OSU offense needs improvement vs. Penn State

COLUMBUS – There were several disturbing offensive statistics for Ohio State in a closer-than-expected 21-17 win over Nebraska last Saturday, but Ryan Day focused in on one which annoyed him most during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

“The biggest thing is obviously the third downs. When you go 1 for 10 on third down (conversions) you can’t keep drives alive, you can’t control the game,” he said.

“When you can’t convert on third downs, on the third and shorts, you can’t keep drives going, you can’t wear down defenses. So we’ve got to convert on third downs.

“The more at-bats you have during a drive the better off you’re going to be. When you go 1 for 10 that’s just not acceptable. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and figure out what happened, why it happened and get it fixed,” he said.

OSU had only 285 yards total offense against Nebraska and 221 of those yards came from the passing game.

No. 4 Ohio State (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) can’t afford a repeat of that kind of offensive performance when it plays at No. 3 Penn State (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) on Saturday.

Getting into the College Football Playoff might still be possible after a loss but a second Big Ten loss could keep OSU out of the Big Ten championship game.

The Buckeyes had eight first downs in the first half against Nebraska but did not have a first down in the third quarter and had only three in the fourth quarter. They ran 47 plays, the lowest total for an OSU offense since a 2015 loss to Michigan State.

Day saw improvement from Ohio State’s defense against Nebraska and hopes to see the same sort of thing from the offense this week.

“The defense has a lot of confidence coming off last week. If we can get the offense playing the way it has in the past, combined with the way the defense played his past week, then that’s what we’re looking for in this game,” he said.

NOTES:

… REESE WINS APPEAL: Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese will be available for the entire game at Penn State on Saturday after the Big Ten approved an appeal by OSU of a targeting call against him on a tackle of a Nebraska receiver last week.

If the penalty had been allowed to stand Reese would have had to sit out the first half against Penn State.

… MICHALSKI’S AVAILABILITY: Day said there is a chance Zen Michalski, who suffered a leg injury late in the fourth quarter of Ohio State’s win over Nebraska in his first start could play this week.

Michalski got his first career start last week at left tackle because starting left tackle Josh Simmons suffered a season-ending knee injury at Oregon.

Day did not sound overly optimistic about getting Michalski back this week, though.

“If he can go we’ll continue to kind of evaluate where we’re at. We haven’t made a decision on that yet. We’ll have to first see if he can go and then go from there,” he said.

… MONTGOMERY CALLED ON: When Michalski had to leave last week’s game, left guard Donovan Jackson moved to left tackle and Findlay’s Luke Montgomery took over at left guard.

Asked how Montgomery was chosen to go into the game at that point, Day said, “It was just based on practice. Luke had been practicing at left guard for the last couple of weeks and Austin (Siereveld) had been practicing at right guard. Luke had more practice reps (repetitions) at left guard.”

… SMITH BRINGS CONSISTENCY: Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has looked good since the first game of the season but Day says he has gotten better every week.

“His consistency and the way he practices is very mature for a young player. Now we’re getting to the second half of the season. Sometimes some of those freshmen can start to fray a little bit. That’s not the way he’s been. He’s been better every week,” Day said.

Smith has caught a touchdown pass in his first seven games in college and has 34 catches for 623 yards. He needs seven catches to tie Cris Carter for the most catches by an OSU freshman.

… RANSOM RETURNS TO PRACTICE: Starting safety Lathan Ransom, who did not play against Nebraska last week, returned to practice this week.

“We’re excited to get a whole week of practice from Lathan. We’ll see how the week goes,” Day said.