COLUMBUS, Ohio – Just three weeks ago, Ohio State dominated Iowa with a physical performance against one of the nation’s premier defenses. The Buckeyes looked like they were ahead and could win games in the trenches.

Things can change quickly in college football. Now, after a 21-17 win over Nebraska, an inability to dominate in the trenches could prove to be the Buckeyes’ downfall.

Ohio State ran for just 64 yards and averaged 2.1 yards per carry against the Huskers. According to TruMedia, it averaged just 0.79 yards per rush before contact, the fourth-worst mark since 2019. It gave up two sacks and six pressures on quarterback Will Howard as the offense struggled to find its rhythm and went the entire third quarter without a first goal expired. down.

There have been some changes up front, with left tackle Josh Simmons out for the season due to a knee injury. Zen Michalski came on for him on Saturday, but he struggled mightily until going down with an injury in the fourth quarter. Michalski, who was on crutches on the sideline, wasn’t the answer, and Ohio State doesn’t yet have an answer as to who will start at left tackle next Saturday in a potential top-five matchup at Penn State, which participated. week ranked third in the FBS in printing speed.

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Who will replace Michalski? Can that person be good enough to avoid a drop-off elsewhere on the line? Due to the recruiting struggles on the offensive line, Ohio State isn’t really equipped to even confront these questions. Now Ryan Day, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and offensive line coach Justin Frye must find answers quickly because their Big Ten and national championship hopes depend on it.

During preseason camp, Ohio State’s offensive linemen were struck by an illness that swept through the entire position group. Coaches spent weeks rotating players in and out of the lineup, keeping others home sick and giving some bench players reps against the defensive starters.

Day, as any coach would, put a positive spin on that, saying it gives the Buckeyes more depth than they originally expected.

“Guys were forced into early camp and had to respond,” Day said Tuesday.

Ohio State is 6-1, but Nebraska went to the extreme. (Joseph Maiorana / Imagn images)

Halfway through the season, that depth is tested in a way no one expected.

Starting left guard Donovan Jackson missed the first two games of the season, forcing Austin Siereveld into the lineup. He now rotates with right guard Tegra Tshabola. Ohio State finally got healthy for the Oregon game and then watched Simmons go down with a season-ending knee injury.

That gave redshirt junior Michalski his first career start. Despite his struggles, including allowing a sack on the first drive and a sack that led to a fumble later in the game, Day didn’t think about pulling him.

“I felt like he had to play through it in his first start,” Day said. “We didn’t want to panic and just get him out. It’s your first start, so there are some things you’re going through. … We wanted him to play that through and see how that went.”

That’s an understandable response from a coach, although at tackle there was no other response unless Ohio State moved players. It didn’t want to do that in the middle of the game unless Michalski got hurt, which he eventually did. That forced Jackson to go outside to tackle.

The next man-up mentality is a coaching cliché that sounds fun until you run into so many players that the next man-up isn’t ready to play. The healthy offensive tackles left on the roster are sophomore George Fitzpatrick, freshman Ian Moore and freshman Deontae Armstrong. None of them are ready.

The next best scenario is to have Jackson at tackle and guard Luke Montgomery, as happened against Nebraska. Ohio State will consider other decisions this week.

Ohio State has no one to blame but itself for the depth issues on the line becoming so bad. The failed recruiting along the offensive line made something like this a worst-case scenario all offseason.

The high school front failed to recruit talented tackles for years. Ohio State had Jackson, a five-star, and Tshabola, a four-star, but they both moved in since arriving in Columbus. After them, the top two tackles since 2021 were Fitzpatrick and Michalski, who didn’t seem ready to play despite being in his fourth season. That’s not good enough.

Then there is the transfer portal. Ohio State did a good job adding Simmons from San Diego State before the 2023 season, turning him into a potential first-round pick. It also worked out well to get Alabama’s Seth McLaughlin at center this year. And yet there is still depth missing.

All of this has put Ohio State in the position it now finds itself in, after a dismal performance in which neither TreVeyon Henderson nor Quinshon Judkins – two of the most talented running backs in the country – rushed for more than 30 yards against a Nebraska team that gave Indiana 215 yards gained and five touchdowns on the ground a week earlier.

Day said he thought it was an execution issue, while Nebraska did some new things.

“It’s not good enough,” Day said. “We have to be able to run the football and we didn’t do that today.”

Regardless of the reasoning, the state of Ohio needs to get this resolved.

Ohio State is 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten, losing to Oregon by just one point. All the goals are still on the table: the Big Ten title, the College Football Playoff and the national title. But the question remains: Does Ohio State have the bodies up front to achieve those goals by beating Penn State, Indiana, Michigan – and perhaps Oregon in the Big Ten title game – and whoever else it would play in the Playoff?

The Buckeyes looked like they were addressing those concerns not too long ago, but suddenly Day is back under pressure to find answers.

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