I mean, they aren't exactly on Auburn's level but the Hoosiers are next on Ohio State's schedule as the Buckeyes travel to Bloomington to open up the B1G slate.
At 4-0, Indiana is riding high though the competition has been marginal. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes hit the road having put their quarterback controversy to bed and looking to extend their streak of 24 straight wins in regular season conference play.
To ensure you're properly informed heading into Saturday's tilt, we welcome DJ, Eric and Michael to their seats at the weekly roundtable.
The loss of Devin Smith as Cardale’s primary deep threat was a huge concern coming into the season and so far we’ve seen mixed results trying to replace his production. What are your thoughts on just how important a deep ball specialist is to the offense? Jalin Marshall and Curtis Samuel both got behind the defense last week. Do either of them strike your fancy? Can replacing Smith done by committee, if necessary?
DJ: I didn’t expect Devin Smith to be replaced over night, because not even Devin Smith was Devin Smith overnight.
That said, I do like what I saw from Jalin Marshall last week. Underthrows aside, it was nice to see him beat the defense a couple times. The next step will be doing it against Big Ten defenses. I’d like to see more out of Samuel before I fancy him in that role.
Michael: I think it's important to have a deep threat, but Ohio State doesn't lack for speed on the outside, so it shouldn't be an issue. There are guys like Smith who excel at deep routes and then there are guys who get separation with a move at the line or precise route running and then just out-athlete-ing the opposition. If we don't have the former, we should theoretically have the latter. I think Marshall and Samuel are both capable of being the "deep guy" and I've always believed an offense works better if there are multiple guys who can get open deep. Between Thomas, Marshall, Samuel, Miller, Wilson and Corey Smith, Ohio State has to have guys who can get open deep.
Eric: Since Urban Meyer's elected to move forward with Cardale Jones — in large part because of his huge arm — having someone who can go get a deep pass down the field moved up the rung of importance ladder. Meyer insists the offense doesn't change regardless who is playing quarterback, but it's hard to see that holding true because of how strong an arm Jones possesses. I think Jalin Marshall is the better option to be the downfield threat than Curtis Samuel, but Samuel is by no means incapable. Corey Smith is also a burner who got behind the Western Michigan defense and another guy along with Marshall that Meyer mentioned to be Ohio State's downfield guy. I look for both of those guys to continue being options for Jones in that area of the offense.
Through four games the offense is still finding its footing even after a fairly encouraging performance against Western Michigan. In your estimation, what has been the biggest factor in the uneven results: Lack of clarity at quarterback, the loss of Tom Herman and the subsequent onboarding of Ed Warinner and Tim Beck into new roles, lack of consistency by the slobs, or something else? Why?
Eric: I wrote a little bit about this in last week's mailbag, but I think the answer is the loss of Tom Herman and influx of Ed Warinner and Tim Beck into new positions on Ohio State's offense. Yes, Warinner's been in Columbus since Meyer took over prior to 2012, but being the guy tasked with calling plays and coaching the offensive line is not easy. Both Warinner and Meyer even mentioned Saturday that they felt better with how play calling went with Beck during the Western Michigan victory. Basically, they're just trying to figure out how best to work with one another which can take some time since you can't really simulate pressured game situations in practice. It's also an entirely new year and the quarterback situation didn't help anyone on the offense find consistency. It seems that Meyer's picked Cardale Jones moving forward to establish some clarity, which should also help the new coaches feel more comfortable.
DJ: I think all of those things play a role in Ohio State’s offense looking tepid at times. Now that Cardale is cemented as the starter, I expect Warinner and Beck to continue to work out the kinks going forward.
I’m almost relieved about the results, because it gives the team areas to improve. Coaches and players can say what they want, but it’s hard to feel a drive to get better if they outscored out-of-conference opponents 180-3.
Michael: It's probably all of that plus some things you didn't even think to pack into your question. The quarterback thing was always going to be an issue from the moment the season ended. Splitting reps isn't optimal for the starter to get going. Tom Herman is a genius and really seems to connect to his players. That's hard to replace because chemistry is important. Warinner is getting comfortable in a new role and Beck in a new place. The Slobs certainly regressed to start the season. But, another factor for me is the loss of Evan Spencer and Jeff Heuerman, who provided excellent perimeter blocking that we haven't been seeing this season. That kind of thing turns a four-yard gain into a first down or a touchdown. Guys have to step up.
