SNAP COUNTS: OHIO STATE SHORTENS ROTATION, 57 BUCKEYES PLAY IN FOUR-QUARTER BATTLE WITH PENN STATE
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer acknowledged during his weekly radio show on 97.1 The Fan last Thursday that the Buckeyes would likely shorten their rotation against Penn State on Saturday.
"The bigger the game, you’re going to have your A-pluses in there as much as you can," Meyer said. "When it’s time to go win the game, you want your best guys out there."
As Saturday’s game truly went down to the wire, with the Buckeyes needing a fourth-quarter comeback to earn a 39-38 win over the Nittany Lions, Ohio State did in fact decrease its playing contingent from most of its previous games this season. As it took the Buckeyes nearly the entire game to take their first lead and take control of the game, Ohio State’s starters and other top-of-the-rotation players took the vast majority of snaps in Saturday’s game. Only 18 players saw the field on offense while only 19 players took snaps on defense.
While at least 66 Ohio State players took snaps in each of the Buckeyes’ previous five games, only 57 total players saw the field for the Buckeyes against Penn State, with 20 of those players seeing taking the field on special teams only. While some players who had been in the offensive or defensive rotations were relegated to special teams duty on Saturday, there were numerous other players who had seen playing time in each of the Buckeyes’ last five games that did not see the field in any capacity against the Nittany Lions.
On the other end of the equation, though, many of Ohio State’s first-team players were in the lineup for the entirety of a game for the first time since the Buckeyes’ second game of the season against Oklahoma. And Saturday's game showed which players Meyer and the rest of Ohio State’s coaching staff believe belong or are at least ready to be on the field when a big game is on the line.
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RUNNING BACKS
Mike Weber: 48
J.K. Dobbins: 39
Antonio Williams: Special teams only
Although Dobbins started his eighth consecutive game to start his Ohio State career, it was Weber – who played his season-high snap count to date – who was on the field for the Buckeyes when Saturday’s game was in crunch time.
After seeing no playing time in the second quarter, Dobbins returned to play most of the third quarter but was out of the lineup on each of Ohio State’s three fourth-quarter touchdown drives, even though Dobbins averaged more than twice as many yards per carry as Weber – who might have gotten the nod because of his increased experience in pass protection – in Saturday’s game.
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