COLUMBUS, Ohio — Through seven games this season, No. 4 Ohio State’s running game was nearly unstoppable, averaging more than 207 yards per game on the ground.
In the past two weeks, the Buckeyes’ rushing attack has been bottled up for just 127 yards per game. As Ohio State has seen a sharp decline in that department, head coach Ryan Day pointed to a multitude of reasons that have impacted them in that area.
“I think the first thing is just doing a better and being cleaner, staying on schedule. What I mean by that is the penalties are getting us out of whack. That’s the first thing, you just notice. Or a negative run, when I say a negative run that’s anything that would be negative yards or zero, because now you’re 2nd-and-10,” Day said. “I don’t think it’s one thing across the board. I think what you see is maybe one guy is off here or a little bit off there.”
Ohio State’s fast start in the running game was amplified by the breakout of freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson and an unorthodox approach to its offensive line.
The Buckeyes employ four natural tackles up front — with preseason Walter Camp first-team All-American Thayer Munford and former five-star recruit Paris Johnson Jr. sliding into the line’s interior.
As the Ohio State rushing attack has lost some efficiency in recent weeks, Nicholas Petit-Frere, who has played both tackle positions in that two-week span, said the offensive line may have lost focus after its hot start.
“We saw there was still room to grow during that time, but we were feeling good about ourselves. We felt like we were playing pretty well and sometimes you get caught up a little bit in all of those emotions,” Petit-Frere said. “At the end of the day, we always, every single week, we never came out a week saying, ‘Hey we’re perfect’ or ‘Hey we’re right where we need to be.’ We always saw that there was room for improvement.”
While the Buckeyes employ their unorthodox look, they also utilize an unconventional rotation in the interior offensive line.
Although the starting five of Petit-Frere, Munford, Johnson, tackle Dawand Jones, and center Luke Wypler carry the bulk of the snaps, Matt Jones has rotated in at guard and played a significant role for the Buckeyes.
Jones has played 272 snaps this season — including 40 against Nebraska last week.
As the Buckeyes have moved offensive linemen around, questions have risen about how the unit has gelled with so many moving parts, but Petit-Frere said their comfort level remains the same regardless of who is on the field.
“We have a great two groups of guys, almost even three groups of guys, that we’re comfortable rolling out there,” Petit-Frere said. “We have a lot of guys that are talented enough to play at different positions and play when their number is called.”
Penalties have also proved to be drive killers for the Buckeyes over this two-week stretch, as they were flagged 10 times against Penn State for 74 penalty yards and eight times against the Cornhuskers for 65 yards.
Ohio State’s offensive line has been at the center of this issue, as pre-snap penalties such as snap infractions and false starts have piled up. Multiple Buckeyes’ offensive linemen have also been caught downfield on run-pass options, setting them back as well.
With the lack of discipline up front, offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said the Buckeyes lacked fundamentals during the stretch.
“To me, we’ve got to be more disciplined. We’ve shown some flashes where we are, but we’re also young enough, we’ve shown some immaturity,” Wilson said. “We need to play cleaner.”
As Ohio State heads into the gauntlet of its schedule — facing three College Football Playoff Top 25 opponents — Day said his offensive line knows where they need to step up if they are to come out unscathed.
“The last two defenses we’ve played are excellent defenses and we have another this week. It’s just not that easy and if you’re not executing really, really well, they can make you look bad,” Day said. “We have to execute better and that’s just the bottom line. I think our guys understand that.”
