Why Ohio State ran that failed fake punt against Michigan

Call it gutsy or call it dumb — this fake punt by Ohio State sure was something.

It was inside Ohio State’s own 20-yard line, and that’s certainly cause to question the play call.

Michigan took over near the red zone and scored to go up 10 points. It was doubly damning because Ohio State’s offense hasn’t done much of anything all day, with the only touchdown of the day up to that point coming from the defense.

But what if the game situation didn’t actually matter?

Fake punts sometimes don’t have anything to do with situation, down, and distance as much as they have to do with how a defense is set up. It’s why a team like Oregon will show that funky fake extra point formation and then shift to a conventional kicking set if it doesn’t get what it’s looking for.

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said that’s exactly what was going on with the fake here. He also said that Urban Meyer told him and play-by-play man Chris Fowler as much in their production meetings.

“[Meyer] told you and I that there’s a look that they gave that no matter what happens at any point in the game — if they give him that look he’s gonna call it. I said, ‘What if you’re in your own 20-yard line, you still gonna call it?’ He said, ‘If they give us the look, I’m gonna call it.’”

And call it they did.

Fowler extrapolated on the set Ohio State was looking for as well.

“The five-by-two look, two guys to one side of the center, Michigan was kind of in that look,” he said. “But the Wolverines were ready for that.”

And it certainly looked as though it wasn’t exactly what Meyer was looking for.

But Meyer got the last laugh as the Buckeyes took Michigan down in double overtime.