Zeke who? OSU clicking with tailback tandem
If you’re a running backs coach, you want to be Tony Alford.
The Akron native arrived at Ohio State from Notre Dame last year, inheriting arguably the greatest running back in Buckeyes history. No offense to Archie Griffin and Eddie George, who own three Heisman Trophies between them, but what Ezekiel Elliott did in OSU’s three-game postseason march to the 2014 national championship will probably never be duplicated.
Never mind the amazing numbers he amassed during his two regular seasons as a starter.
As for duplicating Zeke’s production, the Buckeyes appear to have hit on something by turning to a four-legged creature, a tag team of redshirt freshman running back Mike Weber and junior running back/H-back Curtis Samuel.
While most of the focus has been on quarterback J.T. Barrett’s splashy start to another Heisman campaign and the highest-scoring defense in the land, the one-two punch of Weber and Samuel is as responsible as anyone or anything for Ohio State’s impressive start.
That tandem adds even more flexibility to an arsenal that creates mismatches galore. Opposing secondaries have enough trouble trying to defend the imposing Noah Brown and his cohorts in a veritable fleet of receivers without worrying about Weber hammering his way into the clear or Samuel lining up practically everywhere but center.
How great it must be to be Alford these days.
“You have to defend a lot of different things coming out of the backfield,” he said. “It’s recruiting, and the benefit of having really talented players that are trying to learn, hungry to have success and working at their trade.”
Remember when everybody was worried about OSU replacing 16 starters? Or, more specifically, how the Buckeyes would compensate for the loss of Elliott, who rushed for over 1,800 yards each of the last two seasons and scored 41 touchdowns?
Through three games last year, Elliott had 353 yards and four touchdowns on 65 touches (rushing or receiving) for a 5.4-yard average. After three games this season, Weber and Samuel have a combined 611 yards and three touchdowns on 86 carries for a 7.1-yard average.
Zeke who?
Add in their receptions, most of them by Samuel, and it jumps to 876 yards and six touchdowns on 83 touches for a crisp 10.1 average.
After serving as Elliott’s backup two years ago as a freshman, Samuel was moved to the hybrid role last season when it was apparent that Elliott, off his breakout first year as a starter in 2014, could shoulder the tailback load himself.
Great for Zeke, but Samuel’s touches were cut nearly in half, from 69 in 2014 to 39 in 2015.
To rectify the problem and make sure one of OSU’s biggest weapons was handling the ball more, Samuel is back this season to being used more as a running back, creating nightmares for linebackers when he’s catching passes out of the backfield.
His 32 carries for 280 yards (an 8.1 average) and two TDs has taken some of the onus off Weber, who wasn’t pressured right off the bat into being a workhorse, and Barrett, who has rushed for 1,844 yards and 25 TDs in his career.
“We like that part of our offense,” Barrett said of the two-headed tailback. “They’re both very talented with the ball in their hands, so we don’t want to get away from that by any means. It just opens up more things for the offense. When Dontre (Wilson) is back there, it’s the same thing because he can do all of the same things as Curtis and Mike can. It’s something we look forward to executing and exploiting.”
Samuel, who ranks first in the Big Ten in total offense at 173 yards per game, had 261 yards total offense and three TDs on 22 touches (nine of them receptions) in the opener against Bowling Green and kick-started the offense in the 45-24 win at then-No. 14 Oklahoma with a 36-yard touchdown run.
Weber? He’s just eight yards shy against Tulsa of three straight 100-yard rushing performances to begin his career.
No wonder Alford can’t stop smiling.
“It’s good,” he said, “to have weapons.”
BY THE NUMBERS
WHEN OSU HAS THE BALL
51.2
Since their inexplicable walk-off loss to Michigan State last season, the Buckeyes rank third in the FBS in scoring at 51.2 points per game. Two of those games came against Top 10 opponents in Michigan and Notre Dame to end the 2015 season. OSU scored 42 at Michigan, 44 vs. ND in the Fiesta Bowl, 77 in the season opener vs. Bowling Green, 48 vs. Tulsa and 45 at-then No. 14 Oklahoma, which started the season ranked No. 3. In the 10 games prior to the MSU loss, the Buckeyes were averaging 36.4 ppg, so we’ve seen an increase since then of nearly 15 ppg.
WHEN RUTGERS HAS THE BALL
28
Rutgers has transitioned to the spread offense this season under offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer. At 28, the former OSU graduate assistant (2012 and 2013) is the youngest play-caller in the power five conferences. The Scarlet Knights snapped the ball 88 times in the season opener at Washington, just seven plays off the school record. They’ve scored on nine of 12 trips inside the red zone this season and have topped 300 yards of total offense in all four games. But they were only 1-for-4 in the red zone in a winnable game vs. Iowa and Mehringer took some heat for ignoring running back Robert Martin (106 yards on 21 carries) on four cracks from the goal line late in the contest.
KEY MATCHUPS ON OFFENSE
Reportedly, Dontre Wilson expressed frustration over his lack of touches on Twitter before his tweet was taken down. Finally healthy, he’s had eight catches and eight carries, for a total of 160 yards, or 10 yards a pop. But he was an afterthought vs. Oklahoma, so we’ll see if that changes. Kiy Hester, another No. 2, leads Rutgers with 26 tackles and has broken up three passes.
