With the Big Ten season finally about to get going, what are the keys to every team’s offense? What does each team have to work on?
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Big Ten Preview: Keys To Every Offense
Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Maryland | Michigan
Michigan State | Minnesota | Nebraska | Northwestern
Ohio State | Penn State | Purdue | Rutgers | Wisconsin
Biggest Key To The Illinois Fighting Illini Offense
Establish the run again. The 2018 Illinois running game worked. It came up with over 2,900 yards, averaged close to six yards per carry, and it found a groove from the start with 200 yards or more in nine of the first ten games.
That was the only time in the last eight years that the program ran for 1,900 yards or more.
The 1,874 yards Illinois ran for last season were the second-most in a season since 2011, but it was still ugly. There were four 200-yard rushing days – the Illini won three of them – with the shootout loss to Nebraska the only time the ground game averaged over five yards per pop.
The offensive line is better, but the running backs have to emerge in a hurry. Statistically, the pass protection has to be there, too, with the numbers depending a bit on who takes the quarterback gig.
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Biggest Key To The Indiana Hoosiers Offense
It was this simple for the Hoosiers, at least last year – run well, win football games. Being able to run for any relatively arbitrary number wouldn’t have mattered in losses to Ohio State and Michigan, but IU was 8-0 last season when it ran for 100 yards, and 0-5 when it didn’t.
How much does 100 rushing yards matter to the Hoosiers? November 3rd, 2012. That was the last time they won when going under the mark, beating Iowa 24-21. They’re 0-23 since then when the ground game doesn’t hit triple-digits.
For a team that finished seventh in the nation in time of possession, run well, rely on your accurate passer to move the chains, control the tempo.
Big Ten Preview: Keys To Every Offense
Iowa | Maryland | Michigan | Michigan State
Minnesota | Nebraska | Northwestern | Ohio State
Penn State | Purdue | Rutgers | Wisconsin
NEXT: Iowa Hawkeyes, Maryland Terrapins
Biggest Key To The Iowa Hawkeyes Offense
Start making more of the birdie putts instead of settling for pars.
The biggest key early on will be to crank up more downfield plays with the passing game. That will come in time – Spencer Petras has a serious arm, and this is the best Iowa receiving corps in a long, long time. Overall, though, it’s time to get more touchdowns when venturing into the red zone.
Helped by the kicking of Keith Duncan, the Hawkeyes were amazing when they got inside the 20, finishing fourth in the nation in red zone conversions hitting 40-of-42. The only problem was that 15 of the 40 were field goals, and 15 of the touchdowns came in three games.
However, when the team came up with the touchdowns, the O had its three biggest point total games of the year in easy wins over Miami University, Middle Tennessee and USC.
There was one trip inside the 20 in the 10-3 loss to Michigan – the team came away with a field goal. There were two trips against Penn State – both were field goals in the 17-12 loss.
The Nebraska game was the only other game without a touchdown from inside the 20, and that turned into a fight until the finish.
Over the last five years, Iowa is 23-1 when it scores three or more touchdowns when getting into the red zone.
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Biggest Key To The Maryland Terrapins Offense
Score whenever there’s a chance. Moving the chains is Job One after converting just 32% of the time on third downs. The offense simply has to move more, control the clock better, and just get into range to be able to score.
And then the Terps have to put up points when they get there. The kicking game was a disaster – hitting just two of five field goals on the year – and the offense was nightmare in the red zone.
Maryland scored a pathetic 66% of the time inside the 20, and even worse it only got there 15 times over the final nine games. By comparison, Ohio State got into the red zone 12 times in the 73-14 win.
NEXT: Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans
Biggest Key To The Michigan Wolverines Offense
What’s one thing that the Michigan offense can do really, really well? Start with simply being able to go on long drives on a regular basis.
The offense finished seventh in the Big Ten and 68th in the nation, he was eighth in the conference in rushing, and fifth in passing. The downfield air attack worked, but there was a big, big problem with the O’s consistency.
