The Ohio State Buckeyes may have escaped with a victory over Nebraska, but consistently slow starts could prevent them from reaching the College Football Playoff.
Once again, the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to survive a slow start out of the gate to avoid an upset against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. Unfortunately, these sloppy starts are starting to become a major concern for Ohio State football fans.
Despite some special teams miscues from Nebraska that included a botched kickoff and a blocked punt for a safety, the Buckeyes made plenty of mistakes of their own to go into halftime trailing 21-16.
The biggest issue with Ohio State early on was ball security. A free blitzer was able to get to Dwayne Haskins for a strip sack, and then K.J. Hill proceeded to cough up the ball again on the very next possession.
Despite an early interception in the third quarter from Haskins, Ohio State ultimately turned it on a bit more in the second half, outscoring Nebraska 20-10. A pair of touchdown runs from J.K. Dobbins and a touchdown pass from Haskins helped the Buckeyes escape with a 36-31 victory.
Sloppy starts are starting to become an alarming trend for Ohio State. Over their last five games, the Buckeyes have gone into the locker room at halftime either trailing or leading by three points or less in four of them. The only instance they didn’t was an eight-point lead at halftime in a disappointing start against the Indiana Hoosiers.
These slow starts ended up finally costing them in that embarrassing loss to Purdue, and despite a less-than-stellar performance against Nebraska, the Buckeyes are still very much in charge of their own destiny.
Still, it’s a concerning sign when a team with as much talent as Ohio State struggles coming out of the gate against a bunch of significantly less talented programs (outside of Penn State). Their next two matchups against Michigan State and Maryland are more than winnable, but things will get much more interesting when Michigan comes to town for The Game.
Ohio State has the firepower to overcome sluggish starts against weaker programs. However, going against a Wolverines team that allows the fewest yards in the nation and just 14.4 points per contest, a slow start could spell disaster for the Buckeyes.
Even though the Buckeyes are still in charge of their own destiny, these sluggish starts are starting to become a major concern.