OHIO STATE So far, Buckeye defense paying the bills for stay-at-home offense

It's going to be tough for the Buckeyes to repeat as Big Ten champions without a better running attack.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBUS -- "One yard and a cloud of dust" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Despite Ohio State's 5-0 record and No. 3 ranking in the polls, the Buckeyes offense has struggled this season -- particularly on the ground.
Junior Maurice Hall ran nine times for 12 yards (a 1.3 average) in Saturday's 20-0 win over Northwestern as the Buckeyes gained just 125 yards on the ground.
"We're still improving," Hall said. "I think we always need to continue to get better. I don't think we're going to be satisfied, regardless of where we are."
Losing Maurice Clarett obviously hurt, but Ohio State has seemingly never had a shortage of talented running backs through the years.
Struggling
But with Hall struggling and junior Lydell Ross hobbling, the Buckeyes turned to freshman Ira Guilford in the second half against the Wildcats. Guilford, who was originally recruited as a defensive back, ran eight times for 29 yards.
"I had a lot of success last year in high school as a running back, so it's just football to me," Guilford said. "I would love to play defense and play defensive back, but I also love to play offense and be a running back.
"I just want to have success."
So do the Buckeyes, but it's going to be tough to repeat as Big Ten champions without a better running attack.
Ohio State has had just one 100-yard performance from a running back this season -- Hall ran for a career-high 107 yards in a 24-17 win over Bowling Green -- and average a conference-worst 127.8 rushing yards per game.
Just for comparison's sake, Minnesota leads the conference with 292.8 rushing yards per game -- which is just 3 yards less than the Buckeyes total average on offense.
This wouldn't be as big of a problem if Ohio State was a passing team, but it isn't. The Buckeyes rank ninth in the Big Ten in passing yards per game (167.5) and are last in total yards.
"We need to say, OK, here's the personnel that we have and what can we do to maximize what they do?" coach Jim Tressel said. "We haven't really had the same cast very much here over the first five games and yet we're still surviving and doing what we need to get done to win football games."
But for how long? Ohio State has relied heavily on its defense so far this season, and now face the heart of its schedule, starting with road game against Wisconsin on Oct. 11.
The bye week should give Ross a chance to heal from his leg injury and the Buckeyes will have time to work on its offensive execution.
Getting starting quarterback Craig Krenzel back from an elbow injury is sure to give the team a spark, but there's still a lot of work to do.
"We need to get much better before we go to Camp Randall," Tressel said. "[But] I think we're headed in a better direction than we were a couple weeks ago."