Cotton Bowl highlighted Ohio State’s lack of improvement and preparation in one critical area
Two images sum up Ohio State football’s offensive line performance in Friday’s 14-3 Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri.
On the final play of Devin Brown’s first career start, Missouri defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. zipped around left tackle Josh Simmons like a kid on Christmas morning and planted his quarterback face-first into the turf.
Not long after, tight end Cade Stover left a verbal exchange with a Missouri defender and unleashed his frustrations on his own offensive line in the huddle. Coach Ryan Day stepped back to let Stover try to light a fire under a group that spent much of the night being pushed around or simply passed by.
An offensive line which emerged from preseason camp with fragile expectations of adequacy made glacial progress throughout the season. Pass protection held up, with Kyle McCord facing roughly the same pressure rate as predecessor C.J. Stroud, per Pro Football Focus metrics. The running game struggled to find its footing but eventually did so around the same time TreVeyon Henderson returned from injury at midseason.
While four of five starters can return, this season’s performance ensures all five starting spots must be subject to an open competition this spring and into the preseason if necessary. For the second straight year, Ohio State’s O line appears headed into a spring in which it has not yet built faith in its young prospects, is looking to the transfer portal with what some might call desperation, and under-recruiting the room based on the standard applied to every other position.
The problems were not confined to pass protection. Ohio State went 0 for 4 when rushing for a first down or touchdown with 2 or fewer yards needed. Its rushing success rate, where 40% is considered “below average,” checked in at 28%. Of Henderson’s 19 rush attempts, 11 went for 3 or fewer yards.
Jones could at least fall back on dozens of games of experience and years of occasional practice reps at center when he made the switch. The decision to throw fifth-year senior Enokk Vimahi into his first game of consequence all season — and leave him in the game when he clearly struggled — leads one to conclude all other potential options were not game-ready.
The offensive line class Frye just signed is the third straight with no top-100 prospect from outside Ohio. The most elite offensive line prospects from out of state in recent years who actually completed their careers — Donovan Jackson and Wyatt Davis — held close Ohio ties.
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