Ohio State: Has Matt Barnes fixed the Buckeyes' defense?

Kerry Coombs just wasn’t cutting it as Ohio State’s defensive play-caller. Simple as that.

Enter Matt Barnes. So far, so good.

When the Buckeyes brought Coombs back to Columbus in 2020 to be the program’s defensive coordinator, they hoped for continuity. Coombs had coached OSU’s DBs from 2012-2017, including the magical 2014 national title season, before leaving for an NFL job. Coming back after 2 years as an assistant with the Tennessee Titans, he seemed like a perfect fit.

Instead, Coombs’s defenses have been something of an albatross for Ryan Day and the high-scoring OSU offense. After a Sept. 11 home loss to Oregon, enough was enough. Day took the defensive play-calling duties from Coombs and gave them to secondary coach Matt Barnes.

For Barnes, the situation is not unfamiliar. While at Maryland in 2018, Barnes called plays rather than then-Terps defensive coordinator Andy Buh. Amid the chaos of D.J. Durkin leaving and Matt Canada replacing him as Maryland’s head coach, Barnes’ defense improved from 37.1 points and 419 yards per game allowed to 28.7 points and 390 yards per game allowed. Barnes then made his way to Ohio State as a special teams coordinator (2019), then the safeties coach (2020), and then the secondary coach (2021).

After the defense allowed 203 rushing yards (and 408 total yards) and 31 points to Minnesota to open the season, and followed it up by getting gashed for 505 yards (including 269 on the ground) in a 35-28 loss to Oregon, Day had seen enough. The week of the Tulsa game, he shifted play-calling responsibilities to Barnes.

Since then?

It bears noting that OSU has played Tulsa, Akron, and Rutgers — not exactly college football heavyweights. But the struggles are largely gone. OSU did have some issues with the passing game against Tulsa, but the 41-20 win was never really in doubt. Meanwhile, Tulsa rushed for just 73 yards.

In the win over Akron, Barnes’s defense held the Zips to 229 total yards and just 76 yards on the ground (1.9 yards per carry). The pattern continued against Rutgers, where many of the 346 yards gained by the Scarlet Knights in the 52-13 beating came in late-game garbage time. Rutgers managed just 111 rushing yards (on 3.6 yards per carry).

Has Barnes fixed OSU’s defensive deficiencies? He’d tell you otherwise.

“It’s really been a group effort,” Barnes said of the play-calling arrangement. “Particularly game day. … We’re all in the meetings together throughout the week and kind of putting a call sheet together of what we like in certain situations. So in a lot of ways the game calls itself, and then it’s a group effort during the game on the sideline and on the headsets to get things adjusted and see what calls we like.”

While Barnes doesn’t seek the credit, it’s clear that State’s defense has improved. In terms of run defense, 3 games under Barnes have yielded fewer rushing yards COMBINED than in the Oregon loss. The pass rush has improved — State had 2 sacks in the 2 pre-Barnes games, and has a dozen in the 3 ensuing games. OSU had forced 2 turnovers with Coombs calling plays. They’ve forced 7 in 3 games with Barnes.

The next question will be how that defense holds up against stiffer competition. Taulia Tagovailoa suddenly looked pretty human while tossing 5 picks against Iowa, but on a given day, he could be a challenge. Penn State looms at the end of the month, and there is that game to end November at the stadium in a more northern zip code.

Barnes will get his shot. But even if he succeeds, don’t expect him to take the credit.

“We’re all in this thing together,” Barnes said recently. “And I’m gonna help in every way that I can, but at the end of the day, we will succeed because we do it together.”