After an uneventful month to start the season, No. 3 Ohio State (3-0) enters conference play following three dominant performances. The Buckeyes have outscored Akron, Marshall and Western Michigan by a combined score of 157-20. The lone negative was the 14 points Ohio State allowed in the first half against Marshall. Otherwise, there’s plenty to be excited about the Buckeyes.
Here’s what I learned — and didn’t — in those games.
The offensive line is showing growth
The poor performance of Ohio State’s offensive line last year was one of the biggest storylines all offseason. The Buckeyes added Seth McLaughlin at center, but held on to the rest of last year’s line instead of adding more talent, believing in what they already had in the program.
Through three games, albeit against underwhelming competition, the results have been promising.
Ohio State played the first two games without preseason All-America left guard Donovan Jackson but got him back against Marshall. There were some struggles against Akron, with two new starting guards in Tegra Tshabola and Austin Siereveld, but they improved against Western Michigan and were dominant against Marshall.
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The left side of the line with Jackson and tackle Josh Simmons looks to be Ohio State’s strongest. Across the board, Ohio State’s numbers — especially in the run game — are up. Through three games, Ohio State has run for 723 yards and is averaging 7.02 yards per carry, which is second nationally.
Their growth is especially evident when looking at Ohio State’s 3.99 yards per rush before first contact. That’s second nationally, per TruMedia, and is a substantial rise from last season’s three-game start when the Buckeyes averaged 2.32 yards per rush before first contact against Indiana, Western Kentucky and Youngstown State.
Pass protection is a bit harder to judge because Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall didn’t do much to get after quarterback Will Howard. Still, Ohio State leads the country in lowest pressure rate allowed at just 14.3 percent, per Pro Football Focus.
All of this is progress. We may not be completely certain how good or consistent the line will be this year, but through three games we’ve seen enough to know it’s better than it was a year ago.
This running back duo will work well together
Speaking of blocking in the run game, let’s talk about the running back duo of Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson.
Getting both together was widely praised this offseason by fans and analysts around the country. In a matter of weeks, Ohio State went from uncertainty in the backfield to one of the most talented groups in the nation. The only question about them was how Ohio State would divvy up the carries.
So far, Ohio State seems to have found balance by mostly alternating drives for them. Per PFF, Judkins has played 74 snaps, while Henderson has played 76, nearly an exact split. As for carries, Judkins has outnumbered Henderson in carries 36 to 24, but they’ve both been effective when in the game.
Judkins has 336 yards, five touchdowns and is averaging 9.3 yards per carry, while Henderson has 207 yards, four touchdowns and is averaging 8.6 yards per carry.
Through three games we’ve seen Judkins and Henderson as explosive, physical backs in the run game and Henderson has even shown growth in pass protection.
It’s easy to read too much into the statistics, especially early in the year. But regardless of statistics, it’s easy to see that Henderson and Judkins are an elite duo. They’re the key to Ohio State’s run-heavy and RPO offensive identity, so using both backs will be crucial to Ohio State’s success.
We’ve yet to see what this offense will look like against a strong defensive line, but for now, Henderson and Judkins are making the case as the best running back duo in the country. With Kelly calling plays, I don’t think they’ll slow down any time soon, even with the competition getting tougher.
Will Howard can run this offense, but can he do more?
Ohio State choosing to add Howard in the portal was an important move.
The Buckeyes had no answers at quarterback coming out of an abysmal Cotton Bowl showing and they needed somebody who could move the offense down the field consistently and utilize their mobility, as well. Howard has done that through three games.
His numbers aren’t Heisman-level like others transfers, including Miami’s Cam Ward, but Howard has done his job with the offense.
He has thrown for 795 yards, six touchdowns and just one interception, while completing 68.9 percent of his passes. The offense Kelly runs seems perfect for the 6-foot-4 and 237-pound quarterback from Pennsylvania.
If Ohio State is going to focus on the run game and then use the pass game for quick hitters and explosive plays, that means the quarterback must be quick with his reads and have good pocket presence. Howard has that. It’s especially helpful that the Buckeyes are using so much play action and RPO action for Howard, because that’s his strength.
On play-action passes this season, Howard has thrown for 555 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, while completing 30 of his 40 pass attempts. TruMedia doesn’t distinguish play action from RPO passes, though, so his strength should be noted in both the play action and option passes.
He hasn’t been perfect and there are some things we won’t know about Howard until we see him against a capable defense. His deep ball is one. He’s thrown the ball beyond 21 yards just six times this season, completing three of them for 116 yards with one interception on Saturday.
