Matt Tamanini
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Is it my scarlet and gray-colored glasses, or are the Buckeyes better than I expected?
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
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Is it possible to think more highly of a team that you already predicted would go undefeated and win the national title?
Things started off a little wonky for the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in their season-opening game against Akron on Saturday, but in the second half, Ryan Day’s squad settled into the new season and eventually ran away from the Zips 52-6. After working out the first-game kinks, the Buckeyes mostly looked like the dominant team that they were always expected to be.
Sure, OSU’s performance was not without its faults, but I left Saturday’s game feeling even better about the team than I did coming in, and I predicted them to go undefeated and win the national championship.
While I recognize that not everybody in the fanbase came to the same conclusions as I did following the Week 1 win, I don’t think that my feelings are solely based on my permanently affixed scarlet and gray-colored glasses. So, with one whole game of data and film to break down, I am going to run through all of the offensive and defensive position groups and see how I feel about them now, compared to where I was before the season got underway.
Quarterback |
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Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
I came into Week 1 expecting that Will Howard would be a solid upgrade over what we saw from Kyle McCord last season (and congrats to Kyle on a great game against Ohio on Saturday), but that the former K-State signal-caller would be more on the game-manager side of the quarterback equation than a play-maker.
After watching him against the Zips, I think I might have underestimated him. Now, Howard certainly isn’t going to throw the deep ball like Dwayne Haskins, display the athleticism of Justin Fields, or execute with the precision of C.J. Stroud, but he showed on Saturday that there was more hitch in his giddy-up than I gave him credit for.
The new Buckeye QB finished the day 17-of-28 for 228 yards and three touchdowns, which aren’t eye-popping numbers, but what impressed me the most was his ability to make the right decisions in the moment. He obviously had that regrettable moment at the end of the second quarter that almost resulted in a backward lateral turnover, and I think that early in the game he threw a few balls as scripted without really assessing where defenders were. However, as he settled into the game, Howard seemed to get comfortable in the offense, and with that came a calmness and control.
He still under-threw a few balls — his 45-yarder to Jeremiah Smith was a walk-in touchdown if he had led the freshman receiver by a couple of yards — but he always seemed to find the right receiver, make the right decision, and keep plays alive with his feet.
It was not a perfect day for Howard, but he showed me more than enough to get me excited about what he could do this season.
Running Backs |
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My expectation for the Ohio State running backs this season was that they would be the focal point of the offense. The dynamic one-two punch of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins (with a little dash of James Peoples thrown in) would be the calling card of Chip Kelly’s first season as the Buckeye play-caller. I thought that we would get something like a 60-40 split between the run and the pass, with the possibility for that to creep up toward 65-35 if OSU started blowing out teams early.
However, that is not what happened on Saturday. Ohio State ran a total of 64 plays, 33 were runs and 31 were passes. In the first half, when things were frustratingly still close, the play calls actually favored the pass 21 to 18.
Of course, there are a lot of factors that play into this, not the least of which is the offensive line (more on them in a bit). While neither Henderson nor Judkins had exceptional days, there is no denying that Trey had a better day both statistically and via the eye test. He averaged 8.1 yards per carry on eight attempts, which was nearly double what Judkins did on his 13 carries — he finished with 55 yards for a 4.2 ypc average, but he did have the lone rushing touchdown of the game.
In the LGHL preseason predictions article, I did go on the record to pick Henderson as Ohio State’s only Heisman Trophy finalist, and while I’m certainly not going to abandon that ship after one game, Will Howard’s performance has me thinking just a teeny, tiny bit about beginning to ponder what it would look like if I considered mentally approaching the topic of potentially adding him to that prediction. And then there is the reliability of the offensive line that could prove to thwart any of my running game expectations for the season (but again, more on them in a bit).
Wide Receivers |
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Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
I don’t know exactly what my expectations were for Jeremiah Smith coming into the game, and whatever they were, I am sure that they were unfair to him. He entered college with the eyes of the college football world on him; he was the No. 1 player in the 2024 recruiting class, he was the subject of rumors throughout his recruitment even though he was always steadfast in his pledge to OSU, and he was already being compared to some of the all-time greats before he even stepped on the field.
