As I mentioned in the deffensive post, I got behind in my schedule this week so the write up will be abridged, though I will hit the main points.

Here is the play-by-play chart:

The big takeaways for me are the offensive-line, Miyan Williams, and the passing game. I will discuss each of these more in detail, though the discussions about the offensive line and Miyan Williams should be obvious.

Here is the offensive chart:

Miyan Williams as a runner isn’t much different than he was last season. I mentioned throughout the year that Williams was probably a better runner than Henderson, but his pass protection and receiving ability were far behind Henderson’s, so he was not going to play in a majority-passing offense based on 3 WR sets. If he couldn’t adjust to the passing game, he was going to have a hard time getting on the field. At least, that’s what it seemed like to me.

The good news is that Williams did improve. He did miss a blitz pickup today, but it was the first one he had missed all year against a team who blitzed constantly. He has been much better in the passing game, and his playing time has gone up as a result. Even when Henderson is healthy, Williams is too good of a runner to leave on the bench for long.

Last note on Williams: I think a lot of people constantly misdiagnose his skillset because of his appearance. He belongs in the same category of player like Cardale Jones – someone who doesn’t look like the player he is. Because of the big arm and massive stature, everyone projected Cardale Jones as a traditional pocket passer, which he never was. If you have watched the end of the 2014 season as much as I have, you know that Cardale was constantly being moved outside of the pocket so that he always had the option to run. When he wasn’t throwing from outside of the pocket, he was usually throwing out of play-action. If you can remember the 2015 season (as well as his time in the NFL and XFL), he never ran rollouts again. They treated him like a statuesque field general instead of an athletic improviser. Thank you again, Ed Warinner. Rant aside, Williams is in the same category. His juke and spin moves are the best I’ve seen since at least JK Dobbins, maybe since Braxton Miller. Yes, he looks like a bruiser, but he plays like a scat back who sometimes remembers that he has an extra 50 lbs. He is incredibly quick and dynamic with the football. He isn’t fast, and he is big, but people constantly underestimate his skillset and undersell just how talented of a runner Miyan Williams is.

The offensive line continues to improve, though Rutgers wasn’t exactly a huge challenge. It is still rare to see all offensive linemen have positively graded days, even against Rutgers. The greater diversity in running plays called in the game have helped the offensive linemen a lot, as now they are no longer telegraphing their desire to run zone repeatedly. Even though they don’t run it much, the additional counter and power runs along with the quick toss from the shotgun have improved the run game a lot, and it shows in a game like this.

The passing game was not its usual self, for a multitude of reasons:

One of the things worth mentioning is that Stroud was not his usual self. His general score (which is the scoring system I use for all players) was the worst I have ever charted him at. His passing score was kind of okay. If he was passing downfield okay, why did he score so poorly?

First, he didn’t have a ton of positive points due to the low volume and relatively low success rate passing the ball. That mixed with a couple of big mistakes – mainly the interception and the scrambling out of bounds ten yards behind the line of scrimmage in the red zone – resulted in a mediocre scoring day. His actual passing wasn’t that bad, however. A couple of bad decisions turn a decent day into a relatively poor one.

Rutgers also had quite a few light boxes. They employed a six-man box or less about as often as Notre Dame did, but not as much as Wisconsin had.

Rutgers 7 and 8+ man box numbers are probably inflated a bit as well, due to all the snaps close to the goal line for Ohio State. Even without that, Rutgers was content to do everything in their power to stop the pass. Blitzes, of course, as Kyle Jones pointed out in his piece this week. However, the defensive backs were guarding the wide receivers very physically. I thought most of the flags were legitimate on rewatch. On my first watch, I didn’t think so.

The play-calling was also trying to force something that wasn’t there. Going back to last year, I’ve noted that Day does this in these types of games sometimes, if only to work on things. I am about 99% positive he was trying to pad CJ’s stats so that he had a better shot at the Heisman. I know both of them want it, and that was the perfect game for some numbers. Having said that, I don’t anticipate the play-calling to be goofy in any type of meaningful game moving forward. We saw how Day calls games when he expects resistance when they played Wisconsin. It isn’t worth worrying about.

After all that, am I worried about Stroud? Am I worried about the passing game? Not at all. If a team wants to let Ohio State run the ball for 10 YPC, be my guest. I would like to see Ohio State’s receivers fight through contact a bit more, as the Rutgers defensive backs were holding on for dear life. They won’t always get those calls, and they need to be able to adjust when that is the case.

What should we be worried about?

Previous opponents’ decreasing quality. As the season goes on, some wins that looked good in the rearview mirror continue to look worse and worse. I guess the concern at this point is that we won’t know how good this team really is until they play a real team, which is…Iowa? I think Iowa will be the best team that Ohio State will have played up to that point, followed by Penn State, then Michigan. Regardless, the Ohio State offense looked dominant against Wisconsin, but Illinois did the exact same thing while only allowing 2 total rushing yards. More games will give more information.

What should we not be worried about?

The passing attack. So much of the passing attack for this game was just trying to pass for the sake of passing. It was not needed against Rutgers. Still, games are the best opportunity to get some experience. Furthermore, it would be nice to get Stroud the Heisman, not just for Stroud himself, but for Ryan Day’s legacy as a quarterback developer. I think they both want to get him some accolades. That is also why when the offense needed a play in the red zone, they picked a run with Miyan Williams. They knew they could score almost whenever. They just would rather have scored in a way that they wanted.

Don’t be surprised if this continues against Michigan State, though with that pass defense, I don’t think it is going to matter in that one.

What should we be excited about?

Miyan Williams is the obvious answer but also the correct one. With the coaches playing him more often, I fully expect to see him in high leverage situations moving forward. This will give a bit of a boost for rushing efficiency, which is huge for a team that last year lived and died by the explosive play. Now, they will likely be able to win either way. The Notre Dame game was a great example. The Iowa and Penn State games will be additional tests. While the point about Ohio State’s previous competition still stands, if there is one thing that those teams do well it is to defend the run. If Ohio State scores 40+ on those teams, I wouldn’t be surprised if they never score under 40 again this year. Teams that can drive down the field and get explosive plays are nearly impossible to stop.

Programming Note: An unforeseen family emergency has come up in my life which may mean that the Michigan State game recap could come out later, potentially even after the BYE week. I will try to keep updates going on the @salty_buck account on Twitter, though I am notoriously awful with posting on social media.