Dylan Raiola didn’t need much time to figure out where Ohio State was vulnerable.
After Oregon opened slowly and went scoreless in the first quarter last Saturday night in Ohio Stadium, the Ducks caught fire. They scored 17 points in the second quarter, 14 in the third and 10 more in the fourth, rolling to 38 unanswered points after a fake punt helped them settle in.
Raiola was a big part of how smooth it all looked. The former five-star quarterback had stretches where he made the Buckeyes’ defense look far too easy to solve, and after the game he pointed to what Oregon had seen all week in film study.
“We were confident in our plan," he said. "We saw seams everywhere in their defense when we were game planning for them.”
That wasn’t just a one-off observation. Ohio State has now given up 71 points, 509 passing yards and 8.0 yards per pass attempt over its last two games against USC and Oregon, a rough stretch that has exposed issues in Matt Patricia’s defense.
The problems have shown up in the back end and at the line of scrimmage, where Oregon found open space and clean throwing lanes throughout the night. Raiola’s success was tied to his talent, sure, but the defense also gave him plenty to work with.
Now the Buckeyes face another challenge this weekend: former Ohio State offensive coordinator and longtime NFL coordinator and head coach Chip Kelly, who is now in his first season as Northwestern’s offensive coordinator. Kelly has already outperformed expectations and has leaned into a wide range of unique formations and play calls to keep defenses guessing.
That’s the next test for a Buckeyes defense still trying to find itself after back-to-back losses. If the problems don’t get fixed quickly, Kelly should have plenty of chances to keep poking at the same soft spots Oregon found.
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Ohio State Just Exposed A Problem Bigger Than One Loss
Ohio State came out sharp against Oregon, jumping ahead 14-0 in the first quarter and still holding a 14-3 edge late in the first half. Then the game tilted hard, with Oregon scoring 38 straight points and flipping the matchup with a fake punt, turnovers and a surge that left the Buckeyes chasing the rest of the way.
The loss does not close the door on Ohio States bigger goals, since the Buckeyes still control a path to the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff if they take care of the games left on their schedule. But the way this one unraveled raised the kind of questions that linger beyond a single defeat, especially around quarterback play and whether the teams effort can stay steady when the game turns against it. [Read more 🡒]
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LJ Smiths scoreless night showed the other side of the freshman learning curve, and Ohio States defensive issues were also hard to ignore. The Buckeyes now turn to a much tougher test against fourth-ranked UConn, where the margin for growth will shrink quickly and the need for both freshmen to keep developing will be impossible to miss. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Is Running Out Of Time To Fix A Costly Problem
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Day said there will not be any more coaching changes before the next game, but the evaluation process is still ongoing. That leaves Ohio State in a familiar late-season spot: trying to clean up a costly problem quickly, with limited time to see whether the new arrangement can bring order to a unit that has already given away too many damaging moments. [Read more 🡒]