If you were the calling the plays, who might be getting more touches? How would you make that happen? Who would be getting less touches and why?
Michael: I want Braxton Miller to get the ball in space, not trying to run through 11 guys. I'd love to see him getting more slants as a receiver. I'd also like more touches for Samuel as both a running back and a hybrid, and more for Jalin Marshall. Combined with Zeke getting his touches, that puts the ball into the hands of your four best playmakers which, in my limited knowledge of the game, seems like a good thing.
Eric: Michael Thomas can't get the football enough within the offense, but that's just my opinion. He's an NFL wide receiver playing in college for just a few more months, and the best option Ohio State has in the passing game. If I were calling the plays, I would do everything I could to have Cardale Jones look for Thomas on slants, comebacks or even screens to the outside. He can break tackles and create big plays if provided one-on-one situations, as we saw last year. Even against Virginia Tech and Western Michigan, Thomas showed what he can do when lined up against a singular defensive back — win. It's hard to pick one guy that would be getting less touches within the offense because Ohio State has so many playmakers on the outside and in the backfield. A cut back on the spreading around of chances would be the way to go.
DJ: If I called plays Cardale Jones would be throwing 80-yard bombs on every play. But in all seriousness, Curtis Samuel is a guy that deserves more touches. The question becomes, “Who’s losing those touches to Samuel?” Judging by the results, not even the coaching staff has that answer yet.
Raekwon McMillan had 16 stops last week but didn’t grade a Champion and definitely didn’t impress a whole lot of our readers as Western Michigan had significant success attacking Ohio State’s defensive interior. How would you grade Kwon’s season to date and how much of the light, if any, should be shining on nose guard play and/or scheme as opposed to McMillan?
DJ: The Chef didn’t post his best game against Western Michigan, it’s true. He looked lost at times, but he got it together as the game went on. I’m not worried about Raekwon. That said, I still have my concerns about Ohio State’s interior defense outside of Adolphus Washington, the DT we all know and love.
Eric: I think McMillan's had a terrific start to the 2015 campaign. Yes, he at times was "catching" Western Michigan's running backs as they barreled into him in the middle of the field, but a bigger issue for me was Tommy Schutt no performing as well as Ohio State would have liked at nose guard. McMillan still registered a sack and made other plays to rack up his tackle total, but he can't do it all. Ohio State's interior defensive line needs to play better if it wants to have a chance to compete in big games down the road.
Michael: Kwon sort of reminds me of Curtis Grant as a junior right now. He's making some plays but he's also prone to getting caught up in the wash by taking a bad angle or failing to shed blockers in time to tackle a back coming into his area. The interior defensive linemen are culpable for failing to occupy linemen to a point, but McMillan has looked like he's thinking out there, rather than keeping it simple and attacking. As a freshman, the coaches threw him out there and just let him go after someone. Maybe it's time to simplify his role?
Staying on the topic of defense, Indiana’s Jordan Howard leads the nation with 675 rushing yards on 6.1 yards per carry with his lowest single-game yardage output coming on a 145 yard day against Southern Illinois and his high of 203 coming two weeks ago against Western Kentucky. How will the Bucks fare in shutting him down on Saturday?
Michael: I think he'll get his 100 yards unless the Buckeyes can keep the linebackers clean. From what I've seen of Indiana, they have competent offensive line play and if those blockers get into the linebackers and walk-down safety, Howard will punish Ohio State. We'll see on Saturday how much Luke Fickell is able to fix in a week.
DJ: By doing the exact opposite of what they did against Tevin Coleman in 2014. Seriously, that should be Urban Meyer’s defensive pep talk this week: Showing that unit the 2014 tape and then saying, “Do the opposite of this."
