How much did Ohio State’s offensive line improve? What I saw against Western Michigan

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State dominated Western Michigan 56-0 on Saturday, recording its first shutout since 2019 when it routed Cincinnati.

In a week when plenty of teams around the country either struggled or were upset at home, this was a great showing by the Buckeyes.

They tallied 693 yards and averaged 9.5 yards per play while giving up just 99 total. Ohio State’s defense has been as good as advertised through two games, giving up just six points and 276 total yards. Still, the offensive line made the biggest jump from Week 1 to Week 2. It was only Western Michigan, but there were things on film that should translate even after the bye week.

Finding bodies on perimeter

One thing Ohio State struggled with at times, against Akron, was blocking on the perimeter. It’s not that Ohio State couldn’t get outside, but there were moments when the blockers just seemed to block space and miss their assignments. That wasn’t the case on Saturday.

This run, Quinshon Judkins’ first touchdown, is a good example of that.

Ohio State ran this play twice on Saturday, resulting in big gains. On the first one, right tackle Josh Fryar sprung a touchdown. Fryar hit the perimeter quickly and took out the linebacker from Western Michigan, giving Judkins a chance to get into space. From there, Western Michigan had no answer.

Ohio State ran the same pitch concept later in the game, but this time it was to TreVeyon Henderson.

Western Michigan played this one better, but keep an eye on Fryar and tight end Will Kacmarek. I’m not sure this was blocked the way it was supposed to be. It looked like Kacmarek missed the linebacker, but Fryar did a great job of not just running to space, and instead, he found a body. Kacmarek, too, did a good job after the linebacker went by him and blocked two defenders out of the play. Henderson hit the hole quickly, but because Western Michigan played it better, there wasn’t a touchdown. But a run of 14 yards is good any day.

Offensive tackles and tight ends often get a lot of love when a perimeter run breaks for a big play, but there were a few times on Saturday when interior linemen made some important plays.

This one, Henderson’s second touchdown, opened up because of a nice block from right guard Tegra Tshabola.

Fryar did a nice job of blocking enough for Tshabola to get a hold of the lineman and then got to the second level so that was a big part of this play. Also, Western Michigan’s safety took a terrible pursuit angle here, but that shouldn’t discount Tshabola’s effort. Watch as he latched on to the defensive end and kept him locked in until Henderson got by: This was really good work from an extremely athletic and powerful player. Tshabola has a chance to be a really good guard this season.

Pass protection

Ohio State wasn’t really threatened by Western Michigan’s pass rush, and part of that was because of Chip Kelly’s game plan. When the running game is working, Ohio State is going to be hard to slow down because Kelly can use the run-pass action and play-action game as much as he wants to keep the pass rush at bay.

This was a play-action play, which was set up well with this wide receiver motion. Ohio State ran a few fake jet sweep counters in this game that broke for some good yardage. This time, Kelly went with the play-action off a similar motion, although not the same formation and look. Western Michigan sent three here so that gave Ohio State’s tackles and guards a chance to double-team, but the real winner here was Seth McLaughlin.

The Alabama transfer was fantastic on Saturday, and he stood up the defensive lineman here and gave Will Howard time to throw a beautiful ball to Emeka Egbuka downfield.

Western Michigan had two sacks, both came against Devin Brown in the third quarter. Howard was barely touched on Saturday.

Some love for interior line

This play, Judkins’ second touchdown, could’ve been put in the perimeter section, but I wanted to highlight a few things here.

First, Josh Simmons did a nice job on the edge to spring Judkins. He blocked his defender twice, and left guard Austin Siereveld latched onto the linebacker at the second level to make sure Judkins didn’t get touched. But look at McLaughlin here, too.

He took the nose tackle early in the play, got to the second level and blocked the backside linebacker in pursuit. He ate up two defenders in one play to help spring this touchdown.

Ohio State blocked this play perfectly, even out to freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith on the outside.

Offensive line coach Justin Frye had to love this play.

The last offensive line play was a simple one.

Ohio State went jumbo with four tight ends on this play so I thought they were going to go outside, but instead, it went right up the middle, and Henderson scored diving above the line from 3 yards out.

That jump, however, didn’t get near the goal line if the line didn’t get the push it got from the moment the ball was snapped.

If we were critical a week ago about the line not physically dominating Akron, you have to give those players their props against Western Michigan. It was an inferior opponent and one the Buckeyes should beat up front, but it was a good sign of progress. If the Frye’s group can build on this, Ohio State is going to be hard to beat. In fact, I’d argue only one or two teams would be able to challenge the Buckeyes.

D-line depth beginning to show

Ohio State talked a lot this offseason about rotating more at every position, especially on the defensive line.

So far, Ohio State is doing that, and you’re seeing the talent it has at the starter and backup spots. We’re going to highlight the nose tackle first, on the second play of the game, which is an impressive one by Ty Hamilton.

He won off the line of scrimmage right away with a forceful bull rush, throwing his man to the ground and then was alert and athletic enough to make a move back to the line of scrimmage and tackle the running back at the line of scrimmage.

We don’t talk enough about Hamilton, but he was tremendous on Saturday, tallying four tackles, half a sack and a half tackle for loss.

Hamilton’s direct backup is Kayden McDonald, whom the coaching staff has been raving about since spring practice. He’s another massive human being, at 326 pounds, but he moves well, too. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles talks often about needed defensive tackles who don’t just eat up space but make tackles, and McDonald did just that on this play.

He did a great job of getting a push off the line and dictated where the running back could go on this play. His push opened two gaps where linebackers Sonny Styles and Cody Simon were waiting, but McDonald did a great job of shedding his block and making the tackle before Simon even really needed to.

It’s still early in the season, but when you think about the future defensive stars, McDonald is high on that list. He played 14 snaps on Saturday, and there’s probably an argument to be had that he should play more after having three tackles and a pass breakup.

A few other notes

• Defensive backs Davison Igbinosun and Caleb Downs were tremendous. They led the team with four tackles, and Igbinosun was particularly extremely physical on the outside.

This is a play a lot of corners don’t make. Some corners don’t like to tackle, but Igbinosun loves it. His physicality, length and hands sometimes get him in trouble with penalties, but they’re also going to make him a lot of money in the NFL.

• Downs was great, too. His numbers won’t jump at you, but if we had an All-22 film, you could see how good he was at reading everything Western Michigan wanted to do in the passing game. I noticed him a lot on Saturday just locking down where Western Michigan quarterback Hayden Wolff wanted to go with the ball, especially on rollouts. Downs does make some plays that make you wonder if he’s actually a safety because he’s so physical and quick in the box, but he covers well and does a good job shutting down passing lanes before they’re even open, too.

• One snap count note, linebacker Arvell Reese played 22 snaps on Saturday, while C.J. Hicks played just 11. I’m not sure if Reese has jumped Hicks in the rotation, for good, but that’s a notable snap difference.

(Photo: Barbara J. Perenic / USA Today)