Ohio State football: 3 things Buckeyes must fix before Oregon game
By John Buhler
Ryan Day’s Ohio State football team be better be ready to take on Oregon at home in Week 2.
While Ohio State football fans should be thrilled about getting a multi-score victory to start the season on the road at Minnesota, welcoming Pac-12 contender Oregon to The Horseshoe is a completely different animal.
Though the Buckeyes proved to be the better team over the Golden Gophers last Thursday night, P.J. Fleck’s team did reveal a few areas of weakness Mario Cristobal and the Oregon Ducks could potentially exploit. Even if Oregon is a College Football Playoff hopeful in its own right, a home loss to the Ducks would be varying levels of embarrassing for the Buckeyes. This cannot happen at all.
Here are three corrections the Buckeyes must make to avoid Oregon’s potential Week 2 upset bid.
Ohio State football: 3 things Buckeyes must do to avoid upset to Oregon
3. Ohio State has to get healthier in the secondary to stave off Oregon
One of the bigger developments from last Thursday’s game in Minneapolis was the noted absence of Ohio State’s two starting cornerbacks: Sevyn Banks and Cameron Brown. While Day did not go into detail as to why they did not play vs. Minnesota, Ohio State started two freshmen at cornerback and lost safety Josh Proctor to a shoulder injury. A depleted secondary is bad news.
2. C.J. Stroud needs to be more accurate and play with more poise
Not only did we see C.J. Stroud make his first career start for the Buckeyes, he also attempted his first pass. While he did throw for four touchdowns, he did have an interception and only completed 59.1 percent of his throws. Again, that was against Minnesota, and the Buckeyes are about to play Oregon. He must throw the football with greater anticipation, as well as operate with more poise.
1. Ohio State’s run defense has to be markedly better vs. Oregon
One area that needs to be emphasized for Ohio State is getting better on run defense. The Buckeyes allowed 203 yards on the ground vs. Minnesota. While Mohamed Ibrahim is an incredible running back, he popped his Achilles tendon in the opener. Given that the Ducks run a ground-centric offense under Cristobal, this could be a very big problem for Ohio State. If Ohio State gets better play out its defense, and Stroud to some extent, the Buckeyes will be fine.
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