COLUMBUS, Ohio — Once again Ohio State finds itself heading into a top-five matchup having to figure out its offensive line thanks to another potentially season-ending injury.
First, the Buckeyes had to replace Josh Simmons, who had to be helped off the field in the 32-31 loss to Oregon with a season-ending lower-body injury. They first thought to replace him with Zen Michalski, hoping that simply moving up the backup left tackle would result in a seamless transition. But things didn’t look great in his debut against Nebraska even before he left that 21-17 win with an injury.
Then OSU found what it thought would be the right combination for the rest of the season. Donovan Jackson moved from left guard to left tackle and Carson Hiznman — who started at center in 2023 — moved into the starting lineup. Jackson held his own against Penn Sttae’s potential first-round pick Abdul Carter while Hinzman shined as well. Meanwhile, the entire group ended up helping OSU spend the final 5:13 of a 20-13 win running the ball down the Nittany Lions’ throat for 11 straight plays.
Ohio State had found something that worked. Jackson, Hinzman, Seth McLaughlin, Tegra Tshabola and Josh Fryar from left to right would be a winning combination for a team in a prime position to accomplish all its goals.
But now another wrench has been thrown into that plan thanks to an injury to McLaughlin.
For the third time this season, the Buckeyes are heading into another important game needing to figure out a position that was already vulnerable coming into the season. The positive in a situation filled with negative is that they might be better prepared to deal with this loss than they could’ve ever been with the first two.
The likely combination is moving Hinzman back to center, a position he’s already played 758 snaps as a starter in 2023. Then Austin Siereveld moves up to left guard with two starts under his belt at the beginning of the season.
Ohio State isn’t new to losing key players to season-ending injuries. But it’s also not new to understanding what it takes to overcome them.
Earlier this season the Buckeyes honored a 2014 season that kicked off the four-team College Football Playoff era by winning a national championship despite having to twice replace its starting quarterback. Here we are a decade later, and again OSU is having to twice replace a key player within a position group that you already had preseason concerns about when it was whole.
Once again, Ohio State can kick off a new era of college football by overcoming the impossible to win it all.