Though Ohio State's defense had been statistically strong giving up just 14.1 points per game, a troubling chink in the armor was the inability at times to keep the opponent from scoring on possessions immediately following its own offense's scoring drives.
The issue came to a head last week as each time the Ohio State offense was able to find the end zone against Michigan State, the defense promptly gave up a long touchdown drive killing any chance the Buckeyes had to seize momentum and ultimately win the game.
The first instance came as Ohio State took a 7-0 lead following an Ezekiel Elliott run only to see the defense give up a nine-play, 75 yard touchdown drive chewing up 4:48 shifting momentum clearly back toward the Spartans.
Late in the 3rd quarter after the Buckeye offense gave the defense a 14-7 lead, the Bullets took the field and surrendered a 13-play, 75 yard touchdown march with 12 minutes left in the quarter before going on to win via a field goal as time expired.
It looked like Buckeye fans might be in for more of the same against Michigan after Ohio State took a 7-0 lead on a J.T. Barrett keeper late in the 1st quarter.
Surely aware of last week's struggles to keep momentum, the Buckeye defense proceeded to give up three 3rd down conversions as Michigan reeled off a 14-play, 72 yard field goal drive trimming Ohio State's lead to 7-3.
The Buckeye offense would respond with a nine-play, 75 yard touchdown drive capped by a five-yard dash by Ezekiel Elliott extending the lead to 14-3 swinging momentum back to Ohio State.
Again, on the ensuing possession, the defense couldn't respond allowing the Wolverines to march 92 yards in 11 plays thanks to another trio of conversions on 3rd down including a five-yard pass on Darron Lee from Jake Rudock to Jehu Chesson cutting Ohio State's lead to 14-10 just one minute before halftime.
From there however the Bullets were a different unit.
While the offense would go on to post four touchdown drives in the decisive 2nd half, the defense gave up only one Michigan scoring march on the ensuing possessions – resulting in a meaningless field goal slicing OSU's lead to 28-13.
On the other three possessions the Bullets turned in a forced punt following a Joey Bosa sack on 3rd down, a turnover on downs that was essentially a four-and-out, and finally a three-and-out after another Barrett score extended the Buckeye lead to 42-13.
The Silver Bullets' ability to tighten up in the 2nd half following Ohio State's scoring drives left no doubt as to who would emerge victorious and helped erase a little bit of the bad taste left in everyone's mouth after the upset loss to Michigan State.
So while most of the post game media blitz will center on what the OSU rushing attack was able to do this weekend compared to last, the Silver Bullets certainly deserve a hat tip for tightening up, in Ann Arbor no less, ensuring the Buckeyes wouldn't lose momentum on their way to the winner's circle.
