COLUMBUS, Ohio - When J.K. Dobbins was asked what he thought of his performance on Saturday in Ohio State’s 42-0 shutout against Cincinnati, he only had one thing to say: “I’m okay with it.”
He’s just okay with it. Despite the fact that he rushed for 141 yards on only 17 carries, despite the fact that he had at least two touchdowns for only the third time in his career, and despite the fact that he had a 60-yard touchdown run, he was just okay with it. Saturday’s outing was a performance most running backs would hang their hat on, yet for Dobbins, it still wasn’t enough.
In his freshman year at Ohio State where he rushed for 1,403 yards and seven touchdowns, he reached the top of the mountain. Marquee performances against Indiana and Army during the regular season as well as Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game set Dobbins up to be one of the next great Ohio State running backs.
While Dobbins is certainly on pace to be one of the greats - less than 1,000 yards from being No. 4 in rushing yards in Ohio State history, a number he is certainly capable of reaching this season - he has never been able to get back to the heights of his freshman campaign, and it’s still something he thinks about, even to this day.
“My freshman year after the Big Ten championship game. I was happy about that one,” Dobbins said following Ohio State’s win over Cincinnati.
Through his first couple of games, though, it looks like Dobbins may be putting together a special season. He’s running with more of a purpose and not just attacking the line and hoping he’ll break through, and with Mike Weber not taking carries away from him anymore, he has all the opportunity in the world to take advantage of his junior year.
While it may be premature to say that Dobbins is back, Justin Fields and the rest of his teammates believe this big game against Cincinnati (whether or not he acknowledges the accomplishment) is just what he needed.
“Yeah, I think that kind of gave him a big dose of confidence too,” Fields said when asked about Dobbins’ performance.”The o-line did a great job with the run game and pass game. It all starts up front.”
Part of Dobbins’ impressive performance may have been in response to his game against Florida Atlantic where he only rushed for 91 yards on 21 carries for an underwhelming 4.3 yards per carry. Dobbins wasn’t the only one to have a “funky” game, though, as Ryan Day acknowledged it was a weird day for everyone and empathized with Dobbins’ frustrations.
“I think J.K. was irritated all week. Just the same kind of thing -- nothing fit right last week, just didn’t feel right. It was one of those strange opening games but we worked hard this week,” Day said. “[Greg Studrawa] and the o-line did a great job. I’m not sure if it was one snap, they didn’t blink. They were blitzing from sideways, every which way. The guys were covering it up.”
Behind the impressive o-line play, Dobbins was finding holes with ease and breaking tackles after barreling through the line which is something we really didn’t see from him last season. His 8.3 yards per carry against the Bearcats was his best average since the aforementioned 2017 Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin in which Dobbins averaged 10.2 yards per carry, and this is only the sixth time he’s averaged at least eight yards per carry in his Ohio State career.
There’s been a much more apparent fire behind Dobbins in his first two games this season, player harder and running faster. This is evidenced by his 60-yard touchdown run, the longest touchdown run of his career, where he took it to the house untouched, leaving the Bearcats defense in his wake.
It hasn’t been a secret that Dobbins was looking to seriously turn his play around this year, and Day has noticed the improvement.
“And J.K., when he got to the second level he was rolling today and I thought it was great getting J.K. going, and the o-line did an unbelievable job,” Day said. “Tribute to Kevin Wilson and Stud and all the guys who worked on that this week.”
As the Buckeyes approach Big Ten play this weekend during their road trip to Indiana, it remains to be seen how Dobbins will react to the grittier, more challenging run defenses the conference has to offer. Florida Atlantic was expected to not provide much of a challenge, and Cincinnati was somewhat of a dud based on last season’s top 10 defense, so Dobbins has not truly been tested yet by the opposing team’s defense.
The question of whether or not J.K. Dobbins is back is a question that will infiltrate every media availability and post-game press conference for the next few weeks until we can get a concrete answer, but ultimately, it will be up to Dobbins to determine what the answer to that question will be as the season progresses.
