
Ohio State football: Defense might be the difference for Buckeyes
At Ohio State, the offense is the big show. It sells tickets, it draws Heisman voters, it makes Ohio State the talk of the nation. Or at least, that’s been the trend.
Maybe the defense is the real star of the show.
For the 2nd time in the season’s first 7 games, Ohio State’s offense basically laid an egg. In the opener at Notre Dame, the first half saw the Buckeyes manage just 149 yards and 7 first downs. Saturday against Iowa, OSU reached intermission with 133 yards and 7 first downs. And in both cases, with Ohio State looking suddenly human, maybe even beatable, the Ohio State defense responded.
Saturday, the Buckeyes held Iowa to 158 total yards. For the game. Iowa managed a field goal and tacked on a defensive touchdown, but otherwise was stuck in mud. The Buckeyes had 5 sacks, forced 6 turnovers and scored a defensive touchdown of their own, on a Tommy Eichenberg pick-6. Of course, in the opener, Notre Dame was held to just 253 total yards and a dozen first downs.
Seven games into Jim Knowles’ tenure as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, it’s time to echo Claude Rains’ line to Humphrey Bogart. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship. In 7 games, Ohio State has yet to allow more than 21 points or more than 307 yards. In the last 2 seasons, under prior coordinator Kerry Coombs, Ohio State allowed more than 21 points in 11 of its 21 games. The Bucks allowed more than 307 yards in 17 of the 21 games.
More than numbers, this defensive changeover is about attitude. While Ohio State seemed to spent much of the 2021 losses to Oregon and Michigan biding time, hoping to get the ball back, this Ohio State team controls its destiny.
Jim Knowles talked up the progress of his squad on Saturday, noting that the Buckeyes had experienced a particularly sharp week of practice.
Ryan Day commented mostly on missed offensive execution after the game, but even he wryly noted: “It’s an interesting game when you start off with the ball in plus territory.”
Asked after the game about holding Iowa to 10 points, Tommy Eichenberg quipped: “Our goal is always zero points, so that’s too many.”
Given Eichenberg’s leadership as a relentless sideline-to-sideline force at linebacker (57 tackles, 7 for losses), the shutout talk doesn’t feel like hyperbole. Meanwhile, youngster Mike Hall and veteran Zach Harrison have led a resurgent defensive line (Ohio State has 19 sacks and 51 tackles for loss, mostly coming from the front). The secondary has been battered and constantly rotated, but transfer Tanner McCalister, who joined Knowles on the trip north from Oklahoma State, had a pair of interceptions against Iowa.
Highest level college football tends to become an offensive arms race, but the Buckeyes may have found their edge on the defensive side of the ball.
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After a 7-0 start basically without top receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and intermittently missing running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams, the OSU offense has had plenty of fits and starts, even while piling up massive numbers of yards and points.
The constant has been defense. Stout against the run, impenetrable against the pass, the Buckeye defense has kept opponents off the field and off the scoreboard. And on the few occasions when the offense hasn’t kept up, the defense has basically shrugged, straightened its back, and went back to work.
In late October, the story of Ohio State is defense. And it might be the story in January as well.