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Ross Fulton Analysis: How Ohio State's Offense Is Adapting Before Facing Michigan · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Thursday, November sixteenth, I'm your host,
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  tom Or the Minnesota game in two days, the game against Michigan. Brace
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  yourself. We're in single digits nine days away. Will they go high State
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  offense be ready for that game against Michigan and their stout defense up north.
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  Well, we're going to talk about that today with our buddy Ross Fulton,
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  the ex's and nos guru at bucke huddle dot com. And when we talked
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  to Ross, we talked to you about Jeff Ruby and the proudly offering nationally
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  the mouthwatering menu and make yourself a reservation at Jeffruby dot com slash Columbus today.
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  So, Ross, it was a mouthwatering offensive performance for the first time
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  possibly all season in a lot of ways during the first half against Michigan State,
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  and you pulled out some stuff that they are doing just sort of building
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  off of different things. We have talked about the fact that it's been a
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  little bit scattershot times with the offense, it feels like they're sort of dialing
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  in a little bit to what they're doing well and building off of certain concepts.
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  So walk us through some of that. Yeah, you know, you
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  can obviously say that Michigan State is not a very good opponent, and so
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  you do expect a better offensive output. But I think the biggest positive takeaways
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  is what we're going to show here, which is how much they have altered
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  the scheme I think in a positive way to fit their personality or their identity
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  and their personnel as well as obviously Kyle McCord's play. But you know,
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  so this is this first year has really reflected the former because you know,
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  they came of the year with a lot of heavy sets, a lot of
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  stretch to the boundary, as we even others have often discussed, and they
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  really there's you know, if you compare it to think back to that Indiana
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  game, you know, they're significantly different on offense, a much more diverse
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  run game and I think a much high higher percentage of play action passes,
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  and I think they're doing a better job of marrying concepts together and series football,
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  and so you know, we saw that right away so you know,
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  second play of the game, you know they've gone from I should say in
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  the run game. You know they've gone from again being a very stretch heavy
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  team to now, if I had to define them, I would say they're
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  principally a counter tray and a weak inside zone team. So you know,
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  they saw that the first two plays, like the first play week Zone.
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  By that, I mean they're running an inside zone away from the tight end
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  towards the A gap bubble. So he saw a lot of that again inst
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  Michigan State. And then second play here you get counter oh, which is
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  just meaning they're pulling the guard and the backside off tight end. They keep
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  doing the other thing they increasingly have been doing, which you see on this
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  play is like tighter and tighter wide receiver splits, and they're doing that.
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  It is setting up their play action as well, but it's allowing them to
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  sort of dig out some of the guys. So like again, go back
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  to that Indiana game and we talked about how Indiana kept having unblocked defensive backs
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  off the edge making plays. So like here we go, like you know,
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  Julian fleming and tight and so he can dig out that safety especially with
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  how you know, good Travon Henderson is once he gets outside and bounces the
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  football like you don't want you know, you want to be able to sort
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  of clean out the hole for him on the outside. And so that's what
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  happens here. Obviously, Henderson bounces you know, Fleming gets to the safety
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  and allows him to get to the second level. So again, you know,
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  continued emphasis on counter tray and other gap schemes that allow Henderson to get
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  downhill. And so you know we jump from that a couple of plays later.
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  They then fake counter oh and they run a sale concept a hit Kate
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  Stover on the deep out route you know, underneath Harrison running off the coverage.
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  So again they're like, you know, getting talking about making plays look
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  alike, so like you don't you know, it's not like they're they have
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  one doing one thing for the pass and offense another for the run offense.