Despite all of that attention and all of those expectations, Smith delivered. While he dropped his first target (an inside screen that very well might have gone for a touchdown) and had a penalty shortly thereafter, the freshman was as advertised in his first game in scarlet and gray.
Smith had six receptions for 92 yards and two touchdowns. In doing so, he became the first OSU freshman receiver to have two TDs in his first game since David Boston in 1996. Now, I am not going to now throw David Boston comparison expectations onto the Marvin Harrison Jr. ones that J.J. is already dealing with, but I do think that I might not have given the rookie enough credit for being able to come in and have a major impact right away. So, if it’s even possible, I guess my expectations for what Jeremiah Smith could do went up even higher than they already were.
The other two starting wide receivers — Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate — had solid if not spectacular days. The pair combined for 109 yards on eight carries and Tate had a TD. I expected all three of these guys to be very good this year, so there’s no reason to move off of that. If anything, I think that Will Howard’s performance, the play-call distribution, and the o-line’s pass blocking might make me slightly up my thoughts on the wide receivers as a whole.
Tight Ends |
To be honest with you, I had no real expectations for this group coming into the season, so there’s not much for me to reassess. While Chip Kelly did a lot with his tight ends at UCLA, that was out of necessity as it was difficult to get elite skill position players to come to Westwood. He obviously would not have that same problem in Columbus.
Despite the transfer of Will Kacmarek, the TE room seemed to me like a bunch of guys who were good at one aspect of playing the position, but weren’t well-rounded enough to be reliable across the board, and I think that bore out on Saturday. No tight end was even targeted in the game, and there were times when the presumed No. 2 tight end Gee Scott Jr. — who started his career as a receiver — seemed ill-equipped to block downfield.
I am sure that the unit will become more a part of the offense as the season progresses, but until Jelani Thurman can become a reliable blocker, I think it will be difficult to have any legitimate expectations for the Buckeye tight ends.
Offensive Line |
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Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Look, we all knew that this was going to be the weakest area on the team this season. Despite the fact that guys on the beat were pumping up the optimism coming out of preseason camp, it is tough to look at the group — which is largely the same as last year — and expect them to be markedly different. Sure, progress should be expected, but they weren’t going to go from a liability to a strength just like that.
It is a little unfair to judge the unit on Saturday’s performance as Donovan Jackson — the team’s starting left guard — didn’t play, but his replacement Austin Siereveld was arguably the best lineman in the game for the Buckeyes. However, on the whole, the unit is still seemingly incapable of run-blocking.
Despite Akron being expected to be one of the worst teams in FBS, they are coming off of a season in which they finished 32nd in total yards allowed, but that’s no excuse for an Ohio State offensive line continually struggling to open up holes for the best running back duo in the country to run through. I have tried to pump the breaks on the calls to fire Justin Frye because I know that offensive line is the most difficult position on a team to turn around. It takes even elite players three years to be truly ready to play at the elite level that Ohio State requires of its linemen, so a little bit of extra grace is warranted.
However, the unit’s ongoing inability to run block against even the most overmatched of opponents is reaching a critical level — and then when you throw in Frye’s struggles on the recruiting trail, it becomes doubly daunting to see when a turnaround will be possible for the group.
In fairness to them, I did think that they were near-perfect in pass-pro. Ohio State not only did not give up a sack, they did not give up a tackle for loss, which the offensive line certainly deserves credit for. But what is perhaps even more impressive is that Akron didn’t tally a single quarterback hurry on the game; this might also contribute to tide change in terms of play-calling.
I will say that in his first start for the Buckeyes, I thought that center Seth McLaughlin (late of Alabama) was pretty good. Not only do I think he did a good job in both run and pass blocking, but I don’t recall any significant snapping issues, which is something that haunted him for two years in Tuscaloosa.
