Buckeyes offense faces tough test from Wildcats

Kansas State's defense was the fifth best this season.
& lt;a href=mailto:todor@vindy.com & gt;By ROB TODOR & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SPORTS EDITOR
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Considering Kansas State has the fifth-best defense in the country this season and Ohio State's offense was among the worst, it may seem elementary to suggest the Buckeyes will have to come up with their best performance of the season in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Friday night.
Outwardly, at least, players and coaches aren't showing any signs of panic.
"Against a team like Kansas State, with a powerful offense like they have and a good defense like they have we have to take advantage of every opportunity we get," quarterback Craig Krenzel said Monday.
Ohio State did a good job inside the opponent's 20-yard line, scoring on 37 of their 44 drives in the "red zone," including 25 touchdowns.
The problem has been an inconsistent attack, fueled by a poor running game and Krenzel's own lack of efficiency that hasn't provided many red zone chances.
Last season, for instance, the Buckeyes had 61 trips into red zone in 14 games, almost one more per game on average than this year.
Little things that go wrong
"There's a lot of talent on this offense, but a lot of things have to go right, and the story of the season was, it seemed like during every game some little facet went wrong," senior tight end Ben Hartsock said.
"An individual assignment [is] missed [and] a play that could have gone for 40 yards up the middle is brought down for a 2-yard loss, or if Craig would have had another three-quarters of a second [in the pocket he] could have put a ball on a guy and gone for a touchdown," Hartsock said.
Injuries have played a role, especially to Krenzel and the line, said offensive coordinator Jim Bollman.
"I don't think it's easy to reflect just on them [the offensive line]," Bollman said. "You have to look at the whole offense, where we struggled with the running game a lot early and then Craig got hurt.
"We've never really had consistency from week to week. I thought we started to improve the second half of the year," Bollman said.
Over their final five games of the season, the Buckeyes averaged 406.6 total yards per game, a marked contrast to the 278.3 yards per game they averaged through the first seven contests.
Ironically, Ohio State was slightly more effective in the red zone those first seven games (20-for-23) than in the final five (17-of-21).
Less balanced
"We just had a little more balance last year," Hartsock said. "Offensively, we still didn't put up astounding numbers at any one point. This year I think our pass game went better than it did last year.
"It's really kind of hard to compare, we're only missing a couple different guys but it really was a lot different offense and a lot different team."
Of course, one of those players was running back Maurice Clarett, who had the ability to make big plays even when the offensive line didn't block particularly well. This year, backs like Lydell Ross and Maurice Hall don't have that ability.
That fact hasn't been lost on at least one Buckeye.
"We lost the best running back in the country," offensive lineman Shane Olivea said. "It's that simple.
"Maurice was a guy we felt could win the Heisman this year. Not having him, we've asked Craig to a lot more than last year," Olivea said.
Krenzel, an academic All-American, will be tested by a Kansas State defense that does a good job of disguising its blitz packages.
"They're very aggressive. They like to come at you physically, whether they're blitzing or not," Krenzel said. "They don't show a lot of keys when they are blitzing.
"They like to give you the same look," Krenzel said. "You can watch a play and really have no clue what's going to be coming which makes it extremely difficult as an offense to adjust on the run."
Protection a must
Bollman hopes the Buckeyes can run the ball effectively enough to allow Krenzel time to throw.
"We've got to try to have some kind of balance," Bollman said. "I think it would be difficult for us to throw the ball every play. If we can get a bit of a run going we can help ourselves in the passing game.
"You have to be able to throw some on normal situations [and] you have to be able to execute on third down. Then the challenge is, how much time you give your quarterback."
& lt;a href=mailto:todor@vindy.com & gt;todor@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;