't the only team in the country that had to work around some o line issues. Going into the Miami game against that d-line depending on long-developing deep shots was dumb

Disagree.

Miami's entire defensive philosophy in that game was to take away the short and intermediate stuff that Sayin excelled at. The screen that returned for a Pick-6 fit into what they were trying to do. Short of Sayin turning into a bit more of a runner, taking the top off the defense early on was the right idea in my IMO.

Given the run game issues that were apparent all year long, the only thing that prevented Ohio State from running away with that game was Miami's defensive line breaking down the pass protection as illustrated in the videos above.

The plays were there. If the execution matched the scheme Ohio State rolls. Once Ohio State got behind they had to throw it a ton more than I think they truly wanted to as part of the overall scheme.

If you really want to criticize something from that game, the tempo has to be much faster. Miami's depth should have been tested more than it was.

Either way, I think we both agree the offensive line has to take a step forward this year for this team to be a success. Living on last year's laurels will get them not where they need to be.