Tegra Tshabola was pretty good in his first start in the scarlet and gray, but there is plenty of room for improvement — especially in run blocking. However, the biggest hole on the o-line against Akron appeared to be Josh Fryar at right tackle. Now, I am by no means an offensive line expert, but last year, I think Fryar was the most consistent guy on the line, even if Josh Simmons grew into being the most dynamic by year’s end. So, I don’t know that I would downgrade my expectations on Fryar, or the line as a whole, based on this one game, but considering that they weren’t that high to begin with, that’s probably not saying much.
Look, it’s one game against a team that was obviously overmatched; it’s a season-opener in which a number of key players and coaches were working together for the first time, so I don’t think that there is any reason to dramatically change your expectations about what this Ohio State offense can be this season.
However, on the whole, I do think I feel a little bit more confident in their ability to move the ball and be creative than I did before seeing them against Akron. Again, far from a perfect game, but in terms of results, it’s tough to argue with. The Buckeyes put up 407 yards of total offense, which doesn’t look like a lot, but when you factor in two defensive touchdowns that took drives away from the offense, it’s respectable in a game where they really slowed things down in the fourth quarter.
The OSU offense didn’t turn the ball over, the quarterback looked better than I expected, and the wide receivers are as elite as advertised. Yes, there is concern from the offensive line, which bleeds into the running game, but I do trust run-game guru Chip Kelly to scheme around that... I don’t think it can be fixed without a personnel overhaul, but I do think that it can be mitigated to a certain degree.
So, overall, I still think that the Buckeyes have the ability to outscore every opponent on their schedule if it comes down to a track meet, even though I don’t think that it will given the OSU defense’s prowess.
Defensive Line |
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Poor Ben Finley. Numerous times throughout the game, I thought that Jack Sawyer had surely caused some internal bleeding or organ ruptures inside the Akron starting quarterback (and I’m still not convinced that he didn’t.
I don’t think that I ever really had any doubt as to whether Sawyer, J.T. Tuimoloau, Tyleik Hamilton, Ty Hamilton, and their uber-talented backups had the ability to impact games, my question was whether or not they would be deployed in a manner that would fully allow them to do so.
In Jim Knowles’ first season as OSU’s defensive coordinator, the Buckeye defense was aggressive to the point where it was routinely burned because the linebackers and secondary didn’t have the ability to cover for the d-line when it went all-in on creating pressure.
In an over-corrective second year, the aggression was dialed back almost to negative numbers, and it led to a full-throated Silver Bullet return, allowing just 11.2 points per game on the season, second in the country behind only national champion Michigan.
Throughout the offseason, Knowles and company have talked about being more aggressive this fall, but I had to see it to believe, and believe it I do. I will obviously talk about the linebackers and secondary more in-depth momentarily, but the athleticism and overall competence at both levels so obviously aids in what the Rushmen want to do that it is staggering.
Against Akron on Saturday, the Buckeyes had five sacks (four by defensive linemen); in 2023, it took OSU three games (against Indiana, Youngstown State, and Western Kentucky) to amass that total. So from a havoc standpoint, there is no doubt that I was incredibly encouraged by the d-line’s performance on Saturday.
Beyond generating pressure, they were also fairly stout in the run game. While being down big throughout the second half obviously plays a part in this, the Zips only totaled 47 yards rushing — or 72 yards sack adjusted. When you factor out the sacks, that’s still just 2.4 yards per carry.
So, for the first time in the Jim Knowles Era, I feel like we saw his philosophy and Larry Johnson’s philosophy, not only coexist but finally thrive together.
Linebackers |
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Obviously it is disappointing to not have your veteran middle linebacker, your captain, and your Block O wearer not on the field for the season opener, but Cody Simon being scratched from the game gave us an opportunity to really get a look at what the other linebackers were capable of, especially when they are thrown into situations that they might not have spent an entire offseason preparing for.
I’ll start with the positives, Sonny Styles is the real deal, and it was great to see him so smoothly make the transition from safety to LB. He had six tackles on the day and was incredibly solid in wrapping guys up much closer to the line of scrimmage than we had seen in years past. If there were any doubts about his ability to make the move to linebacker (I did not have any), they should be gone after Saturday’s performance.
