Ohio State looks to iron out offensive wrinkles versus Youngstown State

Ohio State tight end Cade Stover bristled at the criticism coming from outside the program this week following the Buckeyes’ underwhelming 23-3 roadway win over restoring Indiana.

Stover took exception to the social media vitriol intended at brand-new beginning quarterback Kyle McCord after the Buckeyes came out unsteady and stoppedworking to turn the videogame into the anticipated thrashing.

“As much as fans desire to believe they are certified to call plays and come out there and do our task, excellent for them. But I can pledge you, noone here cares at all what they state,” stated Stover, a group captain and leading NFL possibility.

“I can guarantee you,” Stover included, “going into that videogame on Saturday that we are not believing about Johnny in his basement typing, ‘Hey, you people suck.'”

Stover — the group’s leading receiver last week with 5 captures for 98 lawns — doesn’t doubt that McCord and the Buckeyes will have their minds right on Saturday when Youngstown State checkouts the Horseshoe.

After the Penguins of the FCS, Western Kentucky from Conference USA comes in the week after. Coach Ryan Day desires to usage that time to get the offense into some sort of rhythm behind McCord, although he anticipates Devin Brown — the quarterback who fought McCord for the beginning task throughout the preseason — will likewise get a possibility.

The next huge test for Ohio State, which slipped 2 notches to No. 5 in the AP Top 25 this week, will be Sept. 23 at No. 10 Notre Dame.

“That’s not simply Kyle. It’s the offense throughout the board,” Day stated of last week’s effort. “It won’t be great sufficient moving forward to reach our objectives.”

ALL ABOUT US

Youngstown State opened the season whipping Valparaiso 52-10, with Tyshon King, a transfer from Northen Michigan, hurrying for 111 backyards and 2 TDs.

“Of course, you desire to go in there and program you stack up versus the finest,” King stated of dealingwith Ohio State. “We desire to program that we are some of those people who can go in there and complete with them.”

Fourth-year coach Doug Phillips is practical about the match.

“I think if you mostlikely talk to the Buckeyes, they’re focusing on them,” he stated. “That’s what this month of September is all about. When you wear’t have a preseason, when you puton’t have skirmishes, you got to use the chances that you have, those non-league videogames to figure out who you are.”

MORE FOR MARV?

Day stated he’s still intending to discover more methods to get the ball to Marvin Harrison Jr., who broke out last season with 1,263 getting lawns and 14 goals. Projected to be a first-round NFL draft choice in the spring, Harrison last week was targeted 8 times with simply 2 captures for 18 backyards — his least efficient day as a starter.

SHORTER GAMES, FEWER PLAYS

Day keptinmind that brand-new play-clock guidelines in college football created to speed up the videogame mean less offensive opportunities. That will need modification and muchbetter offensive performance. The clock no longer stops after veryfirst downs otherthan for the last 2 minutes of each half.

“We have to do a muchbetter task performing early since that’s going to identify the result of the videogame, mostlikely more so than in the previous,” Day stated.

THE TRESSEL CONNECTION

Phillips had an early training stint at Youngstown State in the early 1990s under coach Jim Tressel, then worked for Tressel onceagain at Ohio State in2006 Tressel coached YSU for 15 years upuntil he was workedwith at Ohio State in 2001 and brought a nationwide champion to Columbus the next season. Tressel left Ohio State in 2010 inthemiddleof a scandal including gamers trading souvenirs for tattoos. He went back to Youngstown State and served as president from 2014 upuntil his retirement in February. Before getting the YSU task, Phillips was an assistant for 3 seasons at Cincinnati under Luke Fickell, who had likewise coached under Tressel.

Reporting by The Associated Press.