Ohio St. seeks better offense

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Everybody’s got a solution for what ails Ohio State.

Interim coach Luke Fickell said he was grilled by fans at a meeting with a booster group on Tuesday morning.

One persistent member of that club wanted to know why the Buckeyes only run on first and second downs and only throw on third.

There are plenty of problems for players, coaches and fans to address.

The Buckeyes (6-4, 3-3 Big Ten) got off to a miserable start, showed rare flashes of being able to move the ball, but ultimately fell 26-23 in overtime at Purdue on Saturday. Now they have to address all the things that went wrong, and some that have been going wrong all year, before taking on the 21st-ranked Nittany Lions (8-2, 5-1) on Saturday in their home finale.

The No. 1 problem facing the Buckeyes is an offense — particularly a passing game — that has had great difficulty making plays.

Over the last five games, they’ve completed just 27 of 63 passes (43 percent) for 401 yards, an average of just 80 yards per game.

Purdue dared the Buckeyes to throw the ball. And they couldn’t.

As a result, the Boilermakers crowded the line with eight or nine defenders and matched up with any receivers. Ohio State was limited to 166 yards on the ground — 101 yards fewer than it had averaged over the previous four games.

Braxton Miller was 8 of 18 for 132 yards and two touchdowns.

“You’ve just got to be able to make a few yards and rely on some of those guys up front even if they are putting in the extra guys,” Fickell said. “Obviously there are a lot more questions. We all know. We’ve said it a million times: Balance has got to be the key. We’ve got to create and find some more of that whether it’s throwing it or screening it or drawing it like the guy from the Quarterback Club said.”

Fickell said one of the problems is that receivers aren’t getting open. The return of DeVier Posey might solve that.