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Ohio State debuted a new weapon in its ugly win over Indiana: Stephen Means observations
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Ohio State won its season opener over Indiana 23-3, extending its win streak over the program to 28.
Here are a few notable observations:
1. Mitch Rossi went from walk-on to key member of the offense and OSU carved out a special role. Now it has been handed off to another — whom he even recognized — with Arizona State transfer Chip Trayanum.
Trayaum came to Columbus as a linebacker last season. Then the running back room started falling apart thanks to injuries as they looked to him for depth. That even meant relying on him as the workhorse back in the loss to Michigan. He returned to a deep room in 2023 filled with options.
Coming into the opener, perception was that at best he was third in the pecking order, depending on what you thought of Dallan Hayden. That played out in the win in terms of touches with five carries for 53 yards plus a 12-yard catch. But he was used in various ways that allowed Ohio State to go with two running back looks that it has never used before.
The Buckeyes got to 1-0, but it was not in the explosive way we have come to expect from this offense under Ryan Day, given the weapons they have on the outside. But even in the midst of a sloppy performance, they found a way to debut a new weapon by building on a role originally intended to reward a walk-on with meaningful playing time.
2. Larry Johnson typically uses Ohio State’s “Rushmen package” to move a defensive end side to get his four best pass rushers on the field. That will be back in 2023 and against Indiana it was Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau on the edge with Caden Curry and Mike Hall Jr. on the interior.
3. We spent a decent amount of time during the offseason discussing Sonny Styles’ role, and whether he could be the answer to a multitude of things for the Buckeyes in a way that he never came off the field. That was not entirely true against Indiana. He is the starting nickel and played practically every meaningful snap at the spot. Except for obvious passing situations on third-and-long when he would be replaced by Cameron Martinez.
Styles may have the ability to develop into a player capable of being anything OSU needs him to be. But that was not needed of him against the Hoosiers. The depth built behind him allowed the defense to still have specialized packages.
4. Brian Hartline said that Carnell Tate had done enough over the last nine months to deserve to play meaningful snaps as a freshman even in a wide receiver room returning its top three options from a season ago. That came true against the Hoosiers and it allowed the Buckeyes to up the playbook.
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His usage meant four and five-wide receiver packages, and a healthy rotation for the freshman, Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Ebuka and Julian Fleming. However, it wasn’t a productive day for the wide receivers with Fleming leading the way with five catches for 53 yards. But the leader overall was Cade Stover with five catches for 98 yards.
5. Day has had a ton of good things to say about Luke Montgomery over the past month and even though the freshman offensive lineman didn’t win a starting job he will have a role this season. The Ohio native takes over the bison role as an extra offensive lineman in goal-line sets.
6. Malik Hartford also saw time at the adjuster safety spot in the second half while the game was still in question. He shared the spot with Josh Proctor, who also had a productive day as a starter.
7. Ohio State showed off a ton offensively in Week 1. Formations ranged from two tight ends, five wide receivers and two running backs. All of it looked like Day and the offense wanted to get creative by putting a ton on film for future teams to have to deal with. But none of those things will matter unless it gets better play out of its offensive line, which at times looked overwhelmed by the Hoosiers front four.
Day vowed to be more creative and aggressive in his play calling coming off the loss to Michigan and lived up to that decree against Georgia. That version of him needs to continue in 2023 for this team to contend for a national title, but it needs a habitable environment to be sustainable. That was not always the case against the Hoosiers, who often found ways to be disruptive.
8. OSU has talked highly of its top three cornerbacks all offseason and we’ve been wondering what the rotation would look like. Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun started and played the first two series, then Jordan Hancock subbed in for Burke on the third. Then Burke came back on the field in place of Igbinosun on the following series.
Tim Walton is rotating three players through two spots with the idea that you play two series, then sit one. It is a similar rotation to what we saw in 2016 with Marshon Lattimore, Gareon Conley and Denzel Ward.
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