McLaughlin injury furthers Buckeyes' O-line woes

In July, Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork announced that his 2024 Ohio State football team had received “around $20 million” in NIL deals. That investment resulted in one of the nation’s best rosters. Look at the offense. If they lose Emeka Egbuka, Jeremiah Smith remains a constant receiving threat. If TreVeyon Henderson goes down, Quinshon Judkins is just as effective running the football. As a whole, The Buckeyes have elite starters and quality depth at almost every position.

Almost every position.

Ohio State’s offensive line started the year well. They allowed only one sack in their three non-conference games and only one more in their first two Big Ten outings. The Buckeyes won all five contests, averaging an impressive 46 points and 222.8 rushing yards per game.

Through those five weeks, the Buckeyes’ offensive line averaged a PFF Pass Block grade of 75.8 and played four weeks with a grade above 77.0. Through the same five weeks, the Buckeyes averaged a PFF Run Block grade of 72.4 and played three weeks with a grade above 74.0.

Things continued to go well until the second quarter of the Buckeyes’ top-5 matchup against the Oregon Ducks, when starting left tackle Josh Simmons was carted off with a season-ending knee injury.

From the moment Simmons went down, everything changed.

The Buckeyes replaced Simmons with Zen Michalski, who’d gotten intermittent action over the last two years but had never started a game. Michalski struggled against Oregon, posting a middling Run Block grade of 52.4 and a truly awful Pass Block grade of 24.6.

Ohio State lost to the Ducks, thanks in part to the team’s second-half offensive collapse.

The Buckeyes had a bye week the next week, which gave them a chance to figure out their offensive line personnel. The Buckeyes elected to start Michalski for their next game against Nebraska. It didn’t go very well.

Michalski was able to slightly improve his Run Block grade, which rose seven points to a 59.6, but his pass blocking got even worse. After earning an abysmal 14.2 Pass Block grade through three quarters, Michalski suffered a lower-body injury late in the fourth and was helped into the locker room.

The Buckeyes eked out a 21-17 win over the Cornhuskers, but were forced to make more changes on the offensive front. With Michalski’s injury reopening a hole at left tackle, Ohio State opted to move left guard Donovan Jackson out to tackle. Jackson’s place at left guard was then filled by Carson Hinzman.

Hinzman had been the team’s starting center last year but had struggled throughout and was ultimately benched before the team’s 14-3 Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri. 

With a former guard at tackle and a former center at guard, Ohio State’s offensive line was in trouble. The Buckeyes won their next three games, but their PFF grades looked nothing like they had before Simmons’ injury.

Their Pass Block grade, which had averaged 75.8 through the season’s first five games, plummeted to 53.7 across the next five. The Buckeyes’ average Run Block grade fell almost as far, from 72.4 to 59.2, and their average points-per-game dropped from 46 to 29.6.

Then, on Tuesday, things got even worse. While practicing for this Saturday’s top-5 matchup against No. 5 Indiana, starting center Seth McLaughlin suffered a torn Achilles tendon, an injury that will sideline him for the remainder of the season.

McLaughlin, who transferred to Ohio State this offseason after recording 26 starts across four years with the Alabama Crimson Tide, was having an incredible season prior to his injury. He had been named an Associated Press Midseason All-American and was contending for a multitude of other positional awards.

On Wednesday’s practice, in response to McLaughlin’s injury, the Buckeyes moved Hinzman from left guard back to center. Redshirt freshman Austin Siereveld was named Hinzman’s replacement at guard.

Siereveld started the Buckeyes’ first two games of the season at left guard while Jackson recovered from a hamstring injury he’d suffered during training camp. Siereveld generally did a decent job in replacement, though he allowed a sack against Western Michigan in Week 2.

Since Jackson’s return, Siereveld was used as a rotational piece at right guard, where he totalled 115 snaps across seven games. Following McLaughlin’s injury, head coach Ryan Day announced that Hinzman would move back from left guard to his natural position at center, and that Siereveld would step in at left guard.

To summarize the Buckeyes’ offensive line scenario entering Week 13: The starting left tackle and center are both out for the year. The starting left guard is now the starting left tackle. The backup center became the starting left guard and is now the starting center, which he was last year. The backup right guard, who also began the year as the left guard, is now back as the starting left guard. And the right side of the offensive line is uninjured. Make sense?

The bottom line is that Ohio State’s offensive line is both banged up and mixed up. Unfortunately, the McLaughlin injury and the ensuing whirlwind of substitutions couldn’t have happened at a much worse time for the Buckeyes.

Although the No. 2-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes currently sit at 9-1, most of their most difficult games lay ahead. The winner of this weekend’s clash with the undefeated Hoosiers will immediately become the odds-on favorite to meet Oregon in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship, but Ohio State can’t clinch a title berth this weekend.

To truly secure a Big Ten title appearance, the Buckeyes will need to close the regular season with a victory over their longtime rivals, the Michigan Wolverines. And although Michigan’s 2024 team is on pace for the school’s worst record since 2014, this year’s Wolverines are a terrible matchup for the Buckeyes’ battered offensive front.

Michigan’s defense currently leads the nation with a PFF Pass Rush grade of 91.2. The defensive front’s best player, interior defender Mason Graham, will almost certainly be a top-10 draft pick next spring. 

Graham was named a second-team All American and the 2024 Rose Bowl Defensive MVP last season. He ranks fourth among the nation’s interior defenders in PFF Defense grade (89.6) and second in Run Defense grade (90.9). 

Even if Ohio State can survive against Michigan and advance into the postseason, things won’t get any easier. Rematching Oregon in the Big Ten Championship would mean another date with interior defender Derrick Harmon, who made his presence known during Ohio State’s visit to Autzen Stadium in October.

Harmon balled out against the Buckeyes, ripping the ball away from Judkins for a forced fumble and tallying three quarterback hurries. His PFF Pass Rush grade of 85.2 is currently fourth among FBS interior defenders. 

Most of the Buckeyes’ roster is elite, but their offensive line isn’t. With a second starter now done for the year and with many of the season’s toughest tests to come, Ohio State is at risk of further offensive decline. If further struggles at the line of scrimmage result in two straight  Buckeyes losses to end the regular season, we could even see Ohio State dropped from the playoffs entirely.