BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – J.K. Dobbins carried extra motivation into his first game as an Ohio State Buckeye.
After his hometown of La Grange, Texas, was hit hard earlier this week by flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Dobbins wanted to bring something positive to those who would be watching him back home.
"I’m probably the only positive thing going on in my town, right now, so I just thought of it as bringing my city up, so that’s why I came out here and played as hard as I could," Dobbins said.
Dobbins didn’t just raise up his hometown on Thursday night, but raised up Ohio State’s entire football team, as he played an integral role in the Buckeyes’ 49-21 season-opening win.
Big passing plays and defensive dominance are what enabled Ohio State to pull away from Indiana in Thursday night’s game, but it was Dobbins – a true freshman – who kept them in it.
As its passing offense struggled to make plays downfield and its passing defense struggled to stop the Hoosiers offense for most of the first three quarters of the game, Ohio State appeared to be in actual danger of losing its first game of the season. The No. 2-ranked Buckeyes trailed Indiana, 21-20, with less than 20 minutes to play in the game.
The Buckeyes likely would have been trailing by even more if not for a historic, record-breaking performance by Dobbins, who rushed for 181 yards – the most ever by an Ohio State player in his first game.
Ohio State’s inability to consistently make plays in the passing game, while allowing Indiana’s offense to pass for 420 yards, could have been a recipe for disaster when combined with the absence of the Buckeyes’ returning starter at running back, Mike Weber, who was held out of the game with a hamstring injury.
Weber’s absence, though, proved to be a mere footnote in the story of Thursday’s game.
Dobbins didn’t score any of the Buckeyes’ 49 points in Thursday’s game, but he did help set many of them up.
Ohio State demonstrated its confidence in Dobbins right out of the gates, handing the ball off to him on the first play and throwing to him on the game’s first third down, as quarterback J.T. Barrett connected with his fellow Texas native on a wheel route up the left sideline that went for an 18-yard gain, which helped lead Ohio State to a field goal on its first possession.
Dobbins started slowly as a runner, gaining only 26 yards on his first nine carries, but that all changed early in the second quarter, when Dobbins made multiple defenders miss with sharp jump cuts en route to a 35-yard gain, which put Ohio State inside the 10-yard line to set up its second score of the night, also a field goal.
A 27-yard run by Dobbins put OSU inside the 10-yard line again on its subsequent drive, but he came out for a breather after that – his fourth straight carry of the series – which set up backup running back Antonio Williams to score the Buckeyes’ first touchdown of the season.
Dobbins had 15 carries for 107 yards in the first half alone, accounting for more than half of the Buckeyes’ 223 first-half yards when including his two receptions for 24 yards.
Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson acknowledged having some angst at putting so much on Dobbins’ plate so early in his first game, but he was thrilled with how the freshman responded to the challenge.
"We were just worried because he is a freshman, he would be too amped up," Wilson said of Dobbins. "(We) had to get him going, but not hyperventilate early. When you've got the ball and they are all chasing at you, that is a lot for a young kid ... he handled it like a champ."
He continued to be a consistent factor for the Buckeyes in the final 30 minutes, gaining three or more yards on 12 of his 14 second-half carries, with eight of those carries coming on Buckeye scoring drives as the road team pulled away en route to a four-score victory.
With 205 yards total as a runner and receiver, Dobbins led the Buckeyes offense to a 596-yard performance, more yards than the Buckeyes had in all but two games last season.
The true freshman’s performance was certainly not lost on the Ohio State faithful who made the trip to Bloomington for Thursday’s game. As the running back exited the field and entered Ohio State’s tunnel following the ceremonial singing of Carmen Ohio, the crowd of Buckeyes fans still at Memorial Stadium gave him a celebratory sendoff by chanting "J.K. Dobbins! J.K. Dobbins!"
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, among those who praised Dobbins throughout the offseason, said he was "not surprised at all" by the freshman’s performance, and he believes Dobbins has "even more in the tank." After just one game, Meyer was willing to compare Dobbins to Ezekiel Elliott – the running back who was the star of Ohio State’s 2014 national championship-winning offense.
"He’s very similar to Zeke," Meyer said. "He’s very similar about the way he works, and he handles his business like a pro. He walked in as a grown man. We’re happy to have him."
Weber could have played on Thursday night, Meyer said, but the Buckeyes chose to hold him out because he was only "80 percent" healthy due to a hamstring injury.
The question now, as the Buckeyes go into a marquee matchup in Week 2 against Oklahoma that will likely be closely contested for all four quarters, is whether Dobbins and Weber can combine to give the Buckeyes a two-headed monster at the running back position.
Asked who the starting running back would be in next Saturday’s game, Meyer hesitated for a moment before giving a humorous reply, indicating that Dobbins’ performance gives the Ohio State coaching staff a real decision to make at that position next week.
"J.K. Weber," Meyer replied. "We got two great backs."
