Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott made headlines last Saturday when he called out the coaching staff and play-calling following the Buckeyes’ 17-14 upset loss to Michigan State.
The Spartans came in with an ultra-aggressive defensive game plan—loading the box and daring Ohio State to beat them over the top.
J.T. Barrett wasn’t called to consistently challenge Michigan State down the field as the Buckeyes stayed conservative, and that worked early when they leaned on Elliott, who ran eight times on a 10-play touchdown drive early in the second quarter.
But in the final 42 minutes of the game, Elliott got just three carries and Ohio State produced only two first downs in a historically poor performance for an Urban Meyer-coached team.
Elliott blasted the play-calling after the game, via Ari Wasserman of Cleveland.com:
I’m disappointed in the play-calling. I’m disappointed in the situations that we were put in, and I wish it all played out differently. It is very disappointing. In the one drive that we had where we kind of had some momentum after we scored on the strip-sack, the plays we ran, we ran a lot of gap schemes and we were gashing them. You guys saw that on that drive. We had a lot of momentum.
Honestly, we didn’t see those plays for the rest of the game. Those plays weren’t called anymore. I asked for those plays to be called, and they weren’t. It just hurts. It hurts a lot because of how we lost. I feel like we just weren’t put in the…
Continue Reading: Ohio State Needs Ezekiel Elliott to Justify His Rant Against Michigan
