Ohio State’s Week 1 win over Ball State was lopsided enough to look routine on the surface, but the film left one area hanging over Ryan Day’s team heading into the trip to Texas: the offensive line.
That’s the spot that could decide Saturday night’s showdown.
The Buckeyes rolled to a 56-3 victory, yet the right side of the line came out of it looking shaky enough to raise real questions. Day didn’t exactly shut the door on changes, either. He said there was “flexibility” if needed, which is usually not the kind of confidence a team wants to project before its first road test.
Backup right guard Gabe VanSickle and backup center/guard Joshua Padilla are two names many have pointed to as possible snap-share candidates if Ohio State wants to adjust. Even starting right tackle Phillip Daniels may not be fully locked in.
That’s a surprise considering how much continuity Ohio State brought back. The Buckeyes returned every piece of their offensive line rotation except right guard Tegra Tshabola, who is now at Kentucky. On paper, that set them up to be one of the strongest lines in the country.
Instead, Week 1 was more about shaking off rust. Against Ball State, center Carson Hinzman was the only starter to grade above a 70 in PFF’s system. The preseason buzz around left tackle Ian Moore, right guard Austin Siereveld and left guard Luke Montgomery didn’t translate into strong grades, as all three finished below a 66.
Texas, for its part, opened with a 59-7 win over Texas State and looked good up front on defense. But there’s a warning label attached to that performance, too: the Longhorns got underwhelming production from their pass rush against the Bobcats.
That matters because Ohio State’s path to victory in Austin could come down to time and space. If the Longhorns don’t get home, Julian Sayin will have room to work through his reads and let Jeremiah Smith and the rest of the receivers develop their secondary routes.
The other side of the same coin is just as important. If Texas’s interior defensive line can’t win against an Ohio State guard rotation that still looks unsettled, then the spotlight will swing back toward the Longhorns’ own trenches.
So while plenty of eyes will be on the quarterbacks and the skill talent, this game may be decided by the lines. Ohio State’s offensive front carries the biggest questions into Saturday night, but Texas’s defensive line is right there with it under the same pressure.
In Other News...
Texas May Get An Unexpected Boost Before Ohio State
Texas got a bit of encouraging news this week as Derrek Cooper moved from an early injury concern to a possible game-day option for the showdown with Ohio State. The running back left the season opener with an ankle injury, and Steve Sarkisian had previously suggested Cooper would be in a boot for the foreseeable future, which made the early outlook sound pretty grim for the Longhorns.
Now, the possibility of a quicker return has changed the tone around his status, even if it still comes down to a last-minute decision. Cooper has been seen as a valuable short-yardage piece, and his reputation has been helped along by positive evaluations from both teammates and scouts, so Texas will be watching closely to see whether that unexpected boost materializes in time for one of the biggest games on the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Urban Meyer Sees Ohio State Texas Coming Down To One Big Play
Urban Meyers take on the Ohio State-Texas matchup was simple enough: it should be tight, and the kind of game decided by a single moment rather than a long stretch of dominance. He pointed to the quarterbacks, Julian Sayin and Arch Manning, as the central figures in a meeting between two teams that both rolled through their openers against overmatched competition, and he also acknowledged the boost Texas gets from playing at home.
Meyer stopped short of treating the Longhorns home-field edge as enough to swing his prediction, even while describing the contest as close to a toss-up. The bigger picture is what makes this one so interesting for Texas: a marquee nonconference game, a quarterback spotlight, and the kind of early test that can turn on one play, one mistake or one timely drive. [Read more 🡒]
Arch Manning Faces A Very Different Ohio State Test This Time
Arch Manning and Julian Sayin met a year ago as two of the most closely watched quarterback prospects in the sport, and the game mostly belonged to the defenses. Since then, both quarterbacks have moved past the label of promising newcomers and into a stage where coaches are talking about confidence, command and the way each has grown into the job.
This time, the matchup carries a different feel because Texas is not walking into the same kind of mystery it faced before. Manning has a year of experience behind him, Ohio State has a clearer read on what he can do, and the Buckeyes challenge is less about surprise than about whether they can again make him uncomfortable when the spotlight is brightest. [Read more 🡒]