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  You know they're faking, you're the same play. G Scott then peels back
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  off of his initial action to steal the backside get a clean pocket. Like
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  as I said, they're I think their play action pass numbers, you know,
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  I think according to Bud Davis, who puts together stats on X that
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  are really helpful for teams, Like, you know, the twenty percent of
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  their pass concepts for play action pass a month ago. As of last week,
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  it was up to twenty eight percent. I think it's probably even higher
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  after this game, like a lot of play action, especially early before the
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  game was out of hand. And so so they go. Then immediately from
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  that you get to the next play, so again fake counter oah again,
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  but now they run the reverse to Harrison and so they they peel so g
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  Scott and you know it takes his initial steps like he's pulling again, peels
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  back, uh, you know it to lead on the second level outside and
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  again you're getting benefit of defenders thinking that it's a run coming back to the
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  boundary with another counter age, and now you're running to the field with Marvin
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  Harrison for a touchdown. So you know, it's been a long saying in
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  football that hasn't changed. Like one of the benefits of an offense is you
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  can make plays look alike and the defense can't know what's coming. And so
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  the longer that you can keep a defense guessing or not knowing based on the
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  initial action what they're getting, the more you're going to benefit as an offense,
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  and so I think they've they've done a better job of that than maybe
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  at any time in Ryan Day's tenure at Ohio State. And as someone who
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  is down at field level, I can tell you trying to follow that Marvin
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  Harrison end around touchdown, I had no idea. I'm looking through a camera
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  of you finders, so I do not have a great view, but that
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  was one where I had no idea where the football was until Marvin Harrison got
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  to about the five yard line and then got them crossing the goal line.
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  But it is at field level, with all the bodies in front of you,
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  it is very, very hard to find the football when you got action
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  going both ways. Yeah, and especially you know when you use that wrap
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  back block like g Scott. You know, even you're even showing the initial
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  action going one way. So if a linebacker is trying to read a pollar
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  or follow you know, a slide back with a split block, then he
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  goes back the other way. So you're even doing it post snap as well.
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  You mentioned counter awah a couple of times there. We're going to talk
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  more about counter owah and more action they showed off of that and how they
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  use that with Xavier Johnson because no, you know, they don't want to
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  use delln Hayden, mind Wlliams out for the year. Xavier Johnson feels like
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  they're giving him. He's giving them a really useful and interesting weapon to use
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  in a couple different ways. Yeah, I mean, I think it's been
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  two years now I've seeing just like how effective Xavier Johnson is is a running
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  back. I mean, he just has really good visions. So, you
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  know, I think he has a different skill set than either of the guys
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  you mentioned, particularly out in space. You know, he's you're not gonna
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  run him a ton between the tackles, but you know, he just good
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  things seem to happen when he has the football. As we talked about,
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  you know in previous episodes, I don't really see him as a downfield receiver.
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  But this is much more fits his skill set to me. And again,
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  so they had this package right where they're you know, we've seen him
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  in the past on orbit motions. Now we get sort of in the backfield
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  with counter trey and so you chip train them as the lead blocker and so
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  again train them on these plays sort of filling the same role that Fleming did
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  on the first KIH. We saw where he's going to basically wrap and lead
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  to the safety level and so he's not part of the fit inside, but
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  he again you're trying to get the football out of space and take care of
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  defensive backs as well. And then you're just running the same blocking scheme for
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  the line. But again you're you're trying to get the football to Johnson and
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  give him the chance to bounce it. And then you know they fake then
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  obviously counter h and run the wheel route to x down the sideline for an
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  explosive and as Ryan Day talked about on Tuesday, you know they Harrison again
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  like runs off the coverage. I mean, you've got two guys basically following
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  him and leaving that wheel route open. And so I think, you know,
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  the one thing that you'll have to watch, that we'll have to watch
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  for is when Xavier Johnson's in the game, You're you're getting certain predictable action
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  right like You're you're much more likely, particularly with the mecha Buka back,
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  Like you know here, they run, they run into Xavier Johnson and then
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  they fake the counter. But the fake is to train them and not Xavier
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  Johnson, right, and so he's the one running the wheel, so obviously
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  train them is a good blocker. It will be interesting to see going forward
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  whether they you know, maybe they do split backs with Xavier Johnson and Travion
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  Henderson. Maybe you know, they use Xavier Johnson as a decoy in an
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  other way, Like you got to build off of that. So, you
