Peach Bowl Preview: Ohio State Strengths and Weaknesses

Ohio State is an elite football team with outstanding players all over the field, but the Buckeyes do have one major flaw Georgia could exploit.

The Georgia Bulldogs and Ohio State Buckeyes will battle for a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship when they meet in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl on December 31st at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN.

For Ohio State, this is a new life. After being soundly defeated by Michigan at home, the Buckeyes got another chance at achieving their ultimate goal when the Playoff committee selected the as the fourth seed. 

11-1 in 2022, this is an Ohio State team that is certainly flawed, but one that can beat any team on any given Saturday. 

Ohio State Strengths: Quarterback/Vertical Passing Game/Turnovers

There’s a few reasons why Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud is at the top of a lot of Draft boards. The 6'3 junior has elite arm talent and incredible athletic intangibles. 2022 hasn’t been as good statistically for Stroud, but a lot of that comes down to weapons he lost - Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave went back-to-back in the 1st round of the NFL Draft - and an injured Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who missed a majority of this season and won’t play in the College Football Playoff.

Stroud is still just as lethal. If a receiver comes open, Stroud is going to find him. Ohio State boasts two 1,000-yard wide receivers in Marvin Harrison Jr. (1,157) and Emeka Egbuka (1,039). The Buckeyes are at their best when they are able to find one on one looks down the sidelines. Harrison currently averages 16.1 yards per catch and has found the endzone 12 times in 2022.

Defensively, Ohio State relies on turnovers to win big games. Against Penn State, the Buckeyes forced 4 turnovers to overcome a halftime deficit. Against Michigan, Ohio State lost the turnover battle 2-0, and subsequently lost their only game of the season. 6’6 defensive lineman Zach Harrison has forced 3 fumbles and intercepted a pass in 2022. Ohio State is forcing 1.4 turnovers per game.

Ohio State Weakness: Big Plays

Ohio State’s biggest weakness has to be their propensity for giving up big plays. Just look at these scoring drive charts against Michigan:

• 3 plays, 70 yards, 1:34 - 69 yd TD Pass
• 1 play, 75 yards, 0:12 - 75 yd TD Pass
• 1 play, 75 yards, 0:12 - 75 yd TD Run
• 3 plays, 92 yards, 1:00 - 85 yd TD Run

It’s fair to say that the Michigan game was just one example out of twelve games, but the Buckeyes have given up long touchdowns to multiple teams. Toledo (40 & 50-yard touchdowns), Wisconsin (75-yard touchdown run), Penn State (58-yard touchdown pass), and Michigan all scored long touchdowns against the Buckeyes. 

In the Penn State game, Ohio State gave up plays of: 58, 42, 35, 27, 27, and 26.

In total, the Buckeyes gave up 26 touchdowns defensively in the regular season, to Georgia’s 12.

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