Building in Progress: Ohio State's Offense Better But Seasoning Needed

At the start of the season, few people had any idea what to expect out of the Ohio State offense with few established playmakers. Five games in, the mystery seems to be clearing up.

The Buckeyes seem to thrive most on offense when they have the perfect balance between running and throwing.

Ohio State has plenty of talented receivers in Dane Sanzenbacher and DeVier Posey, both of whom have shown great versatility in the short game and deep passing attack.

And RB Brandon Saine has also started to show some flashes of brilliance, with great running out of the backfield as well as being a capable receiver.

However, most of the focus offensively is still around sophomore QB Terrelle Pryor and how much more confident he is as a passer.

Much was made of his improved passing and decision-making, which we have seen flashes of at times. At other times, he falls into his old habits of poor mechanics and a poor job of reading defenses.

What is more head-scratching to Buckeye fans is that he shows so much promise and yet, has not demonstrated the consistency that most were hoping for.

But after a sluggish effort against USC where the offense was awful for all but one quarter, the talents of the offense are slowly starting to emerge.

Part of the change was an obvious need to alter coaching philosophies, not necessarily the scheme. In other words, there are hardly anymore I-formation dives on predictable running plays.

The offense has seemed to find a groove in the passing game and letting Pryor establish a rhythm and running to soften up defenses.

The end result: a rushing offense ranked 38th and averaging just under 30 points per game. Those aren't very impressive numbers, but compared to a year ago, they are much different.

After just five games, Ohio State has half as many pass yards as they did all last season, while rushing for just a few yards less per game than a year ago.

In hindsight, however, the Buckeyes have not truly played against opponents with great defenses outside of the Trojans.

But all things considered, OSU has broken 30 points already in four of their first five games. Last year, the Buckeyes hit the plateau only six times, and that was with Beanie Wells at RB.

The offense seems to be getting better with each series, and the staff is improving in getting the ball to their large amount of playmakers.

As Pryor improves, so does the offense and so does the confidence of the unit and coaches as a whole.

Unfortunately, each passing week makes it seem less likely that Pryor will become a great passer. But if he can run, there will be little need for him to be the type of passer that Troy Smith eventually became.

One guy that Jim Tressel wants to see in the offense is freshman RB Jaamal Berry, who is close to be fully recovered from a hamstring injury sustained towards the end of fall camp.

The injury has given fellow freshman RB Jordan Hall, Pryor's old high school teammate, an opportunity to play. And Hall has done fairly well in limited duty, showing vision and burst through the hall.

Rumors out of Columbus are that Berry could play as soon as this Saturday against Wisconsin. No doubt, Tressel would love to see his most highly-regarded recruit offensively on the field at some point in the near future.

As this month of football continues, look for the offense to improve even more as these young players continue to be seasoned.

Most Buckeye fans are hoping that the offense becomes a machine heading towards their big showdown in Happy Valley, leading the big three-game stretch with matchups against Iowa and at Michigan right afterwards.

If the offense puts up bigger numbers, with the lockdown defense that the Buckeyes have, it's hard to imagine too many teams in the Big Ten staying with this version of the team. But the offense is still very much a work-in-progress, as it should be with these youngsters.