[jwplayer PnmOZkAA]
Ohio State beat Penn State and much of the damage was done through the air. The biggest running play was by Garrett Wilson on the first play of the game. The running backs combined, outside of the Wilson run, was a mediocre 4.55 yards-per-carry (YPC). While this may not seem terrible, a handful of runs by Master Teague III helped with the average. Teague was averaging 3.4 YPC and Trey Sermon was averaging 4.4 YPC heading into the Penn State game.
The running game has thrived is in short-yardage situations which is great. That should not be overlooked. They have picked up some very hard yards to move the chains or down at the goal-line. What they have struggled at is on early downs or consistency.
Sermon has not been great and while some of that might be the odd off-season after his transfer, he has not seen the field all that well to get a one cut and go style running he should be able to provide. Teague is more of the punishing type back, and while he has had a few longer runs, neither has been able to provide what the Buckeyes are looking for yet.
Ryan Day and his staff have stuck with early runs far too often in the Penn State game. While they were able to pick up third and fourth downs, the lack of consistent yardage early in the downs is mildly concerning. The offense is good enough to overcome this issue for now. This is not something that can stay constant throughout the season.
The Buckeyes may need to get away from running early and often while they get the running game going in other ways. Involving the running backs in the screen game or on shovel passes is a good way to change up the design. Teams are going to struggle to stop this passing attack and it could be what they should rely on for now. It isn’t alarming yet, but it could get there as the season drags on.