Ohio State Holds Key To Fixing Recent Rushing Struggles

"The only thing we can do is go to practice and get better.”

You wouldn’t know it from the final scores, but Ohio State’s running game has not been the same over the last couple of weeks as it was at the start of the season.

The Buckeyes tallied fewer rushing yards than their opponent in the 54-10 win over Iowa on October 22 and the 44-31 win at Penn State last weekend, but head coach Ryan Day doesn’t believe it’s the result of relying too heavily on specific sets, particularly the pistol.

“If you’re looking at the numbers and you say, ‘Well, every time you’re in a certain formation you’re not getting anything out of it,’ then yeah, move on,” Day said at his press conference on Tuesday.

Day recalled a play in which Ohio State attempted the run from under center rather than the shotgun, resulting in a loss of yardage, saying it was due to Penn State’s defense rather than the Buckeyes tipping their hand.

“The one from under center was very well blocked at it was a really clean play,” Day said. “That’s not the reason why – because we line up in the pistol. (It’s) that teams are ganging up one way or the other.”

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An individual indicator of the Buckeyes’ struggles to run the ball can be found in Ohio State’s running backs, sophomore TreVeyon Henderson and redshirt sophomore Miyan Williams.

Henderson has been his team’s leading rusher for the past three weeks, going back to the Buckeyes’ 49-20 win over Michigan State in East Lansing. Henderson earned 118 yards on the ground in that game, but in the two weeks after against the Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions, finished with only 38 and 78 yards, respectively. 

Williams, meanwhile, rushed for 189 yards on 21 carries and scored a record-tying five touchdowns against Rutgers, but was inactive the next weekend against the Spartans. Williams returned the following week against Iowa, in which he ran for 19 yards on 10 attempts. 

Additionally for Henderson, the outing against Iowa is the second-fewest yards in a single game of his Ohio State career, behind last year’s season-opening win at Minnesota, when finished with just 15.

Both Henderson and Williams were dealing with injuries however, to their lower body and hand, respectively. Henderson’s sidelined him from the game at Michigan State while Williams’ took him out of commission for the second half of last weekend’s contest at Penn State.

Ohio State senior offensive lineman Dawand Jones was asked his opinion on the state of the run game during post-practice media availability on Wednesday, answering that the only people who could fix the rushing issues were the players themselves. 

“I would say we’re in a good spot,” Jones said. “We always got the time for improvement but the only thing we can do is go to practice and get better.”

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