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Ohio State faces an in-state opponent, the first of two this season, when the No. 5 Buckeyes host the Cincinnati Bearcats at Ohio Stadium (noon ET, ABC) in Week 2.
The Buckeyes are 14-2 all-time against Cincinnati, with the last Bearcats win coming in 1897. OSU’s 2002 national championship team had one of its many narrow escapes against UC, winning 23-19 at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium.
But perhaps not since that 1897 meeting has OSU had to worry about a run defense as fierce as the one Cincinnati brings to The Horseshoe. That is our Thursday matchup of the week.
Cincinnati run defense vs. OSU RBs and O-line
Cincinnati led the American Athletic Conference last season in rushing defense and total defense. So it’s small wonder the Bearcats gave up the eighth-fewest points per game in the nation (17.2) to top the league in that statistic as well.
The defense was just as punishing last week in Cincinnati’s opener against UCLA. UC allowed just 62 rushing yards on 36 carries (1.7 average) and 218 yards of total offense. The Bruins’ dual-threat quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, gained 24 yards rushing – but lost 44 for a total of minus-20 on 11 carries.
On back-to-back plays in the first quarter the Bearcats stuffed Bruins running back Demetric Felton for losses. It was nothing fancy, either – Cincinnati just blew up both plays right up the middle:
https://youtu.be/DK1E6-8hm6g?t=1669
Ohio State notably underachieved on the ground last season, certainly by their standards, ranking seventh in the Big Ten and 63rd in the country at 171.3 rushing yards per game. The power stats were even worse; according to Football Outsiders’ S&P rating, OSU was 109th nationally in power success rate, defined as third-down and fourth-down conversion percentage with 1 yard or 2 yards to go for a first down or a touchdown.
In OSU’s opener last week against Florida Atlantic, veteran running back J.K. Dobbins and a fairly new starting offensive line had pretty decent success in the ground game, with 237 yards on 48 carries (4.9 ypc). Pretty decent but nothing mind-blowing. Of course one X-factor Cincinnati must deal with is Justin Fields, the dual-threat quarterback who broke open a 51-yard touchdown run against FAU.
Fickell on familiar ground
Defense is the calling card of Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell. He spent decades in scarlet and gray, first as a nose guard from 1993-96 then as a member of the Buckeyes coaching staff from 2002-16 in a defensive capacity, save for the 2011 season when he was the interim head coach between the tenures of Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer.
“I don’t want to make it about me,” Fickell said this week about the game, according to the Columbus Dispatch. “I don’t want to make it about my history. I want to make it about these 18- to 22-year-olds in our program.”
For most of Fickell’s tenure at OSU he coached linebackers and saw several of them move on to the NFL. He has some fine linebackers now including senior Perry Young, a first-team All-AAC selection last season, and Bryan Wright, who has seven tackles including one for a loss against UCLA.
“On defense (the Bearcats are) very sound in terms of their scheme, guys play really hard (and) run to the ball,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said this week. “They did a great job last week and got a win against a Power 5 team.”
Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a writer and editor for saturdaytradition.com and saturdaydownsouth.com.