Saturday in Columbus is a massive opportunity for the Buckeyes to establish their run game and correct all their problems.
Ohio State's run game so far this year has left a lot to be desired through three games. The Box scores tell a different story, but the truth is that there are a lot of question marks surrounding Ohio State's ability to consistently run the football.
The negative is that their lack of a consistent run game is going to cost them against future strong opponents. The positive is that they have a lot of time to correct it, and Saturday is a perfect opportunity to fix a lot of their problems.
In week one against Ball State, they finished the game with 237 yards on 35 carries, which is a great number. However, there were two chunk runs of 65 and 49 yards as outliers; their real numbers were 123 yards on 33 carries. Not good enough.
Against Texas, they were great for three quarters, but when the chips were down in the fourth quarter, they could not do anything at all on the ground. It led to two three-and-outs that ended up costing them the game in the fourth quarter.
Last week against Kent State was again a little bit better from their top two ball carriers, but it was not great overall. Both Bo and Ja'Kobi Jackson averaged over 5 yards per carry, but the team average fell to just 3.8 yards per carry. Again, this would be a decent number against a team of equal competition, but not against Kent State.
Saturday against Illinois is a chance to correct it all and do it against a quality Big Ten opponent.
In week one, UAB tagged the Illini for nearly 200 yards on the ground, averaging over 4 yards per carry. In week two, Duke got them for just 174 yards, but their lead back, Nate Sheppard, went off for 147 yards on 24 carries.
Ohio State's challenge today will be a tough one, as they will again be down Phillip Daniels at right tackle. It was that way last week, and it wasn't quite good enough. This will be week two of this offensive line, and they have to start coming together.
More importantly, head coach Ryan Day challenged his lead back, Bo Jackson, by saying that Ja'Kobi Jackson ran it much harder than Bo did last week and was more of a weapon for the Buckeyes offense.
I expect today to see a balanced dose of Bo and Ja'Kobi in the backfield and for the Buckeyes to get a rhythm on the ground.
Establishing their ground game will go a long way for the Buckeyes both today and in the weeks to come. It's time for them to get it figured out, and this is the perfect opportunity to do it.
