Ohio State’s nonconference schedule wrapped up on Saturday with a 49-19 win over Marshall.
The Buckeyes have outscored their first three opponents 157-20 and outgained them 1,656 yards to 540. While that dominance was expected, watching one of the most talented teams in the country cruise to wins and figure out its identity is still impressive.
In this week’s film review, we will talk about Ohio State’s identity as a run-first and explosive offense.
Blocking by outside WRs
One of the talking points after the game was Ohio State’s receivers putting a bigger emphasis on blocking this offseason, and it was easy to see against Marshall.
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I thought there were times against Akron when the Buckeyes had a chance at a few big plays but missed blocks on the perimeter. That hasn’t been the case during the past two weeks as they’ve been terrific across the board, especially against Marshall.
Here’s a look at Quinshon Judkins’ 29-yard run that set up Will Howard’s second-quarter touchdown.
First, note the really good job Donovan Jackson did to get off the line to immediately double-team the defensive tackle with center Seth McLaughlin. It was good to see Jackson back, and he was terrific, but this play was about Carnell Tate.
Tate, at 6 feet 3 and 191 pounds, did a good job of getting right into the box to take away the Marshall defender. This was a mentality thing. A lot of times when we see receivers lead blocks, it’s on the perimeter or just jogging up the field to run somebody off a runner, but this time, Tate opened up that run because of his blocking ability inside the hash marks. Judkins did a nice job of getting upfield quickly, but you’ll see throughout this film study that Tate’s physicality shined.
GO DEEPER
Ohio State takeaways: Chip Kelly’s offense showing it can live up to hype
Ohio State had 239 yards after the catch on Saturday, which accounted for 42 percent of its total yards. Emeka Egbuka had 124, Jeremiah Smith had 45, and Tate had 27, but their ability to make a big play and then turn around and block like Tate did there was something Howard has noticed.
“Zone 6, those dudes are dudes,” Howard said. “It’s not just about getting catches or scoring touchdowns, it’s about executing every play. … I’ve never seen a more selfless, talented group of receivers.”
Here’s another one from Tate.
Ohio State went to Egbuka on the edge on a swing pass, but watch Tate and tight end Gee Scott Jr. drive their defenders downfield. This didn’t end up in a big play because there were more Marshall defenders, even after Egbuka made a player miss.
Scott has improved as a blocker, and Tate again showed off he’s more than just a talented and sharp route-runner. This didn’t break for a big play, but it was still impressive watching both perimeter players get defenders and push them upfield. If the run-pass option is a big part of Ohio State’s identity this year, which it looks like it will be, plays like this are good to see.
And here’s Egbuka’s 78-yard touchdown catch.
On this play, you can even see Smith doing a nice job winning his block on the outside. Then you see Tate outrun a safety just to get in his way, and he did a nice job not to push him and get a penalty. That’s the mentality Ohio State needs.
Egbuka did so much running and catching on Saturday that we don’t have a clip of him blocking, but he’s known in the program as a strong blocker. He has been one of the players setting the tone in that aspect of the game and said that the offense knows if it wants to be the explosive group it has the potential to be, the blocking from the wide receivers is crucial.
“If you watch in years past all the explosive plays that could’ve been are tackles that are made by safeties and cornerbacks. It’s never a defensive lineman chasing them 30 yards downfield, for the most part,” Egbuka said. “It falls on the responsibility of the wide receivers.”
All-around ability
If Ohio State is going to lean on its running game, which is new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s specialty, then it helps to have two running backs as dynamic as Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson.
They entered the year as two of the most explosive running backs in the country, and you could see that on Saturday. They racked up 249 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries and averaged more than 12 yards per carry. That’s impressive, but when you look at the film, you see two running backs who aren’t trying to do too much.
This is Judkins’ 86-yard touchdown run.