While Arvell Reese did not get the start in Simon’s place, he played nearly as many snaps at Mike Linebacker as starter C.J. Hicks did. Now, we all love Hicks’ athleticism, but Resse has to be the Buckeyes’ backup MLB this season. He looked excellent in almost all aspects of the game. He was really good in run defense, really good in coverage, and generated pressure on the opportunities when he was asked to (he ended the game with one tackle for loss). He only had four tackles on the game, but, to me, he just looked exceedingly comfortable at that spot, which makes me excited for the opportunity to not overwork Cody when he comes back.
The coaches have talked about it throughout the offseason, but OSU’s goal is to play 16 (or if need be, 17) games this year, so having quality, reliable backups who can perform at a high level in non-garbage time snaps is critical to the long-term health and success of this team.
Now, the one noticeable downside from the linebackers is, unfortunately, C.J. Hicks. the uber-athletic player got the start alongside Styles, but he just still doesn’t appear to be fully at home at the position. Three years into his time in Columbus, and you still see him regularly over-running plays and getting out of position, because he doesn’t have the vision or discipline to follow the play and stick to his keys.
On the bright side, Pro Football Focus (multiple grains of salt with their college grades at all times) graded C.J. as the best Buckeye defender in terms of generating pressure on Saturday (he picked up one of Ohio State’s sacks), but he was also as the worst graded starter overall. Like I said, I would never take PFF’s grades as gospel, but in this case, it does line up with what my eyes saw.
There is no doubt that Hicks has the ability and motor to wreak havoc against opposing offenses, but I’m just not sure he has the discipline to play a more traditional linebacker position. He is ideally suited for the mythical Jack position, but it seems clear that Knowles and Johnson will never agree to deploy this option. So now, square-peg Hicks is being forced to fit inside the round-hole LB position.
My hope is that they figure out the best way to take advantage of C.J.’s talents this season because having a missile like him in your arsenal is a massive bonus, but trying to make him play a position that he is clearly not suited for could have fairly negative impacts against the better teams on the schedule.
Defensive Backs |
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Here’s the thing, I already expected the Ohio State secondary to be unbelievably good this season, so in terms of reassessment, it’s tough to imagine that I think any higher of the unit than I did coming in. But, after the performance we saw on Saturday, I felt like I had to bump them up at least a little bit, right?
Akron accounted for only 130 passing yards on the day, despite throwing it 29 times. Both Denzel Burke and Lathan Ransom got takeaways (Burke’s was, in fact, an interception, despite Gary Danielson’s general confusion), the unit had 3.5 tackles for loss, and, overall, they just looked locked in.
Going back to PFF’s grades, Ransom, Burke, and Jordan Hancock led the team in coverage grades with all of them coming in above 74. The other two starters, Caleb Downs and Davison Igbinosun were right around a solid 65, but I’m not worried about them in the least.
This unit is fun, it’s fast, and it is going to be a major difference-maker for the Buckeyes this season. as referenced before, the strength of this secondary allows Knowles to be more aggressive up front, because he knows that the coverage is going to be rock solid. That means that a) the quarterback is going to have to hold onto the ball longer, giving the rushers more time to get into the backfield, and b) if the QB does get off a pass, you don’t have to be worried that it is an automatic big play.
Ohio State has had some unbelievably talented secondaries in its history, but I think with this conglomeration of talent, the 2024 #BIA Class has the potential to etch its names amongst the best.
The Ohio State defense was great last year, and then they returned nearly every major contributor, and added the best defensive player in the transfer portal, so expectations were already sky-high on this side of the ball for the Buckeyes. Yet, seeing the coaches roll out a game plan and philosophy that seemed to maximize what these individual players are capable of is incredibly exciting.
I’m on record saying that Ohio State is going to give up less than 10 points per game this season, and I saw nothing on Saturday to dissuade me from that insanity.
