Last week did not go as planned for the Buckeyes, and Ohio State can't afford to have a letdown against a unique offense as Army comes to town.
With Ohio State trying to rebound against the Black Knights, Eleven Warriors attempts to give you some clarity and answer your questions following the loss to Oklahoma.
Army doesn't throw the ball a lot. However, Oklahoma had success by running play action, taking advantage of the aggressive LBs and sneaking a guy out of the backfield behind them. Do you think Army will try to do the same at some point? - BurningRiverBuckeye
It is a completely different offense and style of play, so it is very hard to compare the two. A lot of the play action stuff that Oklahoma did last week were RPOs (run/pass options), something that is not exactly feasible out of a wishbone look.
Army will have a game plan that involves a handful of play action passes. Make no mistake though, the Black Knights are going to run a steady diet of fullback dives, QB sweeps and the traditional triple option look. Eventually, they will try to take the top off of Ohio State's defense, but it won't look anything like what Oklahoma did a week ago.
Give me a prediction of what J.T. Barrett's performance will look like on Saturday versus Army. - Osu_killernuts
It will look better. How much better, though, remains to be seen.
I would expect plenty of easy throws to get Barrett's confidence back up, as I have a feeling his morale isn't exactly at its peak right now. He can't do it alone though. Barrett needs some help from his receivers and play callers. The Buckeyes have to give the ball to J.K. Dobbins and or Mike Weber on a more consistent basis to set up the play action to draw defenders in and create space for receivers to run free. Running the quarterback, while it may equate the box, will not help the play action passing game. The less Barrett runs, in my opinion, the better.
How many snaps will Dwayne Haskins get this week? - The Dizzle
I don't know if I am comfortable giving an exact number of reps, but I will go ahead and predict a number of drives.
I could see Haskins getting as many as four series with the Ohio State offense, provided the Buckeyes get a big enough lead. I am willing to go that high because I don't believe Joe Burrow is healthy enough to play and I think Tate Martell is destined for a redshirt season.
I expect the Buckeyes to get up by enough that Haskins plays, but I don't know that he plays enough or well enough to push Barrett for his job just yet.
What will be the key for the OSU defense to fend off those chop blocks that will be forthcoming? - Icouldnotgofor3
First just to correct the terminology here, its a cut block Ohio State's defensive linemen will have to deal with. Chop blocks are illegal and occur when an offensive player cuts a player who is already engaged with another offensive player.
A player has to be good at using their hands to disengage a cut block. As an offensive player cuts at the defensive player's legs, that defensive player should use the offensive player's momentum against him by pushing off to gain momentum into the backfield.
What is Michael Hill's status and why did he get suspended? - AwlinBrutus
Urban Meyer confirmed Wednesday that Michael Hill is still suspended for Ohio State's upcoming game against Army. There is still no timetable for when Hill will return, and the program has still not announced why the defensive tackle is being held out of game action.
Is playing a triple option team a good thing or bad thing for the secondary? - Sightlygrain6
I think it could be good for their confidence to not look at the stat sheet after the game and see 400+ yards in the opponent's passing yards column, but as far as their development goes, playing Army is a hindrance.
Damon Arnette and Kendall Sheffield are not going to get any better in pass coverage when they have to consistently get off blocks for 40 out of 50 reps in a game. Like I said, though, not being shredded by a Heisman candidate or a pro-style quarterback like Richard Lagow should do wonders for their confidence, which is paramount for a group of young corners.
With a schedule of Army, UNLV and Rutgers over the next three weeks, it is going to be really tough to gauge improvement in the passing offense and pass defense. How will we be able to gauge improvements in these areas while facing inferior opponents? - BuckeyeIn NY
You'll know the improvement when you've seen it. And what I mean by that is you'll see Buckeyes will hit a deep ball or two, and it will be off of play action passes. If you don't see that, then Ohio State might be in for a rough night against Nebraska (looks at the Cornhuskers defense), but then again, maybe not.
In all seriousness, Ohio State's offense operated at its best in 2014 when it was running the ball consistently in between the tackles and hitting play action passes over the top. The first step for the Buckeyes to be successful is to let Dobbins and Weber do what they do best, and get yards up the middle. That will set up everything else, but running Barrett on QB sweeps and powers isn't going to set up anything in the pass game.
If Ohio State's play callers can get out of their own way, they have three weeks to get the Buckeyes back to their 2014 ways. If not, then Nebraska's offense led by Tanner Lee could score enough points to win in what I imagine will be a primetime kickoff in Lincoln.
Much of the same goes for the pass defense. Meyer and Greg Schiano have maintained all week that they are focusing strictly on Army, which means they likely aren't doing much on pass defense in practice. That said, the second the matchup against Army is over, you better believe this team is going to challenge the defensive backs often in practice. Maryland will be a good test before traveling to Nebraska, who I expect to throw 40-50 times against the Buckeye secondary (more on that in the coming weeks).
Will the Buckeyes get to travel to play Army on the road, like we did for Navy a few years back? - ControltheGlassdoor
The only way this ever happens is if the game is played in a larger stadium. The only reason Ohio State agreed to play Navy in Baltimore was because they played at M&T Bank Stadium, which holds around 71,000 fans.
Army's home stadium holds just 38,000, so for Ohio State to return the favor and play a road game, they would probably have to play at MetLife Stadium. There is no way Ohio State would agree to play a road game in a stadium with any less than 60,000 seats.
Where has the swagger on this team gone? How do they go about getting it back? - Viperdriver
It's still there, but there is one thing that gets the swagger back for good: Winning.
My one worry for this team is that there might be a serious divide in the locker room because of the questions at quarterback. If this team can overcome those kind of distractions, I think they will be fine.
I fully expect Ohio State to win handily in their next three games before Maryland comes to town. I don't think the Terps will beat the Buckeyes, but I like the way DJ Durkin has his team playing and OSU will need to play a better game than it did against Oklahoma to keep the morale in the locker room high.
Every week, I have a new reason to ask the same question. Will J.K. Dobbins get 15 carries? - BUCKEYE3M
Every week I seem to get this one wrong. I am going with 15 carries for Dobbins, and another 15 between Weber and Barrett combined. I think Ohio State tries to prove it can be successful through the air and attempts close to 40 passes in this one. Antonio Williams probably gets some time as well.
If Haskins comes into the game, (let's just say start of 2nd half) do you think Urban Meyer would consider letting Wilson run all of his plays for him? Or ego and system change not happening? Inquiring minds would love to see. - BELLEFONTAINEBUCKEYE
They are not going to change play callers depending on who the quarterback is. That just isn't how it works. Whoever calls the plays for Barrett is the same person that will call the plays for Haskins, if he gets into the game. Same goes for Burrow or even Martell if that were to happen. It's not an ego thing, or a system thing. It's just how every team works. You don't change play callers depending on who the quarterback is. If you did, you would have a very dysfunctional coaching staff.
Yes, I know the comment is coming: "Well, they looked dysfunctional against Oklahoma." Yes, they did. But they also have more national titles than you or I do. So I expect them to get it fixed.
