What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder — Open Week Edition

I know that it didn’t take long for people to start diminishing Ohio State’s win at Notre Dame. There have only been two wins this year that can compete with OSU’s win in South Bend for best victory of 2023 so far, and that’s FSU over LSU on a neutral site and Texas over Alabama in Tuscaloosa. And yet ever since that win, I’ve seen it diminished because of 10 men on defense and because it wasn’t high scoring.

I think the worst, however, was listening to a SiriusXM host say Penn State’s win over Iowa was a better/more impressive win than Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame. If you’re keeping score, OSU averaged 5.6 yards per play on offense while Penn State averaged 4.1. We could look at the defensive performances, but only Ohio State was facing a team that fields an offense.

I wonder how a win over Penn State will be diminished in three weeks.

I know I like the influx of two-back sets returning to college football, but I’m not sure the Ohio State defense does. The run defense can’t give up 176 yards rushing like they did against the Irish and expect to win games. (Even though under Ryan Day, the Buckeyes are 10-3 in games where they gave up 170+ yard rushing. (Under Urban Meyer, they were 20-3.)) The records when not giving up 170 yards rushing are much better.

I think Ohio State using a jumbo offense for short yardage only makes matters worse. Inviting more defenders into an area is not my idea of increasing the possibility of success. Spread it out and then dice it up like a nice gnocchi.

I wonder if we should be concerned that Ohio State only has three linebackers they’re comfortable playing right now, not counting Sonny Styles.

To read the rest of this edition of What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder, you can click here, but you must be a premium subscriber. Additional topics include Ryan Day’s postgame comments following the win over Notre Dame, the best wins in the nation, Day’s reactions to upcoming questions, Josh Simmons’ performance against the Irish, struggles against the run, the confidence in CJ Hicks, will the Jack ever be back, what Chip Trayanum means to this team, needed fixes for OSU’s offense, and more.

Go to discussion...