Snap Counts: Ohio State Relies Heavily on Starters in Nail-Biting Win over Notre Dame

The biggest play of the game was made by a backup, Chip Trayanum, who ran the ball into the end zone for the game-winning 1-yard touchdown with just one second left to play. That said, Trayanum was one of only five non-starters who played double-digit snaps on offense or defense against Notre Dame.

The only other Ohio State players who did not start against the Fighting Irish that played double-digit snaps off the bench were tight end Gee Scott Jr., defensive tackle Mike Hall, linebacker Cody Simon and slot cornerback Jordan Hancock.

All of Ohio State’s 11 starters on offense played at least 50 of the Buckeyes’ 69 offensive snaps in South Bend, while nine of Ohio State’s 11 defensive starters played at least 54 of the Buckeyes’ 65 defensive snaps.

In total, only 49 Ohio State players saw action against Notre Dame, fewer than Ohio State used in any game last season, as the Buckeyes battled the Fighting Irish for 60 minutes before emerging with a 17-14 victory. Ohio State used exactly 18 players on both offense and defense – with Caden Curry playing one snap on each side of the ball – while 14 other Buckeyes played on special teams only.

Eight Buckeyes who saw action in all of Ohio State’s first three games did not see any action against the Fighting Irish: quarterback Devin Brown, wide receiver Brandon Inniss, defensive ends Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Mitchell Melton, defensive tackle Tywone Malone, cornerback Jermaine Mathews Jr. and safeties Malik Hartford and Cameron Martinez (who was unavailable due to injury).

As for the 49 Buckeyes who did get in the game in South Bend, we break down how many snaps all of them played and how they were specifically utilized. Pro Football Focus’ premium statistics were used to assist in compiling offensive and defensive snap counts, while Eleven Warriors researcher Matt Gutridge tracked the special teams snap counts. All snap counts should be considered unofficial as they were not provided by Ohio State.

Quarterbacks

Kyle McCord: 69

For the first time in his Ohio State career, McCord played every snap of the game as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. He attempted passes on more than half of his snaps, completing 21 of his 37 attempts for 240 yards. Most notably, McCord completed five of 12 passes for 73 yards on Ohio State’s final drive of the game – including two third-down conversions and a fourth-down conversion – to set up Trayanum’s game-winning touchdown.

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Running Backs

TreVeyon Henderson: 50
Chip Trayanum: 15
Miyan Williams: 2

Henderson played his highest snap count of the season to date as he was the first running back on the field for all eight of Ohio State’s offensive possessions against Notre Dame. Trayanum spelled Henderson for at least one play on five of the Buckeyes’ final six possessions, and the Buckeyes turned to Trayanum – who’s more than 20 pounds bigger than Henderson – when they needed one yard with the game on the line on their final offensive play.

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Williams saw his only action of the game on 3rd-and-goal and 4th-and-goal on the Buckeyes’ third possession of the game in the second quarter. He was stopped for no gain on his lone rushing attempt, which came on 3rd-and-goal before the Buckeyes opted to pass the ball (unsuccessfully) out of a three-tight end set on 4th-and-goal.

Fullbacks

Caden Curry: 1

Curry played the first offensive snap of his Ohio State career when he lined up as a fullback in the I-formation on Williams’ aforementioned 3rd-and-goal run. Trayanum also played one snap at fullback, also paired with Williams in the I-formation, on the subsequent 4th-and-goal play.

Wide Receivers

Marvin Harrison Jr.: 66
Emeka Egbuka: 64
Julian Fleming: 57
Xavier Johnson: 6
David Adolph: Special teams only
Jayden Ballard: Special teams only
Carnell Tate: Special teams only

Despite suffering an ankle injury on Ohio State’s first offensive play of the second half (on which Henderson ran for a 61-yard touchdown), Harrison returned to the game on the very next drive and played all but three of Ohio State’s 69 offensive plays over the course of the night. Egbuka was on the field for all but five of Ohio State’s offensive snaps while Fleming was in the game for all but 12 as all three starting receivers played their highest snap counts of the season.

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The only player to sub in at wide receiver against Notre Dame was Johnson, who replaced Egbuka at slot receiver on three plays and joined him on the field for three other plays when the Buckeyes deployed empty sets in third-down passing situations. While Tate rotated in for at least 14 snaps as an outside receiver in Ohio State’s first three games of the season, he did not play any offensive snaps against Notre Dame.