The rushing attack rocked against Notre Dame, and it failed to hit 100 yards in its last three regular season games. The passing attack threw for over 300 yards in those three games, but it struggled on third downs way too often and then-QB Shea Patterson always seemed like he was about to turn the ball over – even though he wasn’t all that bad at ball security.
Start with third down conversions. The Wolverines failed to convert on any of its ten tries against Wisconsin, and only converted 15% of their chances against Ohio State – both losses.
Michigan is 1-5 over the last three years when it fails to convert at least 30%.
Combine that with the running game that failed to average four yards per carry. Struggle a bit on the ground, put pressure on a passing game that didn’t hit 60% of its passes, and there aren’t easy third down tries.
By comparison – or coincidence – the 2018 team averaged close to five yards per carry, Patterson hit 65% of his throws, and the team converted close to 49% of its third down tries.
Biggest Key To The Michigan State Spartans Offense
Consistency in the passing game will be everything. More of a running game is a must, but that will come with more of a commitment to it. Last season, Michigan State won when it threw well, and it lost when it didn’t.
When the O cranked up 300 yards or more through the air, the team went 4-0. When the passing game had three touchdown passes or more, the record was 3-0.
In the six losses, the Spartans threw a grand total of three touchdown passes with ten interceptions, and they only completed more than 57% of their passes in one of those games – hitting 62% in the loss to Arizona State.
The team isn’t going to be good enough to make any noise unless most of the parts are working. It’s not going to be able to challenge for anything big unless the passing game is great.
NEXT: Minnesota Golden Gophers, Nebraska Cornhuskers
Biggest Key To The Minnesota Golden Gophers Offense
Get the ground game going right away, and don’t stop.
For all of the fun of the high-powered passing game that turned into one of the nation’s most efficient, it was the rushing attack that turned out to be the biggest difference.
It struggled way too much to start last year against mediocre teams – the Gophers failed to average more than three yards per carry in three of the first four games – but the O line took over late when it absolutely had to in the wins. However, the Gophers ran for a season-low 63 yards against Iowa, and 76 yards against Wisconsin – those were the two losses.
Going back to 2009, the program has lost 25 of its last 27 games – the two wins over Georgia Southern and Purdue last year when it ran for 93 yards and 92, respectively, were the outliers – when it failed to hit the 100-yard mark.
Biggest Key To The Nebraska Cornhuskers Offense
Keep the offense moving, and then keep it moving some more. It’s not just about the yards with this team so far. It was able to roll up huge numbers against Indiana, Colorado, and even Wisconsin, and it didn’t matter in any of those three losses.
It’s not even totally about turnovers, either. They mattered in the loss to Colorado, but they couldn’t stop giving the ball away against South Alabama, Maryland and Illinois and managed to win.
Last year, and going forward, it’s about converting on third downs, and doing it over and over and over again.
Northwestern was totally and completely miserable, and it almost beat the Huskers be keeping the score low and controlling the tempo. That was the only time all of last year that Nebraska won when it was under 40% on third down conversions.
The team was 1-5 when under the 40% mark, and while that didn’t matter a whole lot in blowout losses to Ohio State and Minnesota, not keeping the defense off the field was a big deal in the brutal-close losses to Colorado, Purdue and Iowa.
NEXT: Northwestern Wildcats, Ohio State Buckeyes
Biggest Key To The Northwestern Wildcats Offense
Start hitting a few downfield passes again. It was so, so painful.
The offense just didn’t go anywhere, especially after defenses had no fear whatsoever of getting burned deep. Northwestern finished dead last in the nation in yards per completion, hitting just nine yards per completion and a pathetic 4.5 yards per throw.
No one else in the nation averaged fewer than 5.2 yards per pass.
It’s not like the offense was all that great the year before with Clayton Thorson winging it around, but at least there was a wee bit of a passing game. The Wildcats went from getting over 3,000 yards through the air, to just 1,404.
How bad was it? The Wildcats failed to hit 100 passing yards in four of their last seven games.
