How Chip Kelly's Ohio State offense passed its first true test: What I saw against Iowa

COLUMBUS, Ohio — After a bizarre week of college football, Ohio State and Oregon are set up to face off in a top-three matchup on Saturday in Eugene, Ore.

But before we go there, it’s time to look back at Ohio State’s 35-7 win over Iowa one more time. The Buckeyes won the battle up front, running for 203 yards and holding Iowa to 226 total yards, but more importantly, it was our first look at new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s offense against a true defensive test. And it passed.

Last week, Ryan Day said Ohio State couldn’t focus on outscheming Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker, but it had to play hard. Ohio State did both, as Kelly kept Iowa guessing, and the Hawkeyes, even when they held the Buckeyes to seven points in the first half, never had an answer for Ohio State’s talent.

Here’s what we saw on film:

Keeping Iowa on its toes

Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins, one of the best linebackers in the Big Ten, gave Ohio State a lot of praise after the game, saying the Hawkeyes could never get a read on what the Buckeyes wanted to do.

Iowa uses a traditional two-high safety defense, which means it keeps two players deep to stop big plays. But to do that, Iowa has to take a player out of the box, which usually is not a problem because of its talent at linebacker. It typically can stop the run even in its two-high safety look, but that was not the case on Saturday.

Higgins said that was a problem because when Iowa played two-high, Ohio State ran with ease, and when Iowa dropped a player into the box and went one-high, Ohio State took advantage in the passing game.

The first drive of the second half was a perfect example of that.

There are so many reasons why Ohio State’s run game is successful. The offensive line is part of that, but Kelly is smart with his play calling and with situational motioning. Against this two-high look from Iowa, Ohio State should have an advantage in the running game, but the motion from receiver Emeka Egbuka made this even better. Quinshon Judkins went off tackle here because the linebacker who was lined up there moved with Egbuka’s motion. The moment that linebacker moved, Will Howard got the ball, and that gave Judkins leverage to get outside and center Seth McLaughlin position to get up field and block the linebacker.

Again, we’re talking about the small things in Kelly’s scheme that open up the possibility for more yards even when Ohio State has the advantage in the box.

It’s not realistic for an offense to run against two-high safety and throw against one-high safety every time because defenses adjust. Iowa started walking a safety down in the box late to catch Ohio State off guard, but the offensive line was playing so well it didn’t matter.

This was a well-executed run by Ohio State. It wasn’t a big play, but it was evidence that Ohio State could run on most looks Iowa used.

Every good offense has counters to counters, and as Iowa began bringing more bodies into the box, Ohio State took its chances exposing that as well, by going against tendency.

Here, on fourth-and-3 a little bit later in the third quarter, Iowa crowded the box expecting a run and Kelly made the perfect call.

Howard is great in the run-pass-option game and this was another example. The read here was on the safeties. Quinn Schulte was on the right side of the line, creeping into the box, while Xavier Nwankpa stayed higher and was on the read side for Howard. The moment Nwankpa jumped to the run, Howard threw the ball over his head to hit Brandon Inniss on the slant.

We’re five games into the season, and Ohio State’s fastball is its strong running game, but it’s the multiple looks off it that make Kelly’s curveball so deadly.

Ohio State didn’t have to throw downfield much against Iowa, partially because the two-high defense is built to prevent that but also because the Buckeyes were fine methodically driving down the field.

Still, sometimes you have to play to your talent, and that’s what Kelly drew up here on third-and-6. This was not a complicated play; it’s really all Jeremiah Smith.

He hit a double move and burned both defensive backs easily. If Howard’s ball was better, this would have been a walk-in touchdown, but this was just Kelly saying my guy is better than yours, and he’ll get open. And Smith did.

Ohio State has more talent at the skill positions than most teams in the country, but the way Kelly utilized that talent to keep Iowa off balance is big moving forward.

“He’s got every play call in the book that he wants to call,” Higgins said of Kelly. “So defensively, we saw a lot, probably the most we’ve had to defend, just type of plays, motions, stuff like that. When it comes to talent across the board, I just don’t know if a lot of other teams can match up like that.”

Ohio State’s red-zone efficiency

Ohio State leads the country in red-zone efficiency, scoring on all 21 of its opportunities this season. The Buckeyes have scored touchdowns on 20 of those 21 chances, which is second nationally.

That’s going to be an important part of Saturday’s game against Oregon because the Ducks’ defense has struggled at times, ranking 68th nationally in touchdown percentage, giving up a touchdown on 58 percent of red-zone trips and points on 91 percent of them.

The red zone is where Kelly utilizes his personnel the best.

Ohio State’s receiving corps is one of the best in the country, but coach Brian Hartline has those receivers playing well to the smallest details like late hands, positioning and releases in the red zone.

This is one of my favorite Howard throws of the season.

This was good coverage but a great ball from Howard and an equally impressive catch by Egbuka. What I really like here is the play call.

Ohio State lined up with a bunch on the left and Egbuka inside, with Gee Scott and Bennett Christian outside of him. This put Iowa’s defense in a tough position because if Egbuka went vertical, he was going to get matched up with a linebacker in man coverage. I don’t believe Iowa expected that, again, but Ohio State did and got the matchup perfect.

This was another really good red-zone concept and another good throw from Howard.

Ohio State was lined up with Smith outside and Egbuka in the slot and Iowa in straight-man coverage. This put a lot of stress on the defensive backs because this could be a simple fade to Smith and a slant from Egbuka, and if the defense isn’t ready for it, it’s an easy touchdown for Ohio State. This came after Smith’s touchdown, so it would make sense to run it back, but this time Ohio State did the opposite. You see the defensive back against Egbuka shaded inside to prevent the slant, so Egbuka did a nice job on his release and got outside with speed for a perfect throw from Howard.

Add in the read-option game, which Howard is getting much better at and pulled multiple times outside of the red zone, and you have an offense that is deadly in tight spaces.

Ohio State was just 86 percent in the red zone last year and even worse with a touchdown percentage of 64 percent. Howard’s mobility and accuracy, mixed with the talent, scheme and offensive line growth, have made things easier down there this season.

A few final thoughts

• There were a few players who stood out against Iowa, but at the top of the list were defensive tackles Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton. They wrecked a ton of plays before they even got started and freed up other people to come in and make open tackles. It was good to see Williams back on the field after missing the last two games as well.
• I thought that was Sonny Styles’ best game of the year. He had seven tackles and two tackles for loss. That’s where he’s at his best, reading and reacting because he processes things quickly and can utilize his athleticism. He’s getting better in pass coverage. It’s different at linebacker than as a safety, but there was progress on Saturday.
• Jim Knowles showed a few new blitzes on Saturday, including one where he sent Caleb Downs on a blitz from center field. I’m interested to see how many more he dials up against an Oregon offensive line that is giving up a pressure rate of just 23.3 percent. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel is completing 77.8 percent of passes this year, but against pressure, he’s completing only 59.3 percent with three touchdowns and one interception. Knowles will need to find a balance between stock pressure and blitzes, but there are some looks he’s tinkered with through five games that he can build off of.

(Photo of Quinshon Judkins (1): Jason Mowry / Getty Images)