Ohio State Football Forum

Ohio State Football Forum

Ohio State football fan talk.

Thoughts on the offense

+11 HS
buckeyenobility's picture
September 15, 2017 at 4:10pm
48 Comments

Now I know this has been talked about so much but just wanted to layout my thoughts and see if I'm too far off or not. 

1. One of the biggest problems I have noticed is that we are not nearly as multiple with our formations and even less so with pre snap motion. First two years we would come out in ten different formations and multiple personell groupings within the first 20 or so plays. Now it seems that the only time we see pre snap motion its gonna be a jet sweep or pass to the flats. Watch the Oregon game to notice how we constantly kept them on their toes with subtle differences. 

2. The right side of our offensive line is still a major issue. JT still sees the pocket breakdown way too much on the right. I think thats a big part of his happy feet in the pocket and making him feel pressure that isn't always there. Prince and Bowen just have to be better.

3. JT's lack of arm strength makes us very predictable and defenses are not worried about it at all. We have hardly any intermediate passing game and its killing us. Defenses can just sit back in two deep which takes away any deep passing game and JT can't attack the soft spots in front of the safeties. 

4. Compounding the issues is that JT just doesn't run as hard as he used to. My assumption is that the coaches have told him to protect himself and thats in his head. 

5. Ironically enough with the coaches telling JT to protect himself more, We all know in big games Urban just defaults to qb running. It's schematically sound in giving yourself equal 11 on 11 but defenses know the tendencies. Remember back to Sparty in the B1G title game. Ran Braxton in any had to have it situation. The next year we made them pay for that.

6. I get the feeling that JT has way too much to think about in his head and its killing him. Can't remember which coach said it but it fits perfectly, Paralysis by analysis. What made JT so great in 2014 is that he didn't know any better. Just read what was out there. If the first read or second read wasn't there he just ran it. Now he is trying to force the big play. Let it happen naturally and just pick up a couple yards. Simplify the offense. Partly why we were so deadly those three Cardale games was that we simplified the reads. While also staying multiple in the looks for the defense pre snap.

7. In my opinion I think Urban has maybe gotten too involved with the play calls. I wasn't expecting our offense to look exactly like Wilson's in the past but there is hardly any differences. Where are the RPO's? Wilson loves outside zones, where are those? The offense is almost the same as we have seen. I also wonder if this is why our tempo is not there as much. We used to attack attack attack. Get the defense on their toes and not give them time to think. 

8. Wide Receivers are failing JT right now. Unfortunately this is what happens when you recruit a bunch of hybrids to play WR. They obviously have their place and can be extremely effective i.e. Samuel. It seems like Urban has corrected this already though and I look for Mack and Victor to become bigger parts of the offense as the year goes on. This could also be a Zach Smith problem too. Hell of a recruiter but just not seeing any improvement in the subtleties of route running. They have a tendency to give away their routes with footwork and where they look. 

9. We used to have the fear of the unknown each game with defenses especially with the quarterback position. Look at the first two years with Braxton. Even though reading defenses wasn't his strong point defenses were terrified of him with his game breaking speed and crazy strong arm. 2014 JT the weaknesses were not commonly known yet. Plus he just ran the offense so efficiently. Of course Cardale's three games were similar. A bazooka of an arm and could power run over anyone. Also consider those teams had hardly any film of him at all. What do defensive coordinators really have to be scared of with us now? No big threats in the passing game aside from having to make sure you tackle soundly on crossing routes to protect the speed of Campbell and others. Dobbins could be that guy. The blueprint is out on how to defend JT now. Make him give as much as possible on Read plays. Sit back in zone and make him sit back there. 

Thing is with all that being said a lot of these issues are fixable pretty quickly. Improve the play calling and JT's weaknesses will not be as glaring. Get back to being smash mouth. Tight zones all day while mixing in outside zones with gap schemes as well. Put some double slants back in (Can't guard mike's specialty). The quarterback change isn't gonna happen so everyone might as well stop. Urban has big loyalty towards JT and who can blame him. Although I am curious how Haskins could attack defenses. My hope is that the team is reading all of these articles counting out the team and come out with some fire. We used to have some piss and vinegar about us. Where's that confidence and swagger we used to have? Maybe some complacent attitude has taken hold? I have faith Urban knows the right buttons to press psychologically. 

Last thing I will say is all this being said Urban has lost seven games as head coach. We as  a fanbase are extremely spoiled. Take a step back and breathe people. Couple schematic changes and our path to the playoff is still there. Curious to see thoughts on this from you guys. Apologize for the length

Go Bucks

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

View 48 Comments