Ohio State Football: Realistic Expectations for Buckeyes New OC Tom Herman

We heard all sorts of talk from Rich Rodriguez about his bringing the spread to the Big Ten in an effort to transform the league, and we saw how that worked out—Rodriguez was fired and is taking his talents to Tucson.

Now with Urban Meyer as the "new kid" on the block in the B1G, the topic of the spread has come up yet again. This time, thanks to Meyer's two titles at Florida and the undefeated 2004 season at Utah, people are listening and expecting results.

Enter new offensive coordinator Tom Herman, the man that Meyer has tasked with running the offensive show in Columbus. While the defense will be manned by two known and well-respected commodities, Luke Fickell and Everett Withers, the offense gets a face lift under Herman.

What should folks expect? In this quick interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Herman hits on a few points about the scheme he'll be bringing to Columbus. The Buckeyes will be looking at a multi-set, run-oriented, shotgun-based uptempo offense.

Save for the run-oriented approach, that is not exactly what Ohio State was known for under the previous regime.

The issue here is figuring out how effective the meshing of Urban Meyer's power spread offense and Herman's self titled "underdog offense" will be when the Buckeyes hit the field both in the spring and ultimately in the fall for the 2012 season.

For Herman, this is the most top-to-bottom talent that he has worked with in his career, and for an offense like his that's a positive. The coach goes from attempting to gain advantage through scheme alone and now infuses a system predicated on schematic success with top-notch talent.

Herman has elite players at his disposal, and that starts with Braxton Miller. Miller is going to be the guy who makes this Buckeyes offense go, and the speed with which he digests Herman's offense is going to be the most telling sign for the future of Ohio State.

The scheme itself is not terribly complicated, but there are terminology issues and a host of different decisions Miller will be asked to make with the football.

Miller, as a player, is absolutely capable as he showed just a year ago playing and succeeding in the Big Ten as a true freshman. The growth from his Michigan State action to the Michigan game was absolutely outstanding and what you want to see out of a freshman getting experience.

On the offensive line, the Buckeyes should find transition to be somewhat easy. Not because they will shade blocking or screen off defenders, but because at the root of the scheme Urban still likes to employ power from the line. That means guys firing off the ball and putting a body on a defender.

The scheme is not identical, but it also is far from the massive philosophy change that Michigan's front had to undergo to fit the Rodriguez scheme.

Boom Herron is gone but Carlos Hyde, Jordan Hall and Rod Smith will get plenty of touches and, unlike the jitterbugs Meyer was using at Florida, these guys are all comfortable toting the ball inside and outside.

With the offensive line getting a push, the multiple run threats in the backfield and the talented Braxton Miller, Ohio State should be able to manufacture yards on the ground quite well.

In looking at the passing game, we see our first big question mark. Miller came quite a ways as a freshman tossing the pill around, and with Jake Stoneburner and Devin Smith back for 2012, I expect Miller to continue his growth.

However, that's not exactly saying much, as last year the Buckeyes passing game was woeful; Stoneburner and Smith tied for the lead in receptions with 14 apiece. 

So while improvement throwing the ball is to be expected from Miller, how much better the sophomore gets will be a true sign of how solid this offense can be. Running the ball will be expected if the Buckeyes do not have the added dimension of the pass to keep defenses honest.

Pushing the tempo and running the ball from under center and out of the shotgun is going to give defenses problems, but watching the development of the passing game this spring will tell us a lot more about what the ceiling for Tom Herman's offense can be entering 2012.