Olave sticks to routine after zero catches against Tulsa
Early in the fourth quarter of Ohio State's 41-20 win over Tulsa on Saturday, Chris Olave ran a post route and got ahead of a safety by a few steps.
The move caught the eye of quarterback C.J. Stroud, who flung a pass deep down the field, connecting with the Buckeyes' star wide receiver for a 47-yard completion.
“At long last, his first catch of the day,” play-by-play announcer Tim Brando roared during the FS1 telecast.
But it was soon wiped away as officials flagged right guard Paris Johnson for a facemask penalty. It would thus become the first time that Olave finished without a reception since a win against Michigan State in 2019, ending a streak of 17-consecutive games with a catch.
“It was tough,” Olave said after practice on Wednesday evening, “but I'm just glad that we got the win.”
A couple of things went against him in Saturday's game. Stroud misfired on some early throws.
Olave also dropped one late in the second quarter. When the Buckeyes were approaching the end zone, he was running toward the sideline while Stroud rolled outside the pocket. But it went off his hands, prompting the offense to settle for a field goal.
“That rarely happens to me,” Olave said. “When it happened in the game, that was tough, but it was kind of on me. I put it all on myself, and I just got to make sure it doesn't happen again.”
Tulsa's 3-3-5 defense also caused some challenges, at times dropping eight defenders into pass coverage.
In response to a rare off game and heading into Ohio State's final nonconference contest against Akron on Saturday night, Olave said he has not changed his preparation this week.
“It's the same routine,” he said. “There's going to be games like that, but I can't mess up my routine for those type of games. We just got to keep going, prepare better and show it
on Saturday.”
The steady approach is something he learned from Parris Campbell, Johnnie Dixon and Terry Mclaurin, the veteran receiving group who were seniors when Olave was a freshman at Ohio State in 2018.
“I just stay in a routine,” he said. “Try to bring my teammates up with me, stay positive. At the end of the day, we won the game.”
OL coach missed Tulsa game
Ohio State offensive line coach Greg Studrawa missed the Buckeyes' 41-20 win over Tulsa last week while recovering from back surgery, but is expected to be with the team against Akron on Saturday, coach Ryan Day said during his weekly radio show on 97.1 The Fan.
Studrawa was out for a couple of weeks before returning to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center earlier this week ahead of preparation for the final nonconference game. He communicated
with players remotely while he had been away.
“That was kind of a hard time for him,” Day said. “But give him a lot of credit, his guys played hard in his absence.”
The Buckeyes' offensive line paved the way for running back Treveyon Henderson to rush for 277 yards in his first career start against the Golden Hurricane, breaking a single-game school freshman record held by Archie Griffin.
The effort came despite left guard Thayer Munford leaving in the first quarter due to an injury. He was replaced by Matt Jones. Day has said only that Munford's injury is "not longterm."
“Now that we're getting him back in the building again, I think we're going to build even more chemistry,” Day said.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.