Indiana came within one sack of doubling Ohio State’s season total for sacks allowed.
The Hoosiers piled up five sacks against the Buckeyes and had quarterback Julian Sayin under constant duress in the Big Ten Championship Game. All against an Ohio State offensive line that allowed only six total sacks in its 12 regular-season games.
“Obviously, our pass protection wasn't up to par of what our expectation is,” AFCA first-team All-American center Carson Hinzman said. “Looking at some of the things, just going back to fundamentals, over these next couple weeks, we know what's gonna be important.”
Facing another elite defensive line in Miami in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State’s front five is getting back to basics, while Sayin is working to get the ball out of his hands quicker in an effort to stay upright more often with the season now on the line every game.
“A lot of it's on me,” Sayin said. “I can't hold on to the ball as long. Get the ball out of my hand and keep us on schedule. When we get sacked and getting those 3rd-and-longs, 2nd-and-longs, it makes it tougher on our offense. So just being able to keep us on schedule and get us into the right play.”
Hinzman, left guard Luke Montgomery and left tackle Austin Siereveld have experience patching up an offensive line that had its moments but looked shoddy at the end of the year. In 2024, Ohio State’s offensive line suffered season-ending injuries to two first-team All-American-caliber starters, Josh Simmons and Seth McLaughlin. The unit had a statement performance midway through the year at Penn State, then after the latter of those injuries, struggled in the Buckeyes’ loss to Michigan that year. But after that loss, the offensive line came together to fuel a legendary four-game run to a national championship.
In 2025, Ohio State’s offensive line delivered a statement performance after midseason adversity once more, this time in a vengeful 27-9 win at Michigan. Again, it struggled in a loss heading into the CFP. Repeating the national championship portion of that? It’s the goal, down the road. For now, the full focus is on the Cotton Bowl against No. 10 Miami.
“I've fortunately been in this position last year,” Hinzman said. “Somewhat similar of a situation, where you see some things where you're like, ‘OK.’ As the season progresses, maybe sometimes you get away from a little bit of fundamental work. But that's exactly what we've been doing this past couple weeks to get back into it, to get ready to go play some of these great (pass) rushers that we have coming out.”
“Our pass protection wasn't up to par of what our expectation is.”– Carson Hinzman on Ohio State’s Big Ten championship game performance
Cliché though it may sound, that’s the top way to fix the pass protection issues that surfaced against Indiana in Hinzman’s mind: Fundamentals. He feels, like last year, there’s an understanding of that mission and an urgency from the locker room to attack it.
The Slobs are down one of their veterans as they try to iron everything out. Right guard Tegra Tshabola, who has 28 career games started, is sidelined for at least the CFP quarterfinals with an injury. It’s been a rocky season for Tshabola, who Joshua Padilla or Gabe VanSickle often subbed for at RG throughout the year. VanSickle, who’s been nicknamed “Sicko Mode” by his teammates, took Tshabola’s place after the injury occurred in the Big Ten title game and could now be in line to make his first career start in the Cotton Bowl.
“Sicko Mode, he’s been proving that he's more than capable of going out there and playing with us,” Hinzman said. “We always talk about, ‘What are you doing, how are you doing it, and why are you doing it?’ And I think he's done a great job of not only building his own confidence, but building confidence with Phillip (Daniels) and I, playing in between there.”
Miami’s defensive front is a force. The Hurricanes are fourth nationally with 41 sacks this season. There are few defensive end tandems in the country better than Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor. Bain, a consensus first-team All-American, has 42 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks with an interception and a forced fumble this year. Mesidor, who joined Bain as a first-team All-ACC performer, has 51 tackles, 13.5 TFLs, 8.5 sacks and four forced fumbles. Add 4.5 sacks from 300-pound defensive tackle Ahmed Moten Sr., and it makes for a daunting front.
How does Ohio State plan to slow them down?
“Block them,” Day said, drawing a laugh from the media. “Not easy, not easy. All of them. Moten, Bain, Mesidor. I mean, they're good players. And they come. And I think Jason Taylor's doing a great job down there, coaching those guys and the way they play. And so it's a huge challenge for our offensive line, and what comes with it. But as we've always talked about, it's not just the offensive line. It's everybody involved with it.”
Day added that Ohio State’s offensive linemen are “fired up” knowing the attention will be on them on Dec. 31.
Circling back to Sayin, getting the ball out of his hands quicker is a matter of being willing to take checkdowns, he said. He’s shown great pocket presence the rest of the season, a big part of why he was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
“Sometimes you're waiting, you might have a big shot downfield, you’re waiting, you're waiting, you're waiting,” Sayin said. “But sometimes we can just get the ball out of our hands. We see it, let's get it out now. Let's get the ball (out) and get five yards and move on to the next play.”
If Sayin finishes with as clean a jersey as was usual before the Indiana game, Ohio State should be in position to wash away Miami and head to the CFP semifinals.
