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Ohio State football: Charting the offense, Indiana

Here is our weekly look at the snaps played by Buckeye skill position players while analyzing the ways in which they were utilized.

By Christopher Jason
Trevor Ruszkowksi-USA TODAY Spor

The weather was not ideal for Urban Meyer's spread offense but they were efficient, scoring 42 points on a season-low 56 plays.

Let's see how the snaps broke down:

Quarterbacks Number of plays
Braxton Miller 51
Kenny Guiton 5
  • Although the weather limited the playbook, Braxton Miller was efficient passing the ball at a 65% completion percentage. The numbers weren't gaudy through the air, but the Buckeyes had their way on the ground against the Hoosiers' front seven.
  • Miller ran violently and looked for contact on Saturday which shows that he is feeling much stronger back from his knee injury, but it probably isn't the smartest thing as his health is the most important thing at this stage of the season.
  • When necessary, Miller once again showed great poise in the pocket, especially on the throw to Jeff Heuerman in the seam for a big first down.
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Here, Miller looks like he is about to take a sack coming from the blind side.
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Last season, Miller would not have felt this pressure and he would have been sacked. Instead, he feels the pressure and steps up in the pocket, avoiding the sack Brax_3_medium
Instead of seeing the open space and taking off, Miller sets his feet and hits Heuerman down field for a huge gain.
Running Backs Number of plays
Carlos Hyde 45
Dontre Wilson 20
Jordan Hall 17
Ezekiel Elliott 3
  • The offense once again went through Carlos Hyde and he performed exactly how everyone expected, rushing for 117 yards on only 18 carries. As usual, he ran very hard between the tackles and averaged 6.5 yards a carry.
  • Personnel wise, the most intriguing players of the day were Dontre Wilson and Jordan Hall. Wilson lined up in the slot seven times, out-wide twice and in the backfield 11 times. Hall finally played in the "Percy Harvin role" and lined up in the slot 16 out of his 17 snaps.
  • Here are a few of the formations they lined up in:
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Hall and Wilson were on the field together seven times, mostly in this formation.
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This is an unusual formation, it is usually the opposite when these two are on the field together with Hyde flanking Miller and Wilson in the slot or split out wide.
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This is the Pistol Formation the Buckeyes used on Smith's touchdown reception, with Wilson lined up in the Pistol and Hyde flanking Miller. When the defense sees both Hyde and Wilson in the backfield they are thinking run, Indiana's defense actually has all 11 players within ten yards of the line of scrimmage before the snap. I think they will use this formation in the next three games, as there are multiple plays that can be ran out of this Pistol Formation. The triple option, read option to Wilson or Hyde and play- action are some of the examples that can be run out of this formation.
Wide Receivers Number of plays
Chris Fields 45
Devin Smith 44
Corey Brown 13
Evan Spencer 10
  • The game plan called for a lot of two wide receiver sets which were primarily Devin Smith and Chris Fields.
  • It seems as though Fields has jumped over Evan Spencer on the depth chart. Fields is the best stock blocker on the team in this run first game plan, so is it more of a game plan thing or is Meyer still upset with Spencer's comments?
  • When they did have a receiver in the slot, they called Wilson and Hall's numbers rather than Brown's. I think this is more of Brown being banged up late in the year and the Buckeye lead never in doubt, if the game was more competitive I think Brown would have been on the field more.
  • Both Smith and Fields were graded out as "champions" for the way they played on Saturday.
Tight Ends Number of plays
Jeff Heuerman 50
Nick Vannett 20

  • The offense has really gone to the double tight end formation a lot in the past two games. Versus Indiana they used it 17 times and it has been very effective for their power run game.
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  • They use one of the tight ends on the line of scrimmage and the other in a flex position which is basically a fullback in this formation.
  • Heuerman and Vannett have been dominant in the run game and Meyer is starting to trust Vannett more and more each week.
  • The passing game was not used much but Heuerman came up with two big catches for 59 yards.

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