This is a great question that likely would have many different answers depending on who you asked. In a 'normal' college offense at the FBS level, you want a QB that can get to his 2nd read on a straight, drop-back pass regularly before finding his checkdown. Play-action rollouts, designed deep shots, and RPOs are different, as there is often only one or two reads to be made, and recognizing the specific coverage is less important than identifying one key defender and making the read of his lone movements).

Typically that means you're cutting the field in half to make that process easier on him, and any decent starter at this level should be able to execute that in my opinion. However, a good defense is able to stop most of those concepts and the offense must be equally dangerous on the ground if this is all they're doing in the passing game.

However, OSU's drop-back passing game is more advanced than many college offenses, using the full-field reads I showed last week and this week. In these instances, the QB must be able to ID the coverage, find his initial read (which may be different based on said coverage), and then work through his progression. If you want to know what I mean, just go watch Stroud's highlights against Georgia. So, in this case, Day's passing game is like a high-end sports car - it has far higher performance capabilities but needs a talented driver to actually put them to use.

If he doesn't get more comfortable working through his progressions, then yes, he is going to struggle. He's benefiting from throwing to receivers who are complete mismatches for the defenders asked to cover them 1-1, meaning defenses have to overload one side of the field with zone defenders. For now, that hasn't mattered because his receivers still get open, but that likely won't be the case against the secondaries of Oregon, PSU, and TTUN, and they'll need a QB to work through those progressions from the pocket and hit the backside dig since it's probably the only route that is open on a play.

Correct, most of the RPOs being called do not include QB run options, which is what I'm referring to when I say that the option hasn't been this prominent in years. None of the recent OSU QBs facilitated so many options concepts - regardless of whether there was an option for them to keep and run - as what Howard is executing this season.

Fields always presented the threat of an option keeper but rarely was asked to run option plays outside of the red zone (due to fears of him getting hurt). This season, virtually every run play Chip has called has been an RPO, and it's been Howard's call for when to give the handoff or throw to a receiver.

I understand what you guys are saying, but look at Gee Scott's route. Those two would draw coverage toward one another, so the 'hot' route in this instance was the TE drag. Howard didn't look there first because he thought he picked up the blitz properly, and had enough bodies to account for the rush. It wasn't until well after he missed his window to throw hot did he realize the pressure was coming from the other way.

I absolutely agree that the sign-stealing operation gave Minter an advantage and likely made the difference on at least a handful of plays in 2022. Perhaps 2021 as well.

But to act as though that operation, which had been suspended by the time the two teams met in 2023, was the reason Ohio State lost a third time is crazy to me. I went back and went frame by frame through every snap of all three games while researching this piece. What happened last November had nothing to do with stolen signals and everything to do with an opponent that was exceptionally well-prepared and executed their game plan. Players were not looking to the sideline for the perfect call, they were communicating with one another and almost always getting into the right positions. That's good coaching.

Both things can be true - Michigan gained an unfair advantage AND they were well-prepared AND had good players. It's time for Ohio State fans to stop pretending as if the last two parts aren't true, simply because of the first one.

The talent differential is massive between what he had at Vandy and what he had in Ann Arbor. The two DTs are absolutely NFL caliber while he had a number of NFL DBs. When you have talent at those spots, you can do a lot more schematically. 

As much as I love writing about scheme, even I will admit that talent >>>>> Xs & Os, and the mix of stud, NFL talent (Graham, Johnson, Grant) along with veterans (Sainristil, Moore, Colson, etc...) was the #1 reason Minter is coaching in the NFL now.

To be fair, they ran the hell out of the ball in the third quarter last year, having seen how Minter was calling coverages. That led to one of OSU's most impressive drives of the year, when they ran it 9 straight times and finished with a walk-in touchdown as the vaunted Wolverine front was gassed.

The only problem was it came too late.

The issues wasn't, "Marv is doubled covered, I'll just throw to Fleming instead."

Rather, McCord didn't trust what he was seeing enough to know where to go with the ball. Marv was kind of double-covered, but in a very loose fashion. Given the split-second decision-making required in such situations, even the tiniest bit of indecision is enough to throw off an entire play.

As you can see by the seam throw to Stover, once Kyle knew what was happening, he picked the scheme apart.

Well said. The 2023 pill is the toughest to swallow because there is no evidence that any sign-stealing was going on at that point (at least, that we know of), yet the M defense put on an excellent performance.

I will say this once since it's a consistent theme, and yet, I'm sure many will refuse to accept what I'm about to say.

I understand the desire to paint Minter's success entirely as cheating, and there were certainly some plays in the 2022 game that gave me pause. However, when I went back and re-watched the 2023 contest, you don't see the Michigan defense looking to the sidelines every play, waiting for their DC to signal in the 'perfect call.' Instead, they lined up and executed, play after play.

People might not like that, but it's what happened, and Ohio State isn't going to get the monkey off its back until it improves.

Minter simply had a well-designed game plan that was very similar to the one a year before, and his team executed better that day than the Buckeyes did. While he may have gotten some help from Stallions the season prior, it's not like this is Madden, where he can dial up any defensive play at any time. His guys still have to practice and prepare, and the schemes they employed were not easy to execute. Yet, they did. 

So everyone here is welcome to disagree with me because they don't like the outcome, but I'm here to give you guys a dose of truth. And the truth is that Minter had a great game plan that largely held Marv in check and forced McCord into a mistake (the Johnson pick) that was ultimately the difference in the game.

Right, but the QB needs to dirt that ball and hope the ref throws a flag, with the only negative being an incomplete pass. It may be the right 'read' to pull from the RB but it doesn't mean the WR is open. QB has to know when to simply take care of the football and live for the next play.