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Once again, Ohio State’s defense will be anything but basic for Baker Mayfield

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

It’ll go down as one of the dumbest things that a backup quarterback has ever said before a big game.

And if someone isn’t keeping a running tally of that stat, let’s just assume that what Oklahoma backup quarterback Austin Kendall said prior to last year’s Ohio State game would top the list. He claimed that Baker Mayfield would “light up” Ohio State’s “basic” defense.

Remember this little gem?

And that’s why backup quarterbacks aren’t available to the media. Ever.

All that comment did was fuel the Buckeyes to play their best game since winning the first College Football Playoff National Championship in 2014-15.

Ohio State won’t get the same kind of fuel for the rematch. If the Buckeyes play their cards right, neither will the Sooners.

What will be the same is the battle up front. Mayfield will still have to find a way to escape the relentless Buckeye front, which sacked him three times and hurried him twice in last year’s matchup. Greg Schiano is still manning the OSU defense that forced Mayfield to have his lowest single-game completion percentage (53.1) and his highest single-game interception total (2) of 2016.

OSU figures to do all the things that worked last year against Mayfield. The Buckeyes will mix up looks at the line of scrimmage. That was what led to the big plays last year.

For example, take that Jerome Baker tipped interception. At the line of scrimmage, Mayfield changed the protection to account for the three Buckeye linebackers that were in the box behind three down linemen. Ohio State didn’t bring any extra pressure, yet Jalyn Holmes got to Mayfield untouched.

How did that happen?

Well, take a look at Oklahoma’s right tackle, Bobby Evans. He was a redshirt freshman making his second career start. He completely missed his assignment, which led to the tipped pass and Baker’s return for a touchdown.

YouTube video

Ohio State made that play happen with just a three-man rush, yet it looked like Mayfield was forced to throw against an all-out blitz on fourth down.

The Buckeyes can’t expect those plays to happen with all five Oklahoma offensive linemen back, but that’s the way they’ll try and capitalize if they see an opportunity to do so.

Generating pressure is the name of the game, especially against a veteran like Mayfield. We’re going to see a whole lot of those Buckeye defensive ends on Saturday night. OSU defensive line coach Larry Johnson is going to try and utilize that depth to make sure Mayfield is always facing fresh edge-rushers. With the same group as last year, he wouldn’t mind if it yielded the same results.

The “Rushmen Package” will likely be out in full force come Saturday night. Nobody would be surprised to see Holmes, Sam Hubbard, Nick Bosa and Tyquan Lewis on the field at the same time. With OSU’s young secondary, they’re going to be asked to do the heavy lifting.

Those four looked like the difference in last week’s second-half turnaround against Indiana. They had four sacks and they took pressure off the young OSU secondary, which got picked apart in man-to-man coverage early on.

With Indiana about to make it a two-score game early in the second quarter, Schiano switched into zone coverage. The result was an extremely athletic tip from Kendall Sheffield and an interception from Jordan Fuller:

OSU could go back and forth between zone and man like it did against Indiana. The Buckeyes will do anything that forces Mayfield to read the defense and not just pick on one OSU defensive back like Indiana did with Denzel Ward matched up against Simmie Cobbs.

The challenge will be preventing Mayfield from finding that mismatch. Richard Lagow found it with Cobbs and if not for that coverage adjustment and some stellar defensive line play, it could’ve burned OSU all night.

In a game of this magnitude, it could all come down to one simple mistake. Maybe OSU’s young secondary could have a similar lapse like Evans did last year. Perhaps Mayfield doesn’t shift the protection at the line of scrimmage against the Rushmen Package and it leads to a Hubbard sack, scoop and score.

Big, momentum-shifting plays told the story of this one last year. The same could be true this year.

Leading up to Saturday, Mayfield referenced how embarrassed it made him to see the Buckeyes sing the OSU fight song in Norman. Even more embarrassing was the fact that Buckeye players held up a poster that read “Basic” Defense. Oklahoma shot itself in the foot last year, and it saw its College Football Playoff dreams dashed because of it.

Ohio State will not throw a basic defense at Mayfield, and this time, the Sooners know that.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.