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  know, just like it, just like with not predictable by personnel. But
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  I think that there's like no doubt that Xavier Johnson has a role in this
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  offense, like we talked about that earlier, Like you know, he continues
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  to be I think a threat as a runner and as a receiver out of
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  the backfield in particular. Like so I do think they need to continue to
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  come up with ways like this to get him the football in space and use
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  him as a weapon in the passing game. Well, someone who is unquestionably
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  a weapon in the passing game is Marvin Harrison Junior. Will be taking a
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  look at his first touchdown up next. But something else, Ryan Day pointed
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  out on Tuesday craveon Henderson really kind of saved the day here with a nice
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  block to pick up a defender who otherwise might have been on top of Kyle
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  McCord here. Yeah, And I mean you saw the McCord after the play,
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  if you watch the TV clips, like he gives you know, a
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  major props to Travon Henderson because he basically picks up a defensive tackle that had
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  beaten in his initial block Bucker and cut the cut of the legs out from
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  under him and gave him a cord time to make this throw. But you
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  know, again, I think McCord, obviously, as many have noted,
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  played his best game Saturday competition aside, like as Ryan Day has harped on,
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  and I think it's true, Like when McCord's feet are right and he
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  you know, he sets his feet, he keeps him underneath him, he
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  can be pretty good and pretty accurate. And I think that this was certainly
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  the most consistent performance we've seen in terms of you know, decisiveness and ball
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  placement and so you know, on this play, they obviously go with trips
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  away from Harrison and they get singled up coverage to Marvin's side, and obviously,
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  like you know, especially with like formation into boundary, so you know,
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  they put the trips or tray with the it's called tray with the when
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  the tight end is into the three receiver side to the short side of the
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  field. So there's a lot of graphs to cover on eighteen. So again
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  like daylight to talk about it, get it. Decide do you roll coverage
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  the field and leave the thing short to the boundary or do you single him
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  up? And you know, Michigan state here and cover four basically leaves him
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  singled up. And you know, obviously a great double move by Harrison,
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  a great throw, and you know, obviously great pass protection by Trevion Henderson
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  as we talked about. But you know, schematically as well, you see
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  the benefit of and and you know we'll show it the next clip, like
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  as well as the Xavier Johnson. You know, when teams are doubling or
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  rolling covers to Harrison, it's a matter of trying to take advantage of that
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  with other people. And you know, I still think it's important that Amca
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  Buka continues to like get healthy and get the flow of the game. I
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  think, you know, they need to get him a little bit more involved
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  as he's coming back. But also then you know, generate ways to get
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  Harrison open, whether it's like this by getting him singled up, you know,
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  on his touchdown catch after this, he was in the slot for a
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  slant route. You know, so they they see different ways to utilize him,
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  and like that's going to be important against Michigan. Like the one thing
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  I didn't clip that I do think, you know, there was a couple
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  third down or early you know, one on early downs. One on third
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  down where McCord hit Julian Fleming for one, he hit Harrison for another.
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  But they were just sort of you know, nondescript eight to ten yard like
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  comeback or out routes to the field, to the wide field. And you
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  know, Michigan, the one thing that they like to do is play a
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  lot of off coverage to the field, especially like saw a lot against Penn
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  State. In like Penn State, like a lot of Big ten teams just
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  cannot often take advantage of that and just keep the you know, keep ahead
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  of schedule by hitting those and you know, so it was good to see
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  like McCord and Harrison especially one like you could tell was a read and he
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  broke off his go route and ran a comeback. And so those are the
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  kind of things that like are positive to see for High State perspective going forward
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  for a couple of weeks. Well, you mentioned a MECO book could not
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  necessarily looking one hundred percent. I'm not sure Kate Stover was really one hundred
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  percent, but he was out there and when they threw him the ball,
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  he was one hundred percent. Seven targets, seven catches, and a touchdown,
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  and the touchdown was right before halftime. Was a play that made it
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  thirty five to three and essentially ended any chance of any kind of second half
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  drama at all. And that's one where Marvin Harrison was getting doubled and they
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  needed someone else to make a play and Kate Stover made that play. Yeah,
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  And I mean I think I even have been underestimating Kate Stover's importance in
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  the passing game up until that game. Like you can just tell how comfortable
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  McCord feels thrown in the ball, and like when McCord sees single coverage,
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  a lot of times it is Stover versus a linebacker. Like you know,
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  if everyone singled up across the board, he's going to be pretty comfortable going
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  to Stover because he knows that that single coverage is from a linebacker. On
