Marla Ridenour: Ohio State’s ‘discombobulated’ offense could jeopardize No. 1 ranking

COLUMBUS, Ohio How is it possible that defending national champion Ohio State has too much talent and not enough offense?

Did the fall camp competition between quarterbacks Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett undermine their confidence? Or is that the result of OSU coach Urban Meyer playing them both in each of the first three games?

Is Ohio State missing offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tom Herman, who left to become coach at the University of Houston? Or was the departure of deep-threat receiver Devin Smith and Meyer’s oft-proclaimed team MVP Evan Spencer more costly?

How can one of the best running backs in the nation, Ezekiel Elliott, be an afterthought at times?

Those who laughed about No. 1 Ohio State’s lack of quality opponents after its decisive 42-24 Labor Day victory at Virginia Tech might want to be careful what they guffaw about. After Saturday’s 20-13 squeaker over Northern Illinois, the class of the Mid-American Conference for the past three years, the Buckeyes (3-0) may need all the time they can get to straighten out an offense that is clearly flawed.

Or “discombobulated,” as Meyer called it more than once on Saturday.

Whatever adjective one might pick, it should cost the Buckeyes’ their spot atop the Associated Press college football rankings. That depends on whether voters have the guts to vote on performance and not reputation.

“Right now, we’re not the No. 1 team in the country. We have the potential to be the best team in the country, but right now, the way we’re playing, we’re not,” Elliott said.

Offensively against the Huskies, the Buckeyes’ attack seemed more reminiscent of Tressel ball than Meyer mayhem.

OSU converted 2-of-13 third downs and 0-of-2 fourth downs. (For the season, its conversion percentage is a dubious .333.)

The Buckeyes lost five turnovers, leading to 10 Northern Illinois points.

They managed just 136 passing yards and 14 first downs.

On third-and-2 from the OSU 36 with 2:21 remaining, Elliott was held to 1 yard and the Huskies got the ball back with 1:34 left.

“Northern Illinois, they’re a great team. Their defensive front was very strong. There was really nowhere to go,” Elliott said.

“That was a microcosm of the whole game for us,” OSU left tackle Taylor Decker said. “We pride ourselves on being able to run the ball. It’s frustrating not being able to get a couple yards on a critical play that could have finished out the game.”

Realistically, the answer to the offense’s problems is myriad. Herman had been the quarterbacks coach for three seasons and had a close relationship with Jones and Barrett. Ed Warinner’s duties as the new offensive coordinator are likely taking time from his other job as offensive line coach. The receiving corps is inexperienced, save for Michael Thomas. Jones lost his go-to guy in Smith. Barrett, whose strengths are accuracy and precision, could be sabotaged by costly penalties and mental mistakes by himself and others.

“Lack of execution, mental errors, dumb mistakes, dumb penalties,” was how Elliott summed up Saturday’s disaster.

Meyer and Decker mentioned the failure to adjust to NIU’s 3-4 “odd” defense, not its normal scheme, but the one used last week by Hawaii. Decker described it as “the nose, two ends and a walk-up buck to the boundary and they can blitz from all over.”

While the “odd” sounded like an odd excuse, Ohio State’s remaining nine regular-season foes will surely start carving out some practice time for it immediately.

More likely, playing two quarterbacks may have created self-doubt in the minds of Jones and Barrett. It’s created doubt for Meyer, who was unsure if who will be next week’s starter against Western Michigan. He even acknowledged that armchair quarterbacks might be right about him needing to pick one.

“There might be some truth to that,” Meyer said.

Meyer offered little in the way of answers, although he acknowledged there would be a “million questions about the offense, and there should be.”

“You can say the offensive line is not blocking well, we’re not coaching well on the offensive line,” Meyer said. “Then all of a sudden, the receivers have some issues and the quarterbacks have some issues. It’s discombobulated right now.

“It’s 11 people doing the right things at the right time. It’s not happening, obviously. We’ll get back to work and get it fixed and get it fixed fast. I have not lot confidence in our staff and our players.”

There is no mistaking the urgency, especially since there may be a Saturday when the OSU defense doesn’t come to the rescue. Ohio State is not the nation’s top team, no matter what the voters decide. But arguably the nation’s best coach will need all his psychological tricks, and some strategic ones as well, to fix this mess.

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