Without Ohio State football games available, I decided to go back and watch some all-22 tape of the Buckeyes from last season. I started with the Wisconsin game as that was a little bit of a struggle and I wanted to see what caused it. After watching, there was something that jumped out on the film.
Wisconsin used a lot of delayed pressure up the middle with their linebackers. It was the push up the middle that caused Justin Fields issues and forced him to hurry some passes, and panic at others. The Badgers used the linebackers to crash down and often would fake pressure to keep the offensive line off balance.
#Wisconsin EDGE Zack Baun bullies JK Dobbins on his way to sack Justin Fields.
With the way Baun has played this year, he's going in the first two rounds come April. pic.twitter.com/OGSRC1Cn0X
— Steve Frederick (@_SteveFrederick) December 8, 2019
As Fields started to roll out Wisconsin used a lot of contain scheme to keep Fields from taking off as he got to the edge. This was vital for Wisconsin to force Fields to make throws he didn’t necessarily want to make. Sometimes Fields wanted to pull it down, but didn’t have that option.
What Ohio State did to adjust was to perform hard snap counts or vary the cadence, which caused the linebackers to jump and give up their intent more often than not. They also spread the line out with empty back sets. As the game wore on, this softened up the middle a little bit and gave running lanes for Fields and Dobbins. Eventually, this opened up the middle of the field for passing lanes as well.
They went on to throw a lot of shorter, quick routes which also kept the linebackers back. This led to the RPO to work as the blocking could slide the crashing down better with the linebackers off. As the line slid, Dobbins was able to make more one cut runs and wear down the defense.
When the Buckeyes do play again, they can use this game as a lesson of what to do and what not to do. They will need to make sure they find ways to keep the center of the line more stout and keep pressure up the middle to a minimum. However, Ohio State can learn that moving the line and adjusting the snap counts with a mix of shorter routes will allow Fields to play within himself and create more plays.
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