The offensive line is playing well right now. I’m not ready to say all of that group’s struggles are behind it until at least next week or the Iowa game, but it is trending in the right direction. This was a massive hole that Judkins found, but the cut and the patience before he hit the hole stand out. Judkins has home run speed, as you can see with the rest of the run, but his ability to read the defense and make one cut is impressive.
Here’s another run from Judkins. This time it’s the power he ran with that shined.
Marshall did a great job here, sending somebody right up the hole that Judkins was supposed to take, but elite running backs make plays. This showed off Judkins’ versatility. He’s not just a speed back; he’s physical through contact, as well.
This one of Henderson is great to see.
In the past, Henderson has danced in the backfield a little bit too much, and that’s something he has worked on a lot. This was evidence of that work.
I like the play call by Kelly, and Henderson read the hole perfectly. He didn’t necessarily hesitate after the pitch, but he did a nice job of waiting for his blocks and exploding through the hole. Then, he showed off his speed and power to stiff-arm a defender and run through another tackler and by the final safety.
Ohio State’s offense was interesting entering the season, and it still is until we see it against a Power 4 defense, but these two make for one of the most exciting and dynamic backfield duos in the country. If Judkins and Henderson stay healthy, they’re going to be difficult to stop if the offensive line plays up to its potential.
Kelly’s creative play calling
When Ohio State hired Kelly, the assumption was that he would bring some innovative looks to this offense, and he has done just that. As Ohio State finds its identity, we have begun seeing more looks from Kelly’s play calling.
Here are a few plays that I liked:
This touch pass to Egbuka, which Ohio State used to convert on third-and-4:
This was a great play call and went against what the defense expected. Ohio State motioned out the running back to give Howard an empty look, which made a defense think a pass is coming, but Kelly did a good job utilizing Ohio State’s speed with misdirection.
Egbuka got a clean look around the edge when the offensive linemen pulled.
Ohio State built on this play on the next one:
This super counter was such a good play, especially after the Egbuka touch pass.
Ohio State went back to some misdirection, again utilizing its speed and athleticism on the offensive line. This doesn’t work if Howard isn’t a threat in the run game. He sold the quarterback run well, while the rest of the line pulled and got Henderson a big lane to run through.
I could watch this play over and over; it’s so well executed.
I talked to Egbuka a little bit about Kelly’s play calling, and the point Egbuka made was that Kelly doesn’t just call plays to be creative. He makes everything about the personnel. He has done a great job through three weeks of leaning on Ohio State’s speed and athleticism up front, and it’s showing.
It’s one of the reasons why I thought the offensive line could be better because Kelly would know how to utilize the players’ strengths.
Ohio State won’t be able to confuse teams every play with misdirection. Sometimes teams have to run right at the defense and push the defenders off the ball, but when a team has the speed Ohio State has, it can be extremely dangerous when plays are called at the right times. This was one of those times.
Snap count thoughts
- Ole Miss transfer defensive lineman Tywone Malone played the most snaps in his career at Ohio State with 26, and he looked good. He got extra snaps with Tyleik Williams out to an injury that has him listed as “day-to-day,” according to Ryan Day. Malone had three tackles and one tackle for loss and made a big play early in the game when Marshall was still in it. On fourth-and-1, he read the quarterback option perfectly and Marshall’s Stone Earle saw him and slipped before the first-down marker. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson raved about Malone this summer, so it’ll be interesting to see if he can jump into the rotation after a good game.
- Ohio State continues to rotate players at wide receiver and along the defensive line, even early in games. Brandon Inniss played 17 snaps and Bryson Rodgers played 15, and they seem like the next two receivers up. On the edge, Kenyatta Jackson played 31 snaps, Mitchell Melton played 20 and Caden Curry, who only played the first half, played 11 snaps. It’s important to note that Curry, who was ejected in the first half for targeting with 12 seconds left, will not miss the first half of the Michigan State game because he technically was ejected in the first half. That’s good news for Ohio State because I thought Curry was playing well until that hit.
(Photo of Quinshon Judkins, right, and Brandon Inniss: Samantha Madar / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
