Buckeyes have running game questions
Ohio State’s defense was the dominant force it has been all season in a 34-0 win at Wisconsin on Saturday.
OSU’s passing game, with Julian Sayin completing 36 of 42 passes for 393 yards and four touchdowns, was the sparkling centerpiece of the offense for the No.1 Buckeyes (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten).
But about that running game …
Is it time to be worried about the level of production and consistency of that part of Ohio State’s offense?
Is Ryan Day worried about it?
Ohio State came into Saturday’s game averaging 160.7 yards a game on the ground and rushed for 98 yards. Freshman Isaiah West was OSU’s leading rusher with 55 yards on 9 carries. No. 1 running back Bo Jackson had 26 yards on 10 carries.
This was the second time this season, along with the Texas game, in which Ohio State rushed for fewer than 100 yards. The only times an OSU running back has gained 100 yards or more in a game this season were Jackson’s back-to-back game of 108 yards against Grambling and 109 yards against Ohio.
In its last four games Ohio State has run for 148 yards against Washington, 133 yards against Minnesota, 106 yards against Illinois and 98 on Saturday.
“Some of the run game needs to be better. We’ll go back and figure out what’s going on with that,” Day said in his post game press conference.
“There are areas I won’t get into because I don’t want to give anybody (future opponents) anything to look at.
“But we know what our issues are and we have to continually put guys in position to be successful because sometimes it isn’t always issues. Sometimes it’s here’s a strength of somebody, how do we put them in a position to go do that,” he said.
Day said OSU’s offensive game plan was to put the ball in the air often and referred to it as “pushing the envelope.”
“We wanted to come out and throw the ball more in this game to try to get a feel for where we really are in the passing game,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure we’re efficient and we’re balanced. I think we’re still growing, we’re still trying to build on all of this.”
Ohio State wasn’t perfect but it built an early lead that a team as offensively limited as Wisconsin (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) wasn’t going to be able to overcome.
OSU drove 89 yards in nine plays, all but one of them passes by Sayin, on its first possession of the game for a 7-0 lead. The touchdown came on 33-yard pass to Carnell Tate, who had to reach over a defender to grab the football.
On the third play of Wisconsin’s next possession Sonny Styles intercepted a pass at the Badgers’ 48-yard line, which led to a 38-yard field goal by Jayden Fielding for a 10-0 lead.
With Sayin hitting 14 of his first 15 passes, OSU pushed its lead to 17-0 on a 10-yard throw from Sayin to Tate with four seconds left in the first quarter.
A 37-yard field goal by Fielding made it 20-0 in the third quarter and touchdown passes from Sayin to Will Kacmarek and Brandon Inniss raised the lead to 34-0.
Saturday’s shutout was the second of the season for OSU.
“Hats off to the defense for getting another shutout,” Day said. “That hasn’t just happened. There’s a lot of hard work that gets put in.”