COLUMBUS — Thoughts and observations on Ohio State’s offense after rewatching the Buckeyes’ 24-23 loss to Texas. I’ll do the same for the defense later in the week.
Win or lose, this was always going to be a game that provided good feedback on where Ohio State is on both sides of the ball, what’s working now, what still needs work, and what should maybe be scrapped moving forward. It would also show who the Buckeyes want to be. You can’t hide things in a matchup game.
Let’s get into some thoughts.
1. I think Ryan Day made some conservative decisions in the second half, most notably punting from the Texas 39-yard line on fourth-and-4 on the opening drive of the second half. I also thought he wasn’t aggressive enough with his timeouts to preserve time at the end of the game.
But I don’t think OSU turtled with its second-half offensive play-calling.
For the most part, I thought Arthur Smith called a good game. One run-run-pass three-and-out in the fourth quarter, as Texas mounted its comeback, was frustrating, but the first two runs created third-and-4, and Julian Sayin’s pass attempt on that play hit Jeremiah Smith in the hands.
The Buckeyes played a little slower at times in the second half, but the pace was fairly consistent for the game. OSU ran a play every 27.2 seconds for the entire game. Not lighting fast. Still much faster than last year. In the second half, excluding the last two-play desperation drive, the offense moved at 24.3 seconds per play.
An interesting, and probably instructive, note on the pace: Three drives averaged more than 30 seconds per play. Those drives ended with a turnover on downs and two punts. When Ohio State averaged fewer than 30 seconds per play, which it did on seven of its possessions, it only punted once. The other drives ended in a field goal, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal, and a missed field-goal attempt.
A brisker pace seems to help the offense.
2. Smith wasn’t dialing up shot after shot in the second half. The breakdown of the 24 second-half plays before the final possessions was 13 called runs and 11 called passes. However, the Buckeyes missed opportunities on called passes that likely would’ve put Texas away if any of them had connected.