Tight Ends

Cade Stover: 67
Gee Scott Jr.: 13
Joe Royer: 1

Stover left the field for only two offensive plays against Notre Dame as the Buckeyes leaned heavily on their starting tight end, who caught a career-high seven passes for 52 yards against the Fighting Irish. Scott joined him on the field for occasional two-tight end plays over the course of the game but saw his fewest snaps of the season to date after playing at least 22 snaps in each of Ohio State’s first three games of the year.

Royer played his only snap of the game as one of three tight ends on the field for the aforementioned 4th-and-goal play that resulted in an incomplete pass by McCord intended for Stover.

Offensive Linemen

Josh Simmons: 69
Donovan Jackson: 69
Carson Hinzman: 69
Matt Jones: 69
Josh Fryar: 69
Luke Montgomery: 3
Jakob James: Special teams only
Zen Michalski: Special teams only
Tegra Tshabola: Special teams only
Enokk Vimahi: Special teams only

All five of Ohio State’s starting offensive linemen played an identical number of snaps for the fourth consecutive game to start the season as the Buckeyes made no changes to their front five. Montgomery, the only true freshman to play on offense or defense against Notre Dame, joined them on the field as a sixth offensive lineman for three plays, including the 3rd-and-goal play on which Williams was stopped as well as a pair of plays on the Buckeyes’ second-to-last drive of the game.

Defensive Ends

Jack Sawyer: 65
JT Tuimoloau: 65

Although Jim Knowles said in the week leading up to the game that he thought Ohio State would stick with its usual defensive line rotation to keep its starters fresh, the Buckeyes instead opted not to rotate at all at defensive end against Notre Dame, keeping both Sawyer and Tuimoloau on the field for all 65 of its defensive snaps in a rare move for a Larry Johnson defensive line. Both Tuimoloau and Sawyer played career-high snap counts in the game as a result.

Defensive Tackles

Tyleik Williams: 56
Mike Hall: 35
Ty Hamilton: 34
Jaden McKenzie: 3
Hero Kanu: 2
Caden Curry: 1

Williams set a new career-high in snaps for a fourth game in a row to start the season as he played 50-plus snaps as Ohio State’s starting 3-technique defensive tackle for the second game in a row. Hamilton started the game at nose tackle, but Hall played the second-most snaps among defensive tackles for a fourth straight game to begin the season as he rotated with Hamilton at nose tackle while also occasionally spelling Williams at 3-tech.

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McKenzie rotated in at 3-technique for his only snaps of the game on Notre Dame’s second drive of the third quarter. Kanu joined Williams and Hamilton on the field as a third defensive tackle for a pair of short-yardage plays – one on Notre Dame’s opening drive on which the Buckeyes got a 4th-and-1 stop, and another on a 1st-and-goal play in the fourth quarter – on which the Buckeyes had five defensive linemen, three linebackers and no cornerbacks on the field.

Curry played his only defensive snap of the game as a defensive tackle in the Buckeyes’ Rushmen package on a 3rd-and-10 play (on which Sam Hartman completed a 25-yard pass to Mitchell Evans) on Notre Dame’s opening drive of the fourth quarter.

Linebackers

Tommy Eichenberg: 65
Steele Chambers: 54
Cody Simon: 15
Reid Carrico: Special teams only
C.J. Hicks: Special teams only
Gabe Powers: Special teams only

For the first time all season, Knowles deployed a linebacker rotation with the game on the line as Simon replaced Chambers to play snaps in the base defense on one series in the first half and another in the second half. Simon also joined both Chambers and Eichenberg on the field for five plays as a Sam linebacker in three-linebacker packages.

Eichenberg played a season-high 65 snaps as he was on the field for all of Ohio State’s defensive plays against Notre Dame.

Cornerbacks

Denzel Burke: 63
Davison Igbinosun: 60
Jordan Hancock: 21
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 1

Burke and Igbinosun manned the outside cornerback positions for the entirety of the game in South Bend, with Burke only leaving the game for two plays on which the Buckeyes had zero cornerbacks on the field and Igbinosun only leaving the game for three other plays when Burke was the only cornerback on the field.

