The Elephants in the Room

Freshman LG Michael Jordan had his ankle rolled up and was down on the field. He couldn't put any weight on his leg and was gingerly helped off, which should have resulted in his listed backup redshirt freshman Matthew Burrell entering the game. Except Burrell never left the sideline.

Demetrious Knox did instead. The same Demetrious Knox who suffered the second broken foot of his career earlier in the season and had not seen his name on a depth chart since, up to and including the one released for the game he was now entering. Instead of one giant, the Buckeyes inserted another - one who wasn't expected to return to the field until next season.

So Meechy walked onto the field and anyone who noticed this paused to overthink what could have produced that decision. Was he secretly healthy? Or - gasp - are there no better options?

OSU's offense was paralyzed for most of The Game.

We'll get back to that in a moment. On his first snap - which followed a false start by Billy Price - Knox successfully managed his pass-blocking duties while J.T. Barrett found Curtis Samuel for a 16-yard gain.

On the second snap he didn't even get out of his stance.

It was a jet sweep to Knox's side; a play call that relied on a guy who hadn't played in months to execute a critical seal against a monster front seven on his second play. Samuel was instead devoured by the Clemson defense eight yards behind Jordan's replacement. Knox either spaced the snap count or didn't have the right play in mind, which - considering the rust - okay, maybe he wasn't expecting to see the field either.

Either way, that unfortunate sequence progressed without Knox actively participating and two dead-end plays later for no yards Tyler Durbin missed his second field goal of the game, ending Ohio State's final scoring threat of the evening with no points. There were still six minutes remaining in the 1st quarter.

Knox's entry into the Fiesta Bowl was the uh-oh moment that quickly gained tension after he nailed the mannequin challenge on that disastrous jet sweep: Was Ohio State's offensive line depth so broken and meager that a guy recovering from a broken foot who hadn't played in forever really the first one out of the bullpen?

Apparently it was. Here's the manifest. It's a who's who of highly-decorated high school blue chip pachyderms, with the 2016 starters highlighted.

Congratulations to all of you who picked up on the trend of freshmen cracking the Slobs' starting lineup and never looking back, whereas those who failed to do so fight for substitutions, special teams duty and statistical relevance. No pressure, newly-redshirted freshman Slobs.

This isn't taking a shot specifically at Burrell's inability to see the field in an obvious Burrell situation. It's about a unit that occupied 16 scholarships last season that was still somehow thin enough for a true freshman to show up and start from Day One (this also isn't taking a shot at Jordan, who is very good - but he was a 2016 starter more out of necessity than overwhelming skill).

It is about saying, out loud, that the heart and soul of Ohio State's football team - arguably its most important unit both in terms of performance and in its impact on program culture - has been in decline since Ed Warinner stopped coaching it full-time.

PSU's defensive line made quick work of the Slobs.

The only unit that has been immune to early NFL defections on the entire roster has been the offensive line. Every other unit has been minting six, seven and eight-figure paychecks in exchange for eligibility. Slobs only graduate. Everyone other unit has guys who matriculate.

Warinner Peter Principle'd his way off the staff following a two-season struggle to install an offense that was remotely comparable to the one engineered by Tom Herman. Coach MENSA is a tough act to follow, but the decline was far too steep and Warinner is now back to coaching offensive linemen again, but at Minnesota. He's going to kill it there. That's what he does best.

The unit Warinner left behind at Ohio State became clunky and reminiscent of the one he salvaged following Jim Bollman being jettisoned in 2011. It had plenty of talent and size but only fleeting moments of competence. It featured the eventual Rimington winner, an all-B1G 1st teamer in Price and a 2nd teamer in Jones. Unfortunately quality line play requires more than just quality parts - it's a unit whose success is largely predicated on cohesion.

To wit, Barrett was running for his life for much of the season - behind award-winners - while trying to find and trust receivers who were routinely erased at the line of scrimmage as they struggled all year to separate from defenders. Pass protection wasn't great, run-blocking was only decent and play-calling was bad enough to win both of Ohio State's play-callers new jobs elsewhere.

So what took place during the Buckeyes' ominous third drive of the Fiesta Bowl - that quiet substitution the casual fan probably missed on New Year's Eve - may have been both a distress signal and a symptom of the stagnation that gripped Ohio State's two post-title teams. Producing and upgrading a Slob unit that gels, blocks cohesively in rhythm and has reliable game-ready depth behind the starters is paramount.

The Buckeyes' offensive line issues simply amplified all of the other ones. Once they're repaired, there's very little a team with Ohio State's talent cannot do.