November Hunting: Where Ohio State Looks to Improve Heading Down the Stretch of the 2015 Regular Season

By Eric Seger on November 2, 2015 at 8:35 am
Urban Meyer has the top-ranked team in the nation coming out of a bye week. What now?
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Urban Meyer probably thought the bye week was coming at the perfect time for his Ohio State team, with the Buckeyes sitting at 8-0 and atop both the Coaches and AP Polls.

That, of course, was before Meyer awoke and learned his starting quarterback, J.T. Barrett, had been arrested and cited for OVI early Saturday morning.

Meyer suspended Barrett for Saturday's home contest against Minnesota. Whether or not the sophomore captain will face any more disciplinary action from his head coach remains to be seen, but for now, Cardale Jones steps back into the spotlight once again at quarterback.

Minnesota is 4-4 and 1-3 in the Big Ten, dropping a heartbreaker at the horn to Michigan in Minneapolis Saturday. Jerry Kill retired Wednesday citing health reasons, so its pretty obvious the Golden Gophers are playing for his legacy as they finish out 2015.

Jones
Once again, it's Jones' time.

A road game at Ohio State is a different animal, though, especially one under the lights. Meyer had his Buckeyes rolling right into the bye week with Barrett at the helm, with the quarterback accounting for five touchdowns in a 49-7 thrashing of Rutgers Oct. 24.

Barrett's out at least for Saturday, but Buckeye players and coaches have held firm that the offense doesn't change much regardless who's playing quarterback. We'll see if that is true Saturday, but for now, Ohio State still largely has momentum considering its 21-game winning streak. The Buckeyes still haven't lost a Big Ten regular season game under Meyer (27-0).

Where do the Buckeyes go from here? Where can they better? Where must they get better? Let's take a look.


Health Boost

Having a weekend off two months in allows for a team's health overall to improve. Ohio State was without at least two starters at Rutgers (defensive tackle Tommy Schutt, broken wrist, and wide receiver Parris Campbell, knee sprain) who are expected back either this weekend or at some point in November.

Linebacker Joshua Perry battled through an ankle sprain to record two tackles and a quarterback hurry against the Scarlet Knights, but admittedly was not 100 percent. That should not be the case any longer.

"It’s getting there. We do a great job around here just making sure that we have all the resources to get guys healthy," Perry said Wednesday. "We spend a lot of time in the training room and our coaches are really smart in the way they put together a plan so it’s getting there, definitely be healthy by the end of the bye week."

Meyer is sure to provide updates later on Monday during his press conference regarding the health of Campbell, Schutt and others, but an extra-long break from the thumping of a game should help everyone on roster.

Offensive Progression

Whether or not Barrett's suspension causes the offense to take a step back is the question that sits highest on Ohio State's totem pole.

Meyer moved away from Jones in the days leading up to the game — though the junior is 10-0 as a starter — and with an efficient and productive performance against Rutgers from the entire offense (528 yards, 27 first downs, 7.5 yards per play, 49 points, one turnover, no penalties) the quarterback quandary seemed dead.

Elliott
Elliott's been a workhorse all season for Ohio State.

The offensive line and Ezekiel Elliott appeared to be hitting their stride with Barrett at the helm, because defenses couldn't just throw everything at No. 15 to stop the Buckeye rushing attack. Elliott (19 carries, 142 yards, two touchdowns at Rutgers) leads the Big Ten with 1,130 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns while eclipsing the 100-yard mark in 13 straight games.

Will it continue with Jones at quarterback? Or will Elliott need more touches to keep his production in the running game high? Minnesota allows 148.3 yards per game on the ground, ninth-best in the conference.

Defensive Prowess

Ohio State played perhaps its most complete game defensively against Rutgers, nearly pitching a shutout and keeping the Scarlet Knights around 200 yards before their final 90-yard drive against backups.

Ohio State picked off Chris Laviano once and sacked him twice, but allowed 135 yards rushing. The unit improved as the game wore on, looking better in the run game than it did against Penn State and Maryland the two weeks before.

Whether or not Schutt is the question for the interior of the defense, but the group didn't play its best ball until the end of the 2014 season, either. Is Luke Fickell's group on the same trajectory?

Ohio State is 13th in the country in total defense, allowing 301.1 yards per game through its first eight contests. Since allowing 402 yards at Indiana, the numbers have dwindled in the last three games — 386, 315 and 293 total yards allowed.

A date with unbeaten Michigan State and Connor Cook, the conference's second-highest rated passer, looms large.

Sturdy Special Teams

It's almost like we forget to talk about the Ohio State special teams, because there haven't been many mistakes to point out through the first two-thirds of the regular season.

Cameron Johnston is a wizard, leading the Big Ten in average yards per punt (45.8 yards). Fourteen of his 34 punts were downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line, against just five touchbacks. Not to mention opponents are averaging a paltry 5.8 yards per return. The longest punt return Ohio State's allowed in 2015 is 14 yards.

Kickoff is in a similar situation. Jack Willoughby's wildly improved at kicking the ball in the coffin corner like Meyer wants, and the unit's responded. Ohio State's allowed an average of 15.8 yards per kickoff return in its first eight games, the best in the Big Ten.

Willoughby's missed three of his 10 field goal attempts and nailed all 41 of his extra point tries. Not too bad for a guy who'd never made a field goal in a game before coming to Ohio State this season.


The bottom line is this: Ohio State still hasn't budged from its preseason No. 1 ranking. The Buckeyes are working out the kinks on both sides of the ball as they head into the biggest month of the season.

Even with Barrett out Saturday, Ohio State should win handily — Las Vegas opened with the Buckeyes as 23-point favorites. The same goes for the following week at Illinois (4-4, 1-3 Big Ten), setting the table for the matchup everyone wanted to see Nov. 21 at Ohio Stadium against Michigan State.

How Barrett figures back into the equation once his suspension expires is something to watch, but Meyer looks to have his team ready to peak at the right time.

Buckle up.

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