Kirk Herbstreit identifies what Ohio State must do to beat Georgia

Kirk Herbstreit sees one key matchup for No. 4 Ohio State to knock off No. 1 Georgia.

The Buckeyes enter the game as 6.5-point underdogs. Much has been made of how OSU’s high-powered offense matches up with UGA’s stingy defense.

Herbstreit, though, thinks it all comes down to how the Ohio State defense handles a pair of dangerous tight ends: Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington.

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The ESPN personality was asked to name the key matchup in the game during a Tuesday media conference call:

Herbie, finish this sentence for me please. Ohio State beats Georgia if…
Herbstreit: If they can defend the tight ends. Believe it or not, it’d be easy to say CJ Stroud throws for 400 yards. But I think it’s how do they physically match up? This is a defense that’s wounded after their game against Michigan. Now they got to go up against Stetson and this offensive line, these backs, these tight ends. And I think the tight ends are the key to the Georgia attack. Not only off play action, but they do such a good job of moving them around.

Todd Monken is one of the more underrated offensive coordinators. In his scheme, while in this spread era, he could line up, if he wanted, in 10 personnel, all these receivers. But he does this 12-personnel look with his 2 tight ends. And sometimes Bowers is a receiver, sometimes he’s a tight end, just a difficult matchup for anybody. And I want to see how Ohio State matches up. If they can slow down the tight end play of Washington and Bowers, I think Ohio State could have a chance to win the game.

Herbstreit will be on the ESPN call for the Peach Bowl on Saturday (8 p.m. ET).