Buckeyes Head into Bye Week Looking to Fix Issues to Make a Run at Big Ten Title

With confidence rising, the last thing the Buckeyes need is a week off.  Getting more reps is the only way to gain meaningful experience.  Since Ohio State can’t change its schedule, it needs to make the most of its bye week.

Here are four ways they can improve over the next ten days:

Starting Fast

The Buckeyes started slowly against Navy and Virginia Tech, scoring just a total of 10 points in the first half of both of these games.  The Buckeyes were much more efficient against Kent State last Saturday, but let’s not kid ourselves.

The Golden Flashes are a lousy team.  Racking up 66 points against a glorified practice squad is nice, but taking anything away from this game other than a win would be foolish.    

Even with the personnel losses, the offense looked completely out of sync during long stretches against the Hokies and Midshipmen.  Whether the problem was dropping passes, missing blocking assignments, poor communication, turnovers or inefficiency on third down, the ineptitude has been shocking.

Head coach Urban Meyer has to find a way to get the team into a rhythm more quickly. The upcoming schedule is hardly overwhelming, but the team can ill afford to continue starting in a hole if it wants to win the Big Ten.

Pick a Starting Running Back

After three games last year, the offense had 856 yards rushing.  This year it has 708 yards.  Having two good backs is definitely a luxury, but finding a clear-cut starter would help the offense become more consistent.  

Ezekiel Elliott is the quasi-starter, but he and Curtis Samuel are fairly even right now.  Elliott has rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns and Samuel has rushed for 176 yards with two touchdowns.  It is time to get one of them the bulk of the carries. 

Maybe Elliott’s wrist injury is still affecting him, but Samuel seems to have the edge. The offense has more energy when Samuel is in the game.  He is averaging 6.66 yards per carry which means a lot to a team struggling with third-down conversions. He can help move the chains. 

The effectiveness of Meyer’s offense is largely dependent on the quarterback(s) and running backs being in sync. Rotating Samuel and Elliott might keep both of them fresh, but it seems more important to get quarterback J.T Barrett and the offensive line comfortable working with a single running back.

Special Teams

If the offense looked bad against Virginia Tech, the special teams were even worse.  Among the miscues were two missed field goals, a 24-yard punt, several penalties and a kickoff that drifted out of bounds.  It was an abysmal night for this unit.

On the season, Cameron Johnston is averaging 41.6 yards per punt, so it is easy to forgive the botched kick against the Hokies.  It is concerning, however, that the unit is allowing 10.67 yards per return, up from the 8.1 yards per return from last season.

With his speed, Dontre Wilson should be the Buckeyes difference-maker, especially in open space.  So far, the results have been mixed.  He has been decent on kickoff returns, averaging 22.6 yards per return, but just ordinary on punt returns, averaging 9.2 yards per return.  Big returns are momentum builders and the offense needs all the help it can get right now.  It is time for him to step up.   

Freshman Jalin Marshall returned two punts for 66 yards against Kent State. Meyer is looking for ways to get the ball in the hands of his young, skilled players. It would be smart to give Marshall the job full-time and let Wilson focus on returning kickoffs.

The missed field goals against Virginia Tech were painful, but freshman Sean Nuernberger needs more time to develop into a consistent kicker.  Meyer is not known for settling for field goals, but he may have to stomach some growing pains to get the kid some experience.  There will be moments later in the season when Meyer will need Nuernberger to deliver. 

Meyer has his handprints all over special teams.  Expect him to get the problems fixed over the next couple of weeks.

Solidifying the Offensive Line

Confidence for Ohio State was low after being annihilated by Virginia Tech, so it was nice to see an improved performance by the Buckeyes offensive line against Kent State.  Progress is likely to be slow throughout the season. Fortunately, there is time to build this unit into a cohesive group before seeing a Virginia Tech-like defense again.

Meyer was on the money when he told Doug Lesmerises of Northeast Ohio Media Group recently that he is not worried about facing bear zero every week. “I don’t know if people have the personnel,” he said.  “I know one of them does.”

The line has eight weeks to unify and raise its level of play to win at Michigan State.  There will be significant challenges along the way, but the Spartans are the only team that can execute that type of pressure. 

Now that his starting five are in place, it is time for offensive line coach Ed Warinner to work his magic.  Over the next two weeks, expect him to challenge the guys to correct the mistakes from the first few games.  He can’t fix all the holes overnight, but even a slight improvement should be enough to get a win over Cincinnati on Sept 27. 

Analysis

There is hope that the offense turned a small corner against Kent State.  If it did, this team will start to make tremendous strides in the coming weeks.  Coupled with a vastly improved defense, the Buckeyes have a legitimate shot at running the table.  That will make Buckeye Nation happy once again.