Before the 2025 season, Ohio State’s offensive line was seen as a questionable unit on a Buckeye roster attempting to replace the pieces of a veteran offensive line that had four of its five starters enter the 2025 NFL draft.
With just one returning full-time starter for the 2025 season in junior right guard Tegra Tshabola, Ohio State completely overhauled its offensive line. Ohio State moved guard Austin Siereveld out to left tackle, similar to the shift former Buckeye guard Donovan Jackson was tasked with making mid-season in 2024. The Buckeyes also grabbed two tackles in the transfer portal in Minnesota’s Phillip Daniels and Rice’s Ethan Onianwa.
Ohio State promoted right guard Luke Montgomery and center Carson Hinzman to full-time starters after both had served in rotational roles throughout the 2024 season before elevating themselves into starting roles late in the year.
For the majority of the season, Ohio State’s offensive line managed to successfully fill, or at least cover up, those holes. However, when it mattered most, it was clear Ohio State had used duct tape to mask the struggles of what became a Frankenstein offensive line by the end of the season.
Ohio State’s offense struggled to run the ball throughout the 2025 season, and while its deficiencies were evident early in a 77-yard rushing performance against a strong Texas defensive front on Aug. 30, the Buckeyes were never truly tested again until they played Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Throughout the regular season, some pointed to Ohio State’s backfield as the primary culprit for the Buckeyes’ struggles in the run game, but recent evidence suggests the problems ran deeper. The Buckeye offensive line failed to consistently create running lanes or hold up against elite defensive fronts, shortcomings that were magnified against the top competition they faced late in the season.
In the regular season, Ohio State’s offensive line was dominant, giving up just six sacks on the year for an average of 0.5 allowed per game. The Buckeyes’ offensive line was also nominated for the 2025 Joe Moore midseason Honor Roll list, and multiple individual linemen earned All-America honors, including guard Luke Montgomery and center Carson Hinzman.
Though Ohio State was able to survive against less challenging opponents, as it won its final 11 regular-season games by at least three touchdowns, those flaws became impossible to hide against the nation’s best defensive lines, ultimately proving to be the difference in the Buckeyes’ bid for a second consecutive national title.
In the Buckeyes’ last two games against Indiana and Miami (Fla.) in the Big Ten Championship Game and College Football Playoff quarterfinal, Ohio State gave up a whopping 10 combined sacks (five in each game) that resulted in 71 yards lost. Miami’s defense sits third nationally with an average of 3.29 sacks per game, while Indiana is tied for sixth, averaging 3.0 sacks per contest.
Indiana generated pressure at times, and with tight coverage downfield, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin often held the ball long enough for the Hoosiers to sack him. Miami, however, operated on an entirely different level in the Cotton Bowl.
The Hurricanes’ defensive front overwhelmed Ohio State’s offensive line, leaving Sayin with little time to operate. Led by edge rushers Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor and bolstered inside by defensive tackles Ahmad Moten Sr. and Justin Scott, Miami routinely collapsed the pocket, forced hurried throws from Sayin, and created consistent disruption in the Buckeye backfield.
The Buckeyes’ front five was dealing with an injury to right guard Tegra Tshabola and was forced to play backups Gabe VanSickle and Josh Padilla, and an in-game injury to left tackle Austin Siereveld hindered the line further, forcing reserve tackle Ian Moore to see time. It was notably one of Ohio State’s worst offensive line performances of the season.
Then the question becomes, does Ohio State’s offensive line have enough depth? Ohio State hasn’t recruited a five-star offensive lineman by 247Sports composite rankings since Donovan Jackson in the class of 2021, and the Buckeyes have routinely missed out on high-end prospects in the trenches.
Of Ohio State’s five starting linemen in the Cotton Bowl – VanSickle, Siereveld, Hinzman, Montgomery and Daniels – just two, Hinzman and Montgomery, were four-star recruits. Ohio State has developed players like Siereveld, but not landing top prospects has seemingly hindered the Buckeyes’ offensive lines of late.
To be clear, Ohio State’s offensive line play in 2025 was not poor, but rather steady. But being serviceable is not enough when the margin for error against the nation’s best is razor-thin. With so many first-year contributors in the backfield, including Sayin and rookie running backs Bo Jackson and Isaiah West, the Buckeyes needed their offensive line to be elite.
It wasn’t.
In a season defined by championship aspirations, that difference mattered. When Ohio State needed its offensive line to elevate the offense against the nation’s best, it couldn’t. That harsh reality ultimately held the Buckeyes back from a second straight national championship.