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Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Is it possible to think more highly of a team that you already predicted would go undefeated and win the national title?
Things started off a little wonky for the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in their season-opening game against Akron on Saturday, but in the second half, Ryan Day’s squad settled into the new season and eventually ran away from the Zips 52-6. After working out the first-game kinks, the Buckeyes mostly looked like the dominant team that they were always expected to be.
Sure, OSU’s performance was not without its faults, but I left Saturday’s game feeling even better about the team than I did coming in, and I predicted them to go undefeated and win the national championship.
While I recognize that not everybody in the fanbase came to the same conclusions as I did following the Week 1 win, I don’t think that my feelings are solely based on my permanently affixed scarlet and gray-colored glasses. So, with one whole game of data and film to break down, I am going to run through all of the offensive and defensive position groups and see how I feel about them now, compared to where I was before the season got underway.
THE OFFENSE
Quarterback | 
I came into Week 1 expecting that Will Howard would be a solid upgrade over what we saw from Kyle McCord last season (and congrats to Kyle on a great game against Ohio on Saturday), but that the former K-State signal-caller would be more on the game-manager side of the quarterback equation than a play-maker.
After watching him against the Zips, I think I might have underestimated him. Now, Howard certainly isn’t going to throw the deep ball like Dwayne Haskins, display the athleticism of Justin Fields, or execute with the precision of C.J. Stroud, but he showed on Saturday that there was more hitch in his giddy-up than I gave him credit for.
The new Buckeye QB finished the day 17-of-28 for 228 yards and three touchdowns, which aren’t eye-popping numbers, but what impressed me the most was his ability to make the right decisions in the moment. He obviously had that regrettable moment at the end of the second quarter that almost resulted in a backward lateral turnover, and I think that early in the game he threw a few balls as scripted without really assessing where defenders were. However, as he settled into the game, Howard seemed to get comfortable in the offense, and with that came a calmness and control.
He still under-threw a few balls — his 45-yarder to Jeremiah Smith was a walk-in touchdown if he had led the freshman receiver by a couple of yards — but he always seemed to find the right receiver, make the right decision, and keep plays alive with his feet.
It was not a perfect day for Howard, but he showed me more than enough to get me excited about what he could do this season.
Running Backs | 
My expectation for the Ohio State running backs this season was that they would be the focal point of the offense. The dynamic one-two punch of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins (with a little dash of James Peoples thrown in) would be the calling card of Chip Kelly’s first season as the Buckeye play-caller. I thought that we would get something like a 60-40 split between the run and the pass, with the possibility for that to creep up toward 65-35 if OSU started blowing out teams early.
However, that is not what happened on Saturday. Ohio State ran a total of 64 plays, 33 were runs and 31 were passes. In the first half, when things were frustratingly still close, the play calls actually favored the pass 21 to 18.
Of course, there are a lot of factors that play into this, not the least of which is the offensive line (more on them in a bit). While neither Henderson nor Judkins had exceptional days, there is no denying that Trey had a better day both statistically and via the eye test. He averaged 8.1 yards per carry on eight attempts, which was nearly double what Judkins did on his 13 carries — he finished with 55 yards for a 4.2 ypc average, but he did have the lone rushing touchdown of the game.
In the LGHL preseason predictions article, I did go on the record to pick Henderson as Ohio State’s only Heisman Trophy finalist, and while I’m certainly not going to abandon that ship after one game, Will Howard’s performance has me thinking just a teeny, tiny bit about beginning to ponder what it would look like if I considered mentally approaching the topic of potentially adding him to that prediction. And then there is the reliability of the offensive line that could prove to thwart any of my running game expectations for the season (but again, more on them in a bit).
Wide Receivers |
I don’t know exactly what my expectations were for Jeremiah Smith coming into the game, and whatever they were, I am sure that they were unfair to him. He entered college with the eyes of the college football world on him; he was the No. 1 player in the 2024 recruiting class, he was the subject of rumors throughout his recruitment even though he was always steadfast in his pledge to OSU, and he was already being compared to some of the all-time greats before he even stepped on the field.
