Rahne is essentially playing with Moorhead's book. The book has been on the shelf for all to see now, without any enhancements. This is the largest factor.
The second factor appears to be that Rahne is just making a call from that book and hoping it works without really taking what the defense gives. It may be that, since defenses already have the book, he doesn't have many good choices. But really, anyone can see that his choices on some of the critical downs have been low percentage, so it almost seems like he is in a guessing game with the defense. The head-scratcher is that we are at home with a 5th year starting quarterback and he isn't free to audible, or am I missing something? Perhaps the "audible" is the booth relaying a sign to the sideline with a relay to the QB.
The third factor is the way we block at the offensive line. It doesn't seem capable of picking up stunts and handling the blitz. Along these lines, Menet and McGovern tend to struggle. When they get pushed back or beat with defensive ends playing contain, the play is blown up. The RPO does not lead to aggressive blocking with big linemen. Our linemen engage and try to clear rather than drive forward, hence the short yardage, ball control problems. Their size is neutralized by design.
Fourth factor is the inconsistency of our receivers, and their inability to make plays at the same level as their predecessors. We have receivers at the extremes, but no one in that Chris Godwin type of size range.
The fifth factor is Trace's size. Sorry about this one, but it is what it is. He's not going to do well inside of a collapsing pocket with average receivers trying to catch throws a little off target. Moorhead's offense doesn't get him outside the pocket where he needs to be. In fact, it doesn't look like the offense gets a running back outside for an outlet, swing or screen. The entire defensive front can simply collapse onto the pocket. We rely on the back for blocking as a result of deficiencies in our blocking with linemen. I will grant that Trace's size also enables some sneaky quickness, but if spied by equal quickness close to the line, he can be neutralized. OSU spies were too deep and Trace was able to get into the open field. MSU got it right.
The sixth factor, in this game for whatever reason, were the referines. If I had to guess a few of them within this crew want to set up a big game between OSU and Michigan. This is their dream game.
This offense looks really good when it plays against teams who cannot run with some of our skill players. But without leaping receivers making big league plays, it is rather pedestrian, even with super star running backs. Our OOC games should be no basis for predictive statistics, yet that is what people tend to cite over and over again this time of year.