I don’t know the intricacies of Kelly’s career enough to know if Saturday was the worst called game he’s
ever had, but I know that if he was hoping to get a call from the
NFL this offseason, those chances just took a hit. He was completely outclassed by Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.
Everybody knew that the only way Ohio State could lose that game is by letting the
Michigan defensive front dominate. Guess what it did?
Last week, on
The Athletic’s “Until Saturday” podcast, my colleague David Ubben asked me if I thought Ohio State would stretch the field instead of trying to run into a brick wall over and over again. I told him the Buckeyes would run into the brick wall over and over again. That’s because that’s what Kelly has done this year.
The problem is, he hadn’t faced a defensive line as good as Michigan’s all year. Throughout the season, he was able to mix things up with counters, sweeps, stretches and RPOs to move the defensive line. He did that a few times on Saturday and the runs popped for big yardage, like Quinshon Judkins’ 15-yard run on fourth down, which came off a heavy look that seemed like a quarterback sneak was coming.