As we look back on the Wisconsin game (and really, JTB's career) I went back to a 2014 article by Kyle Jones. He makes the point that after struggling against VT, JTB caught fire and the passing game looked more like what we saw from Meyer's Utah and Florida teams. Primarily, he speaks of short & intermediate passes as well as utilizing the TE and the middle of the field more.
Instead, the 2014 edition of the Buckeyes most resembles the offenses we saw from Meyer in the past at Florida and Utah. Though he's had loads of talent in the backfield, this is the first time Meyer has had such a deep and diverse group of receivers and tight ends in Columbus. Rotating six players at receiver and two more at tight end, Barrett has a multitude of options at his disposal.
The result has been a passing attack that is much more reliant on short and intermediate throws. Players like tight end Nick Vannett have emerged as safety blankets, catching eight passes in that three-game span.
It's my observation that something changed in Meyer after the championship run. Namely, he fell in love with play-action-pass deep throws. This even led to Cardale getting the starting nod in 2015 (and I think, a lot of our problems).
Back to post-Wisconsin (and really the continued offensive pass game confusion). JTB is not Cardale. He CAN hit the deep ball, but usually ONLY IF he's warmed up on short/intermediate passes. He doesn't seem to be able to throw a deep receiver open. He waits too long to throw the deep ball.
Our offense picked up AFTER he scrambled and made short/intermediate throws. He's best at that. I'm not saying we should abandon the deep ball, just that we need to set things up differently. It seems that Meyer wants to play action pass the long ball. It's not working.
My plan would be to run the ball, use quick passes, the middle of the field, and then when we catch the D in the wrong alignment, then take the shot downfield (KJ Hill in the first game, for example). This was basically Meyer's offense up until the championship run and most of the 2015 season. Why not get back to it?
