Change in play-calling protocol paid off for Ohio State at Michigan

Ohio State’s offense looked arguably the best it has all season while the Buckeyes pounded Michigan 42-13 on Saturday. That assessment would certainly be true if accounting for the strength of the opponent.  That such a breakout performance came during the first time in 12 games offensive coordinator Ed Warinner was in the press box may not have been a coincidence. That the change was made after Ohio State’s offense bottomed out in a loss to Michigan State definitely was not.  “We had to make a move,” head coach Urban Meyer said afterward. “We were not getting the game called.” Warinner, who was promoted in the offseason after Tom Herman left to become head coach at Houston, spent the first 11 games on the sidelines so he could still work with the offensive line during games, as he had since coming to Columbus with Meyer in 2012.  “To coach all five guys and … be involved in the play calling, that’s tough,” Meyer said. “So about Tuesday I just said, ‘We’re gonna do this.’ And it was difficult, but you can only do that with a veteran offensive line. If you do that with a young offensive line it’s a mess because you can’t make adjustments and all that. But he did a wonderful job.” Warinner joined Herman’s replacement as quarterbacks coach, Tim Beck, in the press box while tight ends coach Tim Hinton went to the sideline.  “That’s where I’ve called all the games that I’ve called as offensive coordinator before this year, I’ve been up there,” said Warinner, who was previously an offensive coordinator at Army and Kansas. “We had some discussions about that earlier in the week and then he reached a final decision on that and we thought that was the best thing moving  forward. Really it didn’t change much (other than providing) just a better vantage point to be more aggressive and see and make the calls. Most of the calls come out of the press box so it changed how they came out.” He explained being in the booth reduces “operation time.”  “It reduces the processing time because when you are down on the field you have to wait to see on the other hash where the ball was spotted, is that second-and-6 or second-and-2? That’s a whole different call,” Warinner said.  With Warinner in the booth, graduate assistant Jim Cordle handled communication of adjustments with the offensive line…

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