Biggest Key To The Ohio State Buckeyes Offense
The offensive line has to find its groove again. Justin Fields was in the mix for the Heisman, JK Dobbins ran for over 2,000 yards, and the receiving corps was brilliant.
It all started with an offensive line that helped make it all go.
Of course it was a function of the offense – the decision-making of Fields was a big help – but the line’s ability to thump away for the ground game turned out to be one of the biggest difference-makers.
There were too many sacks allowed, and it was possible to get into the Buckeye backfield, but the running game went off for 3,735 yards and 39 scores after running for 2,398 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2018.
Of course having a more mobile quarterback than Dwayne Haskins was a big factor in the difference, but the line also did its part as it took over games the longer they went on.
Left guard Jonah Jackson is off to the NFL, and right tackle Branden Bowen is done, but there’s not much of a problem filling in those two spots around the all-star-caliber parts in place.
NEXT: Penn State Nittany Lions, Purdue Boilermakers
Biggest Key To The Penn State Nittany Lions Offense
It really would be nice if the passing game could be more accurate. It was effective with Sean Clifford at the helm, but in a day and age when hitting 60% of throws is just okay, completing 58.8% of throws isn’t good enough.
But that’s been Penn State. Before Clifford, Trace McSorley was a gamer, but he wasn’t all that accurate – the Nittany Lion offense only hit 60% or more once in the last ten years.
The downfield plays were there under Clifford, and there weren’t that many problems on third downs, but take the completion percentage to at least a pedestrian 63ish% on a consistent basis, and things might be even smoother for an already good offense.
Biggest Key To The Purdue Boilermakers Offense
As long as there’s a healthy and effective quarterback, and as long as Rondale Moore is Rondale Moore again for the receiving corps, the Boilermakers will spend more of their time traveling by air. However, there has to be something happening with the ground game.
Purdue will never be Wisconsin when it comes to grinding it out, but it didn’t even get to 1,000 yards last year – 999 isn’t 1,000 – and averaged fewer than three yards per carry.
It’s the average that matters. The total yards aren’t that big a deal if the passing game is doing its thing, but get to over four yards per carry and everything should be okay.
NEXT: Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Wisconsin Badgers
Biggest Key To The Rutgers Scarlet Knights Offense
Get to 400 yards. First, the offense under the new coaching staff has to be able to hit 300 yards on a regular basis after averaging just 273 per game.
Scoring was a problem, long drives were a problem, turnovers were a huge problem, passing inefficiency was a problem, a steady running game was a problem – everything was a problem.
But offense has been a steady issue for years. Considering the defense has rarely been a rock, and it won’t be special this year, the O just has to keep things moving.
Rutgers came up with over 400 yards of total offense just twice last year – and those were the two games it won.
The O generated over 400 yards just once in 2018 – and that was the only game it won.
Over the last four seasons, Rutgers is 5-0 when it gets to that 400-yard mark, because that’s what it usually takes just to stay alive in most games.
To take this even further, lower the bar a bit to 397 yards, and the program is 21-3 when it gets there going back to the 2013 opener against Fresno State.
Biggest Key To The Wisconsin Badgers Offense
Seriously, Wisconsin … DON’T TURN THE BALL OVER. Most good programs will screw up with a turnover, and then life goes on. Wisconsin might be able to get by a Purdue or a Northwestern – at least last year – after giving it up a few times, but it almost never gets beaten by anyone outside of the elite if it doesn’t screw it up.
Losing twice to Ohio State is losing twice to Ohio State – no big whoop. But the Badgers controlled Illinois, had the thing in hand, and blew it with two bad late turnovers and with three in all.
Watch the Rose Bowl against Oregon, and outside of the four giveaways, try to figure out how Wisconsin possibly gacked that thing away.
The program lost nine games over the last two seasons – it was -15 in turnover margin in those nine. In the 18 wins over the last two years, it was +16, finishing tied for last in the nation in lost fumbles in 2019.
