Luke Fahey’s stat line looked fine on Saturday. The deeper you dug, though, the rough patches jumped off the page.
In Ohio State’s stunning collapse against Oregon, the freshman quarterback had a strong opening, drifted through a messy middle and then finished with a late burst once the game was already tilting hard the Ducks’ way. It was his first home start and his second start overall, and the middle stretch told the real story.
Fahey opened by completing five of his first seven passes to five different receivers for 58 yards. After back-to-back incompletions, he settled in and hit seven straight throws.
Then came the first-half ending the Buckeyes could not afford: an interception into triple coverage intended for Devin McCuin. From there, he leaned heavily on the short game as Ohio State fell further behind.
By the time the first drive of the fourth quarter ended with a dropped pass by Mason Williams, Fahey was 21-of-32 for 187 yards with one interception. Seven of those completions went for 1 yard or fewer, and five lost yardage.
Only when Oregon led 38-14 with 12:02 left did he start pushing the ball downfield again. Part of that came from the Ducks’ softer coverage.
Part of it came because Jeremiah Smith demanded the ball.
Fahey finished 36-of-50 for 360 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. But 85 of those yards and both touchdowns came on his final three throws.
The charting of all 50 attempts showed just how often Oregon made him settle for the easy throw. Fahey completed 8 of 9 passes behind the line of scrimmage for minus-9 yards.
Ohio State’s backs were a regular outlet, with the running backs accounting for 11 catches. Bo Jackson had seven receptions on nine targets for 42 yards, Legend Bey caught two passes for 10 yards and Isaiah West added two catches for three yards.
Of Fahey’s 36 completions, 14 went for 5 yards or fewer.
When the Buckeyes needed to push the ball, they just didn’t do it consistently until the game was slipping away.
Fahey was comfortable when the pocket stayed clean, just as he had been in his first start against USC a week earlier. He completed 32 of 41 passes for 317 yards and two touchdowns when he wasn’t pressured.
Under pressure, the numbers fell off sharply: 4-of-9 for 43 yards and an interception. Against Oregon blitzes, he went 5-of-10 for 96 yards on 12 of 55 dropbacks.
Play action helped him, too, but Ohio State moved away from it as the game wore on. With the Buckeyes managing only 21 carries for 53 yards and the score getting away from them, the play-action volume dropped. Fahey completed 9 of 11 passes for 72 yards on play-action dropbacks, compared to 39 throws on 44 dropbacks without it.
The depth chart of his throws also tells the same story. He leaned on the short stuff, with 18 attempts either behind the line of scrimmage or within 10 yards of it. Still, he did hit some intermediate and deep throws: 6-of-10 on intermediate passes for 110 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and 3-of-5 on deep throws for 104 yards and a score.
A few plays captured the whole afternoon. There was the 11-yard scramble on 3rd-and-6 when Fahey felt the pocket close and took off.
There was the underthrown ball to Jeremiah Smith that should have been a touchdown, even though Smith still had a chance to make the play. There was the clean 8-yard completion to Chris Henry Jr. after a high snap, with Fahey sliding away from pressure and finding an open target.
There was the interception on the sideline into triple coverage. There was the missed wide-open Smith in the middle of the field, followed by a throw behind McCuin on 4th-and-2.
There was the 17-yard connection to Smith on 3rd-and-7, and then the throw behind Smith on 4th-and-13.
Fahey’s night was a mix of flashes, missed chances and a late statistical rescue. The box score looked solid. The film was a lot less forgiving.
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