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Urban Meyer breaks down Ohio State’s dominant defense against Wisconsin

Dave Holcomb

By Dave Holcomb

Published:

Ohio State defensive end Chase Young is the most dominant player in college football this season. His last game against Wisconsin, where he posted 4.0 sacks and 5.0 tackles for loss, was his best performance yet.

But while Young is one of the best players in the nation, the Buckeyes coaching staff continuously place him in situations where he can have success.

Sitting down in a video with Big Ten Network’s Gerry DiNardo, former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer broke down what Young and the Buckeyes defense did a week ago to frustrate the Wisconsin offense.

One of the plays Meyer analyzed during the video was a third-and-8 where Young had his hands off the ground lined up as a linebacker. Placing him in that position gave the Wisconsin offensive line a matchup problem.

“The offensive linemen are taught in pass situations “big on big,” that means I’m going to block a lineman with a lineman,” Meyer explained. “The defensive staff of Ohio State puts Chase Young in the linebacker position. Why? Who’s response for linebackers? The tailback.”

That means on this third-and-long, Wisconsin was going to be asking its running back to block Young. Meyer argued that no running back in the country would be able to handle that assignment, so the Badgers called a quick screen pass.

That didn’t work either, though, because Young recognized the screen, quickly adjusted his pass rush to move back outside and made a tackle for no gain.

Listen to Meyer’s full breakdown of Young and a few other Ohio State defensive plays against Wisconsin below:

 

Dave Holcomb