Ohio State Football: 5 Ways the Buckeyes Must Improve in 2015

Ohio State is unbeaten and currently stands atop the national rankings, but its title defense hasn't started as seamlessly as most envisioned before the season kicked off.

After kicking off the 2015 campaign with an impressive 42-24 victory on the road against Virginia Tech, the Buckeyes have looked sluggish and sloppy in four consecutive victories over highly outmatched foes. And because of that, their once-firm grasp on the country's No. 1 ranking is starting to loosen as teams such as Baylor, TCU and Utah surge. 

If Urban Meyer expects his team to win the Big Ten and make another run at the College Football Playoff, he'll need to see marked improvement in these areas. 

Improve the Passing Attack 

The biggest storyline of the offseason surrounded Ohio State's intriguing quarterback quandary between Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett, the two talented signal-callers who fueled the Buckeyes' run to (and through) the first College Football Playoff. Both bring a championship pedigree to the position and are so talented that it didn't feel it was possible to go wrong either way. 

But through five games, neither Jones nor Barrett looks like the quarterback we saw in 2014. Jones, who's getting the nod to start, is struggling with his accuracy and progressions. Barrett looks like a shell of the player who set the Big Ten record for total touchdowns in a season last year, completing just 55.3 percent of his passes for 193 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

The receiving corps, which has lost two players in Noah Brown and Corey Brown to season-ending injuries, is struggling to replace deep threat Devin Smith and perimeter-blocker Evan Spencer.

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

"Timing and execution of the quarterback, wideouts, that hasn’t been our strength," Meyer said, according to Tim Shoemaker of Eleven Warriors. "Last year one of the top teams in the country with it."

With elite defenses such as Penn State, Michigan State and Michigan looming, the Buckeyes have to find a rhythm in their passing attack.  

Limit the Turnovers

Committing too many careless turnovers is the easiest way to keep an overmatched opponent in the game, and that is something Ohio State has done with regularity this season.

The Buckeyes have only won the turnover battle once this season—when they turned Hawaii over four times in a 38-0 win. In the last three games against Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Indiana, the Buckeyes have turned the ball over 10 times while only generating three takeaways defensively. 

“The turnovers have to change right now,” Meyer said, according to Patrick Murphy of the Ozone. “I mean right now.”

Against better teams, that ratio will put a strike in the loss column for the Buckeyes.

Jones seems to be trending in the right direction, throwing two interceptions in his last 60 pass attempts after throwing three in his first 46 to open the season. But the Ohio State ball-carriers need to tighten things up—namely Jalin Marshall, who fumbled twice last Saturday against Indiana. 

Improve in the Red Zone

The Buckeyes have struggled mightily in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on just six of their 16 trips inside the opponent's 20-yard line, which ranks 121st in the country. That inefficiency has turned an offense that's racking up yards into one that isn't converting that production into points on the scoreboard. 

Ohio State has been so bad that Meyer has considered using Barrett as a situational red-zone quarterback, according to Bill Landis of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.

"We've thought about it," Meyer admitted, via Landis. "We've had that conversation. At this time we haven't made any decisions on that right now."

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

Barrett's mobility and decision-making in the run-option game could lead to a higher conversion rate in the red zone, but it's unclear how that decision would disrupt the flow of the offense and, more importantly, affect Jones' confidence. 

Whether the Buckeyes choose to insert Barrett into the game in scoring situations or alter the play-calling, something needs to change, because the current inefficiency will cost them dearly at some point in the season. 

Improve on 3rd Down

Down the stretch of its championship run in 2014, Ohio State was winning on third down at an incredible rate. 

In the playoff against Alabama and Oregon, the defense was nearly flawless, coming up with stops on 21 of 25 third-down situations. The offense was superb as well, converting on 54.5 of its third downs.

But the Buckeyes haven't been as good on the money down this year. Defensively, they're getting off the field on 33.3 percent of their third downs, which is tied for 46th nationally. But it's the offense that's really bogged down, converting on just 34.8 percent of them, which ranks 103rd. 

The offense was particularly bad against the Hoosiers, who got the Buckeyes off the field on 12 of 14 third downs last Saturday. 

"Not taking anything away from their defense, because they did play really well, but penalties, missed communications, missed blocks, things like that," offensive tackle Taylor Decker said when diagnosing what went wrong against Indiana, according to Ralph Russo of the Associated Press. "It's killing us." 

Feed Zeke 

Ezekiel Elliott is one of the most lethal running backs in college football. That notion was reinforced on his first carry of the season when he took a handoff, broke a tackle and raced 80 yards for a touchdown against Virginia Tech.

After getting just 11 carries against the Hokies, the coaching staff made a concerted effort to feature Elliott, and he averaged 22 carries against Hawaii, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. But the offensive line and second-level blocking were subpar in those games, and although he averaged a hair over five yards per carry, he only had one rush that went for more than 20 yards.

The coaching staff continued to get him the ball, though, and that paid off in a big way against Indiana. After a relatively quiet first half when he rushed for 31 yards on 10 carries, Elliott ran wild against the Hoosiers, ripping off touchdown runs of 55, 65 and 75 yards on his way to a career-high 274 rushing yards. 

Despite the struggles at the quarterback position, the Buckeyes know what they have in Elliott, and they need to consistently get him the ball even when the running game isn't producing. Because as he showed against Indiana, he's only one broken tackle away from breaking a close game wide open. 

David Regimbal is the Ohio State football Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @davidreg412.