Despite all of that attention and all of those expectations, Smith delivered. While he dropped his first target (an inside screen that very well might have gone for a touchdown) and had a penalty shortly thereafter, the freshman was as advertised in his first game in scarlet and gray.
Smith had six receptions for 92 yards and two touchdowns. In doing so, he became the first OSU freshman receiver to have two TDs in his first game since David Boston in 1996. Now, I am not going to now throw David Boston comparison expectations onto the Marvin Harrison Jr. ones that J.J. is already dealing with, but I do think that I might not have given the rookie enough credit for being able to come in and have a major impact right away. So, if it’s even possible, I guess my expectations for what Jeremiah Smith could do went up even higher than they already were.
The other two starting wide receivers — Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate — had solid if not spectacular days. The pair combined for 109 yards on eight carries and Tate had a TD. I expected all three of these guys to be very good this year, so there’s no reason to move off of that. If anything, I think that Will Howard’s performance, the play-call distribution, and the o-line’s pass blocking might make me slightly up my thoughts on the wide receivers as a whole.
Tight Ends |
To be honest with you, I had no real expectations for this group coming into the season, so there’s not much for me to reassess. While Chip Kelly did a lot with his tight ends at UCLA, that was out of necessity as it was difficult to get elite skill position players to come to Westwood. He obviously would not have that same problem in Columbus.
Despite the transfer of Will Kacmarek, the TE room seemed to me like a bunch of guys who were good at one aspect of playing the position, but weren’t well-rounded enough to be reliable across the board, and I think that bore out on Saturday. No tight end was even targeted in the game, and there were times when the presumed No. 2 tight end Gee Scott Jr. — who started his career as a receiver — seemed ill-equipped to block downfield.
I am sure that the unit will become more a part of the offense as the season progresses, but until Jelani Thurman can become a reliable blocker, I think it will be difficult to have any legitimate expectations for the Buckeye tight ends.
Offensive Line | 
Look, we all knew that this was going to be the weakest area on the team this season. Despite the fact that guys on the beat were pumping up the optimism coming out of preseason camp, it is tough to look at the group — which is largely the same as last year — and expect them to be markedly different. Sure, progress should be expected, but they weren’t going to go from a liability to a strength just like that.
It is a little unfair to judge the unit on Saturday’s performance as Donovan Jackson — the team’s starting left guard — didn’t play, but his replacement Austin Siereveld was arguably the best lineman in the game for the Buckeyes. However, on the whole, the unit is still seemingly incapable of run-blocking.
Despite Akron being expected to be one of the worst teams in FBS, they are coming off of a season in which they finished 32nd in total yards allowed, but that’s no excuse for an Ohio State offensive line continually struggling to open up holes for the best running back duo in the country to run through. I have tried to pump the breaks on the calls to fire Justin Frye because I know that offensive line is the most difficult position on a team to turn around. It takes even elite players three years to be truly ready to play at the elite level that Ohio State requires of its linemen, so a little bit of extra grace is warranted.
However, the unit’s ongoing inability to run block against even the most overmatched of opponents is reaching a critical level — and then when you throw in Frye’s struggles on the recruiting trail, it becomes doubly daunting to see when a turnaround will be possible for the group.
In fairness to them, I did think that they were near-perfect in pass-pro. Ohio State not only did not give up a sack, they did not give up a tackle for loss, which the offensive line certainly deserves credit for. But what is perhaps even more impressive is that Akron didn’t tally a single quarterback hurry on the game; this might also contribute to tide change in terms of play-calling.
I will say that in his first start for the Buckeyes, I thought that center Seth McLaughlin (late of Alabama) was pretty good. Not only do I think he did a good job in both run and pass blocking, but I don’t recall any significant snapping issues, which is something that haunted him for two years in Tuscaloosa.
