First, I agree with many pundits that the OL play has been disheartening, we're incapable of running the ball in short yardage, both QBs clearly have low ceilings, and the DL is underperforming in the most humiliating way. With the current state of affairs, I think eight or nine wins is probably our ceiling.
That said, I think the team will go as far as the coaching staff and the players can recognize their deficiencies and work to either overcome them or scheme around them. And knowing your weaknesses is half the battle! After two games, I think we have some answers in that regard:
(1) McCord is clearly QB1. The man makes CJ Stroud look like Michael Vick out there with how immobile he is, but he can more reliably make the short-to-intermediate range throws than Brown. It helps that the OL is better at pass protection than run blocking, as they were able to give Kyle some time back there. I think Buckeye fans are really going to have to temper their expectations of what the quarterback can do, after our string of first round NFL talent at the position. McCord certainly won't win us any games, but he will hopefully keep us moving the sticks to at least set up not to lose, and now that the receivers, offensive line, and backs know who will be the signal caller, they can start to work on building more chemistry with him. He can also draw on his position to become a more vocal leader of this offense and team. We'll play a ton of frustratingly tight games this season, though, so hang on to your Tums.
(2) This OL is not built to grind out games on the ground. Blah blah soft finesse team blah blah, it's just who we are and no amount of banging our heads against the wall getting into 13 and 22 personnel will make us a reliable short yardage running team. Blame recruiting fails. Blame coaching. At this point, it's too late to build a Tresselball spirit in mentality and execution. Am I mad about it? Hell yeah. I miss the days of watching our halfbacks bludgeon UM into oblivion while our pulling linemen made their linebackers look like a Denny's short-stack menu. But knowing our weakness allows us to move on and use it to our advantage. We went empty (5-wide) on fourth down several times today and did just fine. Spread out opposing defenses. Force their fourth-string dime cornerback to cover Carnell Tate and their third-string safety to have to 1:1 Cade Stover or Xavier Johnson. Going wide leverages our talents at receiver and gives our slashing running backs more space to operate in, even when the offensive linemen fail miserably to block their guys. We also know the left side of the line is our shaky side, and that gives us a place to preferentially send our tight ends and fullbacks to help out.
(3) We can pray for improvement in OL technique. Jackson, for a guy who was supposedly a preseason All-American, was pretty pedestrian today, but at least he didn't leave unblocked second level defenders flying to the ball today like he did multiple times last week. We had a few explosive plays this game called back for dumb penalties on Hinzman and Simmons. Mental mistakes can (theoretically) be fixed. The OL only figured out who was lining up where a few weeks before the season started (with Simmons never having played LT and not getting an actual practice with OSU until Fall and Fryar shifting back to RT after his failed experiment on the left side).
(4) At least the corners were good? The DL made me facepalm a few times today, but the CBs are very much a strength of this team. The linebackers had a few plays they'd like back, but have shown over the course of last season that they can bring the heat when they need to. Safety play (yet again) left a little to be desired, but I think Sonny Styles is coming into his own and Proctor has made it clear that he is the top dog at free safety. Worse comes to worst, the CB room can (as it did today) lend a little help to the safety group by bringing Jordan Hancock in on obvious passing downs as the nickel.
I hate resetting expectations, but I'm trying to shift my mentality into one of enjoyment in watching the growth of this team, rather than believing (or hoping, even) that they're going to run the table and hoist the CFP trophy. How about you guys?
