The Ohio State Buckeyes were never going to have as potent an offense on Saturday at USC as they’ve had the rest of the last two seasons.
Julian Sayin is out indefinitely with an injury to his throwing arm. OSU is into the backup QB portion of its depth chart. That meant on Saturday that Luke Fahey, over Tavien St. Clair, got the start for Ohio State at USC.
Fahey wasn’t terrible, but there was always a need in this setup for Ohio State to step up elsewhere on the field — like on defense.
Instead, the Buckeyes’ defense struggled in a 30-18 loss.
Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia has a lot of talent at his disposal. They’re going to have to be better in the weeks ahead to make up for the lack of Sayin.
Insider’s Take on Matt Patricia
The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel didn’t have a glowing review of Patricia after the USC loss.
“Ohio State’s normally stout defense could not handle USC’s dynamic freshman tandem of receiver Trent Mosley and tight end Mark Bowman,” Mandel writes. “… The Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff hopes remain intact for now, but a home loss the next two weeks to either Oregon or Northwestern could prove fatal. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia needs to figure out what went wrong and fix it fast, because a Fahey-led offense isn’t built for shootouts.”
It’s worth noting that Ohio State nearly lost two weeks ago to Indiana, as well. They let Nick Marsh get behind the defense for what would’ve been a game-winning touchdown. Marsh’s potential in-bounds foot ended up being just on the out of bounds line to deny the score.
Patricia isn’t on the field, of course, but he’s leading the unit that just became the most important for Ohio State. They can’t afford to get outdone by an opposing offense in the weeks to come.
Luke Fahey Review
Mandel didn’t have a lot to say about Fahey, just this:
“Fahey was … fine? Jeremiah Smith had 10 catches (albeit for 83 yards). Ohio State ran for 204 yards, yet was out of the race before the fourth quarter when it fell behind 27-9.”
Fahey didn’t throw an interception, which could’ve been a concern for a smaller QB making his first start as a true freshman on the road at USC.
He also clearly knew to get the ball to Smith — even if they couldn’t do any damage down field.
It’s going to be a different look for the Buckeyes’ offense. And for that to work, Patricia’s defense has to be better than it was on Saturday.
Ohio State’s Matt Patricia Problem Needs Fixing