Eric: Based off what we saw Saturday against Western Michigan, it could be a long afternoon for the front seven against Jordan Howard. That being said, Howard and the Indiana offense have yet to see a competent defense this season. Wake Forest held them to their lowest point total of the year (31) and as a whole the Hoosier non-conference is hardly murderer's row. I think Howard will finish with a big rushing total, somewhere in the 130- to 175-yard range, but it largely won't matter by the end of the game. It all depends on if Ohio State can prevent him from breaking a long run for a touchdown, which its been able to do thus far in 2015.
The Buckeyes are stinking it up in the red zone ranking 98th nationally with 10 scores in 13 trips with just six touchdowns (6 rush, 0 pass). What do you make of these struggles?
Eric: I think Ohio State still has no clue how it wants to attack the red zone. Does it want to smash people in the mouth and run the ball with Ezekiel Elliott? Does it want to beat people with play-action passes or quick throws into the flat where it has mismatches? The staff seems unsure. Some probably falls on the broad shoulders of Cardale Jones, too, because he's still working at being more comfortable with making decisions in tight windows on short fields. If you remember, Ohio State faced difficulties against Alabama and Oregon in the College Football Playoff. The unit will get better, but it needs to show some improvement soon because the big plays haven't been there consistently yet in 2015. Procedure and holding penalties don't help, either.
Michael: I think it's a product of the passing game not being where it needs to be. The Buckeyes have spent a lot of time passing in the red zone and failing to complete those passes. You can't feed Zeke all the time, and I'm sure they want to work on red zone passing for when they need it, but there has to be better balance in the red zone and better execution by the quarterback and receivers.
DJ: Execution, plain and simple. It better get right quick, because there’s no way Ohio State will win a title with those numbers.
Sitting at 4-0 but yet to wow a fanbase either forgetting last year’s crescendo to greatness or deeming it irrelevant, how satisfied are you personally with Ohio State’s start? Are they on schedule? What worries you most?
DJ: As I said earlier: I’m glad Ohio State faced some adversity in this out-of-conference schedule, which was absolutely horrendous. People forget the 2014 team looked pedestrian for large parts of the 2014 — even post-Penn State.
Meyer has proven his teams peak at the right time. He’ll need to do that this year too, as Ohio State’s final five games will be: Michigan State, at Michigan, B1G Championship, CFP semifinal, CFP Final. As long as Ohio State is undefeated heading into that stretch, then they’re “on schedule” in my book. Urban Meyer will take care of the rest when the chips are down.
Michael: I'm satisfied with the record but not with the results, given the competition. The Buckeyes have plenty of time to evolve into a juggernaut, but 2014 is gone and every year's team is a brand new animal. It's hard to know if they're on schedule when you don't know where they'll eventually end up. I guess what worries me most is that the team hasn't found an identity on offense yet four games into the season and also has had trouble stopping runs up the middle.
Eric: Ohio State's right on schedule with its progression, in my opinion. People who demand big plays left and right and consistent 40 and 50-point outbursts like we saw at the end of 2014 seem to forget that the first month of the season just ended. There's so much time for the team to get better, and for the coaching staff to figure out how it's going to gain yards and score points and what specific players are going to do that. The only worry would be the Buckeyes have too many playmakers and Urban Meyer isn't sure how to keep them all engaged and happy while winning games. Sooner or later you have to pick four or five things on offense that you know work and move forward with them to score points.
The point spread opened around 19.5 but has swelled to 21 on my sites. Will the Buckeyes cover? Give us your final score and MVP predictions.
Michael: I don't expect Ohio State to cover, although they could if they play up to their potential. Indiana has a good offense and should be able to keep it annoyingly close into the fourth quarter. I'm going to say 35-24, Buckeyes. My MVP is Jalin Marshall because I want him to go off like last year.
DJ: I don’t expect Ohio State to cover this game, but I expect them to win by 14-17; let’s call it 51-34. I think the player of the game will be Ezekiel Elliott, who will post his best game (statistically) of the year.
Eric: Ohio State's going to win the game, but won't cover. My final score is 45-28 in favor of the Buckeyes, with my MVP being Ezekiel Elliott. The Hoosier defense isn't the best at defending the run, especially now with Darius Latham is suspended. Should be a big day on the ground for the Buckeyes.
