Ohio State head coach Ryan Day lifts the Leishman Trophy after the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Oregon Wednesday in Pasadena. The Buckeyes defeated the Ducks 41-21. Credit: Sandra Fu | Photo Editor
Everything is finally coming together for the Buckeyes, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Neither Tennessee nor Oregon were able to keep up with Ohio State, and the Buckeyes are now preparing for a College Football Playoff Semifinal date with Texas Jan. 10.
Ohio State fans have been waiting for this dominant style of play all season — this is what the Buckeyes should be and could’ve been from the get-go.
Coming into the 2024-25 season, expectations couldn’t have been higher. The Buckeyes spent roughly $20 million in NIL money on their roster, plus millions of dollars on the coaching staff, which includes brand-new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.
But four consecutive losses to Michigan, the 42-41 loss to Georgia in the 2022 Peach Bowl and the 32-31 loss to Oregon Oct. 12 have all shown that Ohio State has been close to true greatness, but hasn’t grasped it quite yet.
Since the Buckeyes’ shocking 13-10 loss to an underwhelming Michigan team in Columbus Nov. 30, Ohio State has unlocked a new level of play that neither Tennessee, nor this year’s previously undefeated Oregon squad, could reach; it’s the marriage of the offense, defense and the elite level of football being played for the entire 60 minutes.
But why haven’t the Buckeyes looked like this all season?
The offense
In the first two games of the College Football Playoff, the Buckeyes scored 83 total points, 42 against Tennessee and 41 against Oregon. Believe it or not, these are the same players, the same coaches and the same offense that scored 13 points against Michigan just over a month ago.
So, what exactly is different in the gameplan, and why does it look so much better now? It’s easy to chalk it up to the passing game finally working, but it’s deeper than that.
Kelly, who the Buckeyes brought in to be the team’s new offensive coordinator before the season, doesn’t exactly align with all the offensive philosophies Day has adopted.
Day has typically run a more spread offense that features talented wide receivers on the perimeter, while Kelly usually prefers to establish his run game from the first snap.
When Day handed off play-calling duties to Kelly before the start of the season — the first time in Day’s six years at the helm of Ohio State football he’s made that change — the biggest question was if the two were going to be able to put together an offense that best utilizes the weapons the Buckeyes have, while meshing Kelly’s preference to run the ball and Day’s emphasis on the passing game.
Kelly’s run-heavy play calling has been evident for most of the 2024-25 season, but was especially noticeable in the Michigan loss. Kelly and the Buckeyes wanted to prove a point to the Wolverines: They could win the game by running the ball down Michigan’s throat.
But that’s not who the Buckeyes are. That isn’t Ohio State football.
So, after the loss, a flip switched.
Against Tennessee, the Buckeyes threw the ball 12 times in the first quarter alone, allowing Ohio State to jump out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead.
Then, in their rematch with the Ducks at the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes accomplished a similar feat, throwing the ball nine times on the first 12 plays and in turn allowing a 34-0 lead with just a few minutes left before halftime.
Ohio State is now outscoring its opponents 55-18 in the first half of their playoff games, as well as 83-38 through all eight quarters of football.
The Buckeyes have flipped the age-old saying of establishing the run game to open up the passing game. Kelly is now meshing his experience of a grueling rushing attack with Day’s history of a productive passing game.
Instead of rushing the ball to succeed through the air, Ohio State is using its veteran quarterback and elite receivers to jump on teams in the first half, while it integrates its star tandem of running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins to keep opposing defenses off-balance.
This formula is Ohio State football, and its recent usage is why the Buckeyes are at their best.
The defense
No matter how great the offense plays, the dominant victories wouldn’t be possible without a stifling defense.
When defensive coordinator Jim Knowles first got to Ohio State from Oklahoma State, his philosophy could be described as one word: aggressive.
Knowles loved to blitz, and he believed the talent the Buckeyes had in the secondary allowed for him to play a defensive formation in which everyone blitzes the quarterback except for the players guarding the receivers man-to-man – a play also known as Cover Zero. This methodology was often successful because most teams are incapable of competing with the Buckeyes’ physicality and finesse.
But it also proved costly at times.
Look back to 2022, when Michigan beat Ohio State 45-23. At the time this defeat was an outlier, but it proved to be recurring.
After the loss, Ohio State snuck into the four-team playoff as the fourth seed, where it drew No. 1 Georgia. Against the Bulldogs, history repeated itself, and the Ohio State defense allowed 42 points off numerous explosive plays.
Something wasn’t working, and it needed to be adjusted.
The following year, instead of playing overly aggressive, Ohio State focused its defense on not allowing any big plays down the field and playing an extremely conservative style. Because of this shift, the Buckeyes struggled to get pressure on the quarterback, which resulted in a disappointing season from the defensive line, specifically star edge rushers Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau.
At the beginning of 2024, the Buckeye defense suffocated sub-par opponents. But when Ohio State saw an elite offense, it got torched.
The conservative defensive play allowed Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel to comfortably sit back in the pocket, maneuver around, make throws downfield and consistently find explosive plays.
The defense allowed 32 points and didn’t record a single sack Oct. 12 in Eugene, Oregon, as Ohio State fell in its worst defensive game of the season.
Much like it did for the offense, a flip then switched.
Against then-No. 3 Penn State, then-No. 5 Indiana and Michigan to round out their season, the Buckeyes’ defense finally figured it out. Knowles and the Ohio State staff found the perfect balance between conservative and aggressive defensive play, which allowed the Buckeyes to stop explosive plays, win at the line of scrimmage and ultimately control the game.
Now, the blitzes that Ohio State sends in games are more lethal with the dominance of the defensive line, which has allowed Knowles to run stunts upfront, change his defensive looks and mix up coverages to confuse the offenses the Buckeyes face.
This has proved deadly to opposing quarterbacks, as Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava and Oregon’s Gabriel didn’t find much success against a confident and resolved Buckeye defense.
Against the Ducks, Ohio State’s defense tallied 8 sacks, 13 tackles for a loss and 24 pressures and held Oregon to negative 0.8 yards per rush.
It’s no secret, but if the Buckeyes continue playing this brand of football, they will be well on their way to Ohio State’s first national title since 2014.
