The Ohio State Buckeyes can make the College Football Playoff not just because of Justin Fields, but running back J.K. Dobbins and the pass rush as well.
The Ohio State Buckeyes had no problem moving to 6-0 on the year Saturday night. They cruised past the division rival Michigan State Spartans in The Horseshoe, 34-10. This was the first ranked opponent the Buckeyes faced this year. While Michigan State doesn’t look to be a serious contender this year, Ohio State certainly is and it’s not just about quarterback Justin Fields.
Fields was solid on Saturday night, but not overly spectacular like he has been in his first year with the program after transferring from Georgia. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 206 yards, two touchdowns and his first career interception. Fields also ran the ball 11 times for 61 yards and a trip to pay dirt.
However, he wasn’t the best player on the field tonight for Ohio State. That would be running back J.K. Dobbins who continues to run all over the competition in Ryan Day’s offense. Dobbins had 24 carries for 172 yards and a touchdown, averaging 7.2 yards per rush attempt for the night.
Keep in mind that Michigan State has been a very solid defense for much of Mark Dantonio‘s tenure in East Lansing. To put up well over 300 yards of rushing offense on a top-25 team like the Spartans cannot be overstated. The same thing can be said about Chase Young and the Ohio State pass rush.
The Buckeyes continue to get after the passer and their latest victim was Michigan State’s Brian Lewerke. He completed 20 of 38 passes for 218 yards, a touchdown and a pick. His yards-per-attempt average was a lackluster 5.7 in the ball game. You typically want to see your signal-caller over 7.5 in a ball game because that means he’s completing passes downfield.
Ohio State has now scored at least 34 points in all six of its games this season and has held its opponent to 21 or under in all six contests. While this was the first time the Buckeyes didn’t hang at least 42 on the opposition, they have now kept their opponent to 10 points or fewer in their last five ball games. Talk about total and utter domination.
So what does this tell us about Ohio State? For the time being, the Buckeyes look to be the most complete team in the Big Ten. Of course, Ohio State will still have to play teams like the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Wisconsin Badgers and the archrival Michigan Wolverines in the second half of its schedule. The Buckeyes can beat all of those teams, but it won’t look as easy as Saturday did.
Most importantly, Ohio State has shown that it can win ball games in multiple ways. Fields can use his elite dual-threat playmaking abilities to wreck an opposing defensive coordinator’s game plan. Young and the pass rush can make the opposing quarterback completely ineffective on any given fall Saturday. Dobbins can be given the rock and will roll past whoever tries to tackle him.
Ohio State will have a bye before taking on the underwhelming Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston in two weeks. After that, the Buckeyes will need to get ready for their first big test of the season when Wisconsin comes to town. Let’s not forget that their last two games this season will be versus Penn State and on the road against Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The Buckeyes should have plenty of momentum by that point, assuming they can get past a very good Wisconsin team. At least we now know that Ohio State is the presumptive favorite to come out of the Big Ten because they can dominate a quality team in every phase of the ball game. With guys like Fields, Dobbins and Young, who could argue with that?
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