Joel Klatt Names Major Offensive Flaw That Could Cost a Big Ten Program a National Title

The offensive line is the most important position group in all of football. If you can dominate the line of scrimmage, then you have a great chance to win a lot of games.

Most people point to the quarterback position. While it is the most important singular position, it's not the most important position group. That's because if the offensive line isn't good, it doesn't matter if you have Tom Brady back at quarterback; you likely won't have a lot of success.

The Ohio State Buckeyes experienced this last season. The Buckeyes looked to repeat as national champions and had a great regular season, going 12-0.

The offense, and quarterback Julian Sayin, put up big-time numbers. However, when the competition ramped up against the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten Championship Game and the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, Ohio State was held to 24 total points.

Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor (3) sacks Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin (10). | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The main reason? The offensive line play. Against Indiana, Ohio State totaled 58 yards rushing, allowed five sacks and nine tackles for loss. Against Miami, the Buckeyes totaled 45 yards rushing, allowed five sacks and seven tackles for loss.

Due to those performances, Joel Klatt revealed on "The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast," that the offensive line is his biggest question mark for the Buckeyes heading into 2026.

"For me, it's the offensive line," Klatt said. "I've covered a ton of their games, and you can trace back, I've looked back to all of their losses. You can go back to Oregon a couple of years ago in their national championship run. Everything past that, Michigan late in the year. This year, when you look at Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game, Miami in the playoff, they got beat up at the line of scrimmage. They couldn't protect Julian Sayin... and their offensive line was an issue."

To Klatt's point, this isn't a new issue for Ohio State. In 2024, the Buckeyes totaled just 77 rushing yards and had four tackles for loss, but didn't allow a sack against the Michigan Wolverines. While it wasn't a great performance, it ultimately didn't hold them back from winning a national championship.

But Ohio State does have some positives on the offensive line this season. The Buckeyes return a lot of the key pieces of the line from last season. New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is also one of the best at developing a strong run game in the NFL, largely from his time with the Tennessee Titans and his work with Derrick Henry.

If he can get improvement out of the offensive line, the sky is the limit for Ohio State this season.

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