Buckeye Juggernaut Invades Autzen: Challenge is Simple, Not to Be Confused with Easy

Ohio State has won their games by an average score of 49-7. They've been absolutely dominant in their 5-0 start, and a diverse cast of national pundits give them the edge against Oregon. The line opened at Ohio State -3.5; it's since moved to -3. Back in August, the Ducks had a slight edge in the preseason lines due to home field and a more experienced quarterback.

That shifted after the Buckeyes boat raced all five of their opponents while the Ducks struggled for consistency against Idaho and Boise State, giving up 7 sacks in their first two games. Against Oregon State, UCLA and Michigan State, however, the Oregon offensive line hasn't given up a sack while winning 49-14, 34-13 and 31-10.

According to Pro Football Focus, Buckeye quarterback Will Howard completes only 31% of his passes when pressured, but he's only been pressure 16 times in 130 pass attempts, 5-16 for 34 yards and one interception on those throws.

Chip Kelly's offense is efficient and methodical, built around a devastating running game and RPO-based passing. Twin running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson have pounded opponents, Judkins 60 carries for 468 yards and 5 touchdowns (7.8 a carry,) Henderson 42 carries for 337 yards and 4 TDs, 8.0 a carry.

The RPO game has been a key in their fast starts. After starting with four straight incompletions in his debut against Akron, Howard has opened the last four contests with brutal efficiency:

vs. Western Michigan: 10/10

vs. Marshall: 11/12

at Michigan State: 12/13

vs. Iowa: 10/10

He's been less effective throwing the deep ball. On throws of 20 or more yards, the Kansas State transfer has completed 5-11 (45.5%) for 196 yards and an interception. They prefer to work the ball down the field with superior athletes, grind opponents down, quiet the crowd.

Fox analyst Joel Klatt is among those who are skeptical about the Ducks' chances of slowing that OSU offense. This week on the Colin Cowherd Show he said, "The reason why I’m nervous for Oregon is because I’ve seen, even in that building — and I agree, it’s a really difficult place to play — we saw Ashton Jeanty run for 195 yards on that Oregon defense in that building."

"How do you take the crowd out of it? How do you minimize crowd noise effect? You beat them up physically. I think that’s what Ohio State is going to try and do, and particularly early with a run game and offensive line that is pretty elite.”

Jeanty had a big day against the Ducks, but most of came on three explosive runs, a 17-yard carry on the first possession of the game, 31 yards on the touchdown drive just before half, 70 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. These three plays accounted for 118 of his 192-yard total. He also had rushes of 2, 3, 0, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 3, 2, and 4 yards.

For the Ducks to slow down the Buckeye offense, they have to keep Judkins and Henderson from breaking explosive runs. They must fill the gaps better than Iowa did last week. In the three games since Boise, Oregon has allowed 131, 47, and 59 yards rushing. For the first time in many years they have the depth, size and athletic ability on the defensive line to compete with an elite offensive line, and the linebackers are much improved.

Another key matchup in the game for the Ducks defensively is their second corner against Ohio State's elite cast of wide receivers, Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate and Brandon Innes. Previous opponents have found success throwing in front of Nikko Reed or Dontae Manning on the side opposite Jabbar Muhammad, who has been Oregon's strongest defender in the secondary.

The Buckeyes haven't played in a close game, while the Ducks have won two of them. Last year with the Wildcats Howard played in five games that were decided by 9 points or less, and he went 1-4 in those games. He lost to Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Iowa State, beat Kansas.

If the game comes down to a field goal, Oregon kickers Atticus Sappington and Andrew Boyle have hit 7-8 this year, including Boyle's 50-yard boot against the Spartans last week. Ohio State has only been held to a field goal twice this season, making both.

Many of the national stories have focused on Chip Kelly's return to Autzen, but the coach with an axe to grind is Ohio State running backs coach Carlos Locklyn, who worked for two years at Oregon under Dan Lanning in the same position. When Locklyn left, he made some noise on social media about feeling disrespected in his time with the Ducks. He's the one who might take great pleasure in a dominating performance in this week's biggest game.