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Closing in on UFM's Goals for Offensive Balance

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buckeye phi's picture
November 14, 2016 at 7:03pm
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Following Ohio State's 2015 season, Head Coach, Urban Meyer said he'd like to see better offensive balance in 2016.  He reiterated those sentiments often enough throughout the offseason, one would have been hard pressed not to take him seriously. 

As a reminder - while the Buckeyes boasted a fine rushing attack in '15, they finished the season ranked an almost embarrassing 100th in passing offense - averaging less than 190 yards per game through the air. 

There's little wonder why Meyer wanted to do something about that.  If fact, Ohio State's only loss that season could be attributed, at least, in part to an underdeveloped passing offense. 

Amazingly - nearly every starting receiver from that squad is now on an NFL roster.  That includes two wide receivers, the H-back, the tight end and the running back.  One of the quarterbacks and the starting left tackle from that team is currently in NFL, as well. 

So, where do things stand ten games in to the 2016 season?  It's safe to say the situation has improved rather dramatically.  According to NCAA statistics, right now the Buckeyes are ranked 10th nationally in rushing - averaging 267 yards per game.  

Of course, that's great.  But perhaps more significantly, they're currently averaging 244.4  passing yards per game (ranked 53rd nationally).  That's getting dangerously close to Meyer's stated goal of averaging 250 yards per game rushing and 250 ypg passing. 

Things have been trending in the right direction as far as balance is concerned.  While Ohio State's offense struggled a bit through the month of October, November has been a completely different story so far.  

Against Nebraska, the Buckeyes ran for 238 yards and passed for 352.  And a few days ago verses Maryland, they accounted for 253 rushing yards while airing it out for 328.  If anything, OSU became a bit of a passing offense for those two games.  For those two games.

Looking ahead, it's hard to imagine Meyer will choose to deemphasize the passing game much - if at all.  Ohio State's next opponent is the same team that beat them last season.  And again - they largely did that by essentially daring the Buckeyes to beat them through the air. 

Clearly, it would not be wise to try that strategy again this year.  Look for Meyer to mix it up verses the Spartans - much like he did against the Cornhuskers and the Terrapins.   This season, it doesn't seem MSU's 31st ranked defense will have what it takes to slow down the Buckeyes much at all.

The following week the Ohio State will take on their arch rivals, Michigan.  UM's Defensive Coordinator, Don Brown, is well known for his aggressive, multi-faceted defenses.  He's certainly had his share of success with his scheme over the years - but by it's very nature it is a high risk/high reward approach. 

A glimpse of that could be seen in the Wolverines' recent loss at Iowa.  Led by a veteran quarterback, Iowa was able to sustain some drives against Michigan's offense - unlike many of the Wolverines' previous opponents. 

Most college offenses struggle with Brown's defenses.  But this Ohio State offense is different than most.  First of all, Urban Meyer is one of the greatest offensive minds in the sport.  Secondly, the Buckeyes have wily veterans at two of the offense's most key positions. 

With senior, Pat Elflein at center and redshirt junior JT Barrett at quarterback, Brown may find it difficult to confuse the leaders of this particular offense often enough to be successful.  And now the offense is approaching nearly perfect balance as well.  Pick your poison.

Another major factor is team speed.  Michigan hasn't faced a team with anything approaching Ohio State's kind of overall speed all season.  Brown's defensive style runs the risk of allowing speedsters like Curtis Samuel and Parris Campbell to get the ball in space.  Naturally, a mobile quarterback like Barrett can always be a back-breaker as well. 

Now that the passing game is rounding in to form, the Buckeyes should be able to get the ball to those speedy play-makers in space.  A core aspect of any spread offense.  Of course, once defenses are forced to back out of the box a little, Meyer can hit them with his patented spread-to-run-power system - which is what he really wants to do, anyway -

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