COLUMBUS — Luke Fahey will start at quarterback for Ohio State against Oregon on Saturday. That shouldn’t be surprising. Nothing in Fahey’s performance in last week’s loss to USC suggested he couldn’t handle the job.
“There are things to build on there for sure,” head coach Ryan Day said. “But we gotta do a better job around him, helping him out as a young player.”
It’s true that the Buckeyes did not do nearly enough to elevate a true freshman making his first career start on the road, 2,500 miles from Columbus, in the rain against a desperate Trojans team. Fahey also needs to play better moving forward.
“I thought he had the right approach,” Day said. “It was not all perfect. There were certainly things that happened operationally that, for a young quarterback, were a lot on him. He was working through it.
“There were some missed throws, but we expected that to happen. He also made a lot of plays. He had command of the huddle. He showed some grit and toughness. I go to the players, the offensive line and receivers, and ask what it’s like in the huddle, and they were very positive about his approach. I thought you saw him extend some plays and make some plays. He kept playing all the way to the end. I thought his attitude was great on the sideline.”
I went back and watched every Fahey snap against USC. Here are some things that stood out as we ponder where he can grow from here:
1. Ohio State did not dial back its downfield passing aggression because it had a freshman making its first start. Julian Sayin ranks fifth in the Power Four in air yards per attempt (10.8). Against USC, Fahey averaged 12.3 air yards per target. That’s slightly elevated because of some deep throws late in the game, but he still averaged 11.7 air yards per attempt through the first three quarters.
If the Buckeyes want to keep that intermediate and deep passing style, Fahey needs to be more accurate, especially on deep balls.
On throws of 20 air yards or more, Fahey was only 2-of-11. He was off-target on 45.5 percent of those attempts. There was one drop.
On the miss above, Fahey correctly identifies the lone deep safety hugging the near hash and staying over Jeremiah Smith, which leaves Devin McCuin one-on-one. McCuin does appear to power down some once he realizes he has so much space and Fahey is already into his throw when that happens. But even if the timing of this was right, the ball still lands out of bounds.