Three Big Storylines as Buckeyes open season with B1G road test

COLUMBUS — The offseason is officially over for Ohio State.

After hearing about the loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinal for 245 days, the Buckeyes will finally get back to a game when they open the season Saturday at Indiana (3:30 p.m., CBS).

This will be the first time Ohio State can build its national title campaign. It’s finally time for the program to unveil a new quarterback, a shuffled offensive line, an improved and revamped defense. It’s also time to put the ‘chip on the shoulder’ everyone at Ohio State has talked about all offseason to work in a real-game setting.

“I think coming off of last year, the way our whole offseason was it just an edge and a chip on our shoulder,” Day told Lettermen Row at Big Ten Media Days last month. “We want to not have that same feeling again. So whatever it is, I always say preseason things don’t matter. When you’re the favorite, it doesn’t matter. When you’re ranked somewhere else, it doesn’t matter.

“But ultimately it’s good to have our team see that as extra motivation, not that we really need anymore. I mean, we have plenty of motivation moving forward.”

Ohio State is ready to kick off Saturday and open its pursuit of a Big Ten title and national championship. It all starts with a hot Saturday afternoon in Bloomington. Lettermen Row is kicking off game week with three big storylines to track heading into Week 1. Let’s dive in.

Offense: Who will take first snap Saturday for Buckeyes?

It’s among the biggest questions in all of college football entering the first week of the regular season. Ohio State coach Ryan Day has decided to take the quarterback battle the distance, running it into the first week of the year. The Buckeyes believe they’ll have an elite starting quarterback, no matter who it is between junior Kyle McCord and redshirt freshman Devin Brown. Both signal-callers are capable of leading the Buckeyes to a national title, at least the coaching staff thinks they can. Day truly believes he can manage playing both quarterbacks at Indiana this weekend, and the expectation is that the Buckeyes will give McCord and Brown their chances in the first couple of weeks in order to make a decision. Now, who will take the first snap may ultimately not matter, and it’ll likely be the veteran McCord. But the starting quarterback is still unknown heading into the first game for the first time since 2015, adding plenty of intrigue to an already-interesting Ohio State football season-opening game.

Defense: How versatile does Jim Knowles want his defense to be?

Ohio State has the most talent on its defense since the 2019 season. It has experience at every level of a defense that is in the second year under coordinator Jim Knowles. This should be the year for the Buckeyes to take a massive step forward on that side of the ball. But how Knowles deploys that defense will determine the ceiling of the entire Buckeyes season, especially with how versatile some of the weapons are. Does Ohio State use the JACK position that gives them flexibility — but may sacrifice structure? Will the defensive backs rotate and split time? How does the defensive line rotation shake out as Larry Johnson looks to rebound from the lackluster past two seasons of defensive line play? Knowles could make his defense quite versatile this fall. But if he becomes too versatile, it could bite him. How he rolls out the defense this week will be a huge tell.

Wild card: Will Buckeyes offensive line come together?

Whoever is playing quarterback will need to be protected. And Ohio State has what looks like a solid starting five along the offensive line heading into Game Week against Indiana. From left to right, it’s likely to look like this Saturday: left tackle Josh Simmons, left guard Donovan Jackson, center Carson Hinzman, right guard Matthew Jones, right tackle Josh Fryar. Once the Buckeyes flipped Fryar to the right side and inserted Simmons at the left tackle spot a couple of weeks ago, the offensive line has essentially been set. But that doesn’t mean it’ll perform at a championship level. The good news is that the Buckeyes will find out if their offensive line is up to the task Saturday against a Tom Allen Indiana defense that will blitz often and challenge the Ohio State inexperience. If the Buckeyes thrive and protect their quarterbacks, the nerves about this offensive line replacing three starters can be put to bed. If they don’t, however, it could be a long season of offensive line woes at Ohio State.

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