That’s something Howard wants to get under control.
“At the end of the day it’s just repetitions,” Howard said. “We want to push the ball down the field and in practice I’ve made strides and we’ve done some good things. We haven’t shown it a ton, which can be a good and a bad thing. I think we have the ability to do it and I need to be able to show that. … Pushing the ball downfield should be one of our strengths and can be one of our strengths.”
He’s also struggled in the limited pressure looks he’s faced, completing one of nine attempts under pressure, for 8 yards.
But the time will come when he has to rip a ball downfield or sit in the pocket and throw in the face of pressure. We can evaluate him more then, but for now we know he fits the RPO and mobility part of this offense well.
Caleb Downs is as good as advertised
If you look at the stat sheet you might think that Downs hasn’t lived up to his billing as the top transfer this offseason. The freshman All-American led Alabama in tackles last season but has just nine for the Buckeyes.
That number doesn’t tell the whole story.
Downs has been strong for Ohio State in the run game and even blitzing occasionally this year. He has half a sack this season and a pass breakup in coverage.
But more than anything he’s been a calming presence in the back, with Lathan Ransom. Downs hasn’t gotten beat deep on any routes. In fact, he’s shut down a lot of throwing lanes that can’t be seen on the TV broadcasts.
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles also hasn’t used everything in his playbook yet, so there will be new wrinkles added to the defense in the coming weeks. Those will likely include using Downs in more ways.
But through three games, there’s no doubt that Downs has been as good as advertised. Just don’t take the stat sheet as gospel.
Jeremiah Smith will live up to the hype
Speaking of high expectations, nobody came into the season with more hype than Smith.
The No. 1 recruit in the 2024 class, Smith was considered one of the best receiver high school prospects in recent years, so the assumption was that he would come into Ohio State and turn into a star right away. Those assumptions were correct, but it happened even faster than I thought.
Smith began the season with a 92-yard, two-touchdown day against Akron and has only continued that success since the opener. He leads Ohio State with 281 receiving yards and four touchdowns through three games. He’s tied for third-most receiving touchdowns nationally.
Smith is not a one-trick pony. He can win with speed, as shown with his 53-yard touchdown against Marshall. He can win one-on-one downfield with his 45-yard one-handed catch against Akron. He can win in short yardage, as shown by his red zone slant against Akron. But he can also block and make big catches on third down.
It’s impossible to put a ceiling on Smith because he’s so good that he should shatter any expectations people have over the next three years, before the NFL comes calling.
In the meantime, it’s not crazy to think that Smith can be an All-Big Ten honoree at the end of the year. He’s that good right now.
Special teams has potential but still a work in progress
With Parker Fleming now gone, Ohio State has been running its special teams unit with the help of everybody from the coaching staff. Through two games there were some things to get excited about, especially the addition of Brandon Inniss to the punt return unit.
The former five-star has been good so far in his second year at Ohio State. He’s racked up 87 yards already, which exceeded last season’s total of 75 yards.
Saturday, against Marshall, there was a cause for concern, though. Kicker Jayden Fielding sent three straight kickoffs out of bounds before Ryan Day benched him and played Austin Snyder. Day said Fielding tweaked something during the game, but never told the coaching staff about it until later.
In the meantime, he and Snyder will compete for the starting kicker role. Snyder lost his black stripe on Tuesday, which points to the competition being a real deal going forward.
Linebacker depth is there, but can they help the run game?
Ohio State’s depth at linebacker was a major concern this offseason, but that doesn’t look to be the case anymore. The Buckeyes have ironed out a two-deep that includes starters Sonny Styles and Cody Simon along with rotational players Arvell Reese and C.J. Hicks.
They are an athletic and versatile trio. Reese and Simon are the mike linebackers, but Styles can play both mike and will linebacker, if he’s on the field at the same time as Hicks. The question for this group, especially after giving up 125 rushing yards to Marshall, is whether it can stop the run consistently.
The Buckeyes will not play an offense like Marshall’s Air Raid again this season. But some stout, run-heavy offenses are coming up on the schedule, like Iowa with star Kaleb Johnson, who leads the Big Ten with 685 yards and nine touchdowns.
We will learn a lot about Ohio State’s linebacker corps in that game, but as of now, we don’t know how they will react to a strong offensive line and running back combination.
Photo of Brandon Inniss, left, and Quinshon Judkins: Samantha Madar / USA Today Network via Imagn Images