KEY MATCHUPS ON DEFENSE
Damon Webb has broken up two passes, but he’s the only member of the starting secondary without an interception. Maybe he can step in front of a pass targeted for Harris, who is averaging 20.1 yards on eight catches, with two TDs. Jawaun Harris takes on an even bigger role in the wake of the season-ending injury to No. 1 playmaker Janarion Grant.
THE SERIES
This will be the third meeting of the two schools, all of them since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014. The Buckeyes won that year, 56-17 in Columbus, and won by the same margin, 49-0, last year in Piscataway, New Jersey.
KEYS TO VICTORY
BUCKEYES
Don’t be predictable
Ohio State’s scheme is its scheme and it’s not going to make wholesale changes just because of any “insider” information Rutgers coach Chris Ash might have as a member of the OSU staff the past two years. Urban Meyer and his assistants are always self-policing when it comes to tendencies and they’ve had an extra week to make sure they’re not tipping their hand. Meyer has acknowledged that the Buckeyes have changed their defensive signals. One of the best ways to guard against being predictable is being balanced, and OSU’s offense is one of the best when it comes to that, averaging 306 yards on the ground and 240 passing.
Make Rutgers pass
Shouldn’t be too hard for the only team in the nation that hasn’t allowed a rushing TD. Rutgers ranks last in Big Ten passing and passing efficiency and it has lost its No. 1 playmaker in receiver/return specialist Janarion Grant. He suffered a season-ending ankle injury in last week’s 14-7 loss to Iowa. Junior quarterback Chris Laviano has only thrown two interceptions, but he’s also completing only 52 percent of his passes, so you can bet OSU’s ball-hawking defense — with a nation’s-best four pick-6s and nine interceptions — is smelling blood.
Stastical leaders
Coach: Urban Meyer 53-4 in 5th season
Rushing: TB Mike Weber 351 yds on 54 att., 6.5 avg, 1 TD; TB Curtis Samuel 260 yds on 32 att., 8.1 avg., 2 TD
Passing: QB J.T. Barrett 49-73-650 yds, .671 pct, 10 TD, 1 INT
Receiving: TB Curtis Samuel 16 rec. for 259 yds, 16.2 avg., 2 TD; WR Noah Brown 9 rec. for 134 yds, 14.9 avg., 5 TD
Defense: (Tackles) LB Raekwon McMillan 20; (TFL) DT Robert Landers 3; (INT) SAF Malik Hooker 3, CB Marshon Lattimore 3
SCARLET KNIGHTS
Play up the underdog role
Rutgers is nearly a seven-touchdown dog in this game and comes to town short-handed offensively and defensively. This would be a good week for Chris Ash to play the “no respect” card, especially with his team coming off a gallant effort in last week’s 14-7 loss to defending B1G West Division champ Iowa. If the Scarlet Knights are to catch the Buckeyes off-guard this is probably as good a time as ever, with OSU coming off a bye week and hearing for two weeks how great it is after thrashing Oklahoma on the road. Then again, Rutgers probably got Ohio State’s attention by playing Iowa tough.
Stay aggressive
The Scarlet Knights went for it on fourth down four times against Iowa. It didn’t work when they passed on a field goal late in the first half that would have broken a scoreless tie and it didn’t work again with five minutes left in the game and no timeouts remaining in a 14-7 game. But playing it safe against the Buckeyes, especially when you’ve got nothing to lose against the nation’s No. 2 team, would be an even bigger crime.
Statistical leaders
Coach: Chris Ash 2-2 in 1st year
Rushing: TB Robert Martin 361 yds on 58 att., 6.2 avg., 1 TD
Passing: QB Chris Laviano 59-113-647 yds, .522 pct, 5 TD, 2 INT
Receiving: WR Jawuan Harris 8 rec. for 161 yds, 20.1 avg., 2 TD
Defense: (Tackles) FS Kiy Hester 26; (Sacks) DE Julian Pinnix-Odrick 4; (PBU) CB Blessuan Austin 5
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
(3-0, 0-0 in the Big Ten)
The Buckeyes finished their resounding win at Oklahoma two weeks ago looking like the only thing that could stop their momentum was a bye week. Now we’ll see if that’s the case. Will this team pick up where it left off or will it look bloated from all the praise it was getting while idle for 13 days? Urban Meyer is 44-3 in games in which he has had more than a week to prepare. So there’s that. And there’s still plenty of spirited competition going on for playing time, especially at wide receiver and on the defensive line. So There’s good reason to believe there will be plenty of fire in the belly as Ohio State embarks on nine straight weeks of Big Ten competition. (Ten, if they’re good enough and lucky enough, to play in the Big Ten Championship Game for the third time in four years.
SCOUTING RUTGERS
(2-2, 0-1 in the Big Ten)
Chris Ash is building his program in OSU’s image. It’s a noble idea, but won’t happen overnight, no matter how full his staff is with former Buckeyes or how many recruits he steals from Ohio State. (That would seem almost as unlikely as a win Saturday in Columbus.) Based on the contributions Ash made as co-defensive coordinator the last two years for the Buckeyes, Rutgers appears to have gotten a good man for its reclamation project. But he could ill afford to lose two key players for the season in last week’s encouraging-yet-costly 14-7 loss to Iowa. The one that really hurts is losing leading receiver Janarion Grant, who had already returned a kickoff and punt for touchdowns this season. He also threw a TD pass. Grant’s absence could really impact this team, which fell behind early in its two wins over Howard and New Mexico. A slow start against the Buckeyes could turn extremely ugly for a program that lost by 49-point margins the last two years in this series.