Tegra Tshabola was pretty good in his first start in the scarlet and gray, but there is plenty of room for improvement — especially in run blocking. However, the biggest hole on the o-line against Akron appeared to be Josh Fryar at right tackle. Now, I am by no means an offensive line expert, but last year, I think Fryar was the most consistent guy on the line, even if Josh Simmons grew into being the most dynamic by year’s end. So, I don’t know that I would downgrade my expectations on Fryar, or the line as a whole, based on this one game, but considering that they weren’t that high to begin with, that’s probably not saying much.
Overall Offensive Assessment |
Look, it’s one game against a team that was obviously overmatched; it’s a season-opener in which a number of key players and coaches were working together for the first time, so I don’t think that there is any reason to dramatically change your expectations about what this Ohio State offense can be this season.
However, on the whole, I do think I feel a little bit more confident in their ability to move the ball and be creative than I did before seeing them against Akron. Again, far from a perfect game, but in terms of results, it’s tough to argue with. The Buckeyes put up 407 yards of total offense, which doesn’t look like a lot, but when you factor in two defensive touchdowns that took drives away from the offense, it’s respectable in a game where they really slowed things down in the fourth quarter.
The OSU offense didn’t turn the ball over, the quarterback looked better than I expected, and the wide receivers are as elite as advertised. Yes, there is concern from the offensive line, which bleeds into the running game, but I do trust run-game guru Chip Kelly to scheme around that... I don’t think it can be fixed without a personnel overhaul, but I do think that it can be mitigated to a certain degree.
So, overall, I still think that the Buckeyes have the ability to outscore every opponent on their schedule if it comes down to a track meet, even though I don’t think that it will given the OSU defense’s prowess.
THE DEFENSE
Defensive Line |
Poor Ben Finley. Numerous times throughout the game, I thought that Jack Sawyer had surely caused some internal bleeding or organ ruptures inside the Akron starting quarterback (and I’m still not convinced that he didn’t.
I don’t think that I ever really had any doubt as to whether Sawyer, J.T. Tuimoloau, Tyleik Hamilton, Ty Hamilton, and their uber-talented backups had the ability to impact games, my question was whether or not they would be deployed in a manner that would fully allow them to do so.
In Jim Knowles’ first season as OSU’s defensive coordinator, the Buckeye defense was aggressive to the point where it was routinely burned because the linebackers and secondary didn’t have the ability to cover for the d-line when it went all-in on creating pressure.
In an over-corrective second year, the aggression was dialed back almost to negative numbers, and it led to a full-throated Silver Bullet return, allowing just 11.2 points per game on the season, second in the country behind only national champion Michigan.
Throughout the offseason, Knowles and company have talked about being more aggressive this fall, but I had to see it to believe, and believe it I do. I will obviously talk about the linebackers and secondary more in-depth momentarily, but the athleticism and overall competence at both levels so obviously aids in what the Rushmen want to do that it is staggering.
Against Akron on Saturday, the Buckeyes had five sacks (four by defensive linemen); in 2023, it took OSU three games (against Indiana, Youngstown State, and Western Kentucky) to amass that total. So from a havoc standpoint, there is no doubt that I was incredibly encouraged by the d-line’s performance on Saturday.
Beyond generating pressure, they were also fairly stout in the run game. While being down big throughout the second half obviously plays a part in this, the Zips only totaled 47 yards rushing — or 72 yards sack adjusted. When you factor out the sacks, that’s still just 2.4 yards per carry.
So, for the first time in the Jim Knowles Era, I feel like we saw his philosophy and Larry Johnson’s philosophy, not only coexist but finally thrive together.
Linebackers |
Obviously it is disappointing to not have your veteran middle linebacker, your captain, and your Block O wearer not on the field for the season opener, but Cody Simon being scratched from the game gave us an opportunity to really get a look at what the other linebackers were capable of, especially when they are thrown into situations that they might not have spent an entire offseason preparing for.
I’ll start with the positives, Sonny Styles is the real deal, and it was great to see him so smoothly make the transition from safety to LB. He had six tackles on the day and was incredibly solid in wrapping guys up much closer to the line of scrimmage than we had seen in years past. If there were any doubts about his ability to make the move to linebacker (I did not have any), they should be gone after Saturday’s performance.
