COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State's offense has been as dominant as any in the country through the first six games. Putting up 296 points and averaging 49.3 points per game, the Buckeyes have surprisingly cemented themselves as an elite offense despite questions coming into this season about how the offense would perform in the hands of Ryan Day with so many losses.
With such a prolific offense, who better to compare the Buckeyes to than the Buckeyes of the past, in this case the 2018 offense? Ohio State's offense in 2018 was one of, if not the, best in program history. It seems, however, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Let's take a look at the performance of the offense through the first six games of this season and see how it matches up with last year's offense at the same point in the season.
The biggest change coming into this season for Ohio State beyond the head coach would be the player under center (or in shotgun for the majority of snaps this season). Justin Fields had some big shoes to fill taking over for Dwayne Haskins who departed to the NFL after one season as the starter.
In his 14 games as the starter, Haskins put up undoubtedly the greatest statistical season of any Ohio State quarterback. Throwing for 50 touchdowns, he set program and conference records that we thought wouldn't be touched for a long time. However, through his first six games, Fields has certainly made the case that he'll be able to fill the shoes left by Haskins, and he's been able to match up statistically with Haskins' first six games as the starter.
While Haskins certainly threw for a lot more yards than Fields, 621 to be exact, he did it on a lot more passing attempts in just as many games. This speaks to more balance this season between the passing game and the rushing game that Ohio State has shown. Fields isn't needing to throw as often with how successful the running game has been, but he's completing the ball to his receivers nearly as often as Haskins did.
Even though Haskins threw for 25 touchdowns in his first six games, Fields was able to keep pace by rushing for seven more touchdowns than Haskins did. While this doesn't surprise anybody because Haskins was never known as a rushing threat, it shows that this isn't an Ohio State team that just has to win games on the merit of their quarterback's arm. Despite Fields "only" throwing for 18 touchdowns in six games, he's tied Haskins for touchdowns accounted for due to his running ability. A lot of his touchdowns have come on designed keeps in the red zone, but Fields has been able to make plays with his legs when escaping the pocket, too.
Another notch in Fields' belt has been his ability to avoid turning the ball over. He threw his first interception last week against Michigan State, only his third turnover of the season after a botched lateral against Florida Atlantic that was really on Garrett Wilson and a lost fumble against the Spartans, so he's helped Ohio State avoid shooting themselves in the foot like they did at points last season.
It's difficult to compare the two, as its seemingly apples to oranges with the different things they're being asked to do. Haskins needed to win games with his arm (TCU, Penn State, Indiana) due to a questionable defense while Fields has been blessed with the return of the Silver Bullets, so while he's been impressive so far, there admittedly hasn't been much pressure on him to perform thus far. As Ohio State gets into the Wisconsin and Penn State games in the next few weeks, the pressure will start to be on Fields to potentially win games with his arm, so we'll have to see how he responds.
Following his 2018 campaign which J.K. Dobbins considered to be a failure, many thought he would have a bounce back year, but very few expected he would be this successful at this point in the season. In as many games and only 17 more carries, he's less than a hundred yards from doubling his rushing total from the first six games of last season.
It's difficult to ascertain why Dobbins is having so much more success this season, as the Buckeyes have actually gone up against more fierce running defenses through their first six games that you would expect to give Dobbins a greater challenge. Part of it may be the strong play and consistency of the offensive line or that Dobbins has had another year and another offseason to improve his craft within Day's system.
Another factor may be that he isn't splitting carries with Mike Weber anymore. While he hasn't seen significantly more carries at this point than he did last season, it's invaluable receiving every first team snap in practice as the lead back vs. having to swap in and out with someone else. It is also presumably a confidence booster for Dobbins that Day and Tony Alford see him as the lead guy for the first time in his career.
In general, the defined starter and backup role has seemed more effective for Ohio State than having Dobbins and Weber split carries last season. On only nine more carries than Dobbins and Weber had at this point last season, the duo of Dobbins and Master Teague III this season have combined for 360 more yards. A large chunk of these yards come from some of the home run plays Dobbins has gone for that he didn't last season, but it shows major improvement and speaks to work Dobbins did over the offseason to help prepare him for a season like this
There are many factors that could explain Dobbin's resurgence, but regardless, it's been an impressive turnaround for the junior who is currently second in the nation in rushing yards.
Behind Dobbins, Teague has been somewhat of a revelation this year. The rushing yards and number of carries reflect a clear No. 1 and No. 2 situation for Dobbins and Teague, but Teague has been successful coming in on third downs and at the goal line to relieve Dobbins. While some of his yards in early games came in garbage time against inferior opponents, he's been getting more carries as of late in more pivotal moments against much better teams such as Michigan State.
Overall, the Buckeyes aren't rushing significantly more this season (only 19 more carries than they had at this point last season) but they've showed significant improvement in the running game that has helped to balance out the offense this season.
Despite the different look to the offense this season, the numbers are eerily similar. The 2018 offense had only acrued 186 more yards of offense at this point last season. They only averaged 31 more yards per game, but it was on 46 more offensive plays, so the 2019 offense has mostly been able to keep pace.
In fact, head coach Ryan Day's offense leads offensive coordinator Ryan Day's offense by 0.31 yards per play and 0.3 points per game. While these numbers are fairly minisclue, its impressive considering the incredible numbers Haskins was putting up early in the season. Fields averaged less per pass than Haskins did, but the improved play from the running backs has helped to narrow the gap between these two offenses.
The number that really jumps out though is the 68 fewer passing attempts in 2019. As I stated above, this isn't a team that has needed to win a game yet on the arm of their quarterback. The running backs have been able to take over games, and the defense is letting games turn into shootouts where Fields is having to throw any more than 30 passes. In fact, he hasn't thrown more than 25 passes in a single game this season. Haskins only had less than 30 attempts twice last season, 23 against Rutgers and 24 against Tulane.
Overall, this has shown an impressive ability from Day to keep the offense consistent despite all the changes that have hit Ohio State since their 28-23 Rose Bowl win over Washington. Urban Meyer, Haskins, Terry McLaurin, Parris Campbell, Johnnie Dixon and a slew of offensive lineman have left the program, yet the offense has not skipped a bit and has arguably been more efficient at this point.
As the Buckeyes prepare for the second half of their season (even though they have another off week in three weeks), they'll be going up against more prolific defenses than they have in the first half, especially ones like Wisconsin who have the best passing defense in the nation and lead the nation in a bevy of other categories. This will be one of the many big games down the stretch for Ohio State's offense as they attempt to reach the heights of the 2018 offense.