Hancock played exclusively as a nickel cornerback against Notre Dame, rotating in with starting nickel Sonny Styles over the course of the game in situations where the Fighting Irish were spread out and/or were more likely to pass the ball. Lorenzo Styles Jr. played his first defensive snap as a Buckeye on the final play of the game when Ohio State put seven defensive backs on the field to play prevent defense against a potential Notre Dame Hail Mary attempt.

Safeties

Josh Proctor: 65
Lathan Ransom: 65
Sonny Styles: 45
Ja’Had Carter: Special teams only

Proctor and Ransom were both in for all 65 of Ohio State’s defensive plays against Notre Dame as the Buckeyes’ starting deep safeties. Styles played his second-highest snap count of the season as he was on the field for more than two-thirds of Ohio State’s defensive plays against the Fighting Irish, lining up in the box for many of those plays but also sometimes covering the slot and occasionally dropping back to play as a third deep safety.

Field Goals/Extra Points

Jayden Fielding (kicker): 3
Jesse Mirco (holder): 3
John Ferlmann (long snapper): 3
Enokk Vimahi (wing): 3
Jakob James (end): 3
Josh Simmons (tackle): 3
Donovan Jackson (guard): 3
Tegra Tshabola (guard): 3
Josh Fryar (tackle): 3
Zen Michalski (end): 3
Cade Stover (wing): 3

Vimahi played on the placekicking unit for the second game in a row after replacing Royer in that capacity against Western Kentucky. The Buckeyes made no other changes to that unit against Notre Dame as Fielding made his only field goal attempt of the night from 31 yards out and converted both of his extra point attempts.

Kickoffs

Jayden Fielding (kicker): 4
Denzel Burke: 4
Caden Curry: 4
Davison Igbinosun: 4
Xavier Johnson: 4
Cody Simon: 4
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 4
Sonny Styles: 4
Chip Trayanum: 4
Reid Carrico: 3
C.J. Hicks: 3
Tommy Eichenberg: 1
Josh Proctor: 1

Styles Jr. returned to the kickoff coverage unit, replacing Gabe Powers on the starting kickoff team, after not playing against Youngstown State and Western Kentucky. The rest of the starting kickoff coverage unit was the same from the Western Kentucky game, though Eichenberg and Proctor replaced Carrico and Hicks on the Buckeyes’ final kickoff following Trayanum’s go-ahead touchdown.

Kickoff Returns

Xavier Johnson (returner): 3
David Adolph: 3
Ja’Had Carter: 3
Caden Curry: 3
Julian Fleming: 3
C.J. Hicks: 3
Gee Scott Jr.: 3
Cody Simon: 3
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 3
Carnell Tate: 3
Chip Trayanum: 3

Styles Jr. replaced Brandon Inniss on the kickoff return unit from Ohio State’s previous two games. The rest of the return team was unchanged from the Western Kentucky game.

Punts

Jesse Mirco (punter): 3
John Ferlmann (long snapper): 3
Tommy Eichenberg (upback): 3
Cody Simon (upback): 3
Gee Scott Jr. (guard): 3
Sonny Styles (guard): 3
Xavier Johnson (tackle): 3
Chip Trayanum (tackle): 3
Cade Stover (wing): 3
Jayden Ballard (gunner): 3
Julian Fleming (gunner): 3

Ohio State made no changes to its punt team against Notre Dame from its previous two games.

Punt Blocks/Returns

Emeka Egbuka (returner): 2
Ja’Had Carter: 2
Jordan Hancock: 2
Davison Igbinosun: 2
Xavier Johnson: 2
Gabe Powers: 2
Lathan Ransom: 2
Gee Scott Jr.: 2
Lorenzo Styles Jr.: 2
Carnell Tate: 2
Miyan Williams: 2

Williams was a new addition to the punt block/return team against Notre Dame, but the rest of the unit consisted of players who had been a part of that unit in previous games this season. 

Field Goal/Extra Point Block

Denzel Burke: 3
Steele Chambers: 3
Tommy Eichenberg: 3
Davison Igbinosun: 3
Josh Proctor: 3
Lathan Ransom: 3
Jack Sawyer: 3
Sonny Styles: 3
JT Tuimoloau: 3
Tyleik Williams: 3
Ty Hamilton: 2
Mike Hall: 1

The players on the field for Notre Dame’s lone field goal attempt (which was missed wide left) and two extra points consisted of Ohio State’s defensive starters with the exception of Hall being on the field in place of Hamilton on the missed 47-yard field goal.