Five things that went wrong against Oregon and whether they can be fixed

We look at five things that went wrong against Oregon and what it’ll take to fix them #GoBucks

Keeping the chains moving has to be better

We mentioned already that Ryan Day is always going to be aggressive. Ohio State went for it on fourth down five times Saturday. We are sure that Jim Tressel was curled up in the fetal position somewhere.

Of those five, the Buckeyes only converted on two of them. The ones earlier in the game were the most critical, especially down in field goal range. Ohio State didn’t convert three times in Oregon territory during the game. If it gets points out of least two of those, the game could have been entirely different. The Buckeyes also only converted 6-of-14 third-down conversions, and that won’t get it done against the best competition.

Is it fixable?

It depends. Not to go back to sticking with the run but Ohio State is supposed to have one of the best offensive lines in the country. It should be able to go get a couple of yards on fourth down. It should also be able to get enough push to stay ahead of the chains on first and second downs to make things more manageable on third down. Getting Harry Miller back at center will probably help, but staying with the running game and not throwing the ball 54 times is also a good place to start.

NEXT … The linebackers aren’t filling gaps, and are missing assignments

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