If Texas State’s goal is to come out and sling the ball around the field, Saturday will be a clash of styles, as Ohio's style will likely be just the opposite – ground and pound.
Ohio threw the ball 43.90 percent of the time last season, placing them 92nd in the FBS. It only stood above Akron and Northern Illinois, who ranked 101st and 108th in the Mid-American Conference, respectively.
That wasn’t a problem last year, as the Bobcats finished 8-5 with a bowl game appearance.
But keeping the Texas State offense off the field will be the key to Saturday. Ohio will use its powerful backfield of A.J. Ouellette, Dorian Brown, Papi White and Maleek Irons to pound the ball.
Texas State is only returning five of defensive starters from last year’s team and is also switching from a 4-2-5 to a 3-4 defense with the addition of defensive coordinator Randall McCray.
He spent the past three seasons at Gardner-Webb, coaching the Runnin’ Bulldogs.
“It’s kind of like how Idaho was last year, they had a whole new coaching staff,” center Jake Pruehs said. “We know how to run our offense well. It doesn’t matter what defense you put in front of us, we’re gonna go full speed.”
In order to attack the 3-4, Ohio will likely stick to just what it knows best: the ground game.
“We’ve been watching all of that film, so just film, film and film,” Pruehs said.
Scouting the defense
Again using a YouTube video, I found a Gardner-Webb game against Liberty from last season.
Like yesterday, let’s assume that Texas State will run the same defense that Gardner-Webb ran last season.
It’s a highlight tape and not a full game, but taking a sample play at the 2:15 mark, Liberty lines up in a similar formation to what Ohio might run.
A base 3-4 defense lines up a nose tackle over the center, in a “zero” technique, and two defensive ends head up on the left and right tackle. The outside linebackers take on more importance in a 3-4, as they now have outside contain, as well as a greater importance to stop the run.
Even though Liberty showed a heavy-run formation, Gardner-Webb kept the cornerbacks at seven yards deep and safeties at eight.
At the snap, Liberty pulls their right guard and tackle out to the outside, trying to set up a convoy to the wide side of the field.
At 2:17, Gardner-Webb is in trouble.
The running back now has the ball, but Gardner Webb now only has the outside linebacker to keep contained. The three down lineman were all taken care of by the tackles and center, and the inside linebackers haven’t scraped over the top fast enough.
Liberty has made a seal on the inside and has the fullback and two linemen to block a linebacker and two defensive backs.
Unsurprisingly, at 2:19, the running back hits the hole and after evading the diving tackle from the safety, trots into the endzone.
Judgement
That is precisely how Ohio should attack Texas State on Saturday. With playmakers like Sebastian Smith and Jordan Reid at the wideout position, Ohio should be able to draw the Texas State attention out enough to open up some running lanes.
It’s an unknown to the personnel Texas State will employ, but with a defense that gave up 521.8 yards per game last season, ranking 123rd out of 127 teams, I wouldn’t expect drastic changes for the its defense.
Texas State might be able to score, but this will be where the game will be won. I just don’t think Texas State has the horses to keep up with Ohio in this one.
Read next week for breakdowns of the Kansas offense and defense. The Post will do a weekly series of "X's and O's," breaking down what Ohio's opponent will likely run in the game upcoming that week.
