Ezekiel Elliott's Emergence Fueling Ohio State's Offensive Explosion

While quarterback J.T. Barrett has Ohio State flying high, it's the play of running back Ezekiel Elliott that's fueling the offense's recent surge. 

The 13th-ranked Buckeyes (4-1) have posted a trio of consecutive blowouts over Kent State, Cincinnati and Maryland. During that stretch, Ohio State has averaged 56 points and 623.7 total yards per game. 

Barrett is garnering worthy attention for his fantastic play—the redshirt freshman has been named to the Maxwell Award watch list, according to Ohio State's team spokesperson—but Elliott has taken his game to a higher level. 

Because of that, the Buckeyes have bounced back from their upset loss to Virginia Tech and are climbing up the national rankings.

Here's a closer look at Ohio State's breakout sophomore ball-carrier. 

Finding a Groove

Credit: David Regimbal

After losing Carlos Hyde and his record-setting production to the NFL, Meyer and the Buckeyes were tasked with filling an enormous hole in the backfield.

Elliott put himself in position to fill that hole with a solid freshman campaign, and he capitalized during spring practice, emerging as the team's top back. 

Despite having surgery to repair a broken wrist in early August, he returned to the field in two short weeks and locked down the starting spot late in fall camp.

Once the season kicked off, though, it took Elliott a few weeks to find a groove. He struggled against Navy and Virginia Tech—Ohio State's first two opponents—averaging just 3.8 yards per carry. 

It didn't help matters that the Buckeyes' offensive line, working to replace four multi-year senior starters from a season ago, got off to an equally slow start. But backup running back (and true freshman) Curtis Samuel averaged 5.9 yards per carry during that same span—behind the same shaky offensive line—which highlighted Elliott's struggles.

After a Week 3 bye, the Buckeyes hosted a severely overmatched Kent State team, providing Elliott with an opportunity to gain some confidence. He did just that, piling up 117 total yards (65 rushing, 52 receiving) on just 11 touches. The only thing Meyer would have changed about the performance was giving Elliott more opportunities. 

"I have mixed emotions," Meyer said, according to Ari Wasserman of The Plain Dealer. "Zeke is our starting tailback, but he only had seven carries." 

When Samuel suffered a leg injury against Cincinnati, Elliott saw his workload increase, and he rewarded Meyer with an explosion of production.

Over the Buckeyes' last two games (Cincinnati and Maryland), the sophomore averaged 160.5 rushing yards and 26 carries per game. He also added six catches for 61 yards.

Balancing the Offense

Elliott's emergence has been huge for Ohio State because it gives Meyer the balance he's looking for in his offense.

After the Maryland game, when the Buckeyes ran for 269 yards and threw for 264, Meyer talked about the importance of a diversified attack.

"Yeah, it’s a very balanced offense,” Meyer said, according to Eric Seger of The Ozone. “I’m very involved in the play calling, myself and Tom (Herman). There’s a lot of opportunities to make plays because we’re confident. We weren’t that way in the first game.”

Pairing Elliott's improvement on the ground with Barrett and a dynamic passing attack has made Ohio State's offense very dangerous.

All stats via Ohio State's official website. 

David Regimbal covers Ohio State football for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @davidreg412.