Buckeyes Are In Their Own Kind Of Playoffs Right Now

If the Buckeyes want to control their own destiny, they need to get a better handle on it than they’ve got right now.

Ohio State won a game the hard way on Saturday, outlasting Nebraska 21-17, and funnily enough forcing a Buckeye crowd that was absolutely livid at times, to rise and help cheer the Ohio State defense to victory.

The Buckeyes led 14-3 late in the first half and were handling the Huskers, even if the score was closer than it should have been. But Nebraska closed the half with a field goal, and then Ohio State’s offense took some PTO time in the third quarter and didn’t get back into the office until midway through the fourth quarter.

By the time the Buckeyes knew what was happening, they were trailing 17-14 with 10 minutes left in the game.

Maybe the best aspect of this game is the fact that when the Huskers went 74 yards in eight plays and then converted a two-point conversion to take the lead, the Ohio State offense responded exactly as needed. They went 75 yards in eight plays, capping the drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Will Howard to running back Quinshon Judkins.

The final six minutes of the game were put in the hands of the defense, and they did their job — no matter what the officials had to say about it.

It may have not been a last-minute drive like the one that came up short against Oregon, but it was a drive that hit its mark when the Buckeyes absolutely had to have it. It was proof of concept.

But it may have also been proof of other things as well.

Overcoming a fourth-quarter deficit at home against a team that now has a losing record in Big Ten play is not exactly what you’d expect from a team with designs on winning it all.

Will Howard said after the game that the Buckeyes are in the playoffs right now because every game they play is the most important game of the season. That was the price of the loss to the Ducks.

And yet there were times when this game didn’t seem as important as it should have.

Yes, every championship team has one of these games over the course of a season.

But so does every other team as well.

Great teams have bad games. Good teams have bad games. Bad teams have bad games.

We know this Ohio State team isn’t a bad team, but the line between good and great is thick and dense. Like the kind of forest where hikers need to be rescued.

The Buckeyes were one of those lost hikers on Saturday, but they eventually found their own way out. The question now is whether they have come out as a good team or a great team.

The defense played better than it did against Oregon, but that was not the part of the equation that was in question. The Huskers were never going to be able to do what the Ducks did, but there were times when they came close. Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola missed a couple of open receivers that Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel didn’t two weeks prior.

For a team that is supposed to be in control of its own fate, their fate the past two weeks was controlled by a measure of years and yards. Nebraska’s freshman quarterback didn’t make the throws that Oregon’s sixth-year senior made. The Buckeyes were merely witnesses.

That’s not control. That’s just being along for the ride.

Meanwhile, the much worse news for Ohio State is that the offensive line struggled and the running game had its worst outing of the year.

The Buckeyes ran for a season-low 64 yards, which was 77 fewer yards than they managed against Oregon. In that game, TreVeyon Henderson had back-to-back runs that netted 70 yards. Right now, if a Buckeye running back isn’t hitting home runs, the ground game is grounding out.

Ohio State has two running backs who have each rushed for over 3,000 yards in their respective careers. They also have a quarterback who has rushed for over 1,000 yards in his career. And yet they have struggled to maintain a consistent running game the past two weeks and are now likely down to their third left tackle.

Starter Josh Simmons was seen before the season as one of the most irreplaceable Buckeyes. That was confirmed Saturday against Nebraska when his replacement Zen Michalski struggled. Michalski then went down with a leg injury that didn’t look like a quick fix.

Senior left guard Donovan Jackson then slid to left tackle and sophomore Luke Montgomery came in at left guard. Jackson is likely now the Buckeyes’ left tackle, which is probably a better answer than the one offensive line coach Justin Frye tried to implement with Michalski.

Ohio State is now one game into the second half of the regular season and they have some very big questions that need to be answered. First, how effective were the defensive changes that Ryan Day demanded after the Oregon loss? The Buckeyes certainly got after the quarterback more in this game, but Raiola also got free and so did some of his receivers. Second, is this offensive line going to be able to hold up its end of the bargain? Teams don’t need to have great offensive lines to win a championship, but they have to at least be good enough to not get in the way.

The college football season has shown us that there are no truly great teams this year. Which means that anybody the Buckeyes come up against in the College Football Playoff, they’ll have the ability to beat.

However, if Nebraska can take a lead into the fourth quarter against you in your own stadium, the playoffs probably shouldn’t be your primary focus at the moment.

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