Through nine weeks, Ohio State’s pace of play has been a topic of widespread discussion. Ryan Day and his offensive staff have been content with slowing the game down and calling it almost like an NFL game. Heading into their 10th game, the Buckeyes are averaging 63.3 plays per game on offense. Compared to the other contenders currently in the College Football Playoff field, Ohio State is running nearly 10 fewer plays.
The national folks began to catch onto the trend heading into last week. The Big Ten Network broke it down for the broadcast on Saturday, citing that the Buckeyes, in an extended season, will essentially play one less game than the rest of the field. On the surface, it’s great for keeping players healthy and preventing overexertion of stars. Digging deeper, there could be just as many risks as rewards.
Ohio State’s Pace of Play is a Double-Edged Sword
Good: Rest
The most obvious benefit is the workload. At 63.3 plays per game, Ohio State would run about 760 plays in a 12-game schedule. Meanwhile, Indiana is on pace for 847, Texas A&M for 828, Alabama for 820, and Georgia for 874. Four of those five teams will likely play that 13th game, but will be rewarded with a bye in the CFP. Ohio State could run 87 fewer plays than Indiana. It can be considered to be an extra informal bye week.
Last year, Ohio State played 16 games, by far the most in program history. If it wants to win another title, it will have to play another 16 games this year. That’s 32 games in a two-year span. It takes some programs two and a half years to reach that number of games.
If this pace of play holds through 16 games, Ohio State will play nearly two games less in terms of snaps compared to whoever it plays in the final.
One thing that we often forget when it comes to college football is that these are still young men. Jeremiah Smith is only 19 years old. He will play his 28th college football game on his 20th birthday on November 29 in Ann Arbor. That is a lot of wear and tear on such a young body. Yes, he is built like an NFL player, and the Buckeyes’ strength and conditioning program is top-notch, but that’s a lot to handle.
Controlling the number of snaps is a great way to keep Smith, Julian Sayin, and the rest of the offense fresh for what they expect to be another deep CFP run.
Bad: Thin Margin For Error
With this, it’s more like an NFL game. In the NFL, decent offenses are lucky to have the ball more than twice in a single quarter. With Ohio State’s pace of play this year, it’s similar, assuming it doesn’t rip off an explosive play or two. With that, each third down becomes that much more important. Any drive that doesn’t result in points can come back to haunt.
While Ohio State has the horses to unleash, it’s hard to flip that switch. It’s increasingly more difficult when you try to flip that switch in the CFP against a top SEC team rather than…Purdue.
The Buckeye offense had the ball for eight drives, not including the two at the end of the halves where they knelt the ball. In the first and third quarters, they had the ball once. Of those eight drives, one resulted in a punt and another in an interception thrown in the endzone. So, Sayin led the offense down to six scoring drives. That’s not bad, but against a team that can actually play offense, it will come back to haunt them. Purdue wasn’t ever a threat, but Michigan might be in a few weeks, even if the Wolverines’ offense is just as anemic.
Every drive has to come away with points. Even with an elite defense on the other side, taking the air out of the ball as they do means every play matters. Purdue led the game 3-0 after one quarter. Luckily, Day’s offense kicked it into gear in a 24-point second quarter.
Photo Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
Good: Game Control
The only reason this strategy has been effective is that the Buckeyes play complementary football. The offense is legit, and the defense is elite.
With a suffocating defense, the offense is able to do whatever it wants. Brian Hartline has begun to really work on the rushing attack. Lately, it’s started to come along, but it’s not where it needs to be. Ohio State is able to dictate how the game progresses with a slower pace of play on offense.
Through nine games, Ohio State is ninth in the country with an average time of possession of 33:20. Last week, the Buckeyes held the ball for the longest in the nation with 40:53 time of possession. It makes it awfully difficult for the opposition to get anything going when it has the ball as infrequently as the Ohio State opponents.
Bad: Stats and Awards
Finally, with a shortened game, it makes it difficult for individual offensive players to rack up style points. In terms of the entire offense, Ohio State averages 36.3 points per game, good for the 18th-best in the country. However, if you take out the 70-point performance against Grambling State, that number drops to 32.1 points. With so much offensive talent, that seems underwhelming.
Sayin leads the country in completion percentage, and he’s on pace to break the single-season record. Needless to say, the redshirt freshman is keeping up his end of the bargain. However, with so few possessions, he has had to make things happen to get his own counting stats. While he leads the Big Ten in completions, Sayin is third in the conference in passing yards and 14th in the country (2,491). His 24 touchdowns are second-best in the Big Ten and fourth-best nationally. If he played as many plays as other programs, he might be running away with the Heisman Trophy at this point.
At the same time, Smith is taking care of his business despite the slowed play. The sophomore leads the Big Ten with 65 receptions and 10 touchdowns. Nationally, he’s sixth and second, respectively. In terms of yards, Smith’s 862 are third in the Big Ten and sixth nationally.
Ultimately, the point of the game is to win, not take home awards. Day has mentioned a few times that Sayin and Smith recognize that team goals come first. Either way, it would help the team if it had two Heisman finalists leading the charge.
Will It Work?
Day knows his offensive talent can take advantage despite slowing the game down. However, he did give a sliver of hope to anyone pessimistic about the strategy, “Efficiency is what we’re after. Because when you’re efficient and you’re playing like that, a three-score game can feel like it is way out of reach,” Day said on Thursday.” Where I feel like maybe in the past, it was like, ‘Okay, we’re just getting started on the game.’ But that’s how you control the game, being able to run the football. And, you know, when it’s time to turn up the gas, we will.”
If Ohio State’s efficient offense has another gear or two, Day and Hartline are going to have some fun when the CFP comes around.
Main Photo: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images