Explosive Buckeye Offense Provides Glimpse At The Possibilities

The Buckeyes racked up 406 yards of total offense in the first half of Saturday night’s 56-0 win over Western Michigan. In doing so, they showed off all of the different ways they can hurt a defense.

This wasn’t death by a thousand cuts. This was a couple of swift blows before Western Michigan even knew they were in a fight.

No, this was not the stiffest test for the Buckeyes. While Western Michigan may be the best team in the state, they are not a national power, so every number that follows needs to be taken with a Bronco-sized grain of salt. Still, the Buckeyes play teams like this every year, and they don’t always do what they did in this one.

The 406 yards of total offense in one half is something the Buckeyes haven’t done since CJ Stroud was at quarterback. They did it four times in his two years as the starter.

Seven times last year the Ohio State offense failed to reach 406 yards over the course of all four quarters.

And then they added another 277 yards in the second half.

The Buckeyes finished with 683 yards of total offense, which ties the Rose Bowl against Utah as their sixth-best output in the past 10 seasons.

So yes, while it was “just Western Michigan,” Ohio State has played dozens of teams just like this one over the past 10 years and have rarely done what they did on Saturday night.

While some sporting events have fun theme nights and giveaways, the Buckeyes invited Western Michigan to town for “Pick Your Poison Night.”

“We’ve got all kinds of poison. Which would you like? Do you want something gut-slicingly painful, or would you just like to drift off to sleep? We’ve also got this new one in that we call ‘The JJ Special.’ It simply wows you death.”

This was the kind of offensive explosion that lived up to the unrealistic expectations that people have created for this team.

Quarterback Will Howard completed 18-of-26 passes for 292 yards. He connected on his first 10 pass attempts and finished the first half by going 15-of-22 for 274 yards with a touchdown.

Howard found freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith five times for 119 yards in that first half, including a seemingly basic short curl that Smith took 70 yards for a score.

That was just one example of what this offense can do. A simple RPO for six or seven yards isn’t designed to go 70, but that’s just part of the potential of this offense. A similar thing happened in the season opener against Akron. Howard found sophomore receiver Carnell Tate for about an eight-yard curl. Tate then took it the final 26 yards for a 34-yard touchdown.

And if a defense would like to just focus on those two receivers, senior Emeka Egbuka will fly through their secondary both above and below the radar. Even the tight ends caught six passes for 73 yards.

As a team, the Buckeyes threw for 410 yards. It was the first time they topped the 400-yard mark since a 77-21 win over Toledo in 2022.

And then there is the running game. The Buckeyes rushed for 273 yards on 39 carries. It was their best rushing total since November of 2022.

Junior running back Quinshon Judkins rushed for 108 yards on nine attempts, and that was while having an 80-yard touchdown run wiped from the record due to a holding call. Senior running back TreVeyon Henderson finished with 66 yards on 10 carries.

Both backs are a threat to go the distance every time they touch the ball. There is no let up.

Pick between one of those two poisons. Then wish yourself luck.

Saturday night’s offensive performance against Western Michigan was the kind of outburst that matched the potential on this Ohio State team.

There are no easy outs for a defense. Would they rather see Will Howard drop back and choose from three future first-round receivers or hand it off to a pair of possible first-round running backs?

Perhaps the scariest part of this for upcoming defenses is that there is still more to come. As Howard said after the game, they left meat on the bones. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly will continue to add more. Howard will become a larger part of the running game.

The bones will soon have teeth marks.

Saturday’s win against Western Michigan was an example of what this Ohio State offense is capable of doing from play to play, no matter the talent level they are playing against.

This was a good start.

It won’t always look like this, but the potential is always there for it to look exactly like this on any given snap.

And that should probably be the Buckeyes’ warning label for every opponent the rest of the way out.