While Arvell Reese did not get the start in Simon’s place, he played nearly as many snaps at Mike Linebacker as starter C.J. Hicks did. Now, we all love Hicks’ athleticism, but Resse has to be the Buckeyes’ backup MLB this season. He looked excellent in almost all aspects of the game. He was really good in run defense, really good in coverage, and generated pressure on the opportunities when he was asked to (he ended the game with one tackle for loss). He only had four tackles on the game, but, to me, he just looked exceedingly comfortable at that spot, which makes me excited for the opportunity to not overwork Cody when he comes back.
The coaches have talked about it throughout the offseason, but OSU’s goal is to play 16 (or if need be, 17) games this year, so having quality, reliable backups who can perform at a high level in non-garbage time snaps is critical to the long-term health and success of this team.
Now, the one noticeable downside from the linebackers is, unfortunately, C.J. Hicks. the uber-athletic player got the start alongside Styles, but he just still doesn’t appear to be fully at home at the position. Three years into his time in Columbus, and you still see him regularly over-running plays and getting out of position, because he doesn’t have the vision or discipline to follow the play and stick to his keys.
On the bright side, Pro Football Focus (multiple grains of salt with their college grades at all times) graded C.J. as the best Buckeye defender in terms of generating pressure on Saturday (he picked up one of Ohio State’s sacks), but he was also as the worst graded starter overall. Like I said, I would never take PFF’s grades as gospel, but in this case, it does line up with what my eyes saw.
There is no doubt that Hicks has the ability and motor to wreak havoc against opposing offenses, but I’m just not sure he has the discipline to play a more traditional linebacker position. He is ideally suited for the mythical Jack position, but it seems clear that Knowles and Johnson will never agree to deploy this option. So now, square-peg Hicks is being forced to fit inside the round-hole LB position.
My hope is that they figure out the best way to take advantage of C.J.’s talents this season because having a missile like him in your arsenal is a massive bonus, but trying to make him play a position that he is clearly not suited for could have fairly negative impacts against the better teams on the schedule.
Defensive Backs |
Here’s the thing, I already expected the Ohio State secondary to be unbelievably good this season, so in terms of reassessment, it’s tough to imagine that I think any higher of the unit than I did coming in. But, after the performance we saw on Saturday, I felt like I had to bump them up at least a little bit, right?
Akron accounted for only 130 passing yards on the day, despite throwing it 29 times. Both Denzel Burke and Lathan Ransom got takeaways (Burke’s was, in fact, an interception, despite Gary Danielson’s general confusion), the unit had 3.5 tackles for loss, and, overall, they just looked locked in.
Going back to PFF’s grades, Ransom, Burke, and Jordan Hancock led the team in coverage grades with all of them coming in above 74. The other two starters, Caleb Downs and Davison Igbinosun were right around a solid 65, but I’m not worried about them in the least.
This unit is fun, it’s fast, and it is going to be a major difference-maker for the Buckeyes this season. as referenced before, the strength of this secondary allows Knowles to be more aggressive up front, because he knows that the coverage is going to be rock solid. That means that a) the quarterback is going to have to hold onto the ball longer, giving the rushers more time to get into the backfield, and b) if the QB does get off a pass, you don’t have to be worried that it is an automatic big play.
Ohio State has had some unbelievably talented secondaries in its history, but I think with this conglomeration of talent, the 2024 #BIA Class has the potential to etch its names amongst the best.
Overall Offensive Assessment |
The Ohio State defense was great last year, and then they returned nearly every major contributor, and added the best defensive player in the transfer portal, so expectations were already sky-high on this side of the ball for the Buckeyes. Yet, seeing the coaches roll out a game plan and philosophy that seemed to maximize what these individual players are capable of is incredibly exciting.
I’m on record saying that Ohio State is going to give up less than 10 points per game this season, and I saw nothing on Saturday to dissuade me from that insanity.
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