Joel Klatt reveals his biggest concerns about Ohio State after Nebraska game

The script flipped. Two weeks after Ohio State’s defense cratered at Oregon, giving up 496 yards and 34 points, the Buckeyes’ offense floundered against Nebraska, rushing for just 64 yards and needing a game-winning drive to hold off the upset-hungry Cornhuskers in Ohio Stadium.

Head coach Ryan Day spent significant time working with the defense between Oct. 12 and Oct. 26. This week? Yeah, he’s turned to the offensive side of the ball, where the No. 4 Buckeyes have serious issues to shore up ahead of a top-four matchup at No. 3 Penn State this weekend.

FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt broke down the biggest of those issues on his show Monday.

“If you watch that game on Saturday and you aren’t worried as an Ohio State fan, then something’s wrong,” said Klatt, who was on the call for the 21-17 Buckeyes win. “Then you’ve got the Buckeye-colored glasses on, because those five guys up front were not playing very well.”

Ohio State missed starting left tackle Josh Simmons, big time. Simmons suffered a season-ending knee injury in the loss to Oregon. His replacement, Zen Michalski, struggled mightily versus Nebraska, giving up four pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, and two sacks, including one that resulted in a fumble, albeit a fumble that left guard Donovan Jackson quickly recovered.

Then Michalski ended up going down with an injury late in the fourth quarter.

So now the Buckeyes have to pivot again. It’s worth noting that moving Jackson over to left tackle, and inserting Luke Montgomery at left guard, was the in-game change Ohio State made in the aftermath of Michalski’s injury. But that offensive line combination was out there for one non-kneel-down snap. There isn’t data to assess its effectiveness.

There is enough data, however, to say the Buckeyes are no longer chugging along on the ground.

“It was staggering to me watching them force the run game as heavily as they tried to force it and just get no production out of it — no production out of it,” Klatt said of Ohio State’s rushing attack against Nebraska. “I think that they’ve basically had six straight quarters where they’ve been largely ineffective running the football.

“That’s worrisome, because here’s what I do know, is that it’s not because of the backs. Those two backs are two of the best backs in the country, TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. It’s not because of the scheme. Chip Kelly has run the football everywhere he’s been, including the National Football League. So it is the five guys up front.”

Ohio State rushed for 19 yards, and 1.6 yards per carry, in the second half against Oregon and 64 yards, and 2.1 yards per carry, in four quarters against Nebraska.

“It felt like they were actively trying to fix it during the game,” Klatt said. “It’s almost like Chip Kelly was calling that game for the rest of the season [more] than he was for that specific game. In hindsight, that’s exactly how I feel he called the game. He was trying to figure out and to force the square peg in the round hole of the run game, because it’s like, ‘I know that we have to run the football moving forward. I don’t know what I’m going to get out of this new, rebuilt offensive line.'”

Klatt said his assessment of Kelly’s approach isn’t really a knock on Kelly. That said, persistence with a mostly non-existent run game put Ohio State in a bind.

The Buckeyes found themselves needing to stitch together a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. The offense delivered when it mattered most, and the defense finished off true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola and the Huskers.

But Klatt is also concerned with how little wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka were involved in the Week 9 matchup. Egbuka and Smith were targeted a combined eight times.

Smith, who caught a 60-yard touchdown the first half, was targeted only twice in the second half and not at all in the fourth quarter.

“They’re going to watch this film, and they’re going to say to themselves, like, ‘That can’t happen again,'” Klatt said. “Because, again, No. 4 is the best player I have seen at his age in my career, just period. And that it is what it is. He’s got the potential to be one of the all-time great wide receivers, not just in college football but just period in this sport.”

Klatt added: “Just imagine for a moment that Raiola drives down and wins the game, and they lose their second straight game, and we’re sitting here, and you’re like, ‘Hold on, you ran the football for 2.1 yards per carry and thew the ball to Jeremiah Smith four times.’ Woah, wild. Can you imagine what the conversation would be like right now if Ohio State had lost the game?

“So that’s why I say it was called for the rest of the season rather than Saturday, because if it was just called for Saturday, Smith gets more targets. And, by the way, you’ve got to throw Emeka in there as well, because he also only had four targets on the day. These two guys are elite players. They have to get, I would say, eight to 10 targets each.”

Klatt said that if Ohio State can’t run the football moving forward, including this week against Penn State, the Buckeyes will have to heavily rely on their passing game, like they had to at times with C.J. Stroud quarterbacking the offense.

He still believes Ohio State can be elite while leaning on its aerial attack because of weapons like Smith and Egbuka.

“Now Ohio State is going to take a totally rebuilt and brand new offensive line into Happy Valley to face Penn State and that pass rush,” Klatt said. “Nobody has more sacks over the last three seasons in college football than Penn State. They rush the passer. Nobody tries to get off the line of scrimmage faster than Penn State.”

That’s the biggest storyline entering the Big Ten showdown in State College.