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Ohio State DC Kerry Coombs, Buckeyes focused on using loss to Alabama as motivation for 2021
By Paul Harvey
Published:
The Ohio State faithful might be trying to forget last month’s loss to Alabama in the national title game, but defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs is focused on learning from it instead.
That loss was especially brutal as Alabama scored 35 first-half points en route to 52 points and over 600 yards of total offense against the Buckeyes. Heisman winner DeVonta Smith had over 200 yards receiving and three touchdowns on his own as Coombs and the Buckeye defense were overpowered and outmatched.
During Wednesday’s National Signing Day radio show, Coombs addressed that loss and brutal performance. He admitted the performance was similar to Alabama’s showing against Clemson in 2019, a bad game that the Crimson Tide used to grow and motivate them heading forward.
Coombs hopes the Buckeyes will do the same:
Coombs said in a team meeting, they addressed the defensive issues in the Alabama game. Said similar things were said about Crimson Tide's defense after giving up 44 to Clemson in '19 CFP title game and it used that to bounce back. Coombs said OSU wants to take the same approach.
— Bill Rabinowitz 🗞 (@brdispatch) February 3, 2021
The focus moving forward is making sure that type of outing never happens again as the Buckeyes turn their focus to 2021:
Kerry Coombs on the national championship game loss to Alabama: “Obviously, we didn't play our best game … It's up to us to learn from it, to let it drive us and motivate us, and for us to go to work tomorrow morning and every day on making sure that that doesn't happen again.”
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) February 3, 2021
Ohio State did allow 25+ points five times in eight games this season, so Coombs and the defense will be looking for a bounceback year in 2021. Hopefully, they are able to do just that.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.