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  him and he you know, he catches everything, so you know, and
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  this one is a graded though example of Harrison's impact without actually making the play,
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  as you said, because you know, they're basically they're running four vertical
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  routes and Michigan State's running cover one, but they have a safety effectively shaded
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  all the way over to Harrison on the far left hand side, and so
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  you know, McCord sees that and immediately comes back to Stover, who,
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  yes, has single coverage, but it's on a linebacker. It's obviously a
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  great throw and catch where he plays the ball. But again, I just
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  think it's a good example of, you know, both the impact that Harrison
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  has and like how Ohio State is taking advantage of that, you know,
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  one way or the other, but also just like kind of you know,
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  McCord again being decisive in this game and reading the coverage correctly and knowing where
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  to go with the football. Well, I mentioned there was not a lot
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  of drama after halftime, but there was maybe a little intrigue because at one
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  point Ohio State took Carson Hinzman, who has been the starting center all season
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  long, off the field and slid Matt Jones who has been the starting right
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  guard all season over to center, brought an ek Vamahi at guard, and
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  it was kind of one of those huh, I wonder if there's anything to
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  this. And Ryan Day was asked about it on Tuesday and didn't say,
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  no, there's no chance this ever goes anywhere. So what were your thoughts
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  on that move? And you know, is that something that's realistic for them
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  if they decide that's the way they want to go at some point. Is
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  that something you could a move you could make during the middle of the season
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  like this, Yeah, I agree. It was not a Sherman esque denial
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  by Day in terms of impact going forward. You know, I guess my
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  first thoughts were when I, you know, one series, obviously very small
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  sample size, I thought Jones really brought some things to the center position that
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  Ohio State has not been getting, particularly you know, being able to make
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  a block of the first level and then get to the second level to a
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  linebacker. You Know, what I can't answer is whether they think, you
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  know, Matt Jones with you know, in my right guard is a better
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  you know, overall combination for them than Hindsman at center with Matt Jens a
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  right guard. You know, it's not even the middle of the season,
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  is the thing. It's pretty late, right, so you'd be you'd be
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  making a change very late. I do think it's probably a sign that,
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  you know, I think Carson Hinsman is probably on notice that, like you
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  know, there's some things that need to be improved or you know, he
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  could be in danger of losing time. I mean, I just think he
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  continued, he still just needs to play with better leverage and play lower,
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  uh, you know, and do a better job getting to the second level
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  or you know, if you miss a block, just turn back and get
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  the backside by backer instead. And so you know, I I am also
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  it intrigues me. I thought Day's answer sort of opened the door a little
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  bit more so. I certainly think it's something to watch going forward. But
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  you know, it is a you know, I do think this is it's
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  been an interesting team overall because I do think, like you know, we're
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  talking about like whether it's ski wise, whether it's personnel wise, like there's
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  been a lot of development for a team that's undefeated on the offensive side,
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  like you know, compared to what you saw it's Indiana, Whether it's you
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  know, the increased use of Xavier Johnson as we talked about, you know
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  stovers development. Uh, you know, some of this has opened up by
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  injuries. But like I do think that the coaching staff has done a good
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  job this year again like sort of figuring out what their players do well and
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  really adapting the scheme. Like it has changed quite a bit. And you
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  know, they're a much different scheme than they were to start the season,
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  or that they were last year, you know when they went to play Michigan,
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  particularly the run and play action game. So it's it's definitely a very
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  different look. Well, if you were listening to this as a podcast or
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  watching this on YouTube and you're thinking, I wish I could see what Ross
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  is talking about, well, the best place to do that is at the
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  Huddleboard buckey huddle dot com, presented by Jeff Ruby, Columbus. That is
• 17:57
  where our members gather to talk to Ross about what we're talking about here,
• 18:02
  ask him questions, ask questions of mikey and or Mickey and Devin as well.
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  Make you a smarter football fan. That is a members only area at
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  bucke huddle dot com. So if you want to watch with all the clips
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  from the game. You can do that there and if you want to learn
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  more about our friends at Jeff Ruby and I will raise my hand and say
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  yes, that sounds good to me. Jeff Ruby Steakhouse is the award winning
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  upscale steakhouse in downtown Columbus, name one of the top fifty steakhouses in America
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  by Food Network. They know something about food, they know something about Jeff
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  Ruby, and that is that is a good place to eat. So go
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  to Jeffruby dot com slash Columbus to learn more. That will do it